While the world has been captivated by trousers and skirts for the past few months, there’s no denying the power of a great dress. Dresses make up a significant portion of the runway looks we see each season, and spring/summer 2024 is certainly no exception. Whilst conducting my research for our bumper trend report, I found myself getting distracted by all the beautiful dress goings on. So, I pulled the images to one side as I went, promising myself I’d give them a proper once over once I’d completed the task at hand. And now that I’ve had a chance to revisit the stunning dresses from the spring shows I can say, with complete certainty, that the frock forecast is looking incredibly strong for the season ahead.
From drapery that’s reminiscent of breathtaking Grecian sculptures to modern-day designs featuring flesh-exposing mesh, all the way to competing colour palettes—one angelic, one hot as hell—you could say the following dress trends for 2024 are the antitheses of one another. This, however, makes for a very interesting and unpredictable cohort of dresses—one that will cater to every style and aesthetic imaginable.
Continue on to see the biggest dress trends for 2024, as seen on the S/S 24 runways. All that’s left for you to do is choose the shoes to go with…
Style Notes: This season you’re invited to channel your inner goddess with this dress trend. We’ve seen drapery in minimal form lately but this incarnation is all about drama—think swaths of liquid-like fabric in rich tones that work around the contours of the body, enhancing them as they do.
Style Notes: Red has been one of the biggest colour trends of the last 12 months and, newsflash, its reign is set to continue well into 2024. Where knitwear was big for winter, red dresses will be the hit of spring! We’re already seeing searches spike for this exact term on Google, with the market reflecting the red-hot dress appetite.
Style Notes: It wasn’t just sheer skirts that dominated the runway—see-through dresses were on the menu too. Conversely to other dress trends on our list, the colour palette of spring/summer 2024’s mesh dresses was a muddy one—think day three of Glastonbury. In fact, wellies or stomping boots are an inspired styling suggestion.
Style Notes: I don’t think it’s any sort of coincidence that the words “fabulous” and “feathers” fall closely together in the dictionary. This season, texture plays an integral role in the dress line-up, and we saw feathers adorn dresses everywhere, from Bottega Veneta to Huishan Zhang. The runway rule was to avoid black—instead looking for bright feathered creations that command attention. If you want something more “wearable” then you might consider a dress with a feather trim.
Style Notes: When it comes to minis this year, it’s all about the silhouette. Babydoll dresses with bouncy or puffball hemlines added a jovial mood to the runways of Balmain and Acne Studios, carrying on the volume baton in place of statement sleeves. Look for full skirts, ruffle details and layers of frothy fabric to nail the look.
Style Notes: What do Jil Sander, Bottega Veneta, Loewe Celine and Ralph Lauren have in common? Sure. they all have different runway aesthetics but the thing that unites them is fringing, and one of the most glamorous ways to wear it has to be in dress form. Where Celine gave us a sparkly mini, its Lauren’s colour-block column gowns that are already being mirrored on the market.
Style Notes: As with every spring/summer season, white always makes a comeback. But it may surprise you to learn that there were even more white dresses on the runway for S/S 24 than there were in the same period last year—14% more, according to Tagwalk. This is especially great news, as I imagine this is something many of us will already have in our wardrobes. If you’re, however, looking to invest in a new style, look to interesting necklines, full skirts, cutout backs and dropped waistlines for a stylish point of difference.
