Notes not from the frow of AW25
Trends to look out for and a spotlight on Alessandro Michele's Valentino.
I’m not really a trends girly. Of course I’m infallible to them as much as the next high street honey but it’s the je ne sais quoi of style that really gets me going. A head to toe trend look leaves you cold, but one with style lights you up.
Nevertheless, I like to keep a close eye on what the designers are riffing on at the fall/winter and spring/summer collections. It’s almost like reading the original text before tucking into the translations. Out of respect to the designers, but also to give myself time to affiliate with their stylistic flirtations, I like to do my homework before the rest of the fashion world (ie. Zara and COS) catches up.
Clothing is steeped in emotion (See Clothes Heal and Younger Self Dressing) and yet twice a year, often more, we are faced with new variations and interpretations on clothes via the autumn/winter and spring/summer collections during the fashion months. Out of context, removed of emotion (bring back the drama of McQueen shows I say) the collections can sometimes feel cold, far fetched, a little disconnected, but if you keep a close eye on them you’ll soon discover that the shocking violent Valentino hot pink you once sniggered at is now in fact the exact shade you have been instructed to find for a bridesmaid dress. You may have spilt your tea over Miu Miu’s miniatures but now you’re tugging down on a rip off of that very incy wincy number every time you hop onto an escalator.
You know something’s a real hit on the runway when it ruffles your feathers at the very least, repulses you at most, either way it’s got under your skin and the designers won’t let you forget about it.
Designers might seem a little mad on the surface but perhaps they have to be in order to survive? Stereotypically they fit into one of two categories — the oddball control freak or the Absolutely Fabulous. Great designers are composers of our time, distilling contemporary cultural capital and weaving the layered complexities into a 3D permanent token of the times. Designers are also fortune tellers, both metaphorically and literally, predicting futures and making fortunes with it. See Alessandro Michele, who’s meteoric success at Gucci saw the company’s annual revenues triple at the peak of his powers, hitting close to €10 billion. Scroll to the bottom of this post to read me wax lyrical on his next chapter at Valentino.
In this Substack I share with you my style notes from the Autumn/Winter 25 collections. I might not have been sat front row but I’ve done my homework to see what trends cropped up time and time again. Let’s just say I’m giving you a cheat sheet per se. Let the dust settle, get comfortable with these trends before diving in blindly come the colder months when you fancy updating your wardrobe. You never know, they might already exist in your cupboards. Here’s your reminder. Take it or leave it.
Long live Clown Core
Hate clowns but dig their clothes? Theirs is a style that never really leaves us. Today we find it squeezed between the peter pan collars of indie sleaze and the accentuated broderie anglaise collars that pop out of necklines favourited by toddlers, Ganni wearing thirtysomethings and trad wives. I could write an entire piece on the progression of clown core in fashion but does anyone want to read it? Let me know.
In the meantime here it is again elbowing it’s way into Chanel and Conner Ives-quite the spectrum of fashion brands but that only proofs its reach.
A closer look at collars
Don’t want to buy anything new next season? No matter. Simply tug on your collar, layer them and see how it sets an outfit you might have once been tired of off kilter. It’s the final fiddle a stylist will stop me in my tracks for just before I go on set. It might annoy me until I see the results on the monitor-yep it’s made the look. Miuccia Prada has always mastered the collar across both Prada and Miu Miu. For more lessons on collars see Emilia Wickstead’s yankable collars that give her otherwise impeccable tailoring a jaunty new focus.
Here’s me having a go on the left and here’s S.S. Daley doing a better job of it.
Burgundy n’ blue
Could be the name of a country band? Could be your kitchen interior colour scheme? Could be your staple wardrobe colour combo? This easy wearing, subtle colour duo ain’t going nowhere.
(Faux) Wild side
Then…
And now…
Dig out your Nan’s best coat or find one in your local charity shop, the one that smells of pubs and old cigarettes and prowl proudly. Be it boho, Mad Men or mod wife, you’re bound to find a fur for you. Hot under the collar? Zebra, leopard, snake, tiger and cow print are galore on bags, shoes and even leotards!
Bows duhh
Holy moly are these the most theatrical boots of all? Bows and a ruffle! They’re giving Marie Antoinette meets Les Misérables meets Pirates of the Caribbean.
This Simone Rocha dress, made purely of ballet slipper pink bows is possibly the only item that can compete with said Chanel boots.
Plastic fantastic
This trend I find a little harder than the others. Unless it’s a buttery soft kind of plastic, I find the squeaky/stickyness of it all can feel a bit more medical than YSL, but I salute those who commit to it. Practicality has never looked so chic. (Listening to Beyoncé’s Plastic Off The Sofa on repeat).
White shoes
So wrong it’s right. Quite pleased with this revival as it means I can get more wear out of my wedding shoes I sourced from Vinted.
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Spotlight on Alessandra Michele at Valentino:
As a child I used to rush home from school and hungrily devour a packet of chocolate Hobnobs whilst watching music videos on MTV in a trance like state. Now I find myself coming home from work, still devouring Hobnobs but this time I’ve swapped MTV for Michele’s intoxicating AW25 show. Inspired by the late David Lynch, Le Méta-Théâtre des Intimités is hauntingly cinematic, a most glamorous nightmare that leaves you anxiously wanting more. WATCH IT here.
As the title of the show suggests, Michele’s second ready-to-wear collection for Valentino explores the role clothes embody as a tool to display both performance and intimacy. The best place to show it? In a lacquered, over saturated red public toilet of course, somewhere that is simultaneously private and public-genius! The sound of a toilet flushing to open the show suggested Michele doesn’t care for his critics negative response from his first collection at Valentino. Nor should he.
Michele is a master of juxtaposition. The models appeared to have trawled through a vintage archive and mixed it with their own wardrobe staples. Balaclavas were mixed with ballgowns, Van’s ground a gold buttoned suit, kimonos/sequinned cardigans/fur coats were shrugged over a shirt and tie. They’re at once familiar and challenging combinations but they’re always a feast for the eyes.
I’m excited to see the heady heights he’ll venture onto at Valentino. Maximalism is certainly not dead. It’s a brave stance in a boggy world of navy and browns but it’s a breath of fresh air.
My homework has officially been handed in. Happy experimenting! See you in the Fall! (I know I’m English, we don’t say Fall. It just sounds better here.)
I love your notes so much!