There's a relaxed, new silhouette emerging in Paris this week, and it's confirming a trend that's been percolating all month long. The look usually involves a swingy, easy dress, paired with a boot.
And it's vaguely retro in feel, thanks to a recurring Seventies-inspired chocolate box colour palette, and the appearance of the occasional butterfly collar here and there. Yet designers have re-worked these old ideas into something that feels entirely different.
Take Loewe, where Jonathan Anderson has sealed his reputation as a go-to for an easy, cool take on femininity. He refined the languid, swingy silhouette and organic colour palette that he had established over the last couple of seasons, pushing it into a new phase with a greater sense of movement and wider variety of fabrics: a full-skirted shirt dress in mustard leather, for example, or a waterproof polka dot trench.
There was a slightly similar feeling at Acné Studios, where creative director Jonny Johansson's dresses were flowing and long-sleeved, pieced together from diagonal panels of silk.
The combo also appeared at Sonia Rykiel, where creative director Julie de Libran has found her stride since spring/summer '15 when she showed her first collection for the brand.
Mind you, the dominant trend story here was her use of feathers on everything from coats and dresses to slippers and boots (ostrich has been so popular this runway season.)
But it's the midi/boots combination, like the ones pictured below, that will be most easily translated into real world usage.
At Valentino, Pierpaolo Piccioli updated his fluid tent dresses with a colour palette of sugared almond brights. And it was the boots that prevented his excellent dresses from looking too saccharine or girly and added a slight sense of edge (leather has that effect on silk and chiffon.)
And Sarah Burton used leather boots embellished with studs and multicoloured threading to ground her graphic, flowing dresses in a strong Alexander McQueen collection.
Earlier this week, Dries van Noten showed an elegant take on the idea as well.
We've been referring to it here at ELLE as the 'Demna Gvasalia Effect' because, though the idea is hardly new, he popularised the longer dress and tall boot combination at Vetements and Balenciaga. And I have the feeling we'll be seeing more of this in seasons to come.
