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By Julie McClain
As the Fall 2010 fashion week frenzy comes to a close, weary, travel-worn buyers and editors, alike, from the four corners of the globe return to their respective cities to begin dissecting the month’s sartorial offerings. Discerning trends from points of view as varied and vast as the number of designers working today’s fashion scene, can be a sizeable task but collective regional (or global) moods can, and usually do, contribute to several overriding themes. This season, the most notable, and obvious, of which sauntered down the catwalk of nearly every design house showing in New York’s Bryant Park tents: separates.
I know what you’re thinking: designers have always done separates. Qualifying ‘separates’ as a trend may be, in the mind of some, akin to editors hailing the ‘season of the pant’ or the ‘season of the skirt.’ When did the pant go away?, such an obtuse proclamation forces us to ask ourselves. I understand, and accept that separates have always had a place in fashion, but not with the unavoidable pervasiveness that the fall 2010 collections brought to the stage.
 Whereas past seasons have focused on singular, show-stopping pieces, designers, instead, opted to draw attention by way of the impeccable styling of cleverly selected, artfully layered items. The wow factor this year came, not from an overwrought dress, or a stand alone suit, but, instead, from ensembles that were the sum of their fantastic parts.
While the separates trend did make inlets across the pond for the Paris, Milan, and London shows, it was at its most prevalent in New York. This is, undoubtedly, a reflection of America’s economic climate, and the ripple effects felt throughout its fashion industry. Retail has been suffering; and a walk through any major city’s fashion district will confirm as much in even the most skeptical of minds. ‘For rent’ signs in vacant shop spaces, pedestrians, hands free of shopping bags, and salespeople, visibly bored by a lack of foot traffic, are all testament to the downturn in the market.
Despite the obvious decline in purchasing, as compared with the boom time of our not-so-distant past, it’s not all as somber as it seems. Women are still buying clothing. They’re just being wiser about their choices. Fashion-conscious consumers are eschewing flashy, one-trick-pony pieces in favor of impeccably crafted, neutral-based mix and match separates that will, all at once, stand the test of time, expand their wardrobe options and provide, considerably, more bang for their buck.
It’s clear that, in this depressed financial climate, women are seeking an economy of fashion that hasn’t been seen in a while. Promisingly, and to their credit, designers have responded to the needs of the new fashion shopper with amazing alacrity. Consumers will benefit exponentially from the ‘season of separates’ that is yet upon us. But design houses will reap the rewards too: such responsiveness to demand will direct thoughtful dollars their direction and ensure that their brands remain comfortably solvent until prosperity, flash, and ‘it’ bags reign again. In the meantime, editors and buyers can put all of their tricky tools of trend-forecasting aside, and rest easy. I’ve got this one, guys: separates are what’s hot for fall.
Photos courtesy of style.com from fall 2010 collections of American designers
DKNY and Jeremy Laing
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Julie McClain
Guest Writer
from
overtheundies.com
Jeremy Laing
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