Fall fashion forecast

Prada's knit wit

Just came from Holt Renfrew guru Barbara Atkin’s fall 2010 fashion forecast, which I make a rule never to miss, where the word of the day was “re-invention”, a word very much front and centre for all of us in the traditional (read: print)  media for 2010.

Chatted briefly with fellow freelancers Debra Fulsang and Marilisa Racco, as well as stylist Susie Sheffman and features ed, Leah Rumack of Fashion magazine. Toronto Star’s Derrick Chetty was dressed in head-to-toe desert fatigues, as if he was running off after the presentation to catch the next transport to Afghanistan. More editor Linda Lewis was indeed off the next day–lucky her–to do a story in Grenada which hopefully involved some research lying around poolside. Holt’s Moira Wright was exquisite, as usual, in a scrunched-up navy Lanvin tshirt dress I just might have to own. Sure, it was a Monday morning, but the mood was hardly energetic. When it comes to fall, 2010, apparently, nobody is getting overly hot and bothered.

According to Barbara, along with a “return to the classics” (read a retrenchment into the retail safety of big-name brands) there are indeed a couple of not exactly new, but re-invented/re-imagined looks we are going to be seeing on this fall’s fashion horizon.

Alongside the continuing emphasis on military styles in both cut and colour (save your summer olive drabs for layering as they will continue to be au courant), and the runways’ continued emphasis on both endangered and faux furs and animal skins (joked Barb, “where was PETA?”), big fat knits will be back big-time. Apparently we will be loving knit dresses, knit boots and knit pants, even, courtesy of Miuccia Prada, vaguely Russian ballet-styled Aran-knit headbands (sometimes one wonders: the world may be warming, and more and more of the aging population of buyers might be suffering hot flashes from impending menopause, but what the designers seem to worried about is whether we’re sufficiently cosy).

Also new for fall: longer hemlines, some dresses and skirts Adams-family bias-cut and floor-length, which will happily co-exist along with all the really short skirts we’ve just bought. Pants will be fuller (although the really skinny ones we already own will be in style too). Blouses, which we are already starting to enjoy this summer, will be soft and feminine, thanks to Phoebe Philo’s new wonderfully femme direction at Celine, which is proving highly influential.

And the colour of the season–the “new neutral”–will no longer be purple, but shades of red, from dusty 40s rose to crimson, earth-red, oxblood and even burgundy.

I know, it’s hardly summer yet. But isn’t it a comfort to learn that despite all the massive change going on all around us, fashion is letting us coast a bit this fall?