TOP 10 FALL/WINTER 2021 FASHION TRENDS
- azurabox
- Aug 26, 2021
- 4 min read
This fall is all about transitioning from the minimal, bright pieces from summer, to the warm, neutral fuzz of winter.
Below you'll find information gathered from statement pieces and reoccuring garments from the fall/winter 2021 virtual fashion shows.
Enjoy!
SEQUINS
Photo Illustration: Hannah Whitaker for Bloomberg Businessweek; Photographs: Courtesy companies
When Michael Kors presented his fall looks in April, the world was in the midst of a rising wave of Covid-19, with 670,000 new cases recorded every 24 hours. Not that you’d have guessed it from the clothes. To celebrate Kors’s 40 years in business, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, and other supermodels strutted in coats and dresses that sparkled with reflective materials. Even the grays glistened.
He wasn’t alone. Almost every major fashion designer responded to the pandemic the same way: lots and lots and lots of shine. The optimistic collections anticipated a clientele that, by September, would be in a collective mood for celebration.
SATURATED SHADES
From fall, we’ve come to expect darker and richer colors, muted jewel tones and saturated neutrals. We’re used to seeing fall staples like coats and sweaters in deep reds, dark browns, and grays. Neons and pastels are typically reserved for the shorts and skirts of spring. But this season, those assumptions have been turned on their heads and pastels emerged as the unexpected color trend of fall.
This season, we are seeing puffers, sweaters, hats, and gloves in powder blues, soft yellows, blush pinks, and other pastels! Of course, the tried and true colors of autumn (a bold red and an emerald green) are still very much present in the fall collections, but the prevalence of pastels as a color trend is something we couldn’t have anticipated and we are here for this surprising shake up. We’ve rounded up the biggest color trends seen in FW21 so you can taste—actually more like wear—the rainbow.
TAILORED PIECES
This season, styling your tailored pieces could not be any easier. The Row, Petar Petrov, and Max Mara are just a few of the designers leading the pack in this tonal-tailoring moment, as they paired pristine suiting separates of the same color to create very elevated yet forward layered looks. Start with a menswear-inspired coat you love and layer blazers, blouses, and skirts aplenty in the same hue underneath. Do this and you'll be on-trend in no time.
KNITWEAR
If there's anything the pandemic could've possibly taught us about fashion, it's that cozy, soft clothing feels good. Sweater weather will be here before you know it, and knitwear is already popping up in the form of elevated and oversized cable knits sweaters as well as dresses in fall collections such as Fendi, Chanel, Etro as well as all over TikTok and Instagram.
SILKS AND LACE
For those who subscribe to the idea of a new Roaring '20s on the horizon, you'll be perfectly outfitted for the occasion. Flapper dresses abound in classically executed silks and lace from Khaite and Kwaidan Editions. More modern iterations can be found at Kim Jones's new Fendi and Gabriela Hearst's new Chloé. Layered under long coats at Miu Miu and Paco Rabanne, or with a grunge-tinged '90s take at Coach, these nightie-inspired dresses are made for the nightlife.
COLOURED PUFFER JACKETS
Puffer jackets are bigger, bolder and more exaggerated than ever before. Prada, Givenchy, Marni, Balenciaga, Chanel and Louis Vuitton blew up their padded pieces and they came in every shape and form, from cropped jackets to ponchos and longline coats.
ALL THINGS CROPPED
Recently ended Fashion Weeks made it clear that cropped jackets are by no means a passing whim of fashion. In autumn and winter, this trend will still be relevant. Alice + Olivia and Moschino prepared skirt suits in a cage for the cold season, Chanel – a bright trouser suit with a jacket that reveals a narrow strip of naked skin, and Maestro Armani continues the theme started in the spring-summer collection, but additionally suggests considering the possibility of including an elegant jacket in everyday wardrobe.
MIDI DRESSES
While you may associate floaty, print midi dresses with summer, may designers featured them among their winter collections.
You could add a pair of long boots (as shown at Victoria Beckham, right) and a blazer or moto jacket to ensure you’re warm enough as the weather cools down.
ELONGATED COATS
MARC PIASECKI/GETTY IMAGES
Though the long leather coat’s reemergence has taken off in the last few months, an early champion of the style is Kaia Gerber. She’s been spotted frequently in the vintage-inspired ’fit since 2018.
Whenever she rocks one, the supermodel gives us a textbook example of how to style this piece casually. Let’s be honest: Normally, our winter attires are dominated by the coziest blue, gray, and black pieces we can find. Luckily, those will pair perfectly with an oversized black coat. Try wearing your favorite knit with a pair of jeans under your long leather coat to achieve an everyday winter look with a nostalgic twist.
PRINTS
After dominating market share, loungewear finally takes a break and we see a plethora of colourful prints – à la psychedelic prints, retro patterns and peppy influences and party looks – think sequins, shimmer and metallics.
Vivid hues paint a bright canvas via hot pinks, cobalt blues, sunshine yellows and scarlet reds, as well as animal prints.
Balance is maintained via neutral colour palettes dominant of soft lilacs, creamy off whites and neutral browns.
Comments