5 Ways to Wear PJ’s, According to Milan Fashion Week’s Street Style Scene

Ciao, bella! The showgoers of Milan Fashion Week are now departing for the runways in Paris, and what sartorial inspiration they’ve left in their wake. This season, the street style crew embraced pajama dressing and the cozy Danish hygge phenomenon in new and wonderful ways, proving that getting decked out for the photographers outside the shows doesn’t have to mean sacrificing comfort. There were silk pants with fuzzy, furry moccasins, overcoats with easy button-down blouses, and white denim (yes, after Labor Day) with slides and thin silk scarves. It was as if the most stylish travelers were living that dolce vita life, valuing ease over edge and backing away from full lewks—though, unlike most locals, they probably didn’t squeeze in that classic afternoon nap.

In the spirit of what seemed like a much more chilled-out Milan Fashion Week, here are five ways to get the breezy-chic wardrobe that defined the last few days of shows.

Corduroy, the World’s Most Unsexy Fabric, Makes a Cool Comeback

Corduroy—what is there to say about the rigid and ribbed fabric? Well, it’s somewhat unsexy. Not even a tight-fitting bell bottom or kicky cord shirt have graced red hot street style stars like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. (To add to its buttoned-up reputation, there’s a children’s book called Corduroy about a stuffed animal bear.) It is far from a nightlife staple; we have yet to see a corduroy slip dress saunter into a cocktail party. Corduroy is more of a uniformed schoolgirl go-to, a retro daytime material. At its best, it was once worn by Carolyn Bessette as a pair of flares with a simple black turtleneck.

But despite its uptight nature and distinct lack of romance, the fabric made a cool comeback on the Fall 2017 runways in autumnal hues like burgundy, chestnut, and canary yellow. (Ermanno Scervino went the outré route with a pretty shade of lavender.) Mostly, it showed up in its tried-and-true incarnations—as a suit at Kenzo, where the waist was nipped and a graphic pattern was traced down the arms and legs. At Prada, trousers got a much needed update on one model, who wore a low-slung pair of pants that slouched at the ankles. At Y/Project, there was even a ruffed cuff on some marigold slacks. Those searching for a more modest take on the fabric should look to Mulberry, which showed a maxi skirt in corduroy. The most hip take? Marc Jacobs managed to wriggle Jenner into some corduroy duds—blood red flares and a matching shearling-trimmed jacket—plus, a blinged-out necklace to add some shine. Now, let’s see if the paparazzi-bait model takes the head-turning look to the street and turns it all around.

Are Pedal Pushers and Bike Shorts the New Mom Jeans?

Poor Jessica Simpson. On that fateful day in January 2009, when she stepped onstage in a too-tight, high-waisted pair of jeans, her world was shook. Suddenly the phrase “mom jean” was everywhere and Simpson’s denim fit was the main talking point—unfairly and brutally so. But since that memorable moment (one that the singer previously told Oprah was one of her lowest), the mom jean has become a popular choice for women of all shapes and sizes. Think of the vintage Levi’s that every fashion girl hopes to find in the consignment bin. Alas, even though the mom jean found glory, it has remained one of the most ridiculed cuts on the market. But that conversation seems to be shifting. Mom jeans no longer incite a double take when we see them on Kim Kardashian West, Kendall Jenner, and other mass fashion catalysts. Now, it’s a pair of pedal pushers or bike shorts that give us pause.

Bella Hadid has worn both this month. In early July, she stepped out in a pair of pedal pushers, a crop that rises slightly higher than a classic capri and rests just under the bottom of the kneecap. Last week she put on a pair of skintight denim shorts cut at the very bottom of the thigh. As her stylist Elizabeth Sulcer explains, “pedal pushers are flattering because they show off your legs in a different, more discreetly sexy way and they look great with heels.” This can certainly be true, especially when you have a body like Hadid’s. But Sulcer is also quick to point out that “pants are a wardrobe piece that is really individual to your body and shape.”

For those of us who don’t look like a supermodel or have perfect, Flat Tummy Tea curves like Kardashian West, the thought of wearing tight bike shorts or pedal pushers is a scary one. When fellow Vogue fashion writer Liana Satenstein was asked how she felt about the two pant lengths, she quickly replied: “I feel bad.” Another, Emily Farra, explained, “I don’t think you could pay me to wear pedal pushers or bike shorts right now. That being said, I did wear bike shorts every single day as a kid in the early ’00s and I had some bright floral printed pedal pushers for ‘dress-up occasions,’ too; suffice it to say both looks should be reserved for the under-12 range.”

Nostalgia is a big draw for fashion nerds at the moment. Pedal pushers remind many of Audrey Hepburn and her iconic take on the style. They also remind others of the Limited Too or J.Lo’s mid-2000s line Sweetface. Britney Spears wore a lavender pair in one of her famous “Got Milk” ads. Before Kardashian West or any of her sisters put a see-through corset on with black lycra or jean bike shorts, a ’90s Cindy Crawford was posing in similar denim cut-offs and a lace tank. Still, knowing the origin of these cyclical trends isn’t enough for many. Skeptics may still throw shade at, say, Kristen Stewart in her pedal pusher jumpsuit at the Chanel Fall 2017 Couture Show, but there’s no denying that both cuts are experiencing a revival (they also made an appearance on the Spring 2017 runway at Dior).

Whether cropped just above the knee or slightly below, the debate surrounding these styles is sure to rage on. The important thing is to be comfortable, should you choose to try on a slightly odd trouser length. Find confidence in the questionable trends—if you’re going wear a polarizing pant, you better push through.

Gigi Hadid Gives the Mom Jean a Supermodel Makeover

Gigi Hadid sure knows how to keep things interesting. Just a day after putting a millennial spin on Barbie style in a pink leather outfit, this afternoon she gave a supermodel twist to the humble mom jean.

Hadid has taken to the throwback denim trend before to be sure, but usually with a tapered leg. While today’s Re/Done cropped flares had a familiar vintage rise, the new, wider hem felt infinitely more fashion-forward, and hit at the right place to show off black suede boots with a red stripe. The pop of color further coordinated with her cross-body Stalvey bag, whose reptilian texture added an unexpected layer of luxury to off-duty denim. Hadid has made the cropped T-shirt part of her uniform, but she switched it up today with another one of her signature sunglass statements—this time, a retro, ovoid pair by Raen.

Lady Grecian 2017: Karl Lagerfeld gives Paris a Chanel toga party

Chanel’s latest show took place in the Grand Palais in Paris – but in Karl Lagerfeld’s hands, it was transformed into an environment more suited to the likes of Plato and Socrates.

To showcase the Modernity of Antiquity – an addition to the collections shown between autumn/winter and spring/summer offerings – the space featured ionic columns, a Greek island sunset as backdrop and an impressive olive tree. The inspiration: the Parthenon and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. France may be on the verge of a political shift but Chanel – arguably the jewel in French fashion’s crown – can still be relied on for a blockbuster show.

This collection had the tropes familiar from a childhood trip to the British Museum: Vitruvian scrolls featured on blouses and knitted dresses, there was the black and terracotta colour scheme of Athenian vases and some models wore laurel wreaths. As might be expected, the Midas touch was irresistible: gold dominated as a colour, on everything from a jacket and shorts to embroidery of the double Cs reworked in olive and oak branches on a sweatshirt.

There is some irony in a designer who famously dislikes nostalgia creating a collection inspired by an era from about 2,500 years ago. However, as the show notes said, this was about imaginings rather than historical accuracy. “It had nothing to do with a country,” said Lagerfeld. “Reality is no interest to me. I use what I like. My Greece is an idea.”

Gladiator sandals with ionic pillars for heels sure to smash social media, and witty takes on the tourist raincoat are more 2017 AD than BC. This show is just the latest from Chanel to gain enviable likes on Instagram – there were more 36,000 posts for the relevant hashtag at the time of writing.

Lagerfeld might be 83 but he excels at modern communication. Chanel was recently ranked the top fashion brand on social media, with 21.1million Instagram followers. Long before the app became required viewing, Lagerfeld created a fashion show with an iceberg and one that took the front row on a Chanel-branded aeroplane. A Chanel supermarket in 2014 and a rocket ship this year followed.

Now at the French fashion house for close to 35 years, Lagerfeld still manages to mine Coco Chanel as muse, and not just in the tweed, pearls and logos here.

The inspiration for Wednesday’s show came from a 1922 production of Jean Cocteau’s Antigone. Chanel provided the costumes because the playwright could not “imagine that Oedipus’ daughters would be badly dressed”. They certainly wouldn’t be in this finery. The last section of the show featured goddess dresses worthy of Aphrodite: draped, loose and graceful, with a sugar pink one-shouldered dress particularly memorable.

This is the second time Chanel has chosen to stay in Paris for an event show - with November’s Metiers d’Art collection shown at the newly opened Ritz. This contrasts with Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior - which also show cruise collections this month in Japan and California respectively.

The Grand Palais event was hardly a cost-cutting measure. Chanel has double-digit growth in 2017, Bruno Pavlovsky, it president of fashion, said in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily. The move could instead be interpreted as a way to cement the house’s status as the ultimate Parisian brand - and make the word “Chanel” synonymous with “chic”.