All eyes are on Fall/Winter 2023-2024 trends as fashion month kicks off in New York City and Project Las Vegas begins on Feb. 13-15.
In webinars hosted by Informa Markets Fashion, Fashion Snoops executives shared the themes, colors and key items buyers need to know for the season. Inspired by four themes—Paradox, Mystic, Poetic and Untamed—Melissa Moylan, Fashion Snoops VP of womenswear, and Michael Fisher, VP of menswear, describe a season influenced by emotion, nature and romance.
Paradox
The pandemic continues to hover over consumers’ wants and needs despite the feeling that they’ve emerged from the darkest point. Paradox relates to being in the middle of two opposing sides, like the need to move forward while the past remains a source of comfort. “There’s a need to be able to find joy and humor in the dark times. And it’s encouraging us and making us contemplate how we want to slow down but also be able to reach farther,” Moylan said.
Juxtapositions—complexities of real versus fake, masculine versus feminine, comfort versus distress—keep us on the edge, she added.
For fashion, Paradox looks at how modesty can be alluring, how structure can be soft and how digital can feel authentic. Colors also serve as “visual push and pulls,” Moylan said. Light pastels are balanced by unexpected brights like cherry, neon blue and butterscotch.
The theme calls for the women’s contemporary market to “take a step back” to focus on long and lean silhouettes, tube tops, tank tops and low-slung denim that can be dressed up and down. Nostalgia for the 2000s comes through in schoolgirl styling and micro miniskirts as well as logomania on items like jersey tops and underwear that peaks out of low-rise bottoms.
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“Pumped up denim” is key for the women’s young contemporary market. Oversized and ultra-baggy jackets and jeans nod to the ’90s and early 2000s. Extreme cutouts on denim and bodysuits, oversized puffer vests and tees and mesh tops with digitized dyes add an edge to Paradox.
Pieced constructions with contrasting fabrics are important for the men’s contemporary market. Fisher said it’s meant to update “quintessentially utilitarian essentials” like cargo pants. More whimsical and colorful items like puffer coats with candy coated color treatments and technical outerwear made with high-shine fabrics drive the young men’s market.
Mystic
The pandemic also left consumers searching for guidance beyond the physical world. Mystic reflects this intrigue in spirituality, rituals and objects as a source of health and strength.
Dark and romantic colors set the tone with bloodstone red and witchy purple hues taking center stage. Shady green serves as an accent color while hits of neon light blue and pomegranate brighten the palette.
Integrated capes, corsets layered over drapey fabrics and sweetheart necklines are key Mystic items in the women’s contemporary market. Fetish favorites like PVC and faux leather update overcoats and leggings, Moylan said.
For the women’s young contemporary market, she said “high/low styling” like denim corsets with mesh or satin inserts help casualize Mystic. “Glam dresses” with all-over sequins and jeweled fabrics, knits and wovens with extreme cutouts and tops and dresses with feather embellishments add a sense of magic to evening and special occasion wear.
For contemporary men’s, Fisher said blotchy, rusty dye effects that mimic the appearance of a chemical spill provide an update to camouflage for items like denim Trucker jackets. “Distressing for denim takes on a more embellished feel with deliberate shredding along the edges of the lapels of the jacket,” he said.
Rugged glamor, in the form of studded jean jackets, is on deck for young men.
Poetic
Poetic shows the softer side of fashion. The theme is based on beauty found in moments of silence and stillness and speaks to an overall softer approach to living. It also inspires the design community to “create with care and consideration for an authentic vision,” Moylan said.
“We’re thinking that people are seeking out art, beauty and romance again. They’re also reevaluating their priorities and how they’re spending their time and their money, so anything that we give them product wise [must] be worth their while. This is a great place to incorporate investment pieces to your core assortment,” she said.
A daydream-inspired color palette spanning pistachio, denim blue and warm brown—which Moylan pointed out is a major color for staple garments—gives designers a lot to build on.
Key women’s contemporary items include tailored pants with creased details, cozy outerwear (blanket coats, overcoats and blazers) in a knobby tweed or bouclé, patchwork techniques and sustainable denim. Softened versions of denim workwear, upcycled denim and stonewash surfaces speak to the Poetic aesthetic, Moylan said.
Classic flannel shirts and jackets add a vintage quality to the women’s young contemporary category. Ribbed knits, particularly sets like a top and skirt or cardigan and flare pants, remain strong.
Extreme cable knits emphasize craft, while sweaters with exaggerated fits evoke coziness for men’s contemporary. The farmhouse jacket with “thick and somewhat irregular pick stitching” adds an old-world quality with a handcrafted look, Fisher said.
Untamed
Untamed paints a wilder picture. From a desire for catharsis to be able to express raw or unfiltered emotions, Moylan said the theme embraces imperfections as well as mended or salvaged objects.
Untamed also finds wisdom from nature, which inspires its extremely green color palette. Bursts of fiery orange and burlwood add contrast to the gritty story.
Women’s contemporary items focus on “sustainable warmth” like vegan fur overcoats, Moylan said. Draped jersey takes on abstract shapes and irregular knitwear channels the theme’s unfurled roots.
Statement puffers with A-line shapes, nature-inspired printed mesh that hugs the body and novelty knitwear that takes inspiration from animated colors add a “little bit of fun and cheekiness” to the theme, she said. DIY denim, upcycled denim and eco-friendly dyes are also prevalent. Denim that features collage motifs or materials have a youthful perspective that will resonate with Gen Z, she said.
Tattered repairs and shredded surface treatments bring the theme’s grittier side to life in men’s denim. They have an even more textural appeal when stitched over or repaired with patchwork, Fisher said. Twisted seams that nod to Levi’s Twisted 9099 style inject excitement into youth-driven denim, he added.