5 trends for women – spring and summer 2024

Troubled times in the global community are affecting the fashion scene. Designers resort to powerful tools such as nostalgia, symbolic use of colour, alternative digital worlds and artificial intelligence to seek solace and comfort.

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Text: Chili Media Photo: Imaxtree and suppliers

Next year’s spring and summer fashion is inspired by the prevailing world situation. Common to many of the trends is a need to seek solace, comfort and distraction in troubled times, either by reminiscing nostalgically back to childhood summers, or by escaping into the digital age with hyper-current tools such as artificial intelligence.

Here are five SS24 trends for her.

Yearning for simpler times

Remember your childhood summer holidays? Parents used to dress their children up in little checked outfits, like the familiar and beloved pepita checks. In adulthood, sophisticated and elegant houndstooth patterns are a popular choice when you want a hint of geometry in your wardrobe.

For next summer, however, the designers have brushed the dust off the cute and innocent little squares in both micro and macro prints, allowing them to shine alongside the traditional and classic houndstooth checks. Perhaps it’s a reflection of our need to feel like children again, basking in the benefits of naivety in a tough woe-begone world.

Think garments such as lightweight summer dresses and blouses, tight-fitting trousers and skirts. The colours range from pretty pastels of pale yellow, sky blue and baby pink to eye-catching contrasting colours such as black, white and bright red.

Sophisticated elegance

If there’s one colour that doesn’t make us think of summer, it’s black. This brutal colour – which isn’t even really a colour – has always been the big go-to colour in autumn and winter. But those days are gone. As early as summer 2023, we could see black summer dresses, which are actually a surprisingly refreshing addition to the cutesy, colourful and floral summer fashion.

In summer 2024, black will be even more prominent in the fashion scene. Black is also a colour that looks incredibly beautiful against sun-kissed skin.

Fashion houses such as Alberta Ferretti, Balenciaga, Chanel and Maxwell have all created their ultimate black summer dresses. The trend can also be seen as a contrast to the intense and daring party fashion that took off when the coronavirus pandemic came to an end.

Next summer, we’ll still embrace the same decadent and vibrant mindset, but, according to Trend Analytics, the look has evolved to become more elegant, sophisticated and classic in style.

Barbiecore

It began with so-called dopamine-dressing and optimistic maximalism in the wake of the pandemic. Bold colours are said to boost mood and happiness hormones in the body – and make us feel happier. And there’s no doubt they still have an important role to play in these strange times with the financial tensions and world situation that we’re all concerned with.

Autumn/Winter 2023 saw the Think Pink trend, with a range of light pink tones in focus. The Barbiecore trend plays on all this for next year’s summer fashion, most likely thanks to the blockbuster film Barbie, opening in summer 2023.

A key colour in 2024, according to WGSN and Coloro, will be Fondant Pink. A relaxed and youthful pastel pink rich in pigments to help us de-stress and slow down. This trend is seen on absolutely every possible type of garment. Both on blouses, tops and jumpers, and bottom garments such as skirts and trousers, as well as dresses. Either top-to-toe pink looks, or on one garment combined with more neutral colours such as black. Pink also looks fantastic with off-white, beige and other autumnal browns.

Metallic Rainbow

Take the colourful trends we’ve seen this year, but make them even more neon, acidic and almost digital in appearance. Mare di Moda refers to this trend as “Escapism”. And that’s not a bad thing. Because designers have let themselves get lost in the fantastic fictional universe on purpose, in response to these strange times we’re living in.

For the Metallic Rainbow trend, they are inspired by the costumes of the gaming world, so-called Skins, where you can escape into an alternative universe where life is just tickety- boo. It’s actually reminiscent of Digital Berry Tones, the 2020 trend of pink and red colours with a digital touch.

The neon contribution is designed to be perceived as digital filters, creating a heightened and synthetic reality. Think bright colours like shocking pink, bright red, fiery orange, bright green, acid lime green and neon purple. These colours appear on all manner of garments, both in full-coverage outfits, but also in individual pieces styled with more sober and neutral, subtle colours such as white, black and browns.

Everyone should be able to wear this trend, whether you want an eye-catching look or just a garment that boosts bot your mood and that of others. Designers such as Alberta Ferretti, Carolina Herrera, Erdem and Maxwell have all jumped on the colourful trend.

Sweet ice cream pastels

A struggling economy, high interest rates, a weak pound and war and unrest are likely to keep many of is up at night. So in a chaotic world, it’s only natural to want to seek refuge.

In 2024, according to Trend Analytics, we’ll be taken centuries back in time to a softer life – literally. The trend for ice cream pastels such as dusky lemon yellow, pale strawberry, pistachio and baby blue continues the trend from autumn and winter 2023/2024 with pale colours such as light blue, light beige, dusky green and light orange.

And, not least, the soft green Sage Leaf, in an attempt to reduce anxiety and stress in the brain. Sage Leaf is actually perfect for these troubled times as it has a quiet and calming green colour that symbolises tranquillity, reflection and contemplation.

Fashion houses such as Giambattista Valli, Blumarine and Stella McCartney have all jumped on the trend for next year’s summer fashion, which is all about pastels.