Academia

Today’s designers are going back to school: academia was trending on the Spring 2024 runways. It’s an aesthetic motif that comes up again and again across the world of fashion, perhaps because it invites reflection on so many relevant themes: the joy of learning, the drama of growing up, the way dress codes shape our perception of each other and ourselves.

A look back to school days also provides lots of inspiration for how to get clever and creative within the restraints of formal dressing, which is the side back toward which the needle has undoubtedly swung as of late.

On this front, Miu Miu’s disheveled subversion of prep-school uniforms was definitely a standout, but we saw plenty of brands and designers take the idea in a number of directions, as with Marni’s café society bohemianism or Chanel’s sexy secretaries. We saw punk riffs on schoolgirl skirts from Copova Lowena, a move that’s indebted of course to Vivienne Westwood, where Andreas Kronthaler continued to work his irreverent magic. JW Anderson gave us a claymation version of an out-of-dresscode-day ensemble, while Dries Van Noten borrowed from the iconic rugby shirt as he encouraged us that it’s okay to do a bit of peacocking.