One trend was very clear in both the womenswear and menswear runway shows for AW2024 – wide stripes. They were often in contrasting colours and they came in all different directions: horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. Wide stripes appeared on the catwalks and in the lookbooks of designers including Stefan Cooke, Off-White, Tommy Hilfiger and Sunnei. The latter even had their models walk on a carpet made up of contrasting coloured wide stripes. The pattern appeared on all manner of items – dresses, skirts, tops, bags and coats – but one particular piece really stood out. Rugby tops (and sometimes football tops too) predominantly came patterned with wide stripes, and there were plenty of rugby tops on the runways for both womenswear and menswear. Read on for a womenswear and menswear trend report with over 40 looks from AW2024, along with some shopping ideas if you’d like to get a head start on wearing this key trend.
To read more about the sport influence within AW2024, you can see Chapter 2 of my AW2024 trend report. The featured image shows (l-r) Sunnei, Comme des Garçons Shirt, Members of the Rage, and Botter, all from AW2024.
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Marina Hoermanseder AW2024 at Berlin Fashion Week; Photography: The Fashion Fold
As I mentioned above, the collection where I most noticed this wide stripes trend was that by Sunnei at Milan Fashion Week – models walked on a striped carpet and their clothes featured contrasting stripes running in all directions.
At Anna Sui the looks are more of a 1990s-inspired preppy goth vibe – it made me think of TV series from the time like Charmed. Stripey fur at Zimmermann paired with lace was more glam, and these striped shorts at Paula Canovas del Vas look summery and ready for the beach although they’re paired with a sweater and furry hat.
There was plenty of striped knitwear that reminded me of sweaters worn by grunge and punk musicians of the early 1990s – by 1998 I had lost interest in Green Day but I do still have a photo of the singer from a music video in 1994 wearing a striped sweater that I totally intend to knit for myself some day.
Another collection where the striped pieces really stood out was that from Botter where there was not only knitwear but also stripes formed by patchworking fabrics – there are trousers with fabric strips creating contrast colour stripes and a rugby top with fabric in a contrast pattern sewn on top with frayed ends left loose for a deconstructed feel. At Sacai, stripes are formed from sewing overlapping pieces of fabric for extra texture.
Some brands really focused on colour with their stripes, creating stand-out pieces in high contrast shades.
One item in particular kept appearing again and again amongst all the pieces patterned in wide stripes: the rugby top. Designers presented it in more striking variations also – texture at Members of the Rage, sequins at Elisabetta Franchi, and longline at Off-White. In keeping with the sporty influence, Botter also showed a football top in wide stripes as part of a collaboration with Reebok where they put their brand name over Reebok’s vector logo on a long sleeved football shirt.
Vertical stripes were slightly less popular than horizontal, but are generally perceived as more flattering due to their elongating effect.
Accessories also came in wide stripes – a scarf at Zankov, ties at Hed Mayner, textured knit wraps at Missoni, and this bag at Undercover.
Finally, also worth a mention are narrower stripes which were also quite popular on the runways in AW2024.
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London College of Fashion alumna (PGCert Fashion Buying & Merchandising). 15 years in fashion across styling, buying & merchandising, trend forecasting, e-commerce, and marketing. Includes roles at Vivienne Westwood and multi-brand retail stocking 50+ brands including Adidas, Nike, and Puma.
