Minimal, Luxe Looks Are Back in Fashion.

"For a while there, it felt like every week designers were exposing a new body part. In the past few years, I've written about sheer pants, navel cutouts, maternity crop tops, the "naked dress," bra tops and other revealing trends I'd love to forget. Postpandemic, nudity became my beat.

We can all exhale (literally and metaphorically) as the footloose and fancy-free party days appear to have given way to a more thoughtful and adult way of dressing. The spring 2024 collections shown in New York this past week indicate that we're headed toward an era of covering up, but not prudishness. The styles coming to the fore are minimal. 

They're luxe. Nearly every brand I saw offered a cream blazer, a black trouser, a minimalist red column dress, a cashmere knit tied around the shoulders. (It's no accident that that's a perfect shopping list.)

Linda Fargo, Bergdorf Goodman's senior vice president of the fashion office and director of women's fashion and store presentation, said that barely-there fashion had become "almost a nonissue, it was so commonplace." But after a few seasons of that abandon, she said, "a new need for discretion and clothes which were simply 'good clothes' started to feel more real. More now. Reasonable, practical dressing began to overtake fashion high-jinks."

This wave of considered sophistication is hitting brands both small -- Attersee, Kallmeyer, Marina Moscone -- and major, like Michael Kors (recently under the Tapestry umbrella in a multibillion-dollar deal).

3.1 Phillip Lim

After a four-year break from the runway, 3.1 Phillip Lim returned with a collection called "A New York Uniform," shown convincingly on women spanning a range of ages. Rather than featuring one token over-50 model, the show made gray hair the norm with its refreshingly inclusive cast.

Lim said, "This brand has always been deep-rooted in reality, but we romance it." He continued, "I've always been obsessed with dressing everyday people and elevating that reality." He wants women to find things in this collection they can wear to brunch, or to work, or out in the evening. They absolutely will: The range of wearable separates from cropped, swingy jackets, sheer-but-not-too-sheer black dresses and French-blue poplin tops will sell, especially at Lim's famously accessible price point.

Fforme

For a quiet-looking label, Fforme is generating a massive amount of noise. The refined, knitwear-heavy line is designed by creative director Paul Helbers, an alum of the Row, Maison Margiela and Louis Vuitton. Helbers, as deliberate as his clothes, said that Fforme was about "care of design, of materials, craftsmanship, the design process, and creating something that has a sense of utility."

The label, launched in New York in 2022, showed a suite of sculptural pieces in neutrals and pinks for its first runway show. While some debated whether such low-key clothes needed a proper show (rather than a more casual presentation), Helbers said that the clothing came alive in person.

Helbers chafes at labels like "quiet luxury," saying his clothes aren't chasing trends. "We're not really interested in themes or in the changes of mood of what people want to buy," he said. "I think it's more a sort of approach of wanting quality and buying less and wanting to spend your money on good things that create a wardrobe."

Proenza Schouler

With its current black-and-white advertisements featuring Chloe Sevigny, Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are signifying a back-to-basics approach.

At times in the past, McCollough and Hernandez have been a bit myopic in their obsession with textile experimentation. But in their forties, as the pretty much uncontested kings of New York cool, they are doubling down on the clothes that their muses like artist Olympia Scarry and entrepreneur Lauren Santo Domingo wear day in and day out. So the spring collection was filled with perfect pants, cream and black tailoring, efficient-looking hands-free waist-bags and simple dresses.

Khaite

New York brand Khaite owes a debt to European designers. Last season veered into Phoebe Philo for (old) Celine territory, with its furry fabrics and accessories. For spring, some were whispering "Saint Laurent" as the dark, misty lighting revealed models in sexy slip dresses layered with slouchy leather jackets.

But creative director Catherine Holstein's skill lies in distilling those references into essential-feeling (yet pricey) pieces -- dresses, coats, coveted boots -- that fly off the shelves. Despite its slightly pretentious veneer, this is a brand churning out just-fashion-enough clothes, like a leather-trimmed black overcoat and an ultrasimple red tank dress." [1]

1. Off Brand: Minimal, Luxe Looks Are Back in Fashion. Satran, Rory. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 18 Sep 2023: A.13.