The Fall/Winter 2024 season brought forth a plethora of noteworthy events, including significant designer debuts, special runway appearances, and exciting new collaborations. As we delve into this season’s highlights, it’s evident that it marks a pivotal moment in the industry, with creators at the helm of important houses steering fashion into a new decade.
Fall/Winter 2024 showcased a significant step forward in age inclusion and diversity on the runway, reflecting a commitment to inclusivity and representation. Join us as we explore how fashion shows continue to serve as a platform for commentary on today’s ever-evolving world panorama.
Contrasts and deception at Prada
Clichés of femininity were recontextualised throughout the Prada FW 2024 collection with the juxtaposition of delicacy and roughness. For contrast, paneled skirts with fronts in heavy tweed and backs in airy silk, bows that resembled fringes, fine feathers adorned military hats, while sturdy fabrics achieved couture-like constructions.
Nicolas Ghesquiere’s 10th Anniversary at LV
Ghesquiere’s anniversary collection contained a number of self-reflective moments. Even a decade on, the FW 2024 show had a freshness and innovation factor that has always characterized the designer.
Malina Joseph styles MSGM FW24
For AW24, MSGM’s Massimo Giorgetti paired with stylist Malina Joseph to guide us on a journey through the use of color, inspired by Truman Capote’s “swans”.
Saint Laurent’s Watery Tailoring
On the closing night of Paris Fashion Week, Anthony Vaccarello presented his FW collection with Yves Saint Laurent doppelgangers carrying the subtlest of tailoring presented throughout the entire season.
The cast at Miu Miu
Present on the runway to embody the idea of a Miu Miu for everyone were actress Kristin Scott Thomas and Angela Molina, or Prada/Miu Miu collector Qin Huilan, while dancer Guillaume Diop and actor Luther Ford fronted the menswear.
The intro film at Chanel with Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz
A film featuring Penélope Cruz and Brad Pitt introduced the Chanel Fall-Winter 2024/25
Ready-to-Wear show. A tribute to the film ‘A Man and a Woman’ by French director Claude Lelouch, it captures the beginning of a love story in Deauville, a place dear to the House, and the inspiration behind the collection imagined by Virginie Viard.
The Row’s no-phone policy
The invite for The Row’s Resort 2025 collection presented in Paris, t included a note asking guests not to use their phones to shoot or film the collection. Instead, everyone was provided with a notebook and pencil, so the show’s coverage was limited to memory and imagination.
Fur Mittens (and Beyonce) at Luar
The Luar Fall 2024 collection was an exercise of recontextualization and juxtaposition, carried out in the contrasting of silhouettes––from surrealistically oversized to extreme form-fitting, to the adjacency of shiny leather set against quirky fur mittens spread throughout the collection. Beyoncé attended the Luar show this season, alongside her mother Tina Knowles, and her sister Solange, whose son Julez Smith Jr. walked the show.
Deception at Sacai
Initially, at Sacai, it seemed like the collection featured numerous pantsuit looks. However, upon closer inspection, it became evident that what seemed to be tailored trousers were actually Chitose Abe’s interpretation of thigh-high boots. This was just one example of the collection’s trompe l’oeil techniques. Each meticulously layered outfit was not composed of multiple garments but rather a single mega-garment.
Not-Kate Moss at Marine Serre
Marine Serre brought Denise Ohnona, a Kate Moss doppelgänger, to walk her FW24 show. Titled ‘Ground Control’, Serre’s collection was staged in a market-like environment, with which the designer sought to foster a long-lost sense of community in Paris.
Stella McCartney goes strong on self-references
In her latest collection, Stella McCartney decided to look into the archive and pillars of her own design lexicon. Tailoring in her FW24 presentation featured crystal detailing fashioned in the style of her Chloé collections designed circa Spring 2000.
Menswear is back at Mugler
Casey Cadwallader didn’t exclude men from a FW24 collection dominated by theatricality, strong leatherwork, and effervescent personalities. Out of the 40 ensembles presented by the designer, 7 menswear pieces embodied Cadwallader’s vision of hypercharged sensuality, expressed through precise slits and tight, revealing silhouettes.
An all black Valentino
For Fall, Valentino delved into the many dimensions black can take when it transcends its role merely as a color. Black emerged in the collection as a conduit that surpassed the visual spectrum and became an agent to tap into concepts such as volume and texture.
Balenciaga references at Balenciaga, AI box
In the Balenciaga FW24 collection, silhouettes inferred hours of construction—as the show notes revealed, the principal silhouette was inspired by Cristobal Balenciaga’s ‘Hip Aulette’ construction, which features shoulder pads sewn into the hips to expand them and create volume.
Daring geometrism at Junya Watanabe
Conventional garments met defiant forms in Junya Watanabe’s FW24 collection. In the initial looks, intersecting triangular shapes emerged, adorned with drapes of fabric that sprung from their edges. Geometrism was central to the collection, yet the manipulation and defiance of this concept were also evident in ensembles adorned with overlapping knotted clusters of irregularly shaped black paneling.
Petal-like draping at Issey Miyake
For the Issey Miyake FW24 collection, Satoshi Kondo conceived pieces that departed from and served as an extension of the human body. Iconic Miyake silhouettes occupied and filled the space between the body and its surroundings, manifesting in drapes and constructions of metaphysical quality. Similar to other collections this season, the garments embodied a protective purpose, conveyed through layered drapes assembled with armor-like construction.
Beadwork at Loewe
In true Loewe style, Jonathan Anderson showed everything from classic leather totes to the Maison’s iconic Flamenco bag and even a flashy beaded number which turned out to be a bag shaped like a bunch of white asparagus. The “Trompe l’oeil” caviar-beaded embroidery also adorned tracksuits and boots to balloon trousers made from curtain fabric.
String dresses at Rick Owens
The closing looks of Rick Owens’ FW24 collection–ropey ensembles that wrapped the body in cage-like form–encapsulated the essence of Rick Owens’ vision: a blend of dystopian dread and apocalyptic beauty, a narrative that speaks to the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds.
Chemena Kamali’s capes for Chloé
Kamali set the foundation for her creative vision for her Chloe era as early as the first look in her debut collection: a black leather capelet secured at the collar by a necklace of cascading golden medals. The cape-work in the collection nodded to heritage-inspired pieces, including a revision of Karl Lagerfeld’s Musketeers’ collection.
Trench coats at Courreges
Nicolas di Felice defied engineering and architecture with the cut of his trench coats this season at Courreges. The designer challenged the wrap-and-buckle action of the garment, reducing its construction to the essential while also exaggerating features like collars, sleeves, and lapels.
Dries Van Noten’s volumetric space
A spirit of effervescence and boldness was conveyed through visually monumental volumes at Dries Van Noten; malleable shapes contrasting the crisp tailoring of down coats and parkas, while soft fur textures were set against sturdy gabardine-like bomber jackets.
Soft tailoring at Peter Do
Peter Do’s sharp tailoring came in the form of softer silhouettes this season. Two broad-shouldered, maxi winter jackets in the collection reinterpreted the designer’s signature clever cuts this time in malleable, comforting textiles.
The Miss Dior comeback
For Fall, Maria Grazia Chiuri presented an array of skirts, blazers, and trench coats tattooed with graffiti font spelling out ‘Miss Dior.’ This served as both homage to the Miss Dior line–the house’s inaugural venture into ready-to-wear–and a rebellion against the conventions of femininity and women’s dressing.
Bottega Veneta’s Look #8
Look #8 from Bottega Veneta’s Fall 2024 collection embodies the essence of trickery and illusion in construction, a hallmark established by designer Matthieu Blazy for the brand. The look features two fabric panels pin-gathered at the neck and hips to create the illusion of a bias-cut dress.
Round shapes at Jil Sander
Lucie and Luke Meier’s Fall collection for Jil Sander was all about a feeling of embrace, an idea conveyed via rounded silhouettes that were achieved by sculpting and giving precise darting to sleeves, creating a perfect circumference around the body, which was then accentuated by marking waists.
Bags at Bally
Almost every exit at the Bally Fall 2024 collection was accompanied by a bag. Various came embellished with Alpine Appenzeller motifs, while some featured Treichein bells hanging ir.
Naomi closing Dolce&Gabbana
For the second consecutive time, supermodel Naomi Campbell stirred excitement by closing the Dolce & Gabbana show. Following her surprise appearance on the Spring runway, Campbell reaffirmed her status as a brand ambassador by once again closing the show for Fall 2024.
Silk work at Ferragamo
Maximilian Davis presented at Ferragamo a rich tapestry of designs that flirted with the dualities of concealment and exposure. This exploration of contrast is not just a theme but a narrative thread, told through the juxtaposition of sheer fabrics against the luxurious embrace of wools and silks.
Brush strokes at Marni
This season at Marni, textures were turbulent, blurred or faded, just like memory itself. The final outings embraced the concept by featuring hand painted brush strokes that gave the illusion of cluttered feathers. The technique was applied on trousers and dresses, and a version was recreated also for pumps and boots. In a play of deception, one of the final ensembles featured a fur coat hand painted to achieve a feather-like finish.
Sunnei & cc-Tapis
At Sunnei, models took to the runway atop a vibrant rug of reds, yellows, greens and blues produced in partnership with the artisans from cc-Tapis. Unconventionally, a number of textiles used throughout the collection’s garments were also in fact created using the same rug material, the Farfalla Bag or Koala Dress.
Great debut at Tods
Held in the city’s tram depot, the debut collection by Matteo Tamburini proved to be a promising beginning for Tod’s. Built upon house staples, the collection relied on craftsmanship and a modernist approach to construction. Tamburini’s opening offer, for contrast, echoed the essence of an Italian futurist painting, showcasing a geometric structure consisting of poplin striped shirts, cleverly double-layered in the styling, and paired with constructed trousers.
Coats at Tom Ford
For his second collection at the helm of Tom Ford, Peter Hawkings opened the show with a series of military-inspired coats and jackets in navy, each varying in length and cut. Trench and pea coats graced the collection in a spectrum of materials, from translucent organza to napa leather and exotic crocodile skin.
Belts at Max Mara
At Max Mara, Designer Ian Griffith’s exploration of Japanese influences went beyond construction and extended to the styling of the collection. The elongated, flowing silhouette was defined by Obi-inspired knitted bands at the waist, complemented by slender belts that added a touch of modernism.
Look #10 at Del Core
Del Core’s exit #10 speaks to a distinctly minimal taste with a contemporary edge, proving that no matter how obsessed the internet appears to be with maximalist trends there’s no escaping the talons of minimalism.
The Diesel show experience
At Diesel, Glenn Martens bore it all out. In an empty warehouse on the outskirts of Milan, towering screens projected a mosaic of micro Zoom-screen rectangles of live participants streaming the show live from their homes giving fans a full view of the dynamic unfolding at styling sessions, castings, and the show’s location.
MM6 Maison Margiela accessories
Perhaps the most eye-catching element at MM6 Maison Margiela was the accessories. Be it the whimsical fun of funky faces constructed from googly eyes and safety pins, the collection offers a diverse range of ornamentation. The likes of key charm earrings and arm cuffs spark imaginative ideas of DIY projects one could create in anticipation of the release of this collection.
Fabric manipulation and silhouettes at Ann Demeulemeester
At Ann Demeulemeester, Fall staples like down coats came in buttery (black, of course) leather, while knitwear was ripped or shrunk; when not both. Stefano Gallici’s waistcoats exuded a distinctly military flair, extending beyond the expected forest green palette. Notably, they were meticulously re-proportioned, and the elongated sleeves introduced a sense of substantial weight to the overall silhouette. A sense of rebellion permeated the cut of many pieces, like the raw cuts on the hems of a leather skirt.
Glenn Martens 10th Anniversary at Y/Project
Glenn Martens celebrated ten years at the helm of Y/Project by presenting his Fall/Winter 2024 collection in a more intimate format. Instead of a traditional fashion show during Paris Fashion Week, Martens commemorated the milestone by inviting friends and family of the brand to model the collection.
Hunter green at Burberry
At London Fashion Week, Burberry introduced what would go on to become one of the most seen colorways of the season, Hunter green, which was presented in the way of tartans, thick and slim gauge knitwear, faux fur, gabardine, and even velour.
Corsetry at Simone Rocha
Leave it to Simone Rocha to innovate the historical practice of corsetry. In the Fall 2024 collection, corsetry played a prominent role, appearing as delicate superstructures embracing the abdomen in tie-detail nylon parkas and rompers, or also defining the darting in little sheer jackets.
Thom Browne’s the raven
In his comeback to New York Fashion Week, Thom Browne staged a theatrical spectacle inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 poem The Raven. The show space featured a snowy yard, where a bare three appeared dressed in a huge Thom Browne puffer coat.