Of all the events you would imagine Paris Fashion Week would be all-consumed by newness. But, that isn’t always the case. For a handful of spring/summer 2018 shows felt like a flash back to a not-so distant decade. From Saint Laurent to Chloé there was a sweeping sense of nostalgia.
When Twitter took a walk down memory lane with #indieamnesty last year, little did we suspect that this unglamorous trail through London’s 2000s history would get relived through SS18 trends.
Over at Chloé where Natacha Ramsay-Levi has just taken up the reigns (in lieu of the recently departed creative director Clare Waight Keller) it seems she’s been digging through images of Sienna Miller’s indie days for inspiration. What could possibly make us say such a thing? Between the pretty flimsy, bohemian dresses there was one early Noughties staple we weren’t expecting to find: buttoned-up waistcoats. A wardrobe necessity of the indie era, this borrowed-from-the-boys waistcoat was a firm favorite with the likes of Sienna and Kate Moss. A scroll through old MySpace photo albums would uncover those who lived through the era wearing it loose over floral sundresses or, similar to how Chloé showed, over a white tee.
The indie era message must have made its way to the design quarters of Saint Laurent as Anthony Vaccarello resisted another Noughties staple: the leather short. He showed billowing silk blouses and bubble skirts, tulle party tops and sequined dresses as well as a 14 pairs of abbreviated high-waist black leather shorts. A decade or so ago they would have been worn over tights, but under Vaccarello’s watchful eye they were styled bare leg with knee-high yeti boots.
Falling in line with this burgeoning trend, Lacoste revisited an earlier decade with a persistent use of stonewashed denim. In doing so, they accidentally recalled the icy blue skinny jeans of tortured boybands. I wonder if Razorlight are aware?