#IWD2021

Our Favourite SS21 Looks Are By Women Designers

Women designers filled SS21 with friendly silhouettes, smart tailoring and clever colour-blocking and -clashing for a season to remember.

Our Favourite SS21 Looks Are By Women Designers
Image: Olivier Saillant

01 | DRAMA
Sarah Burton Alexander McQueen


The collection was all about “shape, silhouette and volume, the beauty of the bare bones of clothing stripped back to its essence — a world charged with emotion and human connection”. Burton translated this into oversized sleeves, trompe l’oeil prints, and by splicing together menswear and womenswear. Find out more here. After that, discover how Chloe Ng rocked her Alexander Wang leather shorts here.

02 | EFFORTLESS
Victoria Beckham Victoria Beckham

Beckham detoured from her signature super-skinny, tailored fits. Instead, she sent forth a pared-down collection filled with body-skimming jersey dresses with sensual, skin-baring cut-outs, dropped-waist maxi dresses and super-flared trousers that fell in a puddle around the ankles. Find out more here. Or, check out how WFH has changed the way women dress.

03 | TOUCHY-FEELY
Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski Hermès

Vanhee-Cybulski sought a counterpoint to all that social distancing by evoking “the fantasy of touching”. Her coats offered built-in scarves that you could roll up at the front or wrap around the neck; knitted bodysuits with skin-baring open backs, and see-through dresses made of pieces of horn strung together for a fishnet effect. Find out more here. Women who want to coordinate their outfits with their guy’s, click here.

04 | SHEER
Silvia Venturini Fendi Fendi

Aside from pieces that referenced its history, Fendi drew on Karl Lagerfeld’s — the Italian brand’s long-time creative director who passed on in 2019 — love for bedlinen. Look out for loungewear and pyjama-like creations in linen, and prints that evoke the serenity of looking out onto lush landscapes. Find out more here.

05 | SPORTY
Miuccia Prada Miu Miu

With the premise that “fashion shows and sport are created to be watched — to entertain, to bring joy”, Miu Miu looked back on its earliest years for “simplicity of silhouette, consciousness of the body and the exploration of a meeting point between sportswear and fashion”. Expect loads of colour-blocking, jersey, embellishment, femininity and softness. Find out more here.

06 | VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD
Virginie Viard Chanel

Its well-loved tweeds in both signature black and white and refreshing hues of pink, blue and red were punched up with other house icons like pearls, interlocking CC logos and the number 5. More was clearly more for Viard, who looked back to the imaginative spirit of Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld that inspired women to “dream so much… I wanted it
to be very joyful, colourful and very vibrant too”. Find out more here.

07 | COLOURFUL
Donatella Versace Versace

“What worked a few months ago, does not work today,” proclaimed Versace. So she offered sporty cocktail wear in loud marine prints and bold colours as her vision of “an example of inclusion, of mutual support and acceptance of what is different from us”. Find out more here.

08 | BOHEMIAN
Maria Grazia Chiuri Christian Dior

“We are living in a different way and staying more at home within our intimacy. Our clothes have to reflect this new style of life.” With that, Chiuri deftly sent out dressing-gown-like jackets, tunics and pyjama-style pants in vintage-y Mediterranean prints and paisleys. And for days when we need to step out, she offered skirt suits that were curvaceous but didn’t constrict the silhouette. Find out more here.

This story first appeared in the March 2021 issue of A Magazine.

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