Building a time capsule wardrobe for the fall.
Fashion is identity. It represents who you are, how you see yourself and how you want others to perceive you. Fashion is also an accumulation of the innovators of the past and the visionaries of the future. This delicate merging of past, present and future is best seen through the phenomenon of trend cycling.
Laura Nay, owner of La Librairie Luxury, an upscale women’s consignment shop in Buckhead that focuses on vintage and couture, defines trend cycling as “paying homage to the past through fashion.” “We always gain insight into the future from looking in the past in many different areas,” she says, “but fashion specifically is really a place where you see it the most.”
The Y2K Return
Trends recycle every 20 to 30 years, and Nay hints that the 2000s will be the prominent inspiration this fall. “We’re especially seeing [trend cycling] even with reissues of old collections. For example, Louis Vuitton has recently reissued the Murakami collection from the early 2000s, and that is projecting that the early 2000s are what is going to be really trending for this next season,” she says.
Other odes to the era of low-rise jeans and Juicy Couture include oversized handbags like the Chloé Paddington, Fendi Spy Bag and Stephen Sprouse collection, or Gucci by Tom Ford. But to Nay, the star of the fall is leopard print. “It’s going to be one of the biggest trends,” she says. “So if you can get your hands on some Roberto Cavalli early 2000s leopard print, that’s going to be epic.”
Across the Decades
Despite the heavy Y2K influence, other decades will still have their moments.
“Anything Jane Birkin (’70s) related is going to be fabulous. Nineties suiting, like women’s suits and matching suits, is going to be a huge thing,” Nay says. “There’s this chartreuse moment happening that’s definitely an ’80s vibe.”
The key to fashion this fall is to take iconic items from different eras and weave them together with your own personal style.
Nay suggests loafers, which she says are “a great way to have a kind of lady-like shoe for the fall and get inspired by the ’70s and ’60s, with the ‘Twiggy era,’ with the shift dress, oversized blazer and a little cute loafer.”
Different seasons favor certain decades and, for Nay, the ’70s “ring true” to the fall—a connection that she thinks might be inspired by the art and films of that time period.
She cites the 1977 film Annie Hall as one example, calling Diane Keaton an “icon” for her influence. Other movie muses include Love Story, Klute and The Way We Were.
The Power of Memory
Whether it’s art, social media or the desire for novelty that influences trend cycling, nostalgia for the past runs deep.
“The nostalgia factor is human,” Nay says. “It’s a humanity thing that we always want to think back to a better place in time.”
Fashion is an opportunity to honor those times and preserve the past while reimagining iconic styles in a modern way.
“It’s not just about being thrifty,” Nay says. “It’s about being unique; it’s about being timeless.”
LA LIBRAIRIE LUXURY
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@shoplalibrairie
STORY: Katie Hughes
PHOTO: Joann Vitelli
