Power shoulders, micro shorts and navel-gazing: The catwalk trends for SS24

After the last designers presented their creations at Paris Fashion Week at the beginning of October, Fashion Month in the four major fashion capitals is now already over. This year's programme was peppered with much-discussed debuts and farewells, but what ultimately remains are some decisive inspirations for spring/summer 2024. It was a season marked by journeys through the fashion worlds of the past that paved the way for the trends of tomorrow. FashionUnited has summarised the most important trends for you.

90s minimalism and Y2K denim

New York Fashion Week not only kicked off the fashion weeks of the four major fashion cities, but also set the tone for one of the first trends of the season with Peter Do's debut at 90s cult label Helmut Lang. Do was not the only one who was in the mood for the minimalism of times gone by; other designers in Milan, Paris and London were also reminiscing about simplicity.

The simple silhouettes of the 90s were revisited in combinations of tank tops and long skirts or slim, black suit trousers by designers such as Acne Studios' Jonny Johansson or Svitlana Bevza of the eponymous label Bevza. The latter chose a sheer mesh fabric to add depth to her all-black look, while 90s prodigy Helmut Lang opted for a black jersey dress with thin straps and knee-high boots that evoked the spirit of icons of the decade like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

However, 90s nostalgia is not enough to knock the Y2K trend, which has been omnipresent for several seasons, off its throne. This season, fashion designers devoted themselves to denim fabric in particular and revived it in the look of the 2000s. In concrete terms, this means wide trouser legs and low-slung jeans, where the hemline is allowed to touch the floor a little.

The low-slung jeans are paired with crop tops or bra tops, ideally also worn on denim, to give the ‘Canadian tuxedo’, i.e. the combination of two pieces of denim, a sexy update, as demonstrated by Dion Lee and Di Petra. For a slightly more everyday version, the trousers are worn with a short baby T-shirt with logo print and an open bomber jacket, as in Didu's case.

Practical Magic

Practicality is not necessarily the first word typically associated with the collections of designers in the fashion capitals of the world, but for SS24 some of them are in the mood for functional details and practical cuts. The resulting 'utility trend' gives a fashion update to workwear and pieces often borrowed from the military, turning functionality into a fashion statement.

However, a touch of Y2K is not far away in the 'Utility Trend' either, as the cargo trousers with their large patch pockets, currently popular with designers, already had their moment in the limelight in the early 2000s. Now not only this model, but also so-called boiler suits or overalls, are back on the catwalks of brands like The Attico, JW Anderson and Saint Laurent, with designer Anthony Vaccarello proving with the latter how elegant functionality can be.

80s power suits

The fashion retrospective doesn't stop at Y2K or the 90s, because when it came to suits, many fashion designers seemed to look to the 80s, or rather the shoulder parts of the 80s, for SS24. Oversized tailoring has of course been a trend for several seasons now, but next spring it's the shoulders in particular that are coming in XXL format. This stylish exaggeration of the shoulder area already gave outfits a self-confident, powerful aesthetic a good 40 years ago and was worn by many women as an expression of emancipation and professional self-confidence, qualities that are still very important today.

Female designers in particular went for the trend that inspires self-confidence. For her first collection at Carven, Louise Trotter showed a structured grey jacket in an XXL version and pronounced shoulders with a top of the same colour paired with a slightly transparent skirt, while Stella McCartney turned her attention to the trouser suit, also focusing on the wearer's shoulders. But it was not only female designers who emphasised this trend, but also their male colleagues. Another jacket-skirt combination with accentuated shoulders was featured in Matthew Williams' collection for Givenchy, among others.

Micro shorts

Focusing on a specific part of the body is also the aim of the micro shorts for SS24, where everything on the catwalks revolves around the wearer's (often endlessly long) legs. While the shorts, which were almost considered underwear in previous seasons, could still be seen here and there this year, variants for SS24 are still micro, but somewhat more suitable for everyday wear than their extreme predecessor styles.