The playful side of women’s denim rose to the top at [Pre]Coterie, UBM Fashion’s new women’s pre-collections event taking place this week in New York City. The show’s boutique-like atmosphere lent itself to collections that were embellished, colorful and full of unexpected details.
Denim pure players and women’s wear designers offered a mix of Fall ’18 and Holiday ’18, as well as some Spring ’18 immediates to fill in retailers’ gaps in denim.
Amsterdam-based fashion house Zoe Karssen dabbled in novelty denim to coordinate with graphic tees that shared messages of love and female empowerment. The streetwear-inspired brand offered shorts with double tab closures, high-waisted jeans and denim jackets. Cartoon-like embroidered hearts and kitschy pink and red painted racing stripes decorated the classic denim silhouettes. The styles tapped into fashion’s ongoing affinity for happy-go-lucky, colorful designs destined for Instagram notoriety.
Jeans with racing stripes outnumbered embroidered denim, which blanketed the women’ fashion denim market this time last year. Mavi used side stripes in multiple ways, including styles with sporty red and white taping, stripes made of fine metal mesh and tuxedo-style stripes made with black velvet ribbon. McGuire Denim achieve a similar evening look with jeans with black satin side stripes.
Cargo pockets continue to make a play, in both denim and non-denim woven skinnies. Mavi presented cargos clean and cropped with front pockets with zipper closures. The brand carried the cleaned-up look to classic cords and flare jeans, which are gaining momentum but not at the same level of popularity as the boyfriend fit.
Flare jeans and a new super baggy, wide leg boyfriend cut suited McGuire’s effortless cool style. The brand offered both silhouettes in worn-in, vintage washes.
Vented hems, drop hems and asymmetrical hems made an appearance. The popular hem treatments added interest to indigo and black skinny jeans. Raw, frayed hems and seams also decorated cropped jean jackets by McGuire and Pistola Denim.
As pearl embellishments begin to lose some luster, brands decorated jean jackets with stars, astrological motifs and sparkle. Both McGuire and Pistola elevated the concept of “blinged-out” denim with jeans embellished with white crystal detailing around the front pockets. The styles are among the brands’ best-sellers for the upcoming seasons.
Bella Dahl added a hint of glimmer to its holiday collection, too, adding fine silver pinstripes to a range of Tencel jumpsuits, trousers and cropped wrap tops.
