While giant puffers are still happening for outerwear, there is another kind of quilting that is more comfortable indoors. Flat quilting — like the kind used for moving blankets that protect furniture — is used for all kinds of separates, from tops and jackets to dresses, pants and skirts. Diamonds are most prevalent, used all over or in placed panels.
In a season of plaids, there is one motif that particularly stands out: the time-honored buffalo check. The check originated in the 1700s as a Scottish tartan called the MacGregor Red and Black; Woolrich introduced it to America as the “buffalo check” in 1850. For next season the pattern gets updated with refreshed color combos, quilted versions, and brushed surfaces that give it a slightly blurred effect. The buffalo check works in both traditional and quirky styles and even goes head-to-toe with checked hoods and wooly platform boots.
The giant carryall is giving way to the bite-sized bag. In contrast to all the colossal coats, roomy sack dresses, stretched-out sweaters and rave-wide pants shown for next season, these diminutive satchels and tiny totes offer a sense of scale. Many have long straps so that they can be worn cross-body, and they are often styled with another larger bag — perhaps as a going-out-after-work option when a heavy handbag is too great a burden to bear.
The beloved YSL motif is back, heralding a return to logomania. Logos appear in fanciful applications in Paris this season — beaded, bejeweled, as ironic logo-tape or cleverly fashioned into a signature heel.