THE HEMLINE INDEX is widely (although apparently erroneously) attributed to Pennsylvania University economist George W. Taylor, who analysed the booming hosiery sales of the roaring ’20s before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

The theory’s premise – that hemlines rise during good times and fall when markets tank – certainly seemed spot on vis-à- vis the miniskirt explosion on the spring 2022 runways, which pre-empted a blitz of ‘revenge spending’ from government stimulus-fuelled consumers who were weighed down by lockdown ennui and desperate to log off Zoom and dive back into IRL and the party circuit. Luxury sales boomed.

What to make, then, of the sans-culottes insurgency of spring 2024? Global recession fears loom large. Geopolitical conflicts are proliferating. Luxury sales are cooling (and no surprise, surely, that we’re witnessing an unprecedented churn-and-burn of creative directors employed by the world’s biggest fashion brands).

And yet mini skirts continue to rule the runways, along with the season’s biggest breakout trend: hotpants. In March, Miuccia Prada followed up her viral Miu Miu micromini of spring 2022 with a suite of Miu Miu knickers-as-outerwear offerings for autumn 2023 (a pair of which made their way to BAZAAR’s August cover,
on Sydney Sweeney). Two months later, hotpants were all over Chanel’s Resort 2024 show at Paramount Studios. A nice piece of synchronicity, given that the look’s original incarnation – the short shorts of the ’50s, as immortalised by American one-hit wonders The Royal Teens in their 1958 single “Short Shorts” – had been championed by mid-century Hollywood goddesses such as Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Jane Russell, the original influencers. Hotpants (a term coined by WWD, although not until 1970) hit the big time from the mid ’60s, first championed by London’s Mary Quant, who died in April.

No fewer than 20 of the 55 looks in Sabato De Sarno’s Gucci debut were hotpants (another 16 looks were microminis), rendered in everything from duchesse satin to knit, patent leather and the house ‘GG’ monogram. Peter Hawkins had a dozen in his own debut at Tom Ford. Valentino and Prada showed tailored versions, while Celine and Miu Miu leaned into sport. The latter’s surfer-nosed collection included knickers with white drawstrings that were dead ringers for the iconic Aussie budgie smuggler.

Critics kvetched that De Sarno’s new Gucci was “too commercial”. That said, given Gucci’s sliding sales, its customers had apparently moved on from incumbent Alessandro Michele’s maximalism. Naysayers also slammed Hedi Slimane’s 2018 appointment at Celine. For the brand’s Spring 2024 ‘Tomboy’ collection – dropped as a surprise video weeks after the shows wrapped and filmed inside Paris’ Bibliothèque Nationale – Slimane showed yet more of the posh-girl aesthetic that the French like to call bon chic bon genre, which has since made Celine’s sales soar (and Slimane look like a fashion savant). From houndstooth blazers and leather bomber jackets over striped shirts, slip dresses and cool flared jeans, popped this season with edgy leather trouser sets embellished with sporty stripes or rock-star metal-wear.

Fashion is currently obsessed with the concept of ‘quiet luxury’. Helping things along: the final season of HBO’s zeitgeisty Succession, which premiered in March. There’s been much buzz over the ‘stealth wealth’ wardrobes of its billionaire characters, who eschew vulgar ostentation and ludicrously capacious handbags in favour of pared-back, tone-on-tone looks, Brioni and Brunello Cucinelli tailoring, Loro Piana’s logo-less baseball caps and cardigans galore (which were also plentiful on this season’s runways).

Also in March, Gwyneth Paltrow’s live-streamed eight-day ski-crash trial in Park City, Utah set the internet ablaze, helped along by her low-key-high-chic cream-on-cream or all-black ensembles from brands like Ralph Lauren, The Row and her G. Label by goop, teamed with cardigans, gold jewellery and chunky flat combat boots from Celine and Prada. Shiv Roy and Paltrow might not be seen dead in De Sarno’s patent leather hotpants, but it’s not difficult to envisage either in his knee-length patent leather pencil skirts or minimalist black tailoring – ditto the oversized, drop-shouldered blazers and double-breasted overcoats in head-to-toe tones of putty, ecru and khaki at Louise Trotter’s debut at Carven. Trench coats were everywhere, ditto classic men’s striped shirting, preppy styles and all-white dressing, the latter given a twist courtesy of Jonathan Anderson at Loewe, whose baggy trousers featured absurdly high waists held in place by invisible corsetry. Roll-up-your-sleeves workwear looks were omnipresent, most notably in the form of jumpsuits, but the no-nonsense, utilitarian kind that reeked of the garment’s military origins, rather than its bodycon ’70s disco heyday. Saint Laurent opened with a sand-coloured boilersuit, one of 10 jumpsuits in a pared-back spring collection that was made almost exclusively in cotton and included a dozen safari suits and dresses inspired by founder Yves Saint Laurent’s famous Saharienne jacket from 1967.

There were yet more safari suits and jumpsuits in Max Mara’s “An Army of Women” collection, which was inspired by Britain’s Women’s Land Army of World War II. Rick Owens’ billowing jumpsuits in grey, pink, saffron and red looked like the world’s chicest prison garb, while brand after brand, from Zimmermann to Elie Saab, Victoria Beckham and Miu Miu, showed nearly identical white or off-white jumpsuits.

Miu Miu | GETTY IMAGES

Maz Mara | GETTY IMAGES

Luxury denim continues to have a major moment, this season often playing into the workwear vibe, with double – nay, even triple – denim offerings everywhere, alongside tailored denim suiting and more than one iteration of the humble indigo blue smock once worn by Breton and Cornish fishermen, reimagined by brands including Chanel, Emilia Wickstead and Dion Lee. Lee paired his with denim hotpants and slouchy, mid-thigh-length boots – an idea mirrored by Sarah Burton in her swansong collection for Alexander McQueen.

If “the party is over” – as media outlets keep chanting apropos the reported end days of luxury’s post-pandemic boom – then designers offered up plenty of bedazzled evening options for one last hurrah. They included crystal-embellished showgirl looks at The Attico, Givenchy and Versace, while a score of brands from Burberry to Bottega Veneta, Jil Sander, Christopher Esber, Anne Demeulemeester, Mugler and Paco Rabanne went big on fringing. At Paco Rabanne, Julien Dossena blew quiet luxury out of the water with a collection of Joan of Arc-adjacent hooded tunic tops and dresses in metal mesh and chainmail, groaning with fringes fashioned from crystals, metal do-dads and silk.

Buyers noted they’d never seen so much transparency. This included a plethora of transparent, nude-coloured dresses at brands such as Alberta Ferretti, Diesel, Loewe and Givenchy, and diaphanous sheer cocktail and evening looks at Prada, Zimmermann, Supriya Lele, Y Project, Victoria Beckham, Dries Van Noten, Jason Wu, Proenza Schouler and Michael Kors.

Alberta Ferretti | GETTY IMAGES

Y-Project | GETTY IMAGES

And might there have been a hint of Kylie Mania? The red costumes worn by Minogue and cast in the video for “Padam Padam” have been widely emulated in the score of TikTok tributes that sent the single viral. A hangover from the autumn 2023 season, red was spring 2024’s biggest colour story. From the new Rosso Ancora shade at Gucci in a new take on the Jackie bag, to the sculptural red-leather corsetry at Alexander McQueen; Rick Owens’ high-waisted red-leather bellbottoms; Hermès’ red-leather Mod micro minis; and Christopher Esber’s patent leather- look shell top and pencil skirt.

Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry has broken the internet with his takes on the whimsical ideas of founder Elsa Schiaparelli, a serial Surrealist collaborator whose influence peaked in the late ’30s.

Roseberry nailed it again in his closing look: Kendall Jenner channelling Jackie O in a full ’60s bouffant ’do and a strapless red va-va-voom sheath dress. It later emerged the dress was covered not in beading but several thousand red fingernails. “In difficult times,” Schiaparelli once noted, “fashion is always outrageous.”

This article originally appeared in the December 2023 issue of Harper’s BAZAAR Australia/New Zealand. Get your copy here.