This season’s fashion weeks gave us a lot of clarity: spring/summer 2023 benefitted from designers focusing on one major theme for all their looks. There was Fendi’s acid green collection, Versace’s goth offerings, and Saint Laurent’s homage to Grace Jones. There were also individual looks so powerful they defined the season. Think: Loewe’s dresses adorned with exaggerated anthuriums, and Bottega Veneta’s ingenious leather flannel shirt worn by Kate Moss. Judging from this alone, risks were the order of the season, especially where savoir-faire was concerned. But the most prevalent change was that everything was incredibly risqué. Entire torsos were exposed. Nipples were barely covered. Butt cracks were seen. These, along with cut outs, and innerwear as outerwear, are the bold trends that continue to dominate this year. Consider this your guide to the most outstanding spring/summer 2023 fashion trends.
1. Glam Goth
Spring/summer 2023’s runways were giving Girl Interrupted meets Netflix’s Wednesday Addams. TikTok’s obsession with the ghoulish girl and voguish vampire have primed designers for a chic revival of the ’90s goth girl.
2. Frigid Tailoring
Lydia, the titular character in Todd Field’s Tár, seemed to be a major influence on the runway for SS23. With her powerfully austere wardrobe of sharply tailored suits, she embodied the savvy, minimalist wave of sartorial glamour that swept the new season’s top catwalks.
3. Acid Green
If pink was the colour du jour of last season, this season, it’s all about gregarious green. Spotted on the runways at Fendi, Miu Miu, Michael Kors and more, designers made the case for a different, fluorescent shade to shake things up for SS23.
4. Sans Pants
If the SS23 runways showed us anything, it is that going pantless in both casual and formal settings is now actually fashionable. Take it from Kendall Jenner, who was photographed recently on a sunflower run wearing Bottega Veneta’s bold, leggy look, and you’re all set for the season.
5. Sheer Pleasure
The subtle subversiveness of taking a modest, understated silhouette and combining it with gauzy swathes of fabric hit all the right notes this season. Seen at Ferragamo, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta, among others, it is the perfect trend for SS23’s statement-making woman.
6. Extreme Denim
The influence of Y2K is not slowing down. The turn of the millennium was defined by jeans, and today’s designer experimentations were even more daring: Glenn Martens reinvented denim at Diesel, while Matthew Williams took a punchy turn with the utilitarian fabric at Givenchy.
7. Dialed-up Dominatrix
We called it: fashion is catching up to speed with Julia Fox’s bold fearlessness this year. The model’s extreme style—incorporating fetishwear, using innerwear as outerwear, and deconstructing garments to show off the body—were a salient style point that we foresee will extend into the modern woman’s wardrobe this season.
8. Motomami Mania
Have we reached peak biker aesthetic in fashion? Designers certainly think so. From Spanish pop star Rosalía’s custom Dion Lee-designed tour wardrobe to the return of Kate Moss’s iconic ’90s tough chic look, there’s never been a better time to embrace a ride on the wild side.
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