The Florals for Next Spring Really Are Groundbreaking
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Florals for spring are almost a given, but they got a reboot for spring 2024.
At Undercover, designer Jun Takahashi sent out four dresses with bulging terrarium skirts, each with its own ecosystem of live flowers and butterflies that were released immediately after the show. “Many collections feel lazy next to Undercover,” wrote WWD international editor Miles Socha in his review.
More from WWD
Daniel Lee's First Holiday Campaign Rains With Ducks and Dogs
Burberry's New Tricker's, Sephora Promotes Yeh, Dingyun Zhang's First Product
Burberry, Tricker's Join Forces to Showcase British Craftsmanship in Footwear
Takahashi may have been the only one to build an entire greenhouse, but he wasn’t alone in his decision to use fresh flowers over fake. Simone Rocha trapped pink ones under tulle, while a pair of models walked Richard Quinn’s runway clutching matching bouquets.
Still, most designers chose to replicate the effect with 3D constructions that wouldn’t require watering.
At Valentino, Pierpaolo Piccoli rendered lilies in white for cutaway minidresses, vest-tops and bras as finely wrought as plaster moldings. Borrowing terminology used for sculpture, he dubbed the technique “high relief.” “What you see as decoration becomes the construction itself,” he explained to WWD Paris bureau chief Joelle Diderich.
And for the French leg of Marni’s world tour, Francesco Risso assembled dozens of tin cans that were painstakingly molded and painted to resemble metallic flowers. Noir Kei Ninomiya recycled scrap material as well with translucent wire that had silicone edges blooming outward, observed WWD general assignment editor Lily Templeton.
Flowers also came in the more standard 2D for prints at 3.1 Phillip Lim, Zimmermann and Burberry where creative director Daniel Lee capitalized on the brand’s Britishness with varieties typical of an English meadow.
Working with abstract daisies, poppies and cornflowers, Lee wanted to imbue the show “with lightness and calm,” he told WWD London bureau chief Samantha Conti.
Meanwhile, David Koma zoomed in on England’s national flower, the rose, which Bergdorf Goodman’s fashion director Linda Fargo hailed as “the flower of the season” in WWD’s buyers report.
Roses sprouted from the runways at Alexander McQueen, Wiederhoeft and Vivetta, too.
They were also the starring motif in Olivier Rousteing’s Balmain collection, expressed first as rosette-shaped buttons trailing down the center of tailored looks before blossoming into large-scale petal appliqués on dresses in crystal or patent leather.
Socha thought the latter were “more hit and miss,” but noted Rousteing was unapologetic about his exuberance saying, “I don’t want to try to play a minimalist designer because at the end of the day, I’m not.”
Launch Gallery: Spring 2024 Trend: Florals
Best of WWD
