Why 2024 will usher in the dominance of loud luxury
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The Row ready-to-wear spring/summer 2024 and Schiaparelli ready-to-wear spring/summer 2024.
Quiet luxury was never a new idea, but in 2023, it was given a revivified life in the modern trend cycle, becoming the biggest fashion pillar of the year across runways and street style. Informed by phenomena such as the pragmatism of the return to work, and an overt casualness across many ready-to-wear and even couture designer collections, elevated minimalism defined the year sartorially, even among the splashes of Barbiecore-pink.
But as is the way with all trends, what goes up must come down—and as we settle into a new year and start to look ahead to 2024, the one question on the fashion industry’s mind is; will 2024 see a return to maximalism?
If the fashion of 2023 was truly a reflection of culture, it should really come as no surprise to anyone that things were more withdrawn and basic—after a tumultuous few years thanks to the pandemic, the past 12 months signalled a settling, and a retreat to restrained designs and practices. But as we enter a new year, could it be time to embrace the whimsical, the eccentric and the richness of the bold once more? To trade in quiet luxury à la The Row for a “loud luxury” return of colour and edgier silhouettes, a resurgence in (elegant) logomania and a lean back towards dopamine and statement dressing? Most especially, at a time in which a bit of light and playfulness wouldn’t do us any wrong.
Schiaparelli ready-to-wear spring/summer 2024 and Paco Rabanne ready-to-wear 2024.
Not every stylist or designer succumbed to stealth wealth over the past year, of course. During the spring/summer 2024 season, a number of names pushed back against the narrative in an explosion of either colour or shapes, or both. Take Schiaparelli—which championed, as Daniel Roseberry put it before the show, “dressing with abandon, but still control”—or Marni, Rabanne, Balmain and Rick Owens, for example, which refused to do anything short of over the top and used sartorial exuberance as a rebellion against the popularity of the banal.
Balmain ready-to-wear spring/summer 2024 and Rick Owens ready-to-wear spring/summer 2024.
In this emerging version of maximalism, the most important elements of quiet luxury such as curation and elegance remain, but with a far greater dose of drama, creativity and, ultimately, humanity. Simple colour palettes, basic tailoring and uncomplicated designs alone don’t have to preclude this kind of refined maximalism, but the artistry and the boldness of the vision give it the sense of life that quiet luxury so often is missing. As Rabanne designer Julien Dossena said of his spring/summer 2024 runway, “It’s good to remember there are people behind the clothes.”
An ideal marriage between the decadently chic values of quiet luxury and liveliness of maximalism, this new version of loud luxury is paving a way for quiet luxury lovers to step up to something bolder yet still relatively risk-free in the new year, and remain covetable and timeless enough for designer brands to safely bank on it.
Marni ready-to-wear spring/summer 2024 and Chanel pre-fall 2024.
If you examine it closely, this rise in loud luxury has already begun. Pops of red are finding their way into our transeasonal wardrobes to add new life back into monochromatic fits; bold and bright aspects of retro music and history are once again in our line of influences—at least for Chanel’s Virginie Viard—and decorative embellishments and accessories of all kinds are sneaking back into our outfits even now.
Without a doubt, the timeless appeal of quiet luxury will stay popular for years to come, and there will always be a space for elevated minimalism in fashion—and a critical one, at that. Some days, nothing but minimalism will do. But here’s hoping the fashion industry won’t completely forget the strength of identity, and remember the importance of wearing clothes that make you feel good in 2024—because after all, isn’t that what fashion is all about?
Source: vogue.com.au
