Scientifically Speaking, Never Has There Been A More Acceptable Time To Wear Sequins Than Tonight

Made for kira kira

Published on31st December 2017 at 9.04am

While you cheers your nth glass of prosecco and link arms for a slurred rendition of Auld Lang Syne just know that the sequin dress you picked out for New Year’s Eve was the correct choice. As December turns into January and we wave goodbye to a stinking awful year be happy in the knowledge that tonight, there is no such thing as to much glitter. Between KiraKira+, the Instagram add-in that garnishes all images with sparkles, and Saint Laurent’s sell-out £6,000 rhinestoned boots ’tis the moment to dress up.

Once the refrain of the festive season alone, the sparkle of sequins is spilling into spring, which makes the 31st of December the optimum moment for dripping in twinkles.

Ever since Pat McGrath first debuted her Labs make-up line back in 2015 with packaging almost as covetable as the contents itself, a burgeoning then for sequins began. The range in question came embedding in a vacuum packet bag filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of individual sequins. From then on brands have been half-heartedly copying the leading make-up artist’s range while industry watchdogs Diet_Prada have been avidly making note and calling out the dupes.

The autumn/winter 17 collections were festooned with the glint of glitter. Emilia Wickstead and Rochas debuted full-length sequin gowns, Isabel Marant showed glittering trouser, Gucci introduced a bejewelled face-mask, and Saint Laurent launched a thousand copy-cats with those slouching bedazzled silver boots.

By the time the spring/summer 18 shows came along last September you’d think designers would have tired of this embellishment, but the razzmatazz marched on. In New York, Victoria Beckham set the world alight with so-called ‘Dorothy’ shoes while Tom Ford set the spring trend in motion with an opulent ruffled dress with glimmering sleeves. In London, Ashish, Halpern and Emilia Wicksted embodied the trend with flamboyant sparkles. By the time fashion month hit Italy Gucci was ready with shimmering paillettes. Meanwhile, Versace showcased the house’s iconic prints on crystallised bodysuits. All in all, it looks like sequins have a fighting chance to replace florals for spring. Now, that’s actually groundbreaking.

Debrief Sequins Trend

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Sequins Trend

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Sequins Trend

It’s been ten years since Cos entered the British market. When it launched in the middle of a recession designer labels were deemed gauche, and the minimalism of Céline inspired a hoard of copy-cat labels. Though the economy may still be in a fragile state, the fashion pendulum has swung away from understated design and in its place first came comfort, normcore and athleisure before an embrace of maximalism. ‘It was more of a catwalk trend, commercially that more-is-more look was translated through mismatched prints, embroidery everywhere and fabrics like sequins, lurex, metallic finishes.’ explains Director of Retail and Buying at trend-spotting agency WGSN Sara Maggioni.

The arbitrary boundary between ‘day’ and ‘night’ no longer exists for sequins. Forget that the sun is shining as bright of your dress for glitter has been elevated. Maggioni thinks, 'the popularity of hi-lo styling where fancy fabrics are increasingly used within a casualwear context, so you see the likes of sequins a lot more than before and throughout the season, not only for party drops. The blurring of genres and the cross-pollination of categories that has been gaining momentum has resulted in sequins, velvets and metallics being styled with jeans and tracksuit bottoms, so fancy fabrics and finishes like sequins are key to elevate the array of casualwear and streetwear that has been dominating the stores. People have become more familiar with that mix-and-match, smart casual aesthetic.’

Celebrity stylists also appear to be on the same sartorial wavelength as more and more A-listers are being spotted dripping in sequins. Adwoa Aboah attended the annual Fashion Awards ceremony in a micro mini-dress by Halpern, a label which Diane Kruger and Amal Clooney have also been spotted in. But, they aren’t alone as Cate Blanchett, Beyonce, Margot Robbie and Joan Smalls have all opted for this glitzy effect recently.

Culturally speaking, the zeitgeist has caught on. The Smithsonian is currently conserving Judy Garland’s glittering slippers from The Wizard of Oz after a viral crowd-funded campaign. Meanwhile, the men behind Instagram account @Thegaybeards made headlines with their glitter-dipped facial hair over the summer have found thousands of fans with their tutorial videos on Youtube.

While New Year’s Eve might be the perfect occasion for experimenting with sequins, known that the trend has yet to hit critical mass. At this moment, we have until at least the end of summer '18 to tire of this level of fabulousness.