For fall 2024, designers continued to explore the different sides of dressing for success, using sartorial expressions that include a variety of takes on the suit.
At Schiaparelli, Texan designer Daniel Roseberry offered Western-inspired tailoring with suits that featured new high-waisted, low-crotch pants worn with cowboy boots and braids of hair in place of ties. “I really feel like there’s confidence in simplicity,” he told Paris bureau chief Joelle Diderich of his vision for creative business attire. “For me, this is really about something more bare, something more raw.”
Sabato De Sarno’s take on suiting for his sophomore Gucci show revolved around a younger and more playful silhouette with sharp blazers over matching HotPants. There were legs-legs everywhere, joked West Coast executive editor Booth Moore, adding it’s “absurd on a winter day, sure, but this is what the kids wear.”
Also showing lots of leg, miniskirts contused their prominence, peaking out from underneath blazers at Ferragamo and Stella McCarthy, while skirt suits at Sportmax and Givenchy were knee-length.
1940s wartime-feeling tailoring was combined with lingerie at Prada, often on a single garment that was different front to back. Though not a revolutionary styling trick, it was “marvelous to look at,” said Moore. Silks and menswear suiting fabrics intermingled at Michael Kors as well where the designer referenced the origins of power glamour from ‘30s screen sirens like Katharine Hepburn and Jean Harlow.
Elsewhere In New York, Christian Siriano took the suit into after-hours territory. Senior market editor, accessories Thomas Waller eyed a few coatdresses, which he said “made the case for unexpected and eye-catching event-dressing proportions.” LaQuan Smith showed a similarly sexy spin on corporate wear with standout styles like a navy pin-striped plunging neck dress and a blazer and miniskirt set paired with an undone dress shirt. They “evoked Smith’s quintessential sexy vibe,” wrote senior reporter, menswear and accessories, Layla Ilchi, “showing how he’s able to evolve the aesthetic for a more mature customer.”