Dress Trends For 2019 Have A Serious Flair For The Dramatic, So Don't Be Afraid To Experiment
When it comes to 2019 dress trends, more is more. Actually, way more is more. Fashion has been increasingly stepping away from the simple, the streamlined, and the understated as of late, instead going in quite the opposite direction where prints are meant to be clashed and extreme colors, textures, silhouettes, and styling reign supreme. You only need to look to Gucci's meteoric rise since the 2015 appointment of Alessandro Michele as creative director — who took the brand in a gorgeous (and profitable) over-the-top direction — to see that fashion is over minimalism.
Even the 2019 Met Gala is set to reflect this sartorial shift. Its theme is "Camp: Notes on Fashion," which was inspired by Susan Sontag's 1964 essay of the same name. She describes camp as the “love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration … style at the expense of content,” so get ready to see some truly jaw-dropping looks on the red carpet come the first Monday of May.
Until then, why not start trying out some of 2019's coolest dress trends out yourself? It's never too soon to get a head start on shopping for a few fun pieces for the year ahead, especially when they're this fun. Thanks to wild materials, outrageous silhouettes, and playful prints, they will definitely be anything but boring.
Playing Dress-Up
Remember those positively ruffly, tiered, glittery, adorned, or otherwise outrageous dresses that you used to slip on as a kid and feel like a fairy princess or unstoppable sugar puff in? Those are now very, very in. Perhaps the most direct embodiment of camp in terms of 2019 dress trends, costume-like dresses were championed on the runways of designers like Dolce & Gabbana, Erdem, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Molly Goddard, Rodarte, and more. Tulle was a material of choice, sequins and crystals were thrown on with abandon, and bows and flowers and beads were positively everywhere. And you know what? The results were beautiful, ethereal, otherworldly—and a total breath of fresh air. Don't be shy when it comes to dressing up next year.
Mix Masters
Bright, flashy, and contrasting prints were paired with one another for truly eye-popping dresses. Designers like Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Paco Rabanne, and Carolina Herrera all took equally arresting takes on the trend.
Birds Of A Feather
Delicate yet statement-making feathers are going to be everywhere when it comes to more formal dresses in 2019, whether sewn onto hems or used as ethereal accents. Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Richard Quinn, and Rochas all showed us how the trend might manifest.
Lace Up
Lace accents or dresses will never go out of style, simply because of how gorgeous the material is. But in 2019, expect it to take on a more dramatic form, á la Burberry, Erdem, and Elie Saab.
Net Worth
And finally, dresses akin to well-tailored fishing nets will also be big next year and yes, they actually are easy to style! Wear them over your swimsuit for a cool and edgy cover-up, over another simple dress for a textured layering effect, or over jeans and a bralette for something a bit more unexpected. Look to the collections of Phillip Lim, Altuzarra, Area, Dior, JW Anderson, and Louis Vuitton to see how it's done.
Which is your favorite?
