Top Trend: Vertical Stripes

If you have forgotten that cheat meals were only supposed to be once a week, your gym membership has been MIA since your first Zumba class a year ago and going back on a diet scares you –  don’t worry. Vertical stripes have got your back!

Over the years, stripes have been an evergreen option. Bold or classic, wide or slim, stripes come in all shapes and sizes.  Often when we talk about stripes, most people first think of the “Marinière” from Jean Paul Gaultier or the “Breton Stripes” shirt introduced by Coco Chanel in her nautical collection in 1917 inspired by a sailor’s uniform. For this Fall/Winter 18 trend, luxury brands turned the horizontal look on its head- literally- with some clever vertical alternatives.

Overall, vertical stripes create an illusion on your body, our eyes are attracted to the detail of the garment and will automatically follow the silhouette from top to bottom and back again. Designers like to play with the size of stripes (thin, thick, mix of colors or not), which also can help to give an illusion that the model is taller and slimmer than she actually is (we know, hard to believe that is even possible).

Here are a few of our favorites from this season.

The Genny alpaca coat can be worn for any casual occasion, as the black and white combo is more traditional, and if you ever wanted to release your inner Beetlejuice, it’s more than appropriate. You can also rock this piece with a nice slim black pant and some cute booties.

In comparison, the bright yellow and orange ensemble from Moschino exudes chic elegance with its 60s mod inspiration, perfect for any formal situation when you want to be seen.

The Jonathan Simkhai off-shoulder outfit integrates a corset to create a nice silhouette. When we first saw this look, we immediately imagined the famous Pop RnB singer Rihanna looking perfect in it. It’s very sexy and revealing due to its sweetheart neck line, while the plisse sleeves cuffs add an extra detail to the piece and proves again, that stripes can be mixed with everything. If you want to take the “back to school” look to a whole new level, it’s your time to shine, this look will get straight A’s!

One of the things we love most with vertical stripes is that you can mix and match them with horizontal or diagonal ones to create a sexy silhouette.

In Stella Jean’s blue stripped dress used warm colors to implement a bit of our summer vacation back to our Fall wardrobe. So don’t put away all your summer dresses, they are still trendy for this coming up season! Obviously stay warm, so just remember you can wear your cold weather boots with it. We promise you will never have cold feet again when it comes to this trend.

Over at Emporio Armani, designer Giorgio Armani came up with a classic offering with his stripped grey and green coat. The coat is the perfect buddy to the western/cowboy look seen underneath it. We highly recommend this look for the upcoming (sorry not sorry) many wet weather days we will have in the fall. But rain or shine, you have found your style.

Last but definitely not least, the house of Alexander McQueen delivered up a magnificent mini dress. The outfit is very eye catching thanks to the mix of vertical and diagonal stripes that emphasize the fluidity of the dress. Who would we picture in this dress? Gigi Hadid! Why? Because everything looks so darn good on her!

We hope we have inspired you for this new upcoming season. And if you ever find out the answer to this universal question, let us know: “Is a zebra white with black stripes or is it black with white stripes?”

Eleonore Vagh Weinmann

Eléonore is studying Luxury Management at PSB Paris School of Business.
She has lived in 3 different cities: Paris, Singapore and New York. Gastronomie lover, she adores trying out new restaurants and wine tasting during her spare time.