STREET STYLE TREND SPOTTING: THE RUFFLED SHOULDER

This week, I spotted Charlotte Robey, 21, in a floral printed shift dress with beautiful frill sleeves.

The large floral print echoes what we saw at the Moschino A/W 09 show, where reds and navy blue reigned as the colour du jour. The black and creams of this dress also works though, classic and season-less, giving it that thumbs up in the longevity department. Wear it with bare (and hopefully tanned) legs on holiday or pull on some opaques and patent shoe boots for A/W evenings. It also had a really nice long exposed zip at the back that added a punky feel, a detail that really made the dress.

The reason this dress really stood out for me, though, is the shoulders - the voluminous frill detail is a pared down and less aggressive way of incorporating the exaggerated shoulder trend that is set to become even bigger come autumn.

While Balmain, Margiela and Nina Ricci used a sharp, angular aesthetic to this area, both Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabbana showed this more feminine detailing.

At Dolce and Gabbana, an impressive front row consisting of, amongst others, Scarlett Johansson and Frieda Pinto, stared towards a true extravaganza; the theme was surrealism. With Shocking pink, lots of bows and the big ruffled or puffy shoulders, the design duo were obviously paying homage to Elsa Schiaparelli.

Louis Vuitton was a real 80’s affair, with Marc Jacobs’ designs indulging in ra-ra skirts, lots of ruched detailing, bubble skirts and, of course, the big ruffled shoulder. In contrast to Jacobs’ mainline show in New York, where acid brights and a defiantly disco-punk mood took hold, the Vuitton show was a lesson in late eighties Parisian femininity; bold, but very, very pretty.

By Shannon Monteith - Catwalk Trend Writer for A-SHU.CO.UK.