The New York Fashion Week spring-summer 2024 edition saw designers bringing back the shapes and silhouettes of the 1960s while also drawing from some key influences reminiscent of the minimal 1990s.

Tory Burch, for instance, explored the idea of effortless dressing. She referenced some 1960s influences like coats, coat dresses, and skirt suits crafted with retro touches like the stand-away collars. What’s more, there was a lot of shine on evening ensembles with rich surface texturing. A chainmail tunic was embroidered with bells that made noise as the model strutted. The retro mood was also palpable at Altuzarra, who had Roman Polanski’s cult horror classic Rosemary’s Baby on his moodboard. In fact, he had placed a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of the Ira Levin book on every seat at the show. The collection was full of babydoll dresses and coats, which were tailored with Peter Pan collars, besides an array of veiled gothic brides sporting pixie-cut hair.

Peter Do at Helmut Lang evoked the designer’s emblematic tailored shapes, from the flat-front natural waist trousers to simplistic jackets and Crombie coats. The Coach show, too, opened with a noir slip dress crafted from leather (the design house’s hero material) with exposed stitches, motocross boots, and a bowling bag. Kanika Goyal’s Aether Leak collection explored the polar opposites—the dichotomy between the tangible and the intangible, which was evident in the two-toned lightweight knit tunics and boxy tailored suits with asymmetrical lapel accents.

This season, Falguni Shane Peacock who collaborated with stylist Law Roach for their collection, titled 2.0, expounded the lexicon of arresting contrasts. The shimmer of silver sorbet and gilded sprays to the audacious allure of black latex was juxtaposed with luminescent white shine in this 90s inspired showcase. Here are some other insights that emerged from the fashion week:

Flats, flats everywhere
Tory Burch sent out an array of comfy flats, both in open and close-toe formats and accented with buckled strap on the ankles, which added to the chic finish of her ensembles. Coach’s pointy jelly flats stood out as well.

Monochrome tailoring
Monochromatic, fuss-free yet polished tailoring was seen across the board, from Proenza Schouler and Theory to Tibi. Proenza’s opening look was a white single-breasted, three-button jacket and black trousers and Tibi’s first look too was a slouchy black pant suit.

Feather accents
Plumes aren’t going out of style anytime soon. Falguni Shane Peacock peppered their gleaming, sheer pieces with some feather accents. Quills were also everywhere, from Palomo Spain’s androgynous looks to LaPointe’s tone on tone evening wear.

Corsets get a makeover
Corsets and bustier darts were reimagined by designers this season pronouncing the bust seen at Palomo Spain, Dion Lee, Kanika Goyal and Mara Hoffman.

Sheer is here, again
Sparkly mesh dresses, lightweight perforated knits show no signs of fading out and were spotted at Palomo Spain, Lapointe, Ekhaus Latta, Coach and Michael Kors. Proenza Schouler sent out mesh pieces crafted from ribbon and gossamer separates with “broken glass” embroidery.

Shine is never out of fashion
It won’t be NYFW minus some heavy duty evening shine. This season, the collections of Lapointe, Ekhaus Latta, Prabal Gurung, Michael Kors and Falguni Shane Peacock sparkled thanks to the beaded ornamentations and sheen inducing textiles. Ralph Lauren’s show merits a special mention, which saw supermodel Christy Turlington closing the show in a gold lamé one-shoulder gown. Kanika Goyal’s structured garments artfully inculcated metallic embellishments, emulating the luminous dust particles suspended in the realms of creation.

Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based fashion writer and content creator.