Chef's kiss, gold hoop earrings, quiet luxury: which trends will stick around in 2024?

Looks that we loved (and didn't – hi, I'm a goblin, kind of) in 2023, and what will replace them next year.From Gwyneth Paltrow's high-end Goop knitwear photo – which, I'm sorry, is supposed to reflect an attempt to ski and run at the same time – to our obsession with the Succession Roy clan, who wore sea-mud cashmere like a family tartan, 2023 was a year of quiet luxury, wasn't it?Oh, no. The year of quiet luxury is supposed to be 2024. The aesthetic of hidden wealth affected a cultural nerve because it managed to reconcile two obviously opposing forces in fashion. On the one hand, quiet luxury is timeless, investment-oriented dressing, a much more sustainable style than fleeting trends at a mile-a-minute pace during extreme climate change. But it's also about clothes that have a powerful aura of money and status – money and status never go out of style.Frankly, quiet luxury means that this year you'll look like you're a) on the side of angels and b) a gambler. Gucci's recent pivot, with a new designer steering the brand away from colour and maximalism to clean, finished tailoring, shows the industry backing classic attire as a market opportunity to travel in time (du jour). Quiet luxury is expected to get a little louder this year.

• Messy handbag

Every fashion show season has a style detail that gains popularity. It might be your coat, draped over your shoulders instead of worn, or your hair tucked into a turtleneck. This season in Paris, it's the messy handbag. Miu Miu's bags are simply crammed with the busy woman's life: office straps, sports gear, even the occasional pair of shoes.

The wonderful, yet rather messy, handbag already had its moment in the spotlight – Jane Birkin's death flooded Instagram with images of her looking chic as she carried either a woven basket or a battered and bulging Hermès Birkin. Dressing in a way that reveals your soul and secrets is now – and there's no more revealing window into the soul than the contents of a handbag. Dressing to show the world your true self can be more theatrical; consider Rihanna's fashion inspired by collaborations with fashion designers. Also, look at Madonna's almost confessional lace and crucifying "Like a Virgin" era, revived by her "Celebration" tour. Looking mysterious is very pre-pandemic, darling.

• Hackney Dad attire

Yes, darling, you're cycling through London Fields in East London in your Carhartt/Arket work jacket. The Hackney Dad look – like small-batch artisans, independent cheese makers, miniature schnauzers – became incredibly popular last year.

You can still see it in the wild in every Insta post from farmers' markets, but you can also see men's fashion everywhere from Next to Marks & Spencer. Work jackets are this decade's hoodies. Workwear is the new streetwear.

• Trousers and a T-shirt as a powerful outfit

Many thought this year would be all about trouser suits, but they're getting boring. The true story of chic work and dressing in 2023 was well-fitting trousers (think front pleats and belt loops) with a shirt (not a blouse). Women haven't really had a work uniform since Fox News readers got into the dress-free clothing change cycle, so now many are cheering the emergence of a practical, modern type of work attire.

Head-to-toe immaculate tailoring can look a bit fancy, especially if a colleague in a tracksuit is sitting at the next desk, so trousers and a T-shirt are becoming the thinking woman's choice.

• Sport

Get ready, go! In 2023, sport and fashion grew closer – Marcus Rashford and Jude Bellingham were in the front row of Pharrell Williams' Louis Vuitton show, and Jack Grealish became a Gucci ambassador. But with LVMH sponsoring the Paris Olympics, 2024 will see new records in collaborations.

This is a new level of ambition, where fashion and sport are broadcast in prime time. Sports fans who don't follow fashion will likely overlook Arsenal and England's Bukayo Saka's outfit style in the Burberry front row, even though it was epic. Sport and fashion collaborations next summer will simply become the axis of Parisian sports culture more than ever before, which used to be common only during Fashion Week.

• Mismatched shoes theory

One of the favourite theories of 2023, coined by stylist Allison Bornstein, states that a smart way to shine is to wear mismatched shoes. Tight boots with a long skirt, slippers with winter trousers, trainers with a cute dress. The bad news is that this theory is old news. The good news is that 2024 brings abundant change. So goodbye, Wrong Shoe Theory, and hello Wrong Coat Theory. Which are designed – you guessed it! – to spice up your outfit by wearing a coat that really shouldn't match. Say, a long coat over a tracksuit or a parka over an evening gown. This could be a sudden surge of comfort in the first few months of 2024.

• Tomato Girl Summer

2023 was all about "la dolce vita" – from the second season of "White Lotus" in Sicily to the euphoria of Victoria Beckham's Portofino '97 perfume. 2024 will be the year the "Scandi" aesthetic goes mainstream. Copenhagen Fashion Week has caught up with Paris as a street style fashion hub, and "Scandi Girl cool" is becoming the new "French Girl chic".

• Chefs

A great job in 2023 that reflects the entire fashion industry losing its head over Thomas Browne's chef jacket in "The Bear". Being a chef is very cool, even pretending to be a chef is cool. Ayo Edebiri, the actress who plays Sidney in "The Bear", whom "Vogue" called a "rising fashion star", wore everything from high fashion lavender wraps to conceptual Loewe sculptural dresses, which we will undoubtedly see on the red carpet in 2024. Chef worship is about aesthetic and taste, so if you can't cook, don't worry. Table setting isn't going anywhere either.

• Gold and pearls

Earrings – gold hoops and chunky gold chains alongside modern pearl jewellery were the only show in town this year, but that's about to change. Silver – it was inevitable this Christmas holiday season and will remain this year, not to mention that having at least six pairs of silver trousers for every party is the bare minimum your wardrobe needs.

• Birkenstocks

"Birkenstocks" announces – sold out! However, the "Granola Girl" image is gaining momentum – outdoor motifs, environmental sustainability, earthy tones – still dominate footwear style. Next summer is all about hiking sandals, especially when worn with completely impractical and non-hiking wide-leg jeans.

• Earring wardrobe

Multiple pierced earrings – this is not a trend, it's a new style classic. If you haven't had at least one extra earring pierced and chatted a few times about "hoop earrings", did you really exist in 2023?

• Tech bro

A hoodie and a pair of dad jeans won't surprise anyone anymore. Jeff Bezos debuted in "Vogue" with spray-on black T-shirts, Hollywood biceps, and a cowboy hat, ushering in a new era of billionaire anxiety. Who knows who will be visiting stores in 2024: maybe Elon Musk walking into Balenciaga showrooms? That's enough to make you nostalgic for 2023.

• Crazy nostalgia

Emerald Fennell's Saltburn confirmed the return of collared rugby shirts, and second-hand stores reported increased demand for pre-loved party dresses from Topshop's glory days. It seems this isn't going anywhere. Exalted by Gen Z, who are too young to truly remember this actual fashion, and technically such a return is not true fashion nostalgia, but a feeling of nostalgia for unknown times. They'll probably grow out of it eventually, but not yet.

• Wellness as the new hedonism

A strange compatibility, as two opposites prevail at once. The industrial wellness complex has become a cynical money-making machine, so we are all cynical about wellness as a word plastered everywhere to encourage us to buy various things. But at the same time, fitness, nutrition, and mental health are important and real, and focusing on them is good, right? It's complicated. In 2024, it might seem like you're going on a hike, and that will be exciting (see "Birkenstocks", above), but taking selfies holding a green smoothie and standing or walking in sandals on a mountain might start to get tiring.

Source: The Guardian, “Chef-chic, gold hoops, quiet luxury: which trends will survive into 2024?’
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/dec/22/trends-will-survive-into-2024

Article prepared by: UAB Vilniaus kailiai