Trends to Try
These days, runway trends can trickle down into street style consciousness in a flash. Check out these major trends from designer offerings during last week’s Melbourne Fashion Festival and get inspired for a new season of style.
Photos by Lucas Dawson
Designer Vintage
Town Hall Runway 5 featured a mix of contemporary and vintage styling, with the major runway trend being designer vintage itself. Vintage fashion retailers such as Reina Melbourne and Madam Virtue & Co showed runway looks consisting of archival pieces from the likes of Chanel, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Fashion borrows a great deal from past trends, so the runway outfits looked as wearable as ever.
With the conversation around sustainability gaining traction, what better time than now to embrace shopping pre-loved? Seeking out stylish vintage bargains sounds like a challenge that everyone’s up for, so designer vintage is definitely a runway trend to get behind.
Elevated Prairie Girl
For lovers of feminine style with a modern twist, the prairie girl runway trend spotted in Town Hall Runway 4 is for you. Think less country bumpkin and more of a sleek bohemian vibe. Labels Torannce and Atoir showed runway looks with unmistakable prairie girl motifs. Peasant style blouses, romantic sleeves, pussy-bow detailing and ruffled collars are all features of this trending style.
Maximalism
Likely a result of the unbridled creativity of fashion design students not yet geared toward designing for mainstream markets, maximalism was the key runway trend from the MFW student designer offerings. Exaggerated puffer jackets from Kangas Insitute student Sabrina Sekerovski’s Biohazard collection were certainly hard to miss. Overall, the atypical silhouettes and exaggerated proportions across the student designer collections made a great case against the oft-repeated fashion advice ‘less is more’.
80s Retro
Town Hall Runway 7 was a glitzy and glamorous affair. While the 80s throwback trend has been influencing fashion plenty in 2019, runway offerings from labels such as Jason Gretch and Nicola Finetti took things up a notch. Unmistakably 80s inspired party dresses in metallics, sherbety pastels and bold block colours were standouts.
Earthy Hues & Prints
The closing Town Hall runway for MFW brought things down to earth. Designers Arnsdorf, Camilla and Marc and Bianca Spender showed pieces in tones of brown and green. Subtle takes on animal print, as well as landscape-inspired patterns, complimented the earthy hues perfectly.
Bold Prints & Clashing
With eccentric creations from designers like Double Rainbou, Erik Yvon and Chris Ran Lin on display, Highrise Runway 3 presented a mix of trends and influences. A major takeaway from the designs and the runway styling itself is anything goes when it comes to pairing prints. – Polka dots set against swirling snake print and checkerboard graphics. – Blending unexpected textures. No rules apply here.
Want more fashion goodness from MFW? Check out our list of the standout designers who showed during the week.