The most talked-about collection at the spring/summer 2024 fashion shows was the one that wasn’t there. Phoebe Philo, yet to unveil the first fruits of her eponymous line, which had been originally slated to debut online in September some six years after she departed Céline, dominated the fashion news cycle throughout the month. As the spring/summer 2024 fashion trends piled up, designers waited nervously to see if their collections would be eclipsed by a spontaneous digital drop from a woman many revere as fashion’s messiah.Her cult status as industry saviour was only heightened by the news that the spring/summer 2024 show would be Sarah Burton’s last collection for Alexander McQueen, with Gabriela Hearst also departing Chloé. Incoming: Sabato de Sarno at Gucci, Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford, Peter Do at Helmut Lang, and Louise Trotter at Carven. Does fashion have a woman designer problem? At LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, only Dior and Pucci have female creative directors, while Stella McCartney and Phoebe Philo are eponymously run. At Kering, the second biggest fashion conglomerate, not a single brand is helmed by a woman, nor a person of colour.

Set against that demoralising disparity, and an equally sobering economic and political backdrop, designers played it safe for spring/summer 2024. The palette was muted, with black and white blotting out the colour-box brights that typically come to the fore for summer collections. Retina-searing red was one of the few tones that managed to make it through the muzzled colour wheel. The post-pandemic era of body positivity – and the nude looks that came with it – has largely faded, and with it the broader variety of body types that had begun to populate the runways.