Freak or chic: Have you got top style trends locked in for the coming year?
Bold colour, flat shoes, suits, and the end of the thin eyebrow. Harriet Pudney says hello to 2020.
Look, the fact of the matter is that predicting trends is extremely unscientific. You could call it an art at a stretch, but I’m not a soothsayer and these are not the Ides of March. Which, to be honest, I’m happy about. I have no desire to gut a chicken.
Instead, I’ve read the entire internet, looked at approximately 1 million photos from fashion week and the red carpet, and stared off into the middle distance a lot. These are the results: my considered opinion on the fashion and beauty trends we’re going to see in 2020.
I’m sorry to tell you they’re not all great – there are genuine fashion people pushing Bermuda shorts right now. But there’s enough good stuff in the post that I think we’re all going to continue to enjoy getting dressed in the new decade. Godspeed.
In 2019, Billy Porter ruled the red carpet in a black velvet tuxedo gown, as did Harry Styles in sheer shirts and nail polish. In 2020, we can expect much more of the same – men in florals, women with cropped hair, and statement nails on anyone who wants them. The gender binary is supremely passe´ , is what I’m getting at, and everyone should wear exactly what they feel best in, regardless of cultural norms. Sure, it’s just clothes, but sometimes that freedom means a lot.
Far be it for me to act as if I’ve always made good decisions with my appearance. Photos of my eyebrows from 2004 to 2013 (inclusive) exist. Mine’s not a high horse. That being said, I am troubled by a lot of the haircuts I’m seeing on people who ought to know better.
In July of 2019, The Cut alerted us all to a haircut known as ‘The Step’, which looks as if you grew your fringe out and then cut it blunt again without taking off any length. It’s like a Tetris block of hair hitting between the cheek and jaw, and it’s a sign of things to come in 2020. Not good news. To the extremely young and cool people who like this look, I sound both boring and ancient right now, but so be it. Think carefully about any drastic hair changes you make in the coming year.
Recently, a friend asked to borrow a pair of shoes she’d seen me wearing the previous weekend, and I had to say no because they’re literally my only pair of heels. The rest of my shoes are sneakers, ankle boots and Birkenstocks, and I don’t think it’s just me.
High heels are no longer the marker of grown-up sophistication they once were. What we’re seeing now is the direct result of Phoebe Philo making Stan Smiths cool at the start of the decade – a welcome antidote to the stilettoobsessed Sex and the City years. From trainers to slides to sandals, footwear in 2020 will allow us to move at pace.
Women in menswear has been a hell of a look since Bianca Jagger, if not before, but it looks set to truly dominate in 2020. Everyone from Celine to Marc Jacobs to Paco Rabanne sent models out in suits for their spring collections, and there was a distinctly ’70s vibe to be felt. Wide collars and waistcoats have been gone long enough to feel fresh and interesting again, which is wild, but there we are.
There are two kinds of shorts coming in 2020, and it’s like the worst possible game of Would You Rather: hot pants or Bermuda shorts? Everyone from Isabel Marant to Dion Lee to Chanel is pushing one or both of these cut-off nightmares, and I’m upset. Forced to pick, I’d say hot pants. At least there are people who can look good in tiny shorts. There is a market there. Bermuda shorts are a crime against legs.
It’s been picking up over the past year or so, but I think the coming 12 months will see a strong resurgence of colour when it comes to makeup. Everything’s been monochrome, some shade of taupe or mauve, for too long. It’s all a bit flat and mannequin-like, and we’re all bored. Rather than contoured everything and nude lips, 2020 will see bright eye shadow and to-be-noticed liner. Think ‘80s excess and a blown-out ’70s eye – makeup with a sense of fun and exuberance. I’m ready.
And to go along with that, skin will be fresher and less perfected than we’ve seen in years. Partly it’s a balancing act. If your base is too heavy and then you’re covered in colour, it’s going to look like you put your whole makeup bag on your face. Partly, though, it’s a return to realism. People have pores. Skin has texture. I think we’re eager to see it again.
Author Zadie Smith is impossibly talented, very beautiful, and so chic it makes me feel embarrassed about what I’m wearing even though I’m currently home alone. The woman doesn’t use social media at all. There’s nothing better.
So in October, when I read in Vogue that she wears boilersuits ‘‘about three months of the year’’, I nodded solemnly and opened a new tab to search ‘‘buy women’s boilersuit Melbourne’’. Smith identifies these one-pieces as a slow burn of a trend, one that took years to move from Brooklyn to Manhattan to London.
I’m now seeing them on stylish, vaguely off-beat women both here in Australia and on visits home, and I’m all for it. Practical and cool, boilersuits have an appealingly adventurous vibe, and work anywhere from the vege market to the bar. Into it.
Eyebrows are always so of their time. In the absence of carbon-dating, you can tell what year a photo was taken by looking above the eyes – think a ’30s art deco arch, or an ’80s Brooke Shields moment, or a pencil thin (and regrettable) ’90s Drew Barrymore brow. For the past five years or so, it’s been all about the Instagram brow. Precise, dark, bordered by concealer, and non-negotiable. Hell, they’ve even been tattooed on half the time.
In recent months, though, a new contender has emerged. Brow lamination is essentially a chemical straightening treatment. Individual hairs are set in place how they might sit if you brushed your brows right up. Think much more volume and a more casual vibe – they’re the brows you wish you were born with. However, you weren’t. Brow lamination costs about $80 and lasts around a month. As per, looking natural requires just as much money and intervention as looking very done-up.
Which, by the by, I also think we’re going to see a lot of in 2020. Remember those neon Valentino gowns? They’re by no means the only highlighter options coming our way, and they’re joined by coloured leather (Salvatore Ferragamo, Bottega Veneta) and ’70s wallpaper prints (Bec + Bridge, Prada). It’s a more-is-more expression of life while the planet burns. Maybe we’re Nero with his fiddle, maybe it’s a return to the roaring ’20s. Either way, party clothes are going to get much more hectic, and we’re going to start wearing them whenever we want. Catch me in at the supermarket in sequins.
Conversely, though, it’s also going to get much more acceptable to wear your favourites over and over again. Debuting a new outfit on Instagram every weekend, only for it to never see the light of day again, feels dated and a little insecure. Much more sophisticated to know what suits you and to wear it more than once. This is also an argument for buying less to begin with, which the environment will unquestionably thank you for.
A heaving, Kardashian-Jenner style wardrobe will feel like bad taste in 2020. Replace the glow of a new frock with the warm confidence of knowing you’re in a tried-and-true classic. Wear the clothes you love until they fall off you, and if you must downsize before that point, turn to your networks. Half the clothes I’ve bought lately have come via friends. It’s a good system, and I expect we’ll see more of it over the next 12 months.