Photograph by Elford / De La Foret (Fairfax rights - 6 months after publication date) SL fashion, may 22 Photo: Elford / De La Foret
Stripes emerged as a key player during the the northern hemisphere's Spring Summer 2016 collections with Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo well and truly on board.
They continued to make their presence felt via sporty stripes at Lacoste, licorice allsorts stripes at Max Mara Fall shows, and fun flirty stripes at the Chanel and Gucci Resort shows. It's clear this trend is a strong one for the year.
Designers worked with more intricate and colourful graphic designs in the vein of Missoni's signature stripe and didn't stop at visual lines using texture (mostly pleats) to create the appearance of even more stripes throughout their collections. The result was loud, graphic combinations in bold shades, head-to-toe lines that clashed in colour and form and brought interest and attitude.
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Stripe stars
The lines have been drawn - on tops, pants, skirts and dresses. Mix or match them to create a winning look. Photo: Elford / De La Foret
Thankfully the rules for earning your fashion stripes are clear.
1. Any combination goes
For maximum effect team separates with opposing stripes, like a pleated skirt with a top featuring horizontal stripes. Mix up colours and textures and consider asymmetrical hems to create further confusion to the where the eye is drawn, in the best possible way. And now's the time to consider unlikely pieces in these bold prints, such as jackets and maxi dresses.
2. Pleats are your friend
Putting aside the printed stripes for the moment, pleats are a trend in themselves. And oh so flattering they are too. Take Stella McCartney's billowing pleats from her SS16 collection, the skim over the body hiding all manner of sins and create a elegant and sensual silhouette, that's lengthened by the vertical lines the pleats create.
For the more conservative among us a long pleated maxi skirt teamed with a crisp white shirt is the height of chic and bang on trend too. The more adventurous should revel in mixing it up as suggested above.
3. Don't shy away from horizontal stripes
It's a fashion mantra that stripes heading across the body are "unflattering" because they make things wider. That's not really true, but if you're worried, choose pieces with a print of varying stripe widths and colours and position the loudest stripes where you want the eye to be drawn.
Versatile, bold and flattering, whichever way you look at it the stripe is just right this season.
