SSENSE Vision: Inside the FW23 Trend Report

From couch surfing to club hopping, a fresh crop of ideas to try on and take out.

SS23 ushered in what we dubbed “the era era.” We saw trends about trends, and celebrated the dissolving boundary between men’s and women’s clothing. If spring was the appetizer, then Fall/Winter 2023 is the main course, expanding on the “whateverwear” epoch. This season, dressing however you want is here to stay. Designers are obliterating the playbook, embracing the often opposing characters that live inside all of us. For FW23, our forgotten feral tendencies can coexist with our inner programmed prep. We can shimmer and shine while also feeling unhinged and emo with My Chemical Romance on repeat. Be Barbie Oppenheimer. Free to define ourselves; this fall is all about playing dress-up.

Who isn’t comforted by a soft touch? When runway prankster Tommy Cash showed up in a head-to-toe platinum blond hair suit at the Marine Serre SS24 show in Paris this past June, more than provocation, it was actually a clue about where we’re headed. From Paris to New York, designers injected a confident dose of faux-fur into their collections for the fall. No longer relegated to jacket collars only (although we’ll always love a little fuzz around the neck à la this Marni bomber and Saks Potts), faux-fur showed up in just about every place possible. New York-based Puppets and Puppets proved that faux can fit up top with this red halter bra while Spanish designer Paula Canovas Del Vas’s black faux-fur jeans provide a whole new perspective on denim. Find your average tote bag boring? Ottolinger’s black canvas shopping tote replicates the feeling of carrying your favorite stuffed animal everywhere. This Marni faux-fur hoodie is giving deep-fried dude in a good way, and even has loafers to match. If Leonardo Dicaprio in is coming up for you then you’re on track. Maybe designers are turning to animal talismans (see: Collina Strada frogs) and inching closer than ever to literal costuming as a means of comfort and escape because the apocalypse does, unfortunately, feel kind of .

American Apparel brought a new sexuality to basics in the aughts—the indie sleaze moment, as it’s now called—and FW23’s perverted prep is perhaps a more advanced mingling of those impulses. At first glance, there’s more sophistication than those ’80s-inspired basics, but the same raw energy courses beneath the surface. Thom Browne’s SS23 show planted a flag for the aesthetic (see: tweed micro miniskirts and plaid jockstraps) and as we move into FW23, the label is very much not alone. With cuffing season imminent, incorporating something cool and gently kinky into your wardrobe isn’t such a bad idea. Think Luar’s perfect pinstripe pant paired with an eye-catching silver L belt buckle and knit peekaboo vest. Backstage at Sandy Liang, models gave librarian after dark, posing next to bookshelves in prim ruffled minidresses and crop tops adorned with rosettes. Perhaps the most compelling take on kinky style that could fly at the country club came from French label Coperni, where a classic slate gray knit pullover (among a dress and a tank top, too) was accessorized with a silver hand-shaped brooch, pointer finger and thumb joined right at the nip. Call it the Coperni pinch.

From Harry Styles’s circus dressing, to WWE aesthetics and Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron’s upcoming A24 wrestling movie , the culture demands it: Costume-inspired, high-concept dressing is no longer cringe. At the ERL show at Pitti, silver and black sequin-covered pants, blazers, and button-ups ricocheted light from the lime green runway. If Team Edward means anything to you, this is your moment. This fall, metallic glitter, Studio 54 deranged disco, and flamboyant sparkle is available for anyone confident enough to shine. This floral EGONLABtop is giving sequins as a second skin, while this Dries Van Noten bomber jacket is sequined, but make it sport. If you really want to commit, these midnight black Rick Owens sequin flares are sure to hit, in and out of the ring. It’s been postulated that “everything is wrestling”—each passing year seems to indicate we’re all engaging in various levels of kayfabe. Now we can all dress like it.

The nepo babies are all grown up and still never have an off day like the rest of us peasants. They’re stealth wealth health. Après gym-core, luxe pilates, transitioning seamlessly from workout class to Erewhon to press event. If you want to evoke this level of ease, try pairing some Alo yoga tights with a gold Dries Van Noten heel, a Sophie Buhai hoop, and a TOTEME blazer. With this little formula, anyone can be a nepo mommy.

With sneaker mania behind us, we’re reaching for a more subdued take on this wardrobe staple. Enter the Rick Owens Vintage Sneaker. It’s just chunky enough. Lowkey, but just different enough. Versatile enough to satisfy the grungy and the glam. Honorable FW23 sneaker mentions go to Sandy Liang’s cotton candy pink Salomon collab, Martine Rose’s ongoing Nike Shox mule redux (this season in electric blue), Wales Bonner x adidas (of course), and the still hot, tried-and-true New Balance catalog.

With the dual SAG and WGA strike unfolding, everyone is anticipating a content deadzone in the coming year, meaning reality TV will reign supreme. Nothing says Bravo-core like watching “Below Deck” in some Louisa Ballou on the couch. Will this reality TV era usher in the return of loud luxury? The real housewives say yes. After only a few eps, you’ll be channeling rich and famous pop star style and “get ready with me vlog” energy—for better or for worse. According to her latest Architectural Digest home tour, Chrissy Teigan has a TV in every single room of her house so that she can sustain her Bravo addiction.

Roll call for this season’s best long coats, drama included: JUUN.J Black Belted Trench Coat Rick Owens Brown Jumbo Tatlin Coat Song For The Mute Black Padded Trench Coat Blumarine Blue Faded Denim Trench Coat The Row Khaki Cadel Coat TOTEME Tan Notched Lapel Coat Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY Multicolor Artist Smock Coat Anna Sui SSENSE Exclusive Green Coat Khaite Black The Caleb Coat Magda Butrym Black Oversized Leather Coat

If life keeps getting spookier (spoiler: It will) then dressing gross-but-hot will be the most appropriate aesthetic wave for the global ride into the debased, abject unknown. The new grime is ultra distressed, paint stained, oil slicked, and cigarette burned. These aren’t precious clothes; they’re for club-hopping and hitting the afterparty—and whatever ungodly things happen after the after-party. But isn’t it sort of romantic to burn the candle at both ends and inhale all the fumes? These clothes are best accessorized with greasy hair and smudged black eyeliner. If the Blade blood rave is your ultimate movie scene, look to Diesel, MOWALOLA, Y/Project, Acne Studios, Rick Owens, and VAQUERA for some disheveled, nocturnal, near-apocalyptic styles.