Strong Suit

Women’s tailoring takes its cues from the men

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Tailoring took over the S/S19 womenswear catwalks: there were oversized blazers with wide-peaked lapels at Louis Vuitton, slouchy wool suits at Boss, and turned-up trousers paired with lean matching jackets in saturated shades at Gucci. Suiting was also used as a vehicle for unisex dressing. At Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller’s sleek women’s tailoring looked to the gender-subverting personal style of Swiss writer and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach, while at Celine, Hedi Slimane debuted whip thin men’s suits, also available for women.

Tailored jackets for women are strong sellers at Matchesfashion. And its buying director Natalie Kingham has noted an increase in blazer sales season-on-season, in both traditional and more extravagant styles. But it wasn’t only on the women’s catwalks that female suiting took a turn in the spotlight. For spring, men’s tailoring brands – more focused on long-lasting silhouettes than the shifting seasonal shapes of women’s fashion – also catered to the female form.

At Italian tailoring label Pal Zileri, creative director Rocco Iannone’s second collection for the house was punctuated for the first time with women’s looks. On the Milan Fashion Week men’s catwalk, female models wore high-waisted trousers in lightweight cotton, tuxedo shirts, striped Bermuda shorts and slouchy linen sweaters.