“As someone who is self-diagnosed as ‘chronically online’, Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie shirt I’ve seen a lot of flash-in-the-pan trends over the past few seasons,” says Elinor Block, editorial lead at luxury fashion gaming company Drest, which enables its users to create infinite outfit possibilities in the metaverse. “The past year we saw Barbiecore, ‘blokecore’ and ‘tomato-girl summer’ emerge as some of the bigger, zeitgeisty aesthetics adopted by Gen Z and the TikTok crowd. And whilst some are rooted in major trends, when it comes to real life, there’s no doubt that longevity and items that work season after season are a bigger draw. “When playing with clothes in Drest, however, there’s definitely a different kind of approach I take to dressing. The virtual world allows me to style looks that I might not have considered before with more out-there pieces from high-octane brands such as David Koma or Balmain—I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that cherry-red, rose-covered dress that I spied on the S/S 24 runway. It gives me a chance to be more experimental and see how I can move that into my IRL wardrobe without taking too much of a risk.” This, dear reader, is what the modern-day dressing-up box looks like. As always, any piece you invest in, be it inspired by the trends below or otherwise, should only be purchased if you intend on keeping it in your wardrobe for a very, very long time. I’ve gone to great lengths to cherry-pick the ones that have a chance.

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Milan witnessed a big change, too. Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie shirt Gucci’s new creative director Sabato De Sarno held positions at Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino before taking on this role, which catapulted him and his first collection for the brand into the spotlight last September. Buyers, editors and celebrities descended upon the Italian city to take in the spectacle—ask any fashion devotee without a ticket and they would likely have told you they’d give away their Birkin to have a front-row seat at this show. There’s no denying that De Sarno’s predecessor Alessandro Michele kept Gucci on the fashion map with his geek-chic sensibilities; an aesthetic that would define a moment in fashion history. Still, moments pass, and we saw De Sarno usher Gucci into a new era, one that places more value on essentials over eccentricities—a notion we’re seeing across the rest of the industry. A business built upon the customer’s desire to be seen in shiny new things will always have its issues. However, the thing that felt “new” this season was that some things just didn’t change at all. Perhaps the most noteworthy takeaway was that trends don’t seem to hold the same power that they used to. I’m generalising, of course—things get meta real fast if you so much as take a peek into the no-trends-actually-being-a-trend rabbit hole—but it feels as if creating trends for the sake of it could be a thing of the past. “The spring/summer 2024 collections have shown a continued commitment to 1990s nostalgia and the extraordinary everyday, where everyday items are elevated to exceptional levels of design and style whilst remaining chic and comfortable,” observes Net-a-Porter’s market director Libby Page. And she’s right. The market has experienced a shift of tectonic proportions in recent years where a genuine focus on quality over quantity and investing in things that last has become a priority for previously frivolous shoppers. The latest collections reflected this.