BY ALEXANDRA COOK                                                       

ONLINE CONTRIBUTOR

It’s finally here ladies and gents… the moment we have all been waiting for… PARIS FASHION WEEK RECAP! Paris is arguably the oldest, most respected powerful fashion hub in the world being home to the original House of Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Each year we can pretend like we are super psyched for New York or London or Milan.. but we all know we pay attention to fashion week because of Paris.Paris represents everything that haute couture is: timeless elegance, maintaining the staples of old trends intertwined with new, fashion that is always street-ready while still being the most elegant on the runway. And I can confirm that Paris Fall Fashion Week debuting the Spring Summer Collections for 2018 has been nothing short of incredible (as expected).Gracing the runway this year in Paris we had Chanel, Givenchy, Thom Browne, Louis Vuitton, and Yves Saint Laurent (with SO many more) giving us LIFE with their new Spring/Summer Trends for 2018. Below I have summed up the biggest trends we saw this year for Paris Fashion Week.

PLAID SUITS WITH TRANSLUCENT RAIN ACCESSORIES

Thanks to Chanel and Thom Browne, gorgeous two piece plaid suits are the first of our trends for SS.18 from the Paris runways. Ranging from gorgeous yellows, black and white, green and orange, and blue, not only do we get to wear plaid suits that are SO chic but we get to do it with that burst of colour we’ve been dying to be allowed to wear for the past century. To finish the look, both designers used translucent rain accessories that are so appropriate for the Spring/Summer look to tie the overall look together and make us weather-ready for those April Showers. Broadcasted at the gorgeous location of Chanel’s two-month long project of a waterfall-themed Spring show and Thom Browne’s Hotel Du Ville magical fairy-themed runway, I give you this fall’s hottest Spring runway plaid trends.               

Chanel: Image courtesy of Vogue

FLORALS

What would a spring/summer trend be without florals? This Paris Fall Fashion Week we saw an incredible versatility of floral patterns from a variety of different styles. From dresses, to suits, to gowns, to blouses, florals with a burst of colour are definitely a trend you want to get in on for the Spring/Summer of 2018. Take a look at the Saint Laurent runway show trends which were eloquently displayed at the most iconic location, being below the Eiffel Tower at nighttime, and Alexander McQueen at the Chatsworth Hotel with Sarah Burton’s models rocking a it-just-downpoured hair I bring you the best of florals for SS.18 from Paris Fall Fashion Week.

Saint Laurent: Image courtesy of Vogue 

Alexander McQueen: Image courtesy of Vogue

CHIFFON

I don’t know about you, but if I could wear chiffon in my everyday life and it be acceptable I 100% would. Good news for us chiffon lovers is THIS IS A TREND FOR SS.18! Chiffon embodies the inner feminine, delicate, high-fashion look we all have buried deep inside of us that is just begging to crawl out. We saw Chiffon this spring in skirts, blouses, dresses, pants, just absolutely blossoming to create the perfect extravagant outfit. Below we take a look at Moncler’s and Christian Dior’s runways looks for Paris Fall Fashion Week SS.18. 

Moncler: Image courtesy of Vogue

Christian Dior: Image courtesy of Vogue

PINSTRIPES

Pinstripes is the classic (French) pattern that never seems to go out of style. The past few years we've seen a range of different patterns come and go such as futuristic geometric shapes, big bold emojis plastered on designs, and many more, but pinstripes has been the only pattern to survive all these years and still be curated each year to create timeless trends for us to wear. This year we take a look at Givenchy and Louis Vuitton runways, with Givenchy staged at the historic Palais du Royale and Louis Vuitton snagging the Louvre’s Pavillion du l’Horloge. 

Givenchy: Image courtesy of Vogue

Louis Vuitton: Image courtesy of Vogue

It goes without saying that this Paris Fashion Week was nothing short of amazing. Designers thought deeply and carefully about what they wanted to showcase this year and how, which we can see in the iconic locations chosen specifically by each designer embodying the passion and message of their collections. Paris is a place where fashion truly flourishes; we see these trends above where we think how could one possibly wear this as a day-to-day look? But the thing is, in Paris we do see people wearing these trends on a day-to-day basis and that is why Paris fashion week is so influential. If the Parisians can wear it, the trendsetters of the world stage, then why can't we? *Feature image courtesy of Elle.Uk