4 key trends from New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2019
New York Fashion Week (NYFW) kicked off the Fall/Winter 2019 season for womenswear with most major names in American fashion, such as Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs. Rodarte, however, did not return to the big apple, opting to show in Los Angeles instead.
But you know what they say, the show must go on.
This time around, we’ll be breaking down the biggest NYFW trends into themes, silhouettes, colour and patterns, and then cross-referencing them against past sales data from different brands through the Omnilytics dashboard. This gives us a clearer picture of how these trends came to be.
Theme: The Good Old ’70s
A major callback to the ’70s was seen at Michael Kors Collection, Coach 1941, Naeem Khan and Tory Burch. Michael Kors revolved his collection around stage 54, the legendary New York night club. The collection featured all the best hits from the ’70s fashion, including ruffles, frills, sequins and bell bottoms. The same details were echoed at Coach 1941, which took inspiration from the outfits of retro Californian youth.
However, as we all know, the real stars at Michael Kors and Coach were the bags & leather goods, as the category made up more than 60% of the assortment for their main lines. The retro-inspired details extended to cover accessories and leather goods as well.
Michael Kors even created a new monogram in a ’70s style typeface for the collection, while Coach brought back psychedelic florals as the main motif for their handbags.
Silhouette: Oversized Everything
The classic rules of proportions were thrown out by Proenza Schouler, The Row and 3.1 Phillip Lim. Looks from these collections featured oversized silhouettes for coats, blazers and suits, resembling the tailoring that would come out of your dad’s wardrobe.
Based in New York itself, The Row’s collection was heavy with coats and jackets — which came as no surprise since the product category performed well. According to Omnilytics’ data, their outerwear had a total sellout rate of 89.9% on Farfetch and 77.3% on Net-a-porter.
Volume didn’t stop at just outerwear. The gowns at Marc Jacobs, Brandon Maxwell and Carolina Herrera appeared larger than life — literally. The massive A-line gowns at Marc Jacobs matched the dramatised staging he had for his Fall 2019 collection. The master of volume also helped introduce Japanese designer Tomo Koizumi in his first formal debut at NYFW during a showing at the Marc Jacobs Madison Avenue store. Koizumi, who often makes costumes for the likes of Lady Gaga, interjected a breath of fresh air to the NYFW line up this year. His frothy ruffled organza gowns caused quite the frenzy on Instagram earlier this week.
Colour: Purple Rain
Purple stole the show at Tom Ford, Kate Spade, Anna Sui and Tibi. Various shades of purple were seen on the runway — especially Anna Sui’s collection, which was inspired by artwork from the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. From plum to lilac, the collection featured 8 looks in different purple shades. The models even donned coordinating purple wigs to correspond the look.
Lilac, in particular, seemed to be the standout colour of the season, with Tom Ford and Tibi featuring full looks in the colour. Tibi did a zip-up top and skirt combo, while Ford’s lilac looks included a full-length jersey dress and a fur coat with a hat to match. Although often regarded as a summer shade, this would be the second time Ford placed lilac under the spotlight. The chart below shows the difference in purple colour palettes for the Spring/Summer assortment and Fall/Winter assortment of 2018.
As the chart shows, lilac is more prominent in the Fall/Winter ’18 collection compared to the Spring/Summer ’18 collection.
Pattern: Checkered Galore
Check seems to be the trend that never goes away. The pattern returned once again, with Coach 1941, Staud, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors and LaQuan Smith featuring different styles on tops, bottoms, outerwear and scarves. LaQuan Smith created several looks using this greenish check pattern for both men and women, evoking vibes from the ’80s. Oscar de la Renta’s collection, on the other hand, was incredibly heavy with a traditional plaid. One of the standout pieces from this collection was the plaid cropped blazer, which served as the opening look for the show.
The check pattern seemed to be treating Oscar de la Renta well, as our data showed that a dress with a similar pattern for Winter of 2018 sold out 5 times between December 2018 to February 2019 on FarFetch.
NYFW at a glance
We used data from previous seasons to help us analyse and understand the trends surfacing for this season. Among the key trends identified in silhouettes were oversized styles, with most New York designers being in a volume state-of-mind. Among the themes to tie-in with the oversized trend were the ’70s vibe, with bell-bottom trousers and full-length floral maxis being seen at Michael Kors and Coach 1941.
A key colour to look out for the season is purple with various shades ranging from lilac to plum taking over the runway at Tom Ford and Anna Sui.
Lastly, check returns again for the third year, becoming a staple for the Fall/Winter season.
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Originally published at omnilytics.co on February 19, 2019.
