The Must-Know Spring/Summer 2020 Trends

01 | All Hail, Queen Of The Jungle

Slightly over 20 years ago, Jennifer Lopez donned a cut-down-to-there Versace dress to the Grammys, culminating in a moment that spawned Google Images. For Spring/Summer 2020, Donatella Versace revisited that moment with her exuberant showcase of prints and skin, sending J-Lo fluttering down the runway in a remake of the dress. Foliage also thrived elsewhere, from Dolce & Gabbana to Giorgio Armani, and Valentino.

02 | Raffia Renaissance

The humble material bounced back bigger and better. It started in New York, where Oscar de la Renta’s Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia crafted a strapless A-line midi dress with raffia yarn woven into gradating layers of scalloped hems. Stella McCartney (London) incorporated it into a tent-shaped frock, while Dolce & Gabbana (Milan) contrasted a fitted leather bustier with a raffia-embellished pencil skirt. By the time Chanel sent out raffia miniskirts across Parisian rooftops, we were sold.

03 | Keep The Story Short

Tailoring is still a part of the conversation this season, as illustrated by the shorts suit. At Dior, it offered a fun, casual counterpoint to sharp-shouldered blazer-and-shirt looks. Meanwhile, satiny bermudas embodied what Givenchy creative director Clare Waight Keller described as “raw, boyish energy” in a collection that merged masculine and feminine influences. Finally, Max Mara, everyone’s favourite crusader for clean and classic looks, delivered the season’s standout ensembles with crisp lines and roomy silhouettes.

04 | The Trench 2.0

Let’s get this out of the way: trench coats are perfectly suitable for a climate as humid as ours; you just need to find one in a material that works best here. Fortunately, SS20 brings with it a new selection of reimagined trenches. Burberry gave its heritage trench a sparkly update while Coach leaned towards an entrance-making red.

05 | Fit For The Fields

Make fashion eff ortless with white dresses. Ethereal and pastoral-like, these channel a charming naivete. Look to Alexander McQueen, where Sarah Burton upcycled fabric scraps from past collections to create dreamy lace frocks; or Valentino’s hyperromantic tulle thrillers.

06 | Easy Does It

Suddenly, looking perfect is over, and no trend exemplifies it like this season’s eveningwear. Prada teamed glamorous sequinned skirts with clingy knits in neutral hues while Dries Van Noten went for maximalist impact with a tank top with ballooning brocade sleeve tucked into a sweeping zebra-printed skirt. Even Tom Ford ditched his usual fare of power suits for a decidedly more relaxed silhouette, with muscle top-meets-ball skirt combos to open his show.

07 | Throwing It Back

Designers were in a nostalgic mood, as more than a handful alluded to decades gone by to inform their vision for the future. At Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquiere referenced the Belle Epoque — which ran to 1910s — for opulently modern designs that culminated in groovy patterns and leather accents. The ’20s came in the form of modern-day Daisy Buchanans at Prada, which featured drop-waisted silhouettes and cloche hats. Continuing her well-loved expositions into Dior’s signature ’50s New Look silhouette, Maria Grazia Chiuri showed plenty of full-skirted looks that promise to fly off the racks.

Sparkly party frocks at Versace displayed a distinctive ’60s silhouette with A-line cuts and cut-high-up-to-the-thigh hemlines. Etro adhered to its time-tested signature of ’70s bohemian paisleys, unfettered dresses and accessories straight off the festival grounds of Woodstock. The ’90s are synonymous with minimalism and clean, graphic lines — all of which dutifully showed up in Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski’s collection for Hermes.

08 | Knit Wit

Crochet is cool again. Paul Andrew’s striped dress at Salvatore Ferragamo featured bohemian-style knots, while Jonathan Anderson worked it into a lace-like fabric for Loewe. Taking the podium spot, however, was Francesco Risso of Marni, who gave it a collage-like spin to artsy effect.

09 | Suited For The Occasion

Power dressing is about looking sharp, while confidence is about being comfortable. For SS20, we’re stomping the middle ground in a ’70s-inspired suit. It comprises a jacket cut roomier around the waist with impeccably-crafted shoulders and lapels, and pants that are fitted up to the knee, where they kick out into a gradual flared cut. Leading the way was Anthony Vaccarello, who reinterpreted Saint Laurent’s signature Le Smoking with a boxier jacket and pointed-collar disco shirts peeking out from blazers to accentuate the jaunty boardroom-meets-bar vibe. Rounding up this Seventies spectacle was Marc Jacobs, Victoria Beckham, and Celine.

This story first appeared in the March 2020 issue of A Magazine.