The Future of Leather: Womenswear Leather Trends Spring Summer 2014

Leather, one of fashion's most enduring materials, is now one of the stars of Spring/Summer 2014. Leather has always held an allure for the fashion conscious, from its purely functional abilities to protect and warm the body through to the variety of stylish treatments and shapes it can support, a versatile and amazing material, one suitable for every wardrobe.

Gaia Trussardi discusses new ultra-light, ultra-soft forms of leather. No longer the thick, coarse, motorcycle-jacket-style leather of the past, these new fine leathers are soft, thin and gloriously matte. Amazingly versatile, with a thickness like cotton, the leather can be used and manipulated to achieve looks previously unattainable. In Gaia Trussardi’s hands, leather transforms into delicate soft sweaters and sensual boxer shorts, with dramatic fine detailing that combines seamlessly with other materials.

Alessandra Facchinetti for Tod’s uses ultra-thin, laser-cut leather to dramatic effect. Leather is folded, pleated and perforated. By laser cutting the leather, she imparts a feeling of airiness and transparency that combines with her very modernist approach to color blocking, creating a vital, contemporary vision for leather design.

The biker trend has been a thematic inspiration for many designers this season, chief among them Jean Paul Gaultier—a familiar fashion thematic, but one that is perfectly illustrated by these new high-quality leathers. In the hands of the supreme stylist Gaultier, the familiar transforms into the visceral. What emerges is soft, beautifully formed biker jackets and dresses that are simultaneously tough and elegant, paired on the catwalk with classic tight matte leather pants.