Sleeves are the detail in focus for spring – something that all fashion geeks, who know their bell from their bishop, can rejoice about. To keep up, here are five sleeves types to know.
The leg-o’-mutton
JW Anderson, typically, went extreme for sleeves. His leg-o’-muttons were outsized, the kind of sleeves that might make it difficult to negotiate doorways. While that sounds – like the rest of his collection – really 80s, the bigger-the-better leg-o’-mutton also plays to the other era that’s emerging strongly for SS16: Victorian.
The bell
Sleeves were big at Roksanda Ilincic, with puffs and frills covering most models’ arms – one model even wore a coat with frilled sleeves over a shirt with frills, in a sort of double-sleeve move. The bells were the best, because they were giant and, worn with crimped hair, a bit like a really beautiful version of a detail on a party dress for a bratty six-year-old.
The virago sleeve
Erdem Moralioglu, known to do his research, was always going to go deep with sleeves. He used a version of the virago which, as sleeve geeks no doubt know, was really trendy in the 17th and 18th centuries. Marie Antoinette – the Alexa Chung of the 18th century – wore them. If anyone can bring them back, Moralioglu, who dresses Chung, can.
The asymmetric
This is one for party girls. Jonathan Saunders’ collection – a mix of graphic stripes and more trad florals over silky shapes – brought the asymmetric sleeve, in the fashion wilderness since the 1990s, back on to the catwalk. It was a welcome addition for anyone who likes references ranging from Sister Sledge on the cover of 1979’s We Are Family to Kylie Minogue in the 1998 video for Did It Again.
The bishop
A bit Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks or even Patti Smith, the bishop sleeve – full and tied at the wrist – smacks of 70s bohemia and that’s why it’s totally 2016. Emilia Wickstead’s show (which was a riot of sleeves) did a particularly nice bishop, mixing it with a more structured dolman. And if that’s not a sleeve triumph, we don’t know what is.
