The Biggest Moments From The Autumn/Winter 2022 Shows

Everything you need to see from the catwalk so far

It’s that time of year again; fashion week is upon us – and, this time around, everything is starting to feel slightly more normal than it has for the past few years.

For autumn/winter 2022, plenty of designers are back on the physical schedule after taking a few seasons off due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while more international editors and influencers are expected to fly around the globe to sit front row at the major shows as restrictions ease.

That does not mean however, that we won’t see some digital presentations, as many designers adopt less traditional ways of presenting their designs, whether through imagery, film or something else unique. In fact, it should be an interesting season to help determine how impactful the pandemic has been on the international fashion show schedule.

As the shows kick off in Milan, scroll down to see every major moment so far, and keep this page bookmarked, as we will be updating you daily with all the biggest show moments from the four major fashion capitals.

Miu Miu

It was the final show on the Paris Fashion Week schedule – and of a month of shows, and Miu Miu did not disappoint. Presenting more teeny, tiny mini skirts (following the brand’s viral SS22 piece), the collection was sporty and preppy, and was inspired by tennis.

Trend takeaway: Schoolgirl style and micro minis

Louis Vuitton

“This collection is dedicated to youth, in hopes that it can keep the unresolved poetry of adolescence like a flawless garment – in all its vivid romanticism, inspiring idealism, hope for the future, for a better world, and its dreams of perfection,” said Nicolas Ghesquiere of AW22.

Trend takeaway: Unexpected layering

Chanel

Chanel’s autumn/winter 2022 collection was all about one of the house signatures, tweed.

“Devoting the entire collection to tweed is a tribute,” explained creative director Virginie Viard. “We followed the footsteps of Gabrielle Chanel along the River Tweed, to imagine tweeds in the colours of this landscape… This is what Gabrielle Chanel would do on her walks through the Scottish countryside: she would gather ferns and bouquets of flowers to inspire the local artisans for the tones she wanted.”

Trend takeaways: Tweed, jumper dresses and jumpsuits

Valentino

This season’s Valentino show was a total pink-out with almost the entire collection being made in the same shade of pink, one chosen by Pierpaolo Piccioli in collaboration with the Pantone Color Institute.

“Pink as a manifestation of the unconscious and a liberation from the need for realism,” explained the show notes. “The accumulation of pink elements is such as to eliminate the visual shock to bring out, together, the unique character of the person, expressed by the face and the eyes, and the work on the pieces of clothing: the signs that shape them into a silhouette, the textures that give them consistency, the decorations that are part of the construction…The pink-out is an experimental yet deeply human gesture that enhances individuality, capturing values and feelings.”

Trend takeaway: Bright pink everything

Givenchy

“I really wanted to create a synthesis of powerful, sophisticated femininity, with an interplay of multiple American and Parisian influences, sports and craftsmanship,” creative director Matthew M. Williams said of Givenchy’s new collection. “Next to her stands a contemporary man with an instinct for chic nonchalance. On the runway, both are grounded by a sense of reality.”

Trend takeaway: Pearl jewellery and giant sequins

Balenciaga

The AW22 Balenciaga show was a powerful one, as Demna Gvasalia made a comment on climate change (with the models walking through a fake snowstorm).

Trend takeaway: Head-to-toe black and oversized tailoring

Hermès

Loewe

Balmain

Creative director Olivier Rousteing returned to the catwalk last night, presenting a collection which was designed as a response to his own suffering after being burned and scarred as a result of an explosion in his home in 2020. It was a message of the power of hope and truth, he said.

Trend takeaway: Futuristic silhouettes

Chloe

Gabriela Hearst is choosing to focus on a specific climate solution in tandem with an overarching aesthetic reference each season. For AW22, this theme was ‘Rewilding’.

“A progressive approach to conservation that centres on allowing nature to take care of itself. By enabling natural processes to repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes, wildlife’s natural rhythms can ultimately create more biodiverse habitats. As part of her research, Hearst spoke to the British author Isabella Tree, whose latest book ‘Wilding — the Return of Nature to a British Farm’ charts the story of her pioneering Rewilding project on the West Sussex farm where she lives. Hearst asked Tree how she deals with climate anxiety, to which she replied, ‘By living in the solution.'”

Trend takeaway: Buttery faux-leather and colourful knits

Saint Laurent

“The radical elan of Art Deco permeates the Saint Laurent AW22 women’s collection,” said the house. “The reference is not literal, informing the show more in essence and overall outline than in direct quotations.” In the show notes, Anthony Vaccarello also referenced Nancy Cunard, an independent-minded activist publisher who dressed ahead of her time, using her “intrepid ethos” and embedding it in our current moment.

Trend takeaway: Floor-length faux fur coats and pared-back suiting

Dior

“Maria Grazia Chiuri is opening the doors of a new era,” explained Dior of the AW22 collection. “The mesmerising silhouettes are set against the backdrop of The Next Era, a gallery of paintings signed Mariella Bettineschi and composed of large female portraits borrowed from the history of painting from the 16th to the 19th century. Their eyes, cut and duplicated, question the judgment that has conditioned – and still conditions – women…From clothing to accessories, the creations combine aesthetics and technology, revisiting the Dior heritage. A fascinating exploration between past, present and future.”

Trend takeaway: Feminine tailoring and futuristic accessories

Off-White

Taking place on the opening night of Paris Fashion Week, Off-White (with a little help from Naomi Campbell, Serena Williams, Cindy Crawford and more) paid tribute to its late and great founder, Virgil Abloh, who sadly passed away last year. Entitled ‘Spaceship Earth: an Imaginary Experience’, the show began with the designer’s final ready-to-wear collection for the house, and ended with a number of beautiful couture gowns.

Bottega Veneta

After taking over from Daniel Lee in November, Matthieu Blazy’s first collection for Bottega Veneta certainly made for one of the most highly anticipated shows of the season. Through it, Blazy addressed the question ‘What makes Bottega Veneta?’

“Bottega Veneta is in essence pragmatic because it is a leather goods company,” said Blazy. “Because it specialises in bags it is about movement, of going somewhere; there is fundamentally an idea of craft in motion. It is style over fashion in its timelessness. That is part of its quiet power.”

Trend takeaway: Thigh-high boots, elevated basics, statement leather and ‘It’ bags

Versace

“Our cast of Versace Women for AW22 is exciting,” Donatella Versace said of the show. “Girls like Avanti, Anyier and Tilly perfectly represent a Versace with new generation attitude and they champion diversity. They embody the energy running through the collection and the looks built on contrast and tension — like an elastic band pulled tight and about to snap-back with a build-up of energy. That feeling is just irresistible to me. It opens new possibilities and makes things happen.”

Trend takeaway: Corsetry and high-octane glamour

Moschino

For Moschino autumn/winter 2022, creative director Jeremy Scott looked into the archives, specifically, the 1989 and 1990 collections, which had seen Franco Moschino introduce cutlery brooches and hot-and-cold faucet handles as accents in his ready-to-wear. Scott used this as a base, and then found more inspiration in the stately home.

“A close to home feeling ensued, yet it became complemented by a study bordering on the unusual, if not the Kubrickian: If someone, or something, was tasked with creating the clone of a grand manor today, would baroque picture frames, stately armoires, grandfather clocks and crystal-dripped chandeliers still mark the trappings of a monied dwelling?”

Trend takeaway: Embroidery

Gucci

“In the 13th century, Vincent de Beauvais’ Speculum majus endorses the mirror as an essential knowledge instrument,” explained creative director Alessandro Michele of the inspiration behind Gucci’s AW22 collection, entitled ‘Exquisite Gucci’. “Through the mirror, it is, in fact, possible to reach a transparent and exact comprehension of reality.”

“Therefore, I use the metaphor of the magical mirror to approach the phantasmagorical power of fashion. A sacred power that radiates from the surface of the fabrics. And there I work, on this tactile surface, through cross references, alterations, loopholes and grafts. Juxtaposing worlds and meanings. Altering the stability of perception. Manipulating and magnifying the existing. Through these interventions, I celebrate the clothes as real optical labs: magical machines that can give birth to fairy tales of metamorphosis and re-enchantment.”

Trend takeaway: Sporty elegance

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana embraced the metaverse with a collection that was part real-life, and part virtual. The show was complete with avatars wearing the collection, who then appeared to morph into real models on stage, strutting down the catwalk. It was the Italian label’s latest embrace of a new form of technology, a brand which has never been afraid to experiment like this when it comes to its catwalk shows.

Trend takeaway: Eighties’ power dressing

Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli’s AW22 collection was inspired by Maria Sophie of Bourbon, the last Queen of Naples.

“In the heart of seduction, individualism and such total freedom, you can even play with cage dresses,” the show notes read. “Cavalli’s magical cut-out thus becomes scaffolding made up of fabric bars that are assembled and disassembled on the body with a gesture of feminine self-affirmation.”

Trend takeaway: Cut-out dressing and lots of leather

Prada

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons continue to delight and surprise with their joint collections, this season opening and closing the show with a simple white tank top (worn by none other than supermodel Kaia Gerber and Kendall Jenner). The AW22 collection was all about this, described as: “Pragmatic pieces given new emphasis and significance”.

“A fascination with and reflection of humanity is a fundamental principle of Prada,” the duo wrote in the show notes. “This collection is a commemoration of life and living – of the occasion of the everyday, affording importance to each moment.”

Trend takeaway: Grey Nineties’ tailoring and elevated basics

Max Mara

This season, Max Mara paid homage to architect, dancer, textile designer, painter and sculptor, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, who the house describes as “a creative polymath whose oeuvre was overlooked for decades, and is now rediscovered…a modernist who invested even the most everyday objects with a sense of magic and mystery.”

Trend takeaway: Statement winter accessories

Alberta Ferretti

“It is how one looks at things that changes reality, or simply gives it new nuances and possibilities. As ever light and romantic as she is softly grounded, this season Alberta Ferretti observes the feminine wardrobe under a new light, reinterpreting it in enveloping volumes, in a sensual immediacy that is expressed through layering and transparencies, lighting it up in a metallic sparkle that starts in the morning and lasts all day, and gives everything a sidereal glow and tangible preciousness.”

Trend takeaway: Metallics and the red-carpet hood

Fendi

“The best way to explore the Fendi archives is through the Fendi wardrobes,” said creative director Kim Jones of the AW22 collection.

Inspired by Delfina Delettrez walking into the Roman headquarters dressed in a printed blouse stolen from her mother’s wardrobe, Jones excavated the house’s history to rediscover spring/summer 1986: a celebration of Karl Lagerfeld’s love for the artistic movement. “These are collections which, although they come from the past, feel very now.”

Jones reworked and paired the geometric prints and sartorial styling of 1986 with the lightness of autumn/winter 2000. “It’s a wardrobe designed for every aspect of a woman’s life, for every generation,” Jones says. “And it all started with Delfina.”

Trend takeaway: Leather corsetry and sheer, lingerie dressing

Diesel

“The power of Diesel is that we talk to so many people,” said creative director Glenn Martens of his first catwalk show for the brand, which he aimed to be disruptive, sexy, fluid and fun. “We can push sustainability and innovation, and we can push experimentation and concept. It’s pure Diesel – you need put it on in two seconds and live your life.”

Trend takeaway: Denim, denim and more denim

Written by Amy De Klerk for Harper’s Bazaar UK.