This season, as ever, the sexy lace is back. It was about time, I suppose.
I went through the lace-love phase a couple of decades ago, and like with many other trends that remind me of a very particular (albeit a little awkward) phase of my life, I turned a cold shoulder to the fabric when it cropped on runways numerous times since then. Lace is strange. It can be elevated to elegance (Grace Kelly’s wedding dress) and stripped down to sensuality. It can be worn under garments or over them and completely shape-shift in function. It’s delicate, yet empowering. Lace has a duality few other fabrics possess.
As a trend, lace comes but rarely ever goes – not entirely, at least. While everyone’s ensconced in conversations, lace is that guest at the party who hangs back and only interjects when they’ve got something important to say. This year, that something has a lot to do with power. In a broader sense, lace ties into the broader sheer-dressing trend, which took this year by storm. We saw the rise of x-ray, barely-there fabrics in collections by Nensi Dojaka, Prada, Dion Lee, and Versace, to name a few.