The Top Fall 2024 Fashion Trends: Designers See the World Through a Soft-Focus Lens

Real, as opposed to fantastical, fashion is the unifying message of the new season. Bottega Veneta’s Matthieu Blazy said he was “interested in making a monument out of the everyday,” which is essentially fall 2024’s motto. Broadly speaking, the focus is less on silhouette (though there were shoulders of Claude Montana–ish proportions) than on materials and tactility. Taken altogether the combination of heritage tweeds and herringbones with plaids and Aran and argyle knits conjures an English country weekend. Building on this outdoorsy—but decidedly not gorpcore—theme are a preponderance of ski sweaters representing perhaps a nostalgia for snow, which climate change has rendered increasingly rare in some parts of the world. Outerwear in shearling, faux furs, feathers, and yarn provides more than warmth. These often voluminous touch-me pieces do the work for you, whether you’re going for glam by way of Diana Ross or Carrie Bradshaw or leaning into the haute bohème vibe rekindled at Chloé.

While designers are more focused on daywear and mix-and-match separates (“reality,” in fashion speak), that doesn’t mean they’re engaged with the world’s grim reality. Copious amounts of red-wine-colored garments take the edge off. Wars are raging, populism is growing, and momentous elections are looming at home and abroad, but luxury’s response is mostly to apply the rules of disengagement. Rather than get political, fashion is choosing to offer succor in the form of protective garments that embrace, or even swaddle, the wearer. Henry Zankov, who called his collection Hold Me Closer, said, “I wanted that sensation of being hugged, of having someone to be in your clothes with you.” Building on that sense of safekeeping and creating a bridge with nature are novel takes on camouflage, perhaps inspired by Pharrell Williams’s so-called damoflage for Louis Vuitton. High collars also allow for anonymity.

Tinsel trimmings, shown for day and night, allow for more extroverted expression. In the absence of take-me-to-the-moon gowns, the reedition of Le Smoking—the ne plus ultra of masculine occasionwear until it was popularized for women by Yves Saint Laurent in the late ’60s—adds a Gatsby-like air to evening dressing. While Dolce & Gabbana composed an ode to this archetype, others are taking it apart, using the satin-lapel jacket or the cummerbund as a way