WNU Wear: The top SS22 shirt trends from fashion month

“Every year the women of New York leave the past behind and look forward to the future…this is known as Fashion Week” - Carrie Bradshaw

But replace ‘New York’ with ‘New York AND London AND Milan AND Paris’.

Do you think Carrie had any idea how profound her infamous quote now reads given the unforeseen pandemic that put all of our lives to a dramatic halt? Of course not, but nothing has excited me more this month than the resurgence of fashion month.

There’s just such a buzz. It’s the explosive shows, with bold light displays on catwalks whilst the models walk the runway. It’s the organised chaos known as behind the scenes pre-show. The entrance and exit shots of the after parties that are far too exclusive to ever let us see the inside. Celebrities sat between style icons sat between Tiktokkers (did not see that one coming) on the front row with phones firmly in hand. Style boundaries being pushed on and off the runway and the street style pictures that go straight to my saved section on Instagram - thank you Phil Oh, always.

It will come as no surprise to you that the majority of the looks that turned WNU’s head this month were shirts.

It will come as no surprise to you that the looks we’re interested in were the shirts…

Shirts are a classic, a wardrobe staple, they would never not be on the runway, but this season there were a lot of twists. From designs to styling we have pulled plentyyyy of inspo from this SS22 catwalk and we have decided to scour through every show to find our favourite trends to inspire you too...

STRIPES

From Left to Right: Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Brandon Maxwell, Raf Simons, Dolce & Gabbana, Arthur Arbesser

It’s stripes - obviously, they caught our attention. Whilst we already know a thing or two about a striped shirt, our eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to these thick blocks of colours, which are super impactful but equally wearable. (There’s also something particularly moreish about that horizontal stripe).

CUT OUT

From Left to Right: MSGM, Koché, Erdem

Less lace, more laser cut please! A modern take on the classic style, these geometric style cut outs instantly add visual intrigue to your staple white shirt. It’s subtle though, more taking in the detail than causing a double take, making it perfect for everyday wear.

SILKS

From Left to Right: Adam Lippes, Tom Ford, Peter Do, Atlein, Private Policy

This fabric moves and glistens like liquid, oh does it get more elevated than silk?! Slipping off the skin, it’s sexy and sophisticated at the same time and quite frankly we now really want one. We’re particularly crushing on this colour matching too.

BRIGHT

From Left to Right: Atlein, PH5, Peter Do

That’s one way to turn heads… and consider ours well and truly turned! It’s eye-catching, vibrant, exciting and screams party ready. It retains that tailored look that we love so much about shirting, as well as the oversized fit, but the use of the sherbet colour ways really sets this trend apart. It’s bold, and you may not be ready for it - yet - but you can’t deny it’s an impactful look (and one I personally can’t wait to get my hands on).

COLLARLESS

From Left to Right: Erdem, Issey Miyake, Nehera, Piazza Sempione, Adam Lippes

This season it seems we’re ditching a key component of the shirt, the stiff collar. Honestly though? We’re not mad about it. There’s something really cool about the crisp cut off at the neckline here with zero compromise on the tailoring of the rest of the shirt. I can’t quite work out if it's a modern twist or an homage to older styles, more smart or more casual, but either way I’ll be sneaking it onto the production team’s mood board.

All images credited in links above; sadly none are owned by WNU because despite asking very nicely my boss would not let me take the month off to “galavant around different cities trying to look cool”. Oh well, it was worth a try.