Trends are one of the most powerful forces that drive fashion. But they’re a little tricky.
On one hand, trends can be really fun to play with. They bring something new into your wardrobe—new ideas and ways of thinking about fabrics, details, or silhouettes.
But on the other hand, you don't want a closet full of really trendy things that don't really feel like you. Sometimes, trends can pull you away from your true style, and they might not have longevity in your closet.
Today, Sarai and Haley are talking about spring trends. They cover how to use trends in a way that feels right for you, plus eight trends for spring 2024 and some ways you can incorporate them into your sewing.
Below are the show notes for this podcast episode and a brief summary of what's covered, followed by a full transcript.
Show Notes
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Trends Through the Lens of Personal Style: Episode 157. -
Style Workshop. It’s free for Seamwork members or just $10 if you’re not a member. - Design Your Wardrobe
- Sarai’s Dani pinafore
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Podcast listeners get half off an unlimited Seamwork membership when you use this link, plus you get to keep that price as long as you’re a member! - Tell us your idea for the next icebreakers for makers!
How to Wear Trends: Understand Your Personal Style
The trend cycle is moving faster than ever. But if you understand your personal style, including where it is now and where you’d like it to go, it’s easy to play with trends—or completely disregard them.
It helps to think like a designer. You must have a firm understanding of the brand you’re designing for. In this case, you’re designing for yourself!
Find your Style Identity
If you were a designer for a brand, you’d familiarize yourself with the brand’s style identity. You’d know how to describe the brand in a few words, and those would be at the heart of your designs.
Your personal style is like a brand you build that shows off who you are to the world. So, this is your style identity.
It helps to distill your style identity into 3-5 words. If you need help with this, take the Style Workshop. It’s free for members or just $10 if you aren’t a member.
Find Your Style Signatures
When you have some words to describe your style identity as a whole, you can identify certain style signatures that you have.
Style signatures are the elements and themes that show up in your personal style over and over again. For brands, these might be colors, fabrics, silhouettes, and details. Identify what these are for your personal style identity, and those are your style signatures.
When you have your style identity and signatures, you can bring trends into your wardrobe in a way that feels authentic to who you are.
Your style identity and signatures are the main course. Trends are the dessert—optional but fun.
Now that you know how to bring trends into your wardrobe—just like how a designer would bring trends into a brand—here are 8 trends to explore in spring 2024.
Haley’s Spring Trend Forecast
Botticelli Vibes: This trend features ethereal and romantic head-to-toe whites. You’ll see diaphanous fabrics that are sheer and flowing. You want to look like a painting, playing with fluid drape and opacity. To sew this trend, gather and pleat sheer and opaque fabrics in a way that plays with opacity. Or, use lace.
Paint It Black: You usually don’t see black in spring, but an all-black look is in this season. Play with contrasting weight and drape. Look for exciting and strong silhouettes. Incorporate different textures into the entire all-black look.
Peek A Boo: This trend will be really fun for fabric. You see lots of open weaves, even on knit fabric. Look for patterns with keyholes, cut-aways, and lace-up closures. Play with sheer reverse applique or cutwork. You’ll also spot lace here.
Bibs and Pinnies: This trend takes inspiration straight from overalls and pinafores—and you can interpret it literally. There are so many fun patterns out there. If you want to nod to the trend without sewing overalls or a pinafore, look for details like high, straight necklines and half-apron style peplums.
Exaggerated Length: Trendy silhouettes feature exaggerated lengths. This includes ultra high-rise pants, oversized yokes, and dropped waists. You can also create this look with monochromatic separates.
Coming Up Roses: You’ll see roses everywhere this spring, including rose prints, rose applique, and rose-themed accessories and pins. You can even create rosettes out of fabric and adorn them on your garments and accessories.
Micro Mini: This spring, you’ll see short hemlines. If this isn’t your look, layer shorter hems with tights and tall boots for more coverage.
Lilac Lady: A color you’ll spot this spring is lilac. All sorts of shades of purple are trending, creating a tonal color palette.
Podcast Transcript
Sarai
I'm Sarai.
Haley
And I'm Haley.
Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.
Welcome back to Seamwork Radio, where we share practical ideas for building a creative process so you can sew with intention and joy.
Today, we're talking about spring trends. So we're going to cover how to use trends in a way that feels right for you, plus, eight trends we're noticing for spring, and some ways you can incorporate them into your sewing. And we're also going to have some accompanying slides on the show notes, so you can find those on the Seamwork website if you want to see some pictures to go with today's episode.
All right, so let's dive right into the icebreaker for today. So, Haley, is there a trend that you love but you just can't see yourself wearing?
Haley
I feel like I suffer from this all the time. You suffer so dramatically. Something that comes to mind ithat I'm loving right now is I'm loving the trend of leather clothing pieces, like pants, skirts, tops, dresses, not just like a leather jacket. I think this trend is, like, I love the severity of it, but I'm just, like, so stressed out about smelling bad.
Personally, I don't think that the severity of the look really suits me very well either. But I just think it just looks so rad. When I see a woman in leather pants, I'm like, she has her life figured out. And also, don't mess with her.
Sarai
Who was that lady who was on Project Runway who was all about leather? Remember, leather? It was a long time ago.
Haley
Yeah, I don't remember.
Sarai
She sewed with leather, so she was leather.
Haley
I love sewing with leather, which is also why I deeply regret to say that this trend is not for me. What about you?
Sarai
I think for me, anything, like super colorful or graphic is something that I love looking at, but I just don't wear personally. It just doesn't fit in with my style or my existing wardrobe. I mean, little bits and pieces, sure, but I think, in particular, really graphic patterns.
I saw this dress the other day that had just, like, enormous polka dots on it, on this woman, and I thought it was so cool and she looked so amazing, but it's just not. I mean, I could wear polka dots, but not like that. Not those huge ones. So that's one thing that I really admire on other people.
Haley
Yeah, totally. I think that's, like, such a healthy part of taking part in trends, which I guess we'll talk about today, is just when something is to be admired for you, when it's your time to admire it on others, and when it's your time to join the party.
Sarai
Yeah. It's all about picking and choosing to figure out what fits with your personal style. And that's what we're going to be talking about today.
All right, well, we're going to get into this topic right now, but before we do, if you have an icebreaker that you'd like to use, or you'd like us to use rather, for a future episode, you can leave it for us. If you're a Seamwork member, just go to seamwork.com/go/icebreakers and leave your question there, and we may use it on a future episode.
All right. Well, let's talk a little bit about trends. I think a lot of us have a sort of complicated relationship with trends. I think, on the one hand, trends can be really fun to play with and really exciting, and they bring something new into your wardrobe, into your sewing, new ideas, new ways of thinking about fabrics, new ways of thinking about details or silhouettes. And I think that can all be very, very fun.
But on the other hand, we also don't want a closet full of these really trendy things that don't really feel like us. I think sometimes trends can pull us away from our true style and who we are, and they might not have any real longevity.
And I think for people who sew, a lot of us sew because we do reject trends oftentimes, and we want to find ways of expressing ourselves that are sort of outside of the cycle of trends. But I think, regardless, trends affect us, and they can offer something really fun and new that we can incorporate. So it's a delicate balance.
So how do we find that balance between the authentic and those trends? And that can be really tough to do. So, Haley, what are your thoughts about that?
Haley
I think it all comes down to having a pretty firm understanding of your personal style. You have to have an idea of where you're going in your personal style, if you are going anywhere at all. But for a lot of people, there's where they're going with their personal style and then where they are currently. So having that understanding of their actual wardrobe, what they wear every single day, where they would like it to be in, like, a year or two from now, and then from there, incorporating trends that make sense for the now and for the future as well. I think that's how we have fun with trends without letting them take over our wardrobe.
Sarai
Yeah, they can be kind of tempting, I think, especially if you see kind of what we were just talking about. If you see something that looks great on someone else, even if it doesn't quite fit your style. It can be really difficult to know whether that's something that you want to explore and play around with and maybe evolve how you think about your style.
Or is it something that's just kind of a shiny object syndrome and pulling you away from what you know about yourself?
Haley
Yeah, I heard someone say recently, I'm summarizing, but they say that you don't participate in trends, you take advantage of them.
Sarai
That's a good way of thinking about it.
Haley
So you don't say like, “oh, well, skinny jeans are out of style, so I can't wear those anymore, and I have to wear wide leg jeans.” It's more just like, oh, well, I know that for me, I love this certain kind of silhouette or it's something that I really enjoy, and so I'm going to take advantage of that. I'm going to take advantage of that. I can buy it ready to wear more easily available, that there's going to be a whole bunch of patterns coming out where I'll be able to pick the one that's just right for me. Just take advantage of them instead.
Sarai
Yeah, I love that.
Haley
What about you? How do you find that balance between authenticity and trendiness for yourself?
Sarai
Sort of similar to what you're saying. I think having a really good handle on what your style is and having some ways that work for you to kind of hone in on that and to keep it front of mind is really helpful.
I really like having mood boards and things like that. I find the designer wardrobe process and doing that periodically to be really, really helpful because it really orients me back to what matters to me in my own wardrobe and my own style. So I think having those kind of consistent processes is really, really helpful and helps me to kind of—provides me with a filter for looking at everything that's out there in the world, trends and other things that just may or may not suit me. I think that's been something that's been really, really helpful to me.
I think also thinking about things like who are my style icons, things like that, that can kind of provide that sort of filter or lens with which that I like to look at my wardrobe as a whole has been, I think, a really big game changer, especially in the last few years, because I think in the past, wouldn't say I was ever like a real trend-driven person, but definitely more influenced by what was in stores than I am now.
So that's been really helpful to me.
Haley
You just used the word filter. And I think that that is kind of a helpful word to think of in that you need to discover what your filter is. So some people, that's like their personal style. I know other people like to use different systems, like color seasons and body type systems. And figuring out what your system for filtering is, is just so key. And I think it's going to look a little bit different for everyone.
Sarai
Yeah. And combining them, if that feels right to you, too. I think some of those systems are really interesting. The Kibbe body type system, I think, is so unusual, but also kind of interesting.
Haley
I also cannot figure it out.
Sarai
It's very complicated.
Haley
It's so complicated.
Sarai
There's so many types. It's like only kind of about your body. I don't know. It's OD.
Haley
If there is a Kibbe body type expert out there, I think it would be so fun to have someone on the podcast. So if you are, you get in contact with us and we would love to talk to you more. We want to pick your brain and know all the things.
Sarai
Definitely.
Haley
And maybe you can finally tell me once and for all if I'm a soft natural. I'm just dying to know.
I think that something that I observe and I hear again and again from people is that it feels harder than ever to get a handle on what's trending and integrate those things into your wardrobe in a way that feels right.
Why do you think that that is?
Sarai
I think there are a lot of reasons, but I think technology probably has a lot to do with it. I think we're just exposed to so much now, and the trends come so hard and fast these days. We've got not just trends, but, like, micro trends. It's so much. And I think, not to be too much of an anti social media luddite, but I do think there's a lot of homogeneity that's caused by social media where people kind of all look the same. Like have an Instagram look or there are several Instagram looks, I guess.
But I do think it encourages a level of homogeneity and trend chasing that maybe wasn't as prevalent before. But I do think it goes beyond social media and it's been something that's been building in our culture for a long time. Like a lot of things. I don't know. I just think there's more.
Haley
I agree with all of that. I think that the trend cycle is faster than ever. We're seeing trends come and go at a faster rate than they have in the past. Something that I've been thinking about and how social media plays into our perception of trends. I think that in the past, when we were observing trends, we were looking at what people were wearing in magazines, what they were wearing, maybe on red carpets or on television. The channels that we observed fashion were more limited. We were all looking kind of at the same people, the same folks. The beautiful thing about social media is that now our lens is widened, we're looking at more people. But that makes it hard for us to distinguish between these micro trends and these bigger shifts in silhouettes and things that are going to be like more macro things that are going to be more long lasting.
And so it's just more confusing to wade through. So I guess that kind of contrasts that homogeneity, where I feel like we have too many sources of input, and maybe it's not too many, it's just there's a lot, and it's hard to know where to focus.
Sarai
It sounds contradictory that there's more sources of input and yet things look more the same. But I think that's kind of how the algorithms work, is that there is a lot out there. But then whatever appeals to you, you just get served that over and over again. It's the bubble, right, that you're in, and that goes way beyond aesthetics and fashion. So I think that's one of the effects of social media, and I think that can kind of limit your view of what's happening.
Haley
That's also interesting and a little bit scary at the same time. Let's shift to less scary.
What is your favorite way to incorporate trends into your wardrobe?
Sarai
I think having a process, like I mentioned before, I like the Design Your Wardrobe process, and doing that either twice a year or four times a year, and that gives me an opportunity to kind of refresh and look at things in a new way if you don't want to go through a whole process like that, even though I think it's really, really fun, you can also just create a new mood board for yourself for the season and look at what's out there and how you can incorporate things.
I find that really helpful because you can kind of gather things together and see how they look with your existing style, your existing wardrobe, and kind of pull things together in a really visual way. So I find that to be a really helpful tool myself for incorporating new trends. What about you?
Haley
Yeah, I definitely do the same thing. I think beyond that, when we talked about trends last time, we were talking about fall/winter, and I know that I said that I liked incorporating base layers as, like, a specific thing. But for spring and summer, I feel like it's a little bit different. For spring and summer, I feel like instead of focusing on one area, I like to sprinkle the trends.
Always shoes. When spring comes around, I always want a new pair of shoes, and it's a place where I kind of alternate between trendy choices and a nice practical choice. I think this year, it's time for a trendy choice, so I'm looking forward to that.
And then in addition to that, I just kind of like shopping my own wardrobe. And oftentimes there's things that are already in there that kind of are adjacent to some of the trends that I'm probably interested in. But, yeah, I think it's just more separates, like, mixing and matching a couple separates into my sewing plan so I can style them in different ways. I think that's usually my strategy for spring, especially since weather here where we live is so chaotic this time of year.
Sarai
Yeah, I think it's the hardest season to dress for in terms of weather.
Haley
I just want to wear dresses already. It's just, like, not going to happen.
Sarai
Not quite time. Yeah.
Haley
Okay, so I'm going to get us into some of these tips and trends. So the tip portion of today's episode is going to focus on how we're going to incorporate trends in a way that is more authentic for us. So I'm going to tell you about my process as a designer for doing that, and then we're going to jump into our eight trends that we're seeing a ton of for spring 2024.
So let's get into it. So I would like to encourage you to do is I want you to take off your personal thinking cap, and I want you to put on the thinking cap of a designer.
What I was trained to do, and what many designers are trained to do is focus. As a designer, I can't just design things that Haley loves all the time, although sometimes I do get to do that. I have to start with a firm understanding of the brand that I'm designing for. And so the brand I'm currently designing for is Seamwork.
I would like for you all to think of yourself as a designer, and your personal style is kind of the brand that you're building.
So every brand has their style identity as well as their brand signatures. So the style identity is the core style of the brand. It can be helpful to distill your personal style down to, like, three to five words. You can check out the Style Workshop for help with that. It has some really helpful exercises for helping you get there.
And then in addition to that, style, identity brands have their signatures. So these are the elements and the themes that show up in the brand style or your personal style time and time again. So this can be colors, it can be design details, it can be silhouettes.
What my goal is as a designer is to start with a really great understanding of the style identity and signatures. And then when we're building in trends, what we're doing is we are building them around those two components.
We're not centering the trends. We're centering the identity and the signatures and then playing with the trends.
So think of those identity elements and those signature elements as the constants in your style. Season to season, you're always going to see those things woven throughout, and then you can think about your trends as a way to kind of enhance what you already have going on.
So identity and signatures. Main course, trends are the dessert. They're optional, but they're fun.
If you are interested in this kind of theory and practice, then you can check out episode 157. And that is called Trends Through the Lens of Personal Style.
And we walk through this a little bit more in depth and give you some really good examples of this. But I just wanted to preface the trends we're sharing today with this because I think it is a really helpful way to think about trends. So you're not just like, chasing a trend cycle, you're engaging in them a little bit more thoughtfully.
Sarai
Yeah, I think another thing to add to that. So you mentioned your identity and signatures as the main course, and trends being the dessert, that sometimes the trends that you explore can become part of your main course. They can become part of your totally ongoing personal style, which I think is one of the really fun things about exploring trends.
Haley
I think sometimes people think like, well, why bother with trends if I have this great personal style? And you can totally stick with your tried and trues if that's what works for you. But if you're a person who likes to play and evolve a little bit, then incorporating trends can be a really great way to grow and evolve that personal style.
All right. And the next thing that I want to mention about trends is that I like to encourage people to think about trends a little bit less, I guess, singularly. When you look at a Runway show, you're like, oh, my gosh, this looks wild. Like, how could I ever incorporate or do any of this in my day to day wardrobe, and you would be correct. That might be a little bit wild, unless you're, like, a huge fan of showing nipple at the grocery store. I don't know.
But what I would like to encourage you to do instead is to look at trends and break them down into their components. So today, Sarai and I are going to be sharing these trends. We'll share kind of the overarching vibe of the trend, and then we'll share some of the components of these trends that we're seeing. And the components are where you can kind of incorporate them into your wardrobe and into your sewing in a way that's a little bit more approachable. Those are the pieces that you see trickle down into ready to wear most often.
All right, I'm going to kick us off with a trend I'm calling Botticelli vibes, and it's really just, like, ethereal and romantic head to toe whites. So what we're seeing in this trend are really diaphanous white fabrics, sheer, flowing. You want to look like a painting, really, really fluid, drape, a little bit of play, and opacity. So using sheer and opaque fabrics in contrast with one another or using sheer fabrics that are gathered or pleated in a way that create play with opacity. Lace also comes into play a bit with this trend. Applique on sheer fabrics, again with that opacity play, and then gathers as well. Ways that we're creating volume, but in very soft ways.
I think that this trend is for all of the people out there who love a romantic look and to play with that in their personal style. I think that this is a really fun trend to play around with a little bit, and there's so much variety in it. It's very rich in technique, so it can be a really fun one to play with.
Sarai
Yeah. I personally love heirloom sewing techniques. I think they're really fun to learn and really fun to play with. So this is a really cool opportunity to try out some new sewing techniques. And this is a trend that definitely vibes with my existing personal style.
I love wearing white. I love sheer fabrics, and I love little details like lace and pin tucks and gathers, and really very excited to do more sewing in this realm. So it's very cool.
The next trend is one we're calling Paint it Black. So this one is wearing head to toe black. So this is another trend I can really get behind because I love wearing black and I love wearing white.
So for this trend, you can think about things like contrasting weight and drape. You can think about texture play. You can think about using black in really interesting and strong silhouettes. Sometimes black can be perceived as a little bit safe and boring. And, yeah, it is a safe thing to wear, but there's a reason that people love black, and that is that it really can create a lot of drama.
And I personally love to wear black, but I also really, really love texture and playing around with details and different ways to make black look interesting.
So I think this is a very cool one. And it's interesting that this comes up for spring, too, because spring is usually not the season for black.
Haley
Yeah, I think that's why it's so noteworthy is that it was so prevalent in some of the spring collections. And I just like how it's not black with a minimalist perspective. It's really more of, like, a maximalist approach to black, which I think is quite fun and is ripe with creative opportunity.
Sarai
I often think that spring is a time where I lean away from black. Actually, one of the few times I lean away from black and then get back into it in summer, because I really like black in summer. So this is a nice way to carry the trend through the rest of the year, too, and make clothing that you'll be able to wear year round.
Haley
And also, let's be honest, most of us probably have our fair share of black in our wardrobe. It's a great opportunity to kind of play with what we already have as well.
Sarai
And it'll go with everything, unless you're one of those people who just never wears black, which some people don't.
Haley
Okay, so our next trend I'm calling Peekaboo. I have a child. I can't help but say it that way.
And this is just, like, creative, fun ways of showing a little bit of skin. And so this one I saw come up in a whole bunch of different applications. Again, this has, like, a lot of creative opportunity in it.
Some of the ways I saw this come up are fabrics that have really open weaves or really open knit fabrics, keyholes and cutaways in general. But they were coming up in kind of unexpected places, not like, at the center front or center back neckline, although that's a beautiful, classic approach to a keyhole or a cutaway. But I was seeing them in kind of unexpected places, like on sleeves and on raglan sleeves, where the bodice joins the sleeve.
A lot of asymmetry in these cutouts and keyholes as well was an observation I had. Lace-up closures were also pretty prevalent on bodices at the center, front, on the back. Also very risque versions of this with lace up sides. If you're feeling a little saucy, I'd say go for it.
Here's a repeat thing that I saw show up is sheer reverse applique. This also came up in the Botticelli vibes trend as well.
Cut work, which is a type of embroidery where a motif is embroidered onto fabric, and then you kind of cut away, like eyelets, and then lace again, which this is also a repeat.
So I think the more repeats you see in these trend components, the more you're going to start to see it show up in the stores, in the streets, in the fabric stores, that kind of thing.
Sarai
This is a fun one, too. I'm actually knitting a semi sheer sweater right now, so I'm glad to know it's on trend. I had no idea. It's been one I've been wanting to make for years, so that's good to know.
All right, the next trend is Bibs and Pinnies. So we're talking about dungaree-inspired garments.
I'm excited about this one because I live in overalls for a good part of the year, so it is definitely one that's familiar to me. And if you saw my video on everything I made in 2023, my favorite project that I made, the one that's getting the most wear, was my Dani pinafore dress, which I absolutely love. And I probably wear it about once a week. So this is an exciting one.
So here we're talking about high, straight necklines. We're talking about overalls, of course, overalls are an easy way to incorporate this look, and it's super practical. Believe me. Pinafore type dresses. So, like the Dani oinafore dress, again, I absolutely love that dress. And it's also really comfortable and also very, very layerable, which is one of the things that I really like about this trend.
And finally, half apron style peplums. So I think these are some really cool ways that you can incorporate this look into your wardrobe in different ways, depending on what your own personal style is. But what I love about it is just how versatile it is and how it really helps to kind of extend some of the things you might already have in your wardrobe and layer them in new ways. So I really like this one.
Haley
I like how there's kind of literal interpretations of it, like, with just straight-up wearing overalls and pinafores. And then also there's subtle nods to it like the high, straight neckline, even, like, on a slip dress, I feel like that's something that you can incorporate that would be really lovely.
Sometimes you want something that's literal. Sometimes you're like, I don't want to decode this trend. Just give me something literal. And I think that pinafores and overalls are one of those things that, in the sewing world, I don't think they've fallen out of favor. So I love that there's going to be a ton of pattern options available for people out there.
Sarai
Yeah, and there are some great ones out there already. I think there's a lot of really awesome patterns in this vein, so this will be a fun one to make.
Haley
All right, next up, we have exaggerated length, so this is really the emphasis of a very long silhouette. So I saw this in a few different ways. We see these ultra high-rise cuts on jeans and on skirts. So I'm not just talking at the natural waistline, even something that goes past that a bit. I think on the opposite end of that, there's also the lowering of waistline. So things with dropped waists. But also we're seeing the other extreme in pants, where a lower cut or a lower rise is becoming a little bit more popular as well.
In addition to that, we're seeing some oversized yokes. This, again plays with that waist placement a bit. And then really monochromatic separates. So this is a great way of creating that illusion of a lot of length on the body and playing up that vertical line a bit.
I think that this one is really fun to play with because I think that there is a little bit of something for everyone in it. For me, being a short girl, ultra high-rise in dropped waist isn't for me. But I do love a monochromatic look and some monochromatic separates. So that's probably how I would play with this one.
Sarai
Yeah. And it depends a lot on your proportions and your personal style. Of course, I'm not super tall either, but I do like a high rise. I have a short waist, so a high rise does work well for me. But then I also really like long layers, even though I'm not a tall, willowy person. So it's something that I think you can really find what works for you in different ways.
Haley
Totally. I think for me, it's my combination of short and curvy. There's only, like, one or two inches above my waist that isn't taken up by boob. So I can't go any higher than that.
Sarai
All right. The next trend is really dear to me, which is Coming Up Roses. It's all things roses, my favorite flower. I am really excited about this.
So here we're looking at rose prints, but we're also looking at things like rose applique fabric, roses, rose pins and accessories. Again, I remember somebody on Project Runway who was really into rosettes and put rosettes on everything. They were always making fun of her for being, like, kind of holly hobby and being not sophisticated enough for the judges. But now rosettes are coming back.
Haley
This is why you stay true to your personal style, because it always comes back around.
Sarai
Yeah, I've been seeing these pop up here and there already, and I think they're really not just pretty, but also really fun to make. This is a really fun way to add some pizzazz to your sewing projects or even just make, like, a pin that you can add to things.
Haley
I think it's so very Carrie Bradshaw.
Sarai
Yes, very Carrie, which I definitely appreciate. And rose prints, I just think I love that. That's definitely going to be something that I incorporate this spring.
Haley
Okay, well, next up, we have maybe a controversial one, and that is Micro Minis—showing off lots of leg Kind of like the dungarees and trend. I feel like this one, it is, like, a little bit more literal. The trend is that we're just seeing pretty short hemlines, things that are mid thigh or above.
But some of the other elements that I pulled out that I think that even if you aren't a short skirt girly, you could play with are. I'm seeing these hemlines paired often with tights, both opaque and sheer, which is, I'm a tights person, so I love that. And also really tall boots. It's kind of giving 1960s a little go-go vibe, which is, I think, really fun. So even if you are gasping at the idea of wearing a micro mini, playing with some tights or some different styles of tall boots could be a fun way to play with this.
Sarai
I hope you're not gasping over it. I hope we're not causing any heart attacks here.
Haley
Traffic accidents.
Sarai
I love a mini skirt, so I'm excited about this. Not like a super short mini skirt, but I think there are different ways that you can incorporate this and make it more classic. If it's not something that, if I'm a tiny, tiny mini skirt and you're thinking about, like, I don't know, was it Britney Spears who wore that really tiny mini skirt back in the early 2000?
Haley
Basically, yeah, probably.
Sarai
But there's also an A-line skirt, which I absolutely love. I love to wear shortish aline skirts, not super short. And there are different ways that you can incorporate it and still keep it classic.
Haley
As you're speaking to me, you're sitting in front of your mood board, and I see a mini skirt directly behind you.
Sarai
Yes, I'm making one for spring already. I'm planning to make one. I'm taking the ginger skirt, which is an old Colette pattern, an A-line skirt, and I'm going to chop it off and make it a mini. So I'm really excited about that one.
Haley
Cute.
Sarai
And then the final trend that we're talking about today is Lilac Lady—pale purple. I also really like this one. So I think lilac is kind of an underrated color because I think it looks good on so many different people. It looks great on a huge variety of skin tones, and I think it also looks really, really pretty with gray hair. I think it suits a lot of different people. So I'm excited to see lilac coming back.
So we're looking at shades of lilac and tonal color palettes built around lilac. This one, I think, is really fun. It kind of reminds me of that sort of early 2000s candy color, Zoe Deschanel look that was popular back then, which I'm ready for that to come back. That was fun.
Haley
Yeah, I think that there was definitely, like, a bit of a throwback to that. And also in the saw, some references to that kind of, I guess, more late 90s, where it's the kind of Y2K futuristic shade of lilac. I feel like I saw a skirt and a taffeta that was giving me 1999, but I think this is a really fun one. And I liked that there wasn't one particular shade that was, like, a standout shade. There was warmer and cooler representations of it, and they really ran from quite pale to a little bit more mid toned.
Sarai
Yeah, this is a fun one. And I really like the color lilac for myself, too.
Haley
A lot of these trends are very Sarai friendly.
Sarai
They are.
Haley
No pressure.
Sarai
Yeah. I'm going to be the trendiest girl you guys have ever seen this spring. I'm going to incorporate all of them just by coincidence.
All right, well, we talked about a lot today. I'm just going to recap the eight trends we talked about. And then, Haley, while I do that, you think about which one you're most excited about.
Haley
Oh, my gosh.
Sarai
We'll talk about it. So we talked about Botticelli vibes, which are ethereal and romantic whites we talked about Painted Black, which is head to toe black. We talked about Peekaboo, which is showing some skin. Bibs and Pinnies. So those are the dungaree-inspired garments. Exaggerated length and long silhouettes. Coming Up Roses. All things roses. Micro Minis, showing lots of leg and Lilac Lady, pale purple.
So which of those are you most excited about?
Haley
This is hard because I like a lot of these things. At first, I was like, Bibs and Pinnies, but I probably won't be wearing these because I'm going to be having a baby in spring, and all those layers sound inconvenient for breastfeeding. So realistically, I think I'm going to be wearing some monochromatic separates. I think that that's, like a nice way to feel really pulled together and dress with a little bit of intention, but it also really has low mental overhead. So realistically, that's the one I will be incorporating the most. Probably wearing a lot of black.
Sarai
Very practical. Well, I think for me, this is tough because these are all things I would probably be wearing anyway. Pretty much all of them. So I think the one that I'm kind of excited about is the rosettes. I think that's something I haven't really thought about in quite a long time, and they're really fun to make. So I kind of want to make one and make, like, a little accessory out of it or something. I've seen some bags, some little handbags or tote bags that have a huge rosette on them.
Haley
I love those.
Sarai
I think they're so cool. So I'd kind of like to make something like that for spring. That would be really fun.
Haley
We're going to need a YouTube video, Sarai, I can already hear the requests coming in.
Sarai
If I do it, I will definitely make a video for y'all.
All right, well, if you have enjoyed this and you want to think a little bit more about your own personal style and how you can incorporate trends in a way that's meaningful to you, we talked about the Style Workshop earlier. So the style workshop is a hands on workshop that walks you through ten exercises to help you identify your core style. So it's also a great process to go through before tackling any other wardrobe planning, like design your wardrobe. And it's free for Seamwork members, but if you aren't a member, it's only $10.
And if you like this episode, we would love it if you would leave us a review on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on right now. We absolutely love seeing your reviews every week. It really, really makes our day and we love hearing from you guys. So if you have a moment to leave us five stars and tell us what you think about the podcast, we would super appreciate it.
And that does it for us this week. I'm Sarai.
Haley
And I'm Haley.
Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.