Elegantly Waisted

Schiaparelli revives the hourglass silhouette…

…while Givenchy sculpts bold curves for FW 2025.

Eyeing up the fall collections, shape-shifting styles were flexing from exaggerated curves to cubist angles, but one silhouette stood out, continuing to stand the test of time: the very feminine hourglass.

Hourglass styles look best in structured, well-tailored clothes — similar to another trend underpinning many of the current collections: a renewed nostalgia for ’80s workwear. This season, a marrying of these dual themes was very much in play.

Back in May, and hot on the heels of the Fall fashion shows, Vogue hosted their annual Met Gala with the theme Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, where these blended styles were clearly on display.

On the runway, Sarah Burton — whose much-anticipated debut at Givenchy drew wide attention — chose to develop hyper-sculptured curves within strong masculine tailoring. These inherently feminine looks came with dropped shoulders and exaggerated nipped-in waists, carved out through black suiting, knee-length dresses with deep V-necks, or curvaceous outerwear like an exquisite short gray peacoat. A similar dropped-shoulder brown checked pantsuit with a metal necklace resembling a tie at Schiaparelli also featured a deeply inverted-waist blazer.

Schiaparelli and the hourglass silhouette share a strong history. Elsa Schiaparelli created the mannequin-shaped perfume bottle launched in 1937, named Shocking for its intense pink color. The bottle was inspired by the curved body of siren Mae West, which in turn inspired Jean Paul Gaultier’s own iconic perfume bottle, Classique, released in 1993.

Giving some of the most curvaceous styles of the season was Thom Browne, as he molded his signature tailoring into fanciful tweed suits comprising ultra-wide birdcage skirts with long off-the-shoulder jackets. Sewn onto the front with a trompe l’oeil effect were brightly colored satin dress shapes, creating a double dose of the hourglass silhouette. It was beautiful and avant-garde for sure.

In a time when the idea of what femininity means in fashion is continuously being challenged, designers are still finding relevance in the hourglass silhouette — and new ways to adapt it to contemporary aesthetics.

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.