While it may feel like we blinked and 2019 turned into 2024, a brand new year is here, and with the excitement and potential of a new year inevitably comes the excitement and potential of a whole new list of fashion trends to put on your radar.
It’s always nostalgic to look back on previous years and see what styles and clothes defined them—like the inescapable metallic silver that re-entered the scene in 2023—and looking ahead to see what a new year will bring is like a competitive sport. While some things are sure to change and pop up as the year progresses, some new, shiny trends are already here and ready to be worn.
From dresses that will undoubtedly spark a hefty dose of nostalgia to barely-there bottoms you can expect paparazzi to be photographing on your favorite celebrities, these seven trends are set to define 2024.
2023 was the year of celebrities leaving the house sans-pants—most notably Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Bieber—and the spring 2024 runways confirmed that the barely-there trend is here to stay. While Kendall Jenner went pantsless by layering black underwear over black tights to somehow maintain a surprisingly unrevealing iteration of the trend, Miu Miu and Ottolinger sent models down the runway with their bare legs on full display, sending out a signal that going out in your underwear is no longer reserved for REM cycle nightmares.
While going pantsless might be more welcomed by celebrities and models than common folk, you can expect the leg-exposing bottoms to gain even more traction in the new year, begging the question: Are tightie whities the new jeans?
My favorite moment of the SS’24 runways? When a model pranced down Staud’s runway show at The Plaza Hotel carrying a cartoonish, jumbo version of their iconic moon bag, solidifying once and for all that micro bags are out, and maxi bags are in. For those of us that leave the house with our laptops, makeups for touch-ups, lunch, snacks, and several pairs of sunglasses—you know who you are—you’re likely already carrying a Really Big Bag out of necessity, but larger bags are here to serve as much more than work totes in 2024. Get ready to fit a whole lot more than a singular lipstick in your going-out bag.
While floor-brushing puddle pants have spent seasons dominating the world of bottoms, capri pants have been gearing up to make their return to our closets. It’s only logical that it’s time for cropped pants to cycle back onto the scene, and their revival was apparent at Tory Burch, 3.1 Philip Lim, and Puppets and Puppets‘ SS’24 shows. The pants took on more tailored, form-fitting silhouettes, signaling that the oversized, baggy proportions we’ve become accustomed to in recent years are—at long last—fizzling away.
Pantone revealed that 2024’s color of the year is a pastel shade of peach (“peach fuzz” to be precise), but if you asked anyone in the fashion universe to take a guess at what they thought it would be after seeing SS’24’s runways, they would have confidently guessed a shade of blue. Designers from Staud to Proenza Schouler showed an overwhelming amount—and wide range—of the color in their collections, foreshadowing blue skies ahead come springtime.
Between Barbie and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, 2023 was the year of girlhood, and with it came one of the most quintessential signals of it: the bow. Sandy Liang led the charge toward hair bows, and during the second half of the year, you simply couldn’t escape them. From hair accessories to ribbon embellished dresses, if there’s a place to put a bow, someone is doing it.
Whimsical bows were the pièce de résistance once again at Sandy Liang‘s SS’24 show, and models at Simone Rocha sauntered down the runway with bows big and small creating Coquette-ish effect that will dominate as an aesthetic in 2024.
You couldn’t take a scroll through TikTok without seeing one of your favorite fashion people wearing silver on any given day this year, and while metallics will continue to prevail in the new year, silver will relinquish its crown for gold to snatch it. Rabanne made a solid case for mixed metals on SS’24 runways, while Ralph Lauren closed his gleaming show with a gold lamé dress draped onto Christy Turlington. In 2024, expect silver pieces to be exchanged for gold ones, as the metallic will get the opportunity to shine in all its gilded glory.
If you thought we’ve already recycled every Y2K trend imaginable, guess again: bubble hems are back. Featured on both mini and maxi skirts, the detail gives a playful, youthful effect to whatever it touches. The trend gained quite a bit of traction after being spotted on the SS’23 runways of Carolina Herrera, and Ulla Johnson, but once springtime lends way to dresses and skirts being back in play, all eyes will be back on one of the most nostalgic relics of the early aughts.
