On the spring/summer 2017 runways of New York and London, it seemed that the bigger the sleeve, the better.
In Manhattan, at the much-awaited Monse show, the blouses dripped off the shoulders of models and the cuffs ended well past their fingertips. At Vera Wang, the lengthy sleeves were crisp and black, while at Michael Kors, that same look was delivered in a mishmash of stripes and florals. Across the pond, London designers seemed to have received a similar shirting memo. Marques’Almeida’s iteration was striped, ruched and offered in a colorful floral; even J.W.Anderson touched upon the concept with a rather confusing puffy shirt situation.
While this voluminous shirting trend is not entirely new–having trickled down from fall 2016–the familiarity doesn’t make it any less desirable. If anything, it makes it far more accessible, as you can get started on wearing the trend ASAP. As in tomorrow, if you so desire. So, go on, buy these shirts, which do make your frame look tinier, thanks to their oversized silhouette. Beaufille’s crop top pairs bell sleeves with an exposed midriff, while Hellessy plays with colorblocking and Zara offers up a punch of color in their yellow iteration. The main takeaway here is to make sure the volume is pumped way, way up.