In 1985, when Donna Karan launched Seven Easy Pieces, the collection of stretch jersey bodysuits and separates intended to underpin every woman’s wardrobe whatever the season, she said, “I’m designing for an international woman. A creative person who never knows where a day is going to take them.”
Thirty years on, Karan has stepped away from her label but the trans-seasonal concept is more relevant than ever. With our increasingly globetrotting lifestyles, wardrobes are becoming less and less delineated. The notion of trans-seasonal dressing (clothes that work beyond their allotted autumn/winter or spring/summer slots) has for some time been on the minds of designers and buyers; now it is becoming the norm for shoppers.
“Seasons are becoming less relevant because the customer no longer thinks in those terms,” says Sarah Rutson, Net-a-Porter’s vice-president of global buying. They are increasingly drawn to “buy-now, wear-now fashion with longevity,” she says. “The concept of shopping ‘out of season’ is becoming obsolete because the market-space in which we operate is global.”