IN TRUTH, THE MAIN STORY OF SPRING FASHION REVOLVES AROUND THE FACT there were actual in-person shows — and many of them were extravaganzas. In Paris, Balmain held a two-day music festival, culminating in a fashion show attended by a crowd of 6,000. Balenciaga delivered a tongue-in-cheek red carpet film premiere, whilst Valentino and Chloé both chose to extend their shows onto the streets of Milan and Paris. Innovation and creativity spewed forth from an industry looking to the future.

For Spring/Summer 2022, designers collectively celebrated the body with more than one area to focus our gym time on. Skin has become the most celebrated of fabrics, as tiny clothing reigned supreme with many designers such as Isabel Marant, Missoni, N°21 and Sandy Liang shrinking tops and slicing skirt lengths with styles that repeatedly screamed Y2K. The takeaway is that loungewear is out, and bodycon fashion is where the summer season is positioned.

The Millennium is an era which is currently being celebrated across the fashion globe — championed by the likes of Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo, who have fully embraced the body conscious Y2K styles of today, including dainty cardigans, dangerously low-rise pants and barley-there slip dresses. Add a matching jacket, and you truly are back in the 2000s. It might be time to re-watch that most iconic of movies Clueless, a fashion gold film that spawned a plethora of styles, including the short skirt-suit ensemble, once more finding its moment in fashion. Giambattista Valli and Moschino both showed fitted miniskirts and coordinated short jackets over belly-baring tops. At first view, ultra-ladylike, but all were cut to seduce. One of the season’s most impactful shows came from Miu Miu. Reminiscent of Britney Spears’ early-2000 style and giving off strong varsity vibes, Miu Miu offered up pleated micro miniskirts paired with cropped shirts and jackets, often layered together. Each piece severely shrunken and leaving little to the imagination. Even when evoking a past decade, the look of a crop top and miniskirt will forever feel youthful.

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.