Pom-poms, mules and crop tops: This is what you’ll be wearing in 2017

After the return of flares, chokers, and slip dresses will come yet more ghosts from fashion-past in 2017

Fashion trends come and go like Leonardo DiCaprio’s pussy posse, paraded around for a few seasons before being cast out.

Inevitably, though, they return: ’70s-era flares have made a splashy comeback on runways in recent years, and the chokers and slip dresses worn by Courtney Love and Kate Moss in the ’90s were among Kendall Jenner’s wardrobe staples in 2016.

We may have reached peak choker at Coachella this year, where the necklace replaced flower crowns as the festival-goer’s accessory of choice.



But the slip dress isn’t dead just yet. This week, Vogue.com—a reliable arbiter of sartorial must-haves—highlighted several designers who are “rethinking the trend” for 2017.

And while skinny jeans surely won’t disappear, retailers are forecasting a sizable shift in coming seasons toward the wide-leg look and “contrast denim styles in vintage silhouettes,” according to Bloomingdales’ director of ready-to-wear fashion.

Whether it’s faux or the real thing, fur’s fashionability endures (depite protests). We’re currently in the midst of a fur renaissance of sorts, with designers using the fluffy stuff in unexpected ways.

The hairy shoe that rose to prominence in 2016 is poised to turn heads well into the new year.

From Moncler’s fur-topped sneakers to the colorful fluffy pom-poms on moto boots and handbags in Rick Owens’s pre-fall 2017 collection, fur is no longer the sole domain of Gucci’s ubiquitous merkin mule.

Quirky fur pom-poms also featured prominently on bag straps, clutches, and stilettos in Fendi’s pre-fall collection, along with multi-colored patchwork fur coats and sheared mink jackets.

And Gucci’s pre-fall fur coats, irreverently printed with Marimekko-like flowers and fire-engine red lettering, might be 2017’s equivalent to Yves Saint Laurent’s heart-shaped fur cape, as seen on Rihanna and Anna Della Russo this year.



While the slipper-like babouche was last year’s “It” shoe, backless shoes of every stripe “will be even bigger for 2017,” according to Sean Kirschenbaum, co-owner of The Shoebox. “Flat mules, low block-heel mules, heeled mules, sneaker mules, espadrille mules—mules in all fabrications and colors including velvet, satin, canvas, and embroidery,” he told Elle.com.

Over at Pinterest, the image-sharing site and biggest source of traffic to retailers’ websites, an in-house data team also predicted that backless shoes will be among 2017’s top trends, along with bell-sleeve tops, political tees, pajama-inspired looks and “flair” (stickers, pins, and patches).

If the spring 2017 runways are any indication, this year’s crop tops will be superseded by bra tops, from Altuzarra’s frilly ones in feminine prints to strappy brack bralettes by Alexander Wang and 3.1 Phillip Lim.

The bra top also made appearances in collections by Victoria Beckham, Oscar de la Renta, and Tory Burch.

As for last year’s ubiquitous shoulderless top, Instagram’s fashion director Eva Chen declared them so last season in September, writing in one post that she “saw too many of them on Bachelor in Paradise.”

But designers haven’t kissed bare shoulders goodbye altogether: Instead, they’re exposing them with cut-out blouses and tailored-but-slouchy tops like those seen in spring 2017 collections by Monse, Diane von Furstenberg, and Rosie Assoulin.

Call it the Flashdance effect—and prepare to reveal a clavicle while casually deflecting questions about whether your top is falling off.