Though it’s never quite not trending, black is trending especially hard on the runways of Spring 2022.
It’s true that this season’s return to physical shows saw an appropriately celebratory burst of color and pattern, but returning to real life also means a return to stepping out in the evening, to turning heads by looking sexy, cool, and mysterious, and thus, of course, to wear all black.
Today’s top designers are more than ready to help us out with this endeavor. Black is timeless, and though it may be dark, this season there’s nothing gloomy about it.
Balenciaga‘s all-black silhouettes looked especially striking against the background of their blockbuster red-carpet show. Though Dior‘s show featured a surprising and very colorful turn to the ’60s, Maria Grazia Chiuri still treated us to some excellent all-black looks. Marine Serre showed us that they could definitely be wearing upcycled knitwear in the Matrix. Considering all this black it’s surprising that we didn’t see anything that felt truly goth, but Rick Owens probably came closest – though of course, his work is light years beyond trends and categorization. Yohji Yamamoto always and almost exclusively works in black, but this season’s show brought many of his audience members to tears.
In contrast, like a snow-covered hillside or a single lily, white is here to fill us with a sense of renewal, peace, freshness, and possibility.
It has been a messy and saddening year and a half (words fail to capture it), and this season’s return to physical shows has felt like a small but powerful light of hope guiding us forward. One way that designers responded to this moment of reflection and renewal was through the color white and all-over white looks. White’s simplicity creates a feeling of restfulness and ease for the wearer, while also giving designers interesting opportunities to experiment with pure form and shape.
Courrèges looked back to the futuristic simplicity of the house’s origins in the ’60s. A master of subtle elegance, Giada's Gabriele Colangelo shared a trio of exquisitely cut, minimal looks in white. Givenchy's Matthew M. Williams’ found his footing with an expansive collection that combined the house’s historical codes with a contemporary vision, which, though we saw much more black, contained a few strong yet airy all-white looks. Bevza combined precise, whited-out minimalism with maritime reference to send a message of environmental consciousness. Alexander McQueen made excellent, restorative use of white in a collection that drew inspiration from the sky and clouds.