London Fashion Week: 10 major trends for your fall/winter wardrobe

The recently-concluded London Fashion Week has filled the season with frills, flowers, long coats and loose-cut pants. Here we give you a lowdown of the 10 major trends from the mega fashion event.

London Fashion Week wrapped up on Tuesday, February 21, showcasing some of the key trends for the fall/winter 2017-2018 season. As well as those already seen in New York, such as the long coats and loose-cut pants, London filled the season with frills, flowers — in touches or head-to-toe looks — and bright, sometimes fluorescent colours.

London Fashion Week 2017 has given the world a lot of colour, frills, flowers and several ready-to-wear styles.(AFP)

Cheerful colour

Colour was everywhere on the London catwalk. (Reuters)

Although less present in New York, colour was everywhere in London, where the majority of designers chose to bring cheerful shades to their collections, whether in small touches (Versus, Simone Rocha), head-to-toe looks or multicoloured creations (Molly Goddard, Matty Bovan, Fyodor Golan).

Oversized pants

After being spotted in New York, the trend for loose-cut, fluid pants — often seen in extra-long lengths — was also very much on the agenda in London. Labels like Eudon Choi, PPQ and TOGA featured baggy, oversized styles in their collections.

Frills

Frills were big on the London catwalk. (AFP)

Frills were an unmissable trend on the London runway, seen in a host of shows. On tops, dresses or tunics, they added volume to some silhouettes and brought a punky, rock ‘n’ roll vibe to others. Molly Goddard proved something of a specialist.

Long coats

Long coats featured on the London runways.

Although less warm and enveloping that the New York creations, long and relatively loose coats were also popular among ready-to-wear designers in the British capital. DAKS, Eudon Choi, Huishan Zhang and Pringle of Scotland all featured coats of the kind, often finished in tartan, or monochrome or graphic prints.

Florals

Flowers bloomed in the British capital for FW17-18. (Reuters)

There was an almost springlike feel to the fall/winter shows in London, where designers used a host of floral motifs, often in head-to-toe looks, featuring small flowers, natural landscapes or more vintage-style floral prints. DAKS set them on powder pink, Simone Rocha and Joseph showed all-over florals, and flowers bloomed abundantly at Preen by Thornton Bregazzi — they really were everywhere.

Maxi dresses

Mulberry’s maxi dress. (Reuters)

With mostly lightweight, floaty designs, dresses come in maxi lengths for the fall/winter 2017 season, cut with varying looseness from designer to designer. Mulberry notably presented a layered dress, bringing movement to the gown, while Fyodor Golan had a patchwork-style maxi dress and Molly Goddard showed a voluminous frilled creation.

Capes

Models present creations from the Burberry collection during a catwalk show on the fourth day of the Autumn/Winter 2017 London Fashion Week in London on Monday. (AFP)

Watch out for capes next season, showcased by certain London designers, including Hussein Chalayan, whose collection was inspired by Greek culture. Burberry caused a stir with a multitude of reinterpreted and updated models in a variety of materials.

Baggy sweaters

Wrap up with Mulberry’s big, baggy sweater. (Reuters)

Women will have all they need to face the cold in style next season, as labels have got all bases covered. Like in New York, the big, baggy knitted sweater was everywhere in London, seen both in block color designs and in prints. Burberry, Margaret Howell and TOGA all had this kind of snug winter sweater in their shows.

The winter crop top

Crop tops aren’t just a summer style, it seems. Plenty of London labels turned the crop top into a winter essential, including Versus, which had a range of options made from warm materials and in bright colors.

Sparkle and shine

Shimmer and sparkle come to elegant gowns. (NYT)

Although a little less prevalent than on New York runways, shimmer and sparkle were still on the agenda for eveningwear in London. Mary Katrantzou presented a sumptuous gown with sheer effects and shimmering embroidery, while Temperley London showed sparkly dresses in a range of shades and TOGA had fun with gold-coloured sequins.

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