The Biggest Spring Trends of 2021
As the seasons change, so does our style. While a complete closet overhaul may be out of the question, matching the trends this season doesn’t have to be thanks to a combination of trends from past decades as well as winter trends that carried over into spring and were adapted for the warmer weather.
Although masks have been a necessity for over a year now, mask fashion picked up more traction as wearing a mask became the new normal. Thanks to the red carpet at The Grammys last month, many saw a revival in mask fashion and how you could match your mask to your look without sacrificing safety or style.
Despite this, these trends won’t make or break anyone’s look.
Mid-length skirts and dresses are coming back in a big way, though one can wonder if they ever really left. Vogue explains that people are switching out sweatpants for skirts, a tradeoff that does not risk losing any of the comfort or coverage that the former offer. Not only can a skirt replicate the feeling of sweatpants, but it’s also an easy way to dress up a lazy look.
While pastels may seem like a given for spring, it’s their use in monochromatic looks that make them stand out this season. With people opting for matching sets more than individual pieces put together, monochromatic pastel outfits are able to look cohesive and polished — in contrast with the colors often worn by children.
In an article for Who What Wear, pastels are emphasized as a return to your childhood, offering comfort and nostalgia to the wearer in a time where those feelings of security and warmth are hard to come by. The article also mentions color psychology, citing that wearing brighter colors tends to make you feel lighter on the inside, too.
Knitwear was a huge winter trend, but with the new season, knitwear is being adapted to warmer weather in its own way. Wearing button-up cardigans as tops continue to stylistically work, but now it is the emphasis on breathability and the airy feeling that comes with wearing thin knit with a contrasting bottom to offset it. The end result is a soft, whimsical silhouette that L'Officiel describes as a “comfortable, homemade feel.”
Arguably the biggest trend is the change in denim, as some are showing a departure from tight denim and wading into loose or baggy jeans instead. While this may be a new trend to some, for others it is simply a return to what was trendy when they were growing up. Elle explains this in an article, “The Skinny Jean Is Dead: The 5 Denim Styles you need now.”
“Plenty of embellishments, crazy styles and uncomfortable shapes are out of the door, with a premium being placed on classic shapes, without elastic, and perhaps with a small twist,” said authors Sowray and Murray.
What most of these upcoming trends resemble is a departure from form-fitting silhouettes, something that was once used as a pillar of fashion and cohesiveness. Fashion is valuing loose silhouettes over everything, with clothes that encourage movement more than anything else in how they look and how they feel. This, in a time where our actions are limited and optimism can be hard to come by.
Despite this, these trends won’t make or break anyone’s look. They’re constantly changing, and trends can be situational depending on the person, place, or culture. The significance of these trends is that we are setting our own standards for fashion, and at the core of it we all just want to be comfortable in our own skin — you might as well look good while doing it.
