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Catwalk Analytics S/S 21

Dresses & Skirts

Designers back full skirts, A-line and
slim silhouettes, which prove
sustained risers across S/S 21
collections

Boss

Overview

Full skirts co-exist with

bandage silhouettes
• While dresses hold solid at 22%,
skirts feel the impact of
#abovethekeyboarddressing and
decline 2ppts YoY to 10% of apparel.
Designers continue to back full skirt
dresses (+29%) and skirts (+33% YoY)
alongside smaller volumes of A-line
cuts (+95%)

• Form-Otting shapes return. Bandage

dresses (+53%) and skirts (+83%) pick
up pace as full volume (-25%) and
bubble dresses (-74%) fall. Look to knit
materials or #deadstock jersey for
slimmer Ots

• Midi lengths remain the go-to for

both skirts (38% mix) and dresses
(28%), while minidresses (+3ppts YoY,
28% mix) and maxiskirts (+3ppts, 21%
mix) eat into knee lengths (-3ppts, 17%
skirts, 12% dresses mix)

• Print rises 20% YoY to 37% of skirts

and dresses. While Yorals drive volume
(33% dresses, 24% skirts), trial smaller
prints such as sea life (emerge to 3%
mix), dots and spots on dresses
(+37%), brushstroke (+107%) and
hand-drawn (+75% YoY) prints on
skirts

• Though collections felt more

commercial, designers reserved a
small proportion of their assortment
for special occasion skirts (3% mix),
cocktail dresses (7% mix) and evening
gowns (12% mix). Look to our S/S 21
Special Occasion Collection Review for
direction

Invest in #puffsleeve and #ru]e

dresses (15% mix each) instead of
decorative embellishments (-12% YoY)

Key silhouettes trend across both

skirts and dresses in S/S 21

S/S 21 Lengths

WGSN Catwalk data

Dresses: Silhouette, Materials, Details &

Print

Back silhouettes showing

sustained growth
• Back Ot-and-Yare (+39%), full skirt
(+29%) and the shirt dress (+24% YoY)
in volume and test slim-Otting #corset,
bias (emerge to 1% share each) and
bandage dresses (+53% YoY) to tap
into the Dress/Undress trend.
Oversized fatigue and the spiked
interest in jersey/lounge pushes
designers to switch things up and
move on from bubble (-74%), drape
(-49%) and trapeze (-25%, 4% mix)
dresses

• A surprising style on the catwalks,

the T-shirt dress surfaced to 1% of
dresses; 83% were printed across the
S/S 21 shows. Bet on their commercial
appeal and strong retail performance

• A commercial winner, #puffsleeves

begin to slow down and stabilise at
15% of the dresses mix in S/S 21.
Prioritise ru]es (15% mix) instead of
ruching (-21% YoY) and test braid
and knot strap details (emerge to 1%
mix) to tap into the #prettyfeminine
trend

• Eyelet details (+50% YoY, 2% mix) and

lace trim (+34% YoY, 5% mix) rise.
Sheer, shine, tulle and glitter decline
(-27% YoY)

• Consistently a key print driver,

dresses increase share of all-over print
by 8ppts YoY to 38% mix: 33% are
Yoral, dots and spots gain relevance
(+38%, 7% mix) and sea life,
watercolour prints bring newness

Mentions of #puffsleeve are highest at

mass and conservative accounts on
social media

Key dress silhouettes show sustained

growth season-on-season

After 9 consistent season of growth,

puff sleeves return to 15% of the mix,
level with S/S 20 volumes

WGSN Catwalk data

Skirts: Silhouette, Materials, Details & Print

Bandage and column

silhouettes show sustained
growth year-on-year
• Put comfort at the front of skirt
designs. Move on from S/S 20's
structured silhouettes with full (+33%
YoY, 15% mix) and wrap skirts (9% mix)

• As with dresses, we track the rise of

smaller body-Otting styles, such as
column (+26%), bandage (+82%) and A-
line (+177% YoY, 8% mix) in place of
draped (-30%), hi-lo (-19%) and
asymmetric (-25%). Play with knits to
tap into the #matchingset

• Combine pleats (solid at 15% mix)

with slits (-13% YoY, 14% mix) to
create a relaxed feel, especially for
structured pencil skirts (solid at 20%
mix)

• Watch out for elastic

waists, expanding from trousers and
shorts into skirts (emerge to 2% mix)
this season on the catwalks and
showing an uptick at retail – this detail
adds #softvolume and feeds into
#twomilewear and #stayhomestyle

• Utility buckles (emerge to 1% mix)

are favoured over sequins (-62%) and
fringe (-26% YoY), tapping into the
utility skirt forecasted in our S/S 21
Buyers' BrieOng

• Printed skirts uptick by 2ppts to 35%

mix. Led by Yorals (24% mix), small
print stories such as sea life (emerge
to 3% mix), patchwork (+119%) and
hand-drawn (+75%) edge out stripes
(-27%, 15% mix)

Key skirt silhouettes show sustained

growth season-on-season

S/S 21 Key skirt details

WGSN Catwalk data

Methodology
WGSN Catwalk analytics

• WGSN is supplied with images

covering all the major catwalk shows
and pre-season collections. Each look
is classiOed with its individual
garments, allowing us to get accurate
counts for each product classiOcation.
This ensures the tags apply at a
garment level, not to the whole look.
The garments are then given further
keywords for style, silhouette,
neckline, length, print and pattern,
detail, embellishment and fabric. This
process is completed by our panel of
fashion-trained image taggers. Each
image is quality checked for accuracy
by our in-house team

• This report uses data based on

London, Milan, Paris, New York and
Copenhagen shows tagged as of
October 12 2020

De7nitions

• Product, assortment or category mix:

proportion of a set of products over a
larger set. An example is volume of
dresses over the whole volume of
apparel:

• % Dresses within apparel = (volume

dresses / volume apparel) *100

• YoY: year-on-year

• YoY changes: % difference between

the % of each category or keyword
within its larger set

• In the copy, % of the mix is rounded

to the nearest integer (44.8% 45%,
or 44.2% 44%), but YoY changes are
calculated including one decimal point

• Percentage point (ppts): a

percentage is the proportion of a set
of products over a larger set, an
example is new-in trousers over new-in
apparel mix. A percentage point
computes the arithmetical difference
between percentages; going from 40%
to 44% is a 4 ppts increase

• Apparel mix contains the following

categories: coats, blouses and woven
tops, dresses, knits and jersey tops,
jackets, jumpsuits, skirts, sweaters,
shorts, swimwear, trousers and
intimates

WGSN social media data: we use text

analytics to track, measure, and
respond to the conversations that are
driving some of the key trends within
this report across our WGSN inYuencer
map.
WGSN in;uencer map: Created by a
team of WGSN trend specialists, listing
inYuencers from the US and Europe,
selected from a range of disciplines,
e.g. brands, stylists, photographers,
publications, etc.

Zimmermann

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