Summer 2022 Trend Report

We’re settling into a campy summer of flamingo pinks, bumbling baubles, and otherworldly evocations. Designers embraced gleeful excess this season, as if joy itself were a novelty— begging the question: should it be?

You might have thought this year’s Met Gala theme, “Gilded Glamour,” would prompt sleek chromes and glitzy monochromes. Instead, one surprising color stole the show: pink. And we’re not talking blushing rose, no. We’re talking hot, electric, glossy, bright magenta. Head to toe. Wrapped in flamingo.

So many designers doused their collections in the fruity hue. Elie Saab opened its couture collection with a sumptuous gown of fuchsia feathers and florets. And the Italian fashion house, Antonio Grimaldi, debuted its collection with a futuristic cape in sleek carnation.

On the red carpet (and at the Met Gala), Glenn Close stunned in a bedazzled magenta Valentino number. And actress KiKi Layne radiated in a punchy watermelon custom Prabal Gurung gown with delicate buttons tracing the silhouette.
For maximum impact, look for ballroom dance dresses in any shade from bubblegum to taffy. Alternatively, for a subtler nod to the trend, pair a classic black or navy dance dress with a hot pink accessory—perhaps a glove, hairbow, or eye shadow.

The summer bauble is lighter, calmer, and perhaps more feminine than its Christmastime sister. A collection of baubles decorating a dress adds texture, yes, but even a little je ne sais quoi, a little fizz, as Dior’s monochromatic couture collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri so elegantly demonstrates. In one memorable frothy white slip, woven balls, resting like pollen, add a softness and gentle dimensionality. Another black dress appears as if constructed entirely of beaded clusters, a glam, but sophisticated, interpretation.

Taking this trend for a whirl, Lily James wore a lavender Versace mini positively dripping in beads. A trail of baubles fashioned as a matching bracelet added a playful touch. And for a look

with a bit more Old Hollywood glamour, Barbie Ferreira donned a Jonathan Simkhai dress laced and lined with strings of pearls.

Following Paloma Elsesser’s lead (the model wore a chunk of baubles around her beck, edging up her white Coach corset-inspired confection), pair a bubbly accessory to your waltz dress of choice. Or, find a ballroom dance dress, in any breezy hue from lily to peppermint, with winking accents along the hem or bodice.

It’s a trick to distill Schiaparelli’s latest couture collection into a neat summation. The storied design house, which is currently experiencing something of a renaissance (or, at least, a hard- earned moment in the sun), went back to basics this season. And by basics, I mean intensely reimagined little black dresses and deconstructed golden hardware. Take, for example, the aurous skeleton of a dress, seen halfway through the runway show, complete with matching crown (or are those antlers? Octopus tentacles? Lacquered coral?). And then there was the black slip with gilded rays (metallic, of course) jutting off the sides, fashioning the wearer, the model, as the center of a very large, bright sun. Is it alien? Is it Grecian? Parisian? Who’s to say (and does it matter?). All that can be said for sure, is this collection comes from the land of style.

Befitted by Louis Vuitton, Gemma Chan wore a boxy onyx skirt and matching bolero which, though it may sound like a vocabulary of oxymorons, looked absolutely regal. And in a disco- galactic spin, model Precious Lee captivated in a mesh bodysuit swimming with golden, sequined scales.

On the dance floor, try out waltz dresses with funky proportions, celestial accents, or unexpected color blocking. The bolder—and odder—the better. In the wise words of Karl Lagerfeld: “I’m very much down to earth. Just not this earth.”