Spring/summer 2024 trends and catwalk highlights

A few weeks after Paris Fashion Week wrapped, Celine presented its spring/summer 2024 collection at La Bibliothèque Nationale Richelieu in the French capital, which is located opposite Celine’s atelier at 16 Rue Vivienne. Entitled ‘Tomboy’, the collection was “a reminder of Hedi Slimane’s commitment to the consistent style and allure of androgynous tailoring since the beginning of his career in design in the late 1990s,” the brand explained. The house also released a film celebrating the collection, which features actress Esther McGregor and musician Stella Rose, which you can view here.

For Miu Miu spring/summer 2024, Miuccia Prada explored the contemporary definition of beauty. “In an ever-changing world, beauty must echo the complexity of our era,” explained the show notes. “This collection is a search for a reflective definition, a reactive address of beauty for modern times.” This resulted in an emphasis on individuality, expressed through both the casting and the clothing, which featured “traces of living” such as washed denim, distressed materials and marked leather to make each piece feel one-of-a-kind. The show styling also focused on “unexpected combinations” – juxtapositions intended to reflect modern style and the beauty of uniqueness.

Chanel’s spring/summer 2024 show was inspired by the gardens of the villa Noailles – a modernist building in the hills of Hyères, which was designed by the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens in 1923. The resulting collection was one that explores and celebrates contrasts.

“Sophistication and informality, the tweed throughout the collection, sportswear and lace: I tried to bring one thing and its opposite together in the coolest way possible,” explained creative director Virginie Viard. “The gardens and swimming pool of the villa Noailles, that exceptional setting, lend themselves to that rather well.”

Guests at the Louis Vuitton show were treated to a preview of the fashion house’s space on the Champs-Elysées for the spring/summer 2024 show. The 19th century Art Nouveau building will become the site of a new project from the brand, to be unveiled in the coming months. But it will likely look quite different…

Specifically for the show, Nicolas Ghesquière teamed up with the production designer James Chinlund and the Spanish production agency Penique, which specialises in “ephemeral installations”. The result was an inflatable balloon-like structure (made from 100% recycled and recyclable material) that transformed the interior of the building in a glowing, vibrant orange – the perfect striking backdrop for the directional collection.

Pierpaolo Piccioli was inspired by the body for his spring/summer 2024 Valentino collection. The show was a celebration of being comfortable in one’s own skin, where nakedness was presented as “a natural state, rather than a means of provocation,” explained the show notes. “Fashion is made to clothe the body, yet here it enters into a rapport – an essential exchange between the garment and the woman within.”

The models were accompanied by the multidisciplinary artist FKA Twigs, who appeared alongside a corps of dancers, “moving as one”. The mesmerising performance both explored and honoured bodies, the physicality, and the feminine.

Guests were welcomed into a red velvet-lined theatre setting for the latest Balenciaga show, which was a tribute to the crafting of garments. The models walked across the stage to a soundtrack voiceover by Isabelle Huppert reciting instructions on how to make a tailored jacket, taken from the manual La Veste Tailleur Homme, which was also reformatted for the show invitation booklet. There was, of course, an emphasis on tailoring and the brand’s signature exaggerated silhouettes, while eveningwear focused on vinyl dresses and upcycled gowns made of pieces sourced from vintage shops. Following the show, a bonus look was later released, photographed on Kim Kardashian.