Trends for Spring 2022 RTW: Cobblestonecore and More

I recently completed a UAL online short course called “Personal Fashion Styling” with London College of Fashion. For Week 3, one of my assignments was to research trends for Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear using only the Vogue Runway website as a source. By perusing a wide variety of brands, my task objectives were to:

identify an overall trend, mood, or story and give it a name
identify details that I anticipate would trickle down to the High Street

I ended up defining two overall moods this season, which I’m super excited for -- and quite a few trickle-down details I anticipate fast fashion brands adopting, which should already be available by now to purchase:

1. identify an overall trend, mood, or story and give it a name

I ended up defining two overall trends:

Cobblestonecore

Pieces of similarly-shaped fabric / patchwork attached to each other to make up a greater whole. Like a mosaic or a sidewalk, or the tiling in a town square. Showcasing of the in-between like grout among tiles.

From left to right, top to bottom: **Chanel** Look 29/72, **Maison Margiela** Look 14/59, **Chloe** Look 12/31, **Gucci** Look 32/115, Givenchy Look 48/76, **Louis Vuitton** Look 37/45, **Oscar de la Renta** Look 31/37, **Balmain** Look 59/73, **Acne Studios** Look 15/45, **Diesel** Look 33/80, **Emilo Pucci** Look 26/27, **Fendi** Look 10/50, **Missoni** Look 19/40, **Paco Rabanne** Look 29/33

Paper Bag Princess

Coined after one of my favourite childhood books. "Crunchy" structured or crumpled varying shades of beige and brown, that makes the apparel look like it's made out of lunch paper bags or cardboard.

This trend is particularly interesting to me as I can’t help but think about all the Amazon boxes and parcels we’ve received over the course of the pandemic, as well as the earthy and grounded tones reminiscent of being humbled by all that’s happened over the past two years.

From left to right, top to bottom: **Thom Browne** Look 23/65, **Sacai** Look 3/44, **Givenchy** Look 20/76, **Balmain** Look 34/73, **Burberry** Look 4/52, **Rodarte** Look 31/75, **Hermes** Look 20/58, **Lacoste** Look 17/51, **Loewe** Look 39/53, **Max Mara** Look 7/46, **Oscar de la Renta** Look 8/37, **The Row** Look 1/62

Even the iconic Miu Miu micro-mini that everyone’s currently talking about fits this trend:

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My favourite looks from the series come from Thom Browne and Balmain. My dream closet would definitely include the Miu Miu micro-mini and Oscar de la Renta Magnolia-Print Cotton Midi Skirt.

2. identify details that I anticipate would trickle down to the High Street

Here are seven details that I’ve noticed: