Growing quietly for several years, the trend for wearing co-ordinates has bloomed into a full-fledged craze, appearing on many catwalks during the AW17 fashion weeks and featuring prominently in subsequent editorials.
Wearing co-ordinates (or dressing 'matchy-matchy' as it’s delightfully known in some circles) is one of those ‘handle with care trends’ – most fashion editors tend to label it with a ‘don’t try this at home’ style warning, often alongside conservative looks that don’t always take advantage of the punchy and audacious combinations that could be explored. This is beginning to change. With designers like Alessandro Michele styling co-ordinate outfits with matching accessories (hitherto a bit of a taboo even among co-ordination evangelists), it seems as if the age of statement matching is upon us.
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As early as 2014, observers were picking up a trend for co-ordinate outfits. The classic co-ord look emerged in the 1960s as a way to draw out some of the exciting prints and patterns that were surfacing. Contemporary co-ordinate styles often reference this iconic era by incorporating some of its classic silhouettes, such as the two-piece tweed suit. A great way to start is by matching a two-piece outfit, like shorts and a blazer, and breaking the co-ordination with a bold, block-colour top. Try matching a prominent pattern like stripes (very popular on the runway for the 2017 resort collections) with outerwear such as an Ann Demeulemeester jacket – the house’s powerful block stripes are the perfect grounding for a co-ordinate look.
If you're wondering how to wear co-ords without going down the suit route, there are, fortunately, many more ways to play with the style. One is to try and pair two similar colours or patterns, bringing out the best qualities in both. Take the Ann Demeulemeester striped jacket: rather than complementing it with shorts from the same collection, channel a more flared 60s silhouette and pair it with striped shorts from a house like Guild Prime. When co-ordinating a bold pattern like stripes, you have the freedom to contrast colours, thickness, style or direction, creating an outfit that plays on consistency and contrast between the co-ordinating elements.
Balancing boots and bags
Of rising prominence has been the tendency to co-ordinate shoes with an outfit, which is popular with designers like Victoria Beckham, who sports the look both in her own style and in her collections. Matching shoes with a Victoria Beckham dress is the perfect way to explore co-ordinating colours. The house’s emphasis on bold, block colours gives you a versatile palette to work with. Take a leaf from Beckham’s personal style and co-ordinate a punchy red dress with some pumps just a shade darker.
Styling co-ordinates is as important as deciding what to co-ordinate. If pairing a dress with shoes, think about using a patterned statement bag to provide a contrast to the co-ordinating and tie the look together. Chloé bags, never short on panache, provide a great option here. A Drew shoulder bag can bring some exciting colour juxtaposition to the table, packaged in an iconic horseshoe silhouette. Or, for something a little louder, a Faye shoulder bag can add a touch of exuberant patterning to an outfit of blocked colours.
Accessorising accessories
Co-ordinating accessories with accessories has hitherto been a no-go area for fashion. That seems to have changed with the latest iteration of the trend. Matching shoes with bags was a prominent direction for AW17 shoes, nowhere more so than in Alessandro Michele’s collection for Gucci, which matched iconic Gucci bags with footwear. Venturing even deeper into uncharted waters, Gucci’s styling paired vividly coloured snakeskin boots and bags in what was a veritable education in the subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) art of matchy-matchy.
The emerging trend of matching accessories has blown the door open for a host of experimental matchy-matchy looks. Explore the accessories of houses known for their patterns, like Etro or Moschino, and co-ordinate a scarf with a bag, shoes with a watch or even your outfit with your umbrella. With the matchy-matchy trend taking hold, the options for bold pairings of patterns are endless.
Like the first rumble that turns into an avalanche, the trend for wearing co-ordinates built up slowly over several seasons before exploding with several bold looks in 2017. Now encompassing an entire range of outfits between subtle co-ordination and full-blown matchy-matchy, there is, thanks to the stylists at Gucci, immense scope to play with this exuberant trend.