The past few years have been an emotional rollercoaster in the fashion world, but womenswear champions design ingenuity as a force for positive change. As a result, several updates are flooding the market through enhanced hues, reinterpreted silhouettes, and minimalist detailing.
What’s more? Womenswear is evolving to saturate items with gender inclusivity and thoughtful designs for a stylish and functional winter season. Discover outstanding women’s apparel trends that are making sense in A/W 23/24.
Table of Contents
Overview of the global women’s apparel market
15 outstanding womenswear trends that will be big in A/W 23/24
Final words
Overview of the global women’s apparel market
In 2021, the global women’s apparel market generated up to US $915 billion. But, research predicts the industry will reach US $1,165 billion by 2027 while exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 4.11%. One key factor driving this market’s growth is the increasing influence of e-commerce platforms. Other than that, the adoption of innovative strategies and 3D knitting machines are other factors that will boost its expansion.
While the online category is an essential driver for the global market’s growth, the offline channel accounted for the highest market share in 2018 (over 56%). However, experts expect e-commerce platforms to register the fastest CAGR (5.0%) during the forecast period.
Europe emerged as the largest shareholder in the global womenswear market. The region’s impressive feats are attributable to its female population’s economic independence and augmented fashion consciousness.
Analysts anticipate Asia-Pacific will follow closely behind by showcasing the highest CAGR (5.5%) over the forecast period. They credit their predictions to the expanding establishment of offline and online players in the region.
15 outstanding womenswear trends that will be big in A/W 23/24
Care culture
1. Homebound
This season will witness increased commuting as more women engage in flexible work patterns and remote working. Thankfully, Homebound caters to this need by utilizing solution-driven and versatile items to explore new nomadic lifestyles.
The theme showcases an outdoor-driven aesthetic but in a different direction. Homebound combines technical clothes with fashion-led aesthetics, making the theme relevant for outerwear, cut-and-sew tops, work leisure, loungewear, jackets, and knits.
2. Primal warmth
Primal warmth follows the success of S/S 23’s Never Ending Summer theme to leverage the mood-boosting properties and benefits of natural light. It focuses more on hues influenced by the golden hours of dawn and dusk.
In addition, calming prints in sun-baked tones and soft focus effects are other ways to dive into this dawn- or dusk-inspired theme. Retailers can apply Primal warmth to all womenswear categories.
3. Digital-luxe lounge
Loungewear has recently enjoyed immense popularity and will remain an essential category this season. However, It’s experiencing a decline in growth speed, making it necessary to up the game and keep things fresh with innovations and diversification.
The digital-luxe lounge takes this responsibility by elevating staples, like joggers and hoodies, to silkier, smoother, and more technical domains. Sellers can utilize this theme for loungewear, cut-and-sew, jackets, and outerwear.
4. Hobbycore
Consumers don’t have to discard all the hobbies they picked up during the pandemic. Everything from crafting to foraging and quirky activities like metal detecting finds a home under the Hobbycore theme.
Hobbycore also allows retailers to engage with consumers through initiatives like mending tutorials and themed workshops.
Stylistically, retailers should gravitate toward craft core essentials, like patchworking and quilting, creative embroidery, hand-dyeing techniques, and lo-fi graphic tees.
5. Soft alpine
The winter sports boom carries over its influence from previous seasons to make a scene in A/W 23/24. Soft alpine follows a quiet yet elevated direction motivated by apres-ski themes.
Businesses can use this theme to supercharge their fundamental layering piece and innerwear, turning them into fashion-forward solutions that provide warmth, coverage, and support.
Creative reset
6. Dopamine minimalism
Although dopamine dressing started as a reaction to the pandemic, it remains relevant in A/W 23/24. Women now consider how a product makes them feel, not just how it looks. As a result, dopamine minimalism enters the fray with a heightened focus on mood-boosting properties.
Dopamine minimalism keeps shapes simple by blending minimalism and maximalism into fashionable items, like tailoring and denim. However, it moves away from fatigue-inducing dopamine themes to more versatile and minimalist hues.
7. Fluid careers
This theme takes office-ready garments for a fluid makeover while permeating them with functional, modular, and de-gendered properties. Retailers can explore tailoring, denim, formal jerseys, and knits through gender-inclusive lenses.
For styling and silhouettes, sellers must overlook boxy and oversized shapes and opt for flexible fits with adaptive sizing. In addition, consider regulating clever design details, like straps and fastenings, to match different body sizes and builds.
8. New classic
New classic uses unexpected styling, bold blocks, and color injections to reinterpret perennial checks, classic silhouettes, and tartan stripes for a new audience. The theme steers from conventional traditional designs, opting for more modern elements to spruce up timeless pieces.
Retailers can grab preppy favorites like rugby shirts, chevron motifs, and check trousers and update them with interesting details, such as plush surfaces, fringed hems, and tiered designs.
9. Nowhere everywhere
In contrast to the previous season’s yearning for individualism and designs that stand out, “Nowhere everywhere” comes with the desire to hide and blend in. Instead, more women are shifting toward simple designs that avoid overstimulation.
Businesses can tap into this trend by simplifying complex data, patterns, and emotions and transforming them into easy-to-understand designs. Apply this evolved style to categories like outerwear, cut-and-sew, denim, graphic tees, separates, tailoring, and dresses.
10. Art-letes
With women gaining more interest in sports, A/W 23/24 will continue the charge toward sports-inspired silhouettes, providing opportunities for more collaborations between artistic elements and activewear details.
Art-letes offer a more expressive direction by applying joyful prints to outerwear, tops, loungewear, dresses, and trousers. Sellers can think of this theme as a more approachable style that blends modern silhouettes with active-inspired accessories, details, and graphics.
NatureVerse
11. Space Sahara
Despite being some of the most hostile ecosystems of nature, deserts continue serving as an inspirational source for various fashion items. However, Space Sahara merges a space-inspired theme with desert colors for a unique aesthetic.
Under this theme, women can contrast simple knits and base layers with low-impact sheen jeans, dresses, or jackets. Other items retailers can update with the Space Sahara theme include woven tops, denim, coats, and cut-and-sew.
12. Swampcore
With nature showcasing an unrivaled influence in modern fashion, Swampcore embodies the grittier and murkier end of the spectrum to create refreshing designs. This theme crafts the swampy look as a new direction for casualwear, utility styles, and outerwear while tapping into the notion of having deep connections with nature.
Layered, oversized, and lengthy silhouettes prevail in Swampcore. In addition, businesses can apply this theme through swamp-influenced graphics, camouflage, mottled motifs, and nature-powered dyes.
13. Softly sharp
The metaverse continues influencing runways as designs emerge from the digital world to make their mark on physical ensembles. Softly sharp heralds a subtle shift to sci-fi looks as an updated direction for tailoring. It also blends this movement with more sporty looks for enhanced wearability.
Retailers can saturate minimalist pieces with a fresher and sassier feel by adding rounded edges and precise cutouts. Consider using this theme on tops, blouses, dresses, trousers, jackets, outerwear, jumpsuits, matching sets, and tailoring.
14. Meta volume
Meta volume embraces a youth-led direction inspired by emerging futuristic streetwear aesthetics for women’s outdoor apparel.
Businesses can use oversized silhouettes to elevate winter staples like puffer jackets, coats, cargo trousers, and wide-leg trousers.
Outerwear, jackets, streetwear, sweatshirts, trousers, and gender-inclusive designs are categories compatible with this futuristic theme.
15. Atlantis
Water is another natural source of inspiration making rounds in women’s fashion, and Atlantis showcases the beautiful aspects. The watery-inspired trend blends underwater and otherworldly themes to create a subtle futuristic appeal.
Atlantis effortlessly transitions summer themes into winter ranges, helping to spruce up seasonless designs. Retailers can interpret the trend across various markets and categories, including dresses, woven tops, partywear, denim, cut-and-sew, digital fashion, and knitwear.
Final words
Nature-verse redefines womenswear by merging digital and natural worlds, helping retailers stay updated with the latest trends emerging from the metaverse. In addition, care culture creates opportunities that cater to the demands of consumers on the move or women who desire to travel in lightweight clothing.
Creative reset heralds an era of consumer creativity by energizing simple shapes with color, prints, and reinterpretations of familiar silhouettes. Businesses must leverage these women’s apparel trends for a heightened presence during A/W 23/24 sales.
