Forget Brat, whether it be padded or bustled, it’s a broad-shouldered Summer, according to the fash pack.
The humble shoulder: once groaned about by a fellow girlfriend for appearing too broad in a recent Instagram photoshoot, quietly hidden by a cardigan or whimsical bolero to shroud one’s arms whilst wearing a strappy minidress. If the fashion world has an arch nemesis, shoulders are high up on the list. That is, until the trajectory shifted – whatever happened to that old saying? Fake it till you make it? Corny, but when it comes to insecurities, sometimes it’s better to take the high road. In other words, accentuating the shoulders to the nth degree, power dressing, we’ll call it. Leaving no room for speculation as to whether one’s insecurities manifest around the very body part uncompromisingly emphasised.
The solution lies in the shoulder pad, an ode to the era-defining, power suit donning women of our generation. The she-verse, as I like to call it: Greta Thunberg, Zarah Sultana, and Trisha Paytas alike (read: if she’s able to reincarnate the Queen, the Pope, and Ozzy Osborne, who are we to decline her power? IYKYK). Call it what you will, but the shoulder-pad remains a poster girl for the Hollywood dream that floats about in ‘80s cinema, which is what resonated with Chemena Kamali, for her Resort 2026 collection at Chloé.
“I love the aesthetics of the 1980s”, the German-born designer mentions, when explaining the inspirations behind the collection, “I remember my mother wearing those strong, more accentuated shoulders”, she notes. Referencing Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill thriller from 1980, and Bette Gordon’s 1983 alternative film, Variety, as two key influences for the atelier’s Summer offering. With tousled and teased hair, models donned classic Chloé clogs and cult-favourite Paddington bags, which entwine with padded tailoring – hastily tucked into chunky belts – finished on the bottom with fittingly 2025 capri pants (foraying away from the Gen-Z rule of thumb – big bottom, small top).
Not a far cry away from Kamali’s feminine Chloé world, her sister-from-another-mister, the infamous Phoebe Philo, is echoing a similar affinity towards power-dressing á la 1980s. The Parisian fashion mogul, who was previously at the helm of Chloé from 2001-2006, released her clothing capsule, Collection D, the fourth since debuting her eponymous slow-fashion label in October 2023. Philo is hard to pin down when describing her presence in the industry, she has always prioritised dressing women how they wish to look, which sometimes can appear slightly off-kilter to the average joe, but damn it works. Striking while the iron is hot, Collection D amalgamates wintry colour palettes, mustard-hued fur jackets, oversized trench coats, and a tantalisingly awe-worthy tailoring framework.
The result has me wishing my bank account acquired a handful more digits to it, to be frank, as I gush over the heights of craftsmanship and grandeur which the designer produces time. After. Time. Jackets are accentuated, as shoulders broaden and collars poke upwards. For a designer who never fails to connect with women, Philos’ read on dressing in 2025 is certainly a loud one.
But what would a study on the shoulder in fashion be, if we didn’t acknowledge the zeitgeist-capturing shoulder-pad aficionado, the Demna Gvasalia? The Berlin-born-and-bred creative said a gracious adieu to his ten-year tenure at the forefront of Balenciaga July 9, in his final haute couture collection; arguably a medley of his greatest hits. Kim Kardashian’s take on Elizabeth Taylor, Naomi Campbell in a bedazzling black gown, and Demna actually came on stage to bow in front of an emotional crowd – for the first time ever. His erratically wild design DNA has gotten him in the middle of some bad press, after a slew of social media cancellation attempts, and a hefty archive of digitally-literate viral moments. Alas, Gvasalia seemingly veers away from traditional beauty norms, allowing for shoulders to prosper as a favoured body part. Vampiric collars which teetered upwards, easily mistaken as costuming for Robert Eggers’ take on Nosferatu, suits, trenches, and bombers were all blown out of proportion, leaving models to practically swim inside Demna’s manipulated silhouettes.
If beauty – as it were in Gvasalia’s definition – lies in abnormal tailoring and interesting proportions, then it’s probably friends, or frenemies, with Marc Jacobs. Equipped with show notes that simply defined beauty as “a quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or colour, proportion, and authenticity”, Jacobs’ interpretation for Spring 26 saw his doll-like muses turn up the volume, literally. Boxy silhouettes, blown up sleeves, and bustling bottoms, with an abundance of bows (read: a trademark Jacobs signature, which shows no signs of leaving), all bled through the designers’ 19-piece collection.
Through a lacy colour palette of frothy pastels and lacy gauzes, it was dysfunctional, deconstructed, and yet still, mysteriously feminine. Maybe that’s the Je ne sais quoi which merges these designers together, in an unorthodox way – it’s an urge to redefine the feminine, in finding joy in the brazenly unfeminine.
If the recent batch of collections is anything to go by, then the mood of the moment may require us to dust off our old power suits, with a nip, tuck, and bustle here or there. Mad at it? Why no, we could never. Maximalism is in full stride, and who are we to complain.
Words – Freya Goodchild-Bridge
Content shared from www.wonderlandmagazine.com.
