Drop it Like it’s Haute!

Chanel, above, and Khaite, right, revisit the drop waist, playing with proportion and volume to give the enduring silhouette a modern attitude.

(Photos courtesy brands.)

It was delightful to see so many creative directors sitting front row at their contemporaries’ shows during Fall 2026 Fashion Week. Names like Louis Vuitton’s Pharrell Williams at Dior, and a slew of designers, including Stella McCartney and Sean McGirr of Alexander McQueen, watched together at the joyful Tolu Coker runway show in London.

Fostering a unified show of support at a pivotal time in the industry feels collaborative. The season saw many designers solidifying their visions, evolving looks organically with less noise. Prada made the point by casting 15 models who each wore four multilayered looks, returning to the runway having removed a layer and reminding us that, with a few key pieces, new looks can be achieved.

Continuing to hold court is Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel. His first collection of summer looks hit stores as designers rolled out their Fall 2026 collections last March, starting in New York before moving on to London, Milan and then Paris. It was a masterclass in publicity, creating long lines outside stores and a buying frenzy.

It’s no surprise that Blazy’s exploration of Chanel began by looking back to the early years, with the current season finding relevance in the drop waist and the iconic flapper style capturing a moment. In the 1920s, lowering the waist created freedom of movement and less constriction, without a corset in sight. Back then, it was a revolution in dressing. This season, Chanel offered up a series of midi dresses in which a belt often marked an exaggerated low waist. Each look was simple in its rendition, much like the pared-back looks that were so revolutionary in the 1920s.

Cementing the trend, houses such as Khaite offered up body-con dresses with ruffles starting well beneath the hip. Marni created skirts and dresses with belts threaded through unnaturally low belt loops, while both Lacoste and Ferragamo delivered classic trench coats with casual fabric belts tied lower than usual. Designers such as Lanvin also gave us long, dark tops over flippy, light-colored skirts, mimicking the drop-waist effect — a tool Valentino and Zimmermann also adopted.

The style might have peaked back in the 1920s and again in the 1980s, but the current rendition of drop-waist styles feels like an exploration of new beauty standards. By confusing the eye, we learn to find elegance in the freedom of the silhouette.

Kim Smith has been a professional wardrobe stylist in Honolulu since 2004. Born a true Londoner, Smith had a successful career in public relations in the fashion industry in London for more than eight years before moving to Hawai‘i in 2002. Smith’s work spans a vast array of magazines, retailers and television as well as working with individual clients on their specific style needs.

See her work at kimsmithstyle.com.