Fashion frill seekers spoilt for choice in spring collections

Ruffles, frills, flounces – they bounced back to the catwalk two years ago but have lost none of their appeal for spring. Collections are full of ruffles, ranging from ditsy versions to showy hems and cuff attachments.

Ruffles have been a feature of fashion romantics such as Giambattista Valli, Erdem and Riccardo Tisci (before his departure from Givenchy) and brands such as Chloé and Alexander McQueen. One of the highlights of the spring-summer collections is a McQueen dress with its white ruffled train, which looked as if its model was walking through foaming surf.

Boho dresses are big business at Chloé and Roberto Cavalli. However, Chloé’s collection stepped back a decade from floor-grazing 1970s looks to girlish ’60s-style baby dolls with tiered, lace-edged frills in pastels.

Giambattista Valli’s fashion has a youthful romance, which for summer pairs ruffled baby dolls and ballerina-style minidresses with lingerie for that underwear-as-outerwear look.

Frills, lace, semi-sheer dresses and Victoriana are trademarks of Simone Rocha, and this season bright white broderie anglaise and Swiss cotton lace worn with white gloves suggest youthful innocence. Erdem loves the sweetness of a frill too, but the ones in his collection range from the dainty to much bigger.

Designers are using ruffles to add structure and drama, with a voluminous ruffle on a skirt or a sculpted ruffle encircling arms. J.W. Anderson may have had a hand in the development of the bold frill – his collection for spring 2016 featured cloud-like formed skirts and wavy peplums on skirts that jutted out at 90 degrees from the hem. The look referenced Capucci (renowned for his stiff-frilled silhouettes) and Cardin in the ’60s.