Couture week is historically known for presentations of princess-worthy gowns – usually frothy confections beaded and embroidered to heavyweight proportions – but this season, designers had at least one clear message in mind: If you want to look modern for evening, try trousers.
It-model Cara Delevingne foreshadowed the trend earlier this year when she donned a slim pair of white Stella McCartney cigarette pants to the Met Gala; while some critics thought the look too casual for such a high-profile event, many more saw the outfit as a refreshing take on red-carpet dressing.
Now, with couture’s consent, slacks have officially entered the evening-wear arena, and as seen on runways from Armani Privé to Giambattista Valli, there are endless ways to wear them.
At Valentino, a sweeping wide-legged pair was the perfect foil to a draped asymmetrical tunic. Similarly outsized pink palazzo pants made an appearance at Schiaparelli, where designer Marco Zanini drew the eye upward with an ultra-high waistline.
Valli eschewed the formal couture sensibility by showing striped pants, rolled up to the mid-calf as if the model was about to dip her feet into the sea.
Perhaps the most interesting iteration of the trend was at Christian Dior, where Raf Simons’s jumpsuits (not a common couture silhouette, to be sure) had zippered cargo-pant legs.
The bodice of Simons’s pieces were evocative of 18th-century finery and gave sophistication to the otherwise casual look.
Fashioning trousers that are unique, beautiful and precious (the core tenets of couture) is certainly a way for designers to challenge themselves, but will buyers be moved to invest in an inspired new take on fancy dress? That’s another story.