The 4 biggest trends in luxury fashion for 2020
- Global fashion search platform Lyst forecasted the four biggest luxury fashion trends in 2020.
- Luxury fashion is set to be influenced by major events: advancements in space, the Olympics, and the US presidential election.
- Lyst also predicts a comeback in oversized purses.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
High-end streetwear and luxury footwear may have dominated the fashion world in 2019, but luxury fashion is taking off to new places in 2020.
Lyst's 2019 report predicts that luxury fashion will take inspiration from countries and galaxies far away. The report analyzed data from more than six million products, 12,000 stores, global media coverage, and social media mentions to look at the past year in fashion.
But it also forecasted the next year in fashion. Here are four trends set to dominate, all mostly influenced by upcoming events around the world.
1. Space fashion
2020 is about to get far out. In the next decade, NASA's plans include landing humans on the moon, detecting quakes on Mars, and defending Earth from deadly asteroids, Morgan McFall-Johnsen previously reported for Business Insider. Moon Express is also planning on sending a lunar lander to the moon and SpaceX is also developing the Dragon 2 capsule, both in 2020, wrote Dave Johnson for Business Insider.
Lyst is forecasting that these ventures will fuel a rise in space-inspired fashion, from holographic outfits to space-suit outerwear.
2. Japanese influences
With Tokyo set to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games during the summer, Lyst expects influences from "bold Harajuku street style" to contemporary Japanese labels. According to the report, searches for Japanese brands increased by 8% in 2019.
Japanese brands have long been reluctant to branch outside of Japan, reported Jason Dike for Hypebeast in October, but they're finally expanding into new markets, particularly the UK. It's likely because, Dike wrote, the world is catching on to Japanese culture and trends because of the upcoming Olympics.
3. Oversized handbags
Consumers spent more money on expensive footwear than on handbags in 2019, according to an NPD report. But that doesn't mean they're not buying into the handbag market.
While the average handbag surface area shrank by 40% in 2019, fueling a trend in mini-bags, Lyst predicts that the extra-large bags that dominated in the 2000s will make a comeback in 2020. Harper's Bazaar and Elle are also forecasting a big bag resurgence in spring 2020, as oversized totes and hobo bags both made an appearance on the runways.
4. Political fashion
From Brexit's presence in London fashion labels to headlines examining politicians' sartorial choices, the past few seasons have seen many political fashion statements, Zoe Whitfield wrote for Refinery29. As the US enters 2020 with the presidential election on the horizon, Lyst expects more politically inspired fashion to continue into the new decade that's "reflective of global and cultural tensions."
As Zoe Whitfield wrote for Refinery29, "As a gesture of empowerment, a signal to the communities we feel a close bond with - or a warning to those we don't - the use of fashion as a vehicle for political expression is nothing new, but in turbulent times, its immediacy can be potent."