Do online fashion trends exist offline?
Leopard print, faux fur, blazers and bows were spotted at fashion week, but are London’s most fashionable paying attention to trends like mob wife, coquette and office siren?
Leopard print, faux fur, blazers and bows were spotted at fashion week, but are London’s most fashionable paying attention to trends like mob wife, coquette and office siren?
On the opening day of London Fashion Week A/W24, I found myself in a century-old church off Marylebone, surrounded by a horde of uber-chic and curious attendees yapping away as we waited for Dreaming Eli by Elisa’s surprise presentation-turned-runway to kick off. So of course, it was the best time to people watch and trend spot.
Fur coats in shades of brown, dusk and ivory – lush enough to make Conor McGregor shy – filled the parish. Their wearers often paired the look with backcombed, beehive hair and red tights. A feverishly stylish woman wore a mini skirt over grey trousers, pairing them with an oversized, cropped coat and chunky silver jewellery. Next to her, a manifestation of angelic style: long braided hair held together with knotted ribbon, a corseted white dress layered with a flouncy pearl toned skirt and some trusty Doc Martens.
My TikTok-trained brain instantly segmented my neighbours into trends: mob wife, office siren and everyone’s fave picture of girlhood, coquette, or balletcore. For the uninitiated, mob wife found a new reign at the start of 2024 as Gen Z rediscovered Y2K cult series The Sopranos. Think big hair, tight leather pants, faux fur, Juicy Couture tracksuits and animal print so ubiquitous it brings the jungle home.
Not familiar with office siren? It’s essentially corporate fashion for hot girls: Bella Hadid in butt-hugging trousers and vests with tiny glasses or Kate Hudson perched over her computer in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. By this point, coquette is self explanatory: bows, braids, girl dresses and ballet flats. Every third person in the room seemed to fit in one of these categories. If it wasn’t so warm and sticky inside the church, I’d think I was in my pyjamas at home, scrolling through my FYP, watching creators break down new -cores.
The next few shows and days of fashion week rang to the same trend-first tune. The streets ran amok with leopard print tights, fur jackets, threaded ribbons and skirts over pants; and the runway resonated. JW Anderson showed drop-shoulder blazers and big, cosy knits with a corpcore makeover, Conner Ives boasted fur in the form of thick bonnets and bear-hug scarves, 16 Arlington ticked the box on blazers and fur while Masha Popova served animal print everything. Even the queen of girlhood, Simone Rocha, altered her oeuvre by blending bows and sheer dresses with maximalist fur.
Does this suggest that ever-changing TikTok trends don’t just exist in a vacuum online but also manifest offline? Surely, fashion week full of insiders, in-the-know creators and designers would be a good measure. Over the last four days, we attended shows across London and asked stylish attendees if these trends influenced their outfits and the response was startling. “I love animal print and always have, so when I saw the it-girls bringing it back, I joined in,” says Natalia, wearing a zebra print skirt in line for the Robyn Lynch show.
want more?
