High fashion typically sets the standards for the trends that circulate in the fashion industry for the following year after fashion week debuts in Paris, New York, and Milan. While many sit by the runway admiring the model’s graceful walk stunting the newest high-end attire, or sit at home flipping through magazine pages, pointing out their favorite designs of the season, few get the opportunity to actually wear the particular pieces designed by the fashion greats. This is due to the daunting price tag that follows the fashion industry. High fashion brands such as Gucci, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, and Prade all differ in unique designs, but relate in expense, making the common man unable to purchase and flaunt much designer attire. While there is no way to receive the products themselves without paying the price, some trends are easy to replicate and dupe for little to no expense. Regardless of your income, you should be able to walk down your street in style. The following list includes 12 high fashion dupes for those wanting to rock the look without breaking their bank account.
The high fashion industry has been utilizing headscarves for a variety of different styles of attire. From cultural representation to women’s rights, brands such as Gucci, Hermez, and Dior have utilized head scarfs as a symbol for specific societal statements. Now, headscarves have become significantly more popular in the fashion industry and are circulating as a mainstream trend. A simple headscarf can be purchased for under $10 on Amazon.
A recent trend to hit high fashion brands is tech wear. This attire is typically made out of polyester fabrics and lays lightly on the skin. It is typically made in either a dark grey color palette or a bright neons plethora of yellow, greens, and oranges. Tech wear is also known as camping gear. Less expensive and more known brands such as Patagonia carry nearly all tech wear, and the material is commonly purchased for outdoor purchases. This being said, a recent trend has sparked in which tech wear can be worn whenever, giving off a futuristic vibe. A simple way to dupe this trend is by purchasing an inexpensive neon puffer jacket. These can commonly be found in thrift stores or shops such as H and M.
An easy trend to dupe that costs little to nothing is monochromatic outfits or color-blocked outfits. The basic idea of monochrome is to wear an entire outfit made up of only one color. This outfit will typically include different shades of the same color, however, sometimes the coloring is entirely unanimous. This gives you a sleek look and is typically pleasing to the eye if done well. If you wear a lot of one color this trend can be easy to dupe by simply piecing together specific clothing items you already have in your closet to come together as one in a monochromatic format. Color blocking, on the other hand, is the opposite of monochrome, in which you choose two to three contrasting colors and base an outfit off of those. This can also be easy to recreate as long as you pick sharp contrasting colors from the fashion color wheel, and keep the tones of each chosen color consistent. For example, a bright blue, and light pink would not be good color blocking, but pastel blue and pastel pink would be.
If you know anything about high fashion, you know of the iconic animal prints and plant patterns utilized within the fashion industry. Most commonly known for their extravagant designs centered around nature, both the brands Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana began this trend and have kept it up. Less expensive stores such as Urban Outfitters, H and M, and Zara have replicated this trend allowing nearly anyone to dupe it if you have the right eye. If you want to give off a high fashion nature vibe, look for shirts or jackets with tigers, bees, and unique flower designs because these will be the most similar to big brand name designs.
The fashion industry has been known to come out with some whack designs on the runway, and weird patterns are nothing new. Try mixing up typical patterns such as stripes and spots, or floral and gingham to give off a unique, high-end look.
In 2019, Anna Wintour said “camp,” and the Met Gala was roaring. Although many did not understand the message or look of camp fashion, Wintour had a specific look in mind that was founded and achieved at the 2019 Met Gala. Camp is the idea of piecing items together that should look bad but ironically don’t. Camp also centers around the ideology of evading tacky fashion designs and accepting any look. Although this may seem difficult to pull off, Camp can be easy to find and flaunt. By shopping in your local thrift store and searching for interesting items that may typically be out of your comfort zone and combining them with other rare finds, you can create the camp outfit of Anna Wintour’s dreams.
A recent trend circulating on social media and fashion is the idea of an “E-girl” which is essentially a reinvented version of a girly goth. Little do most know, this trend has been around for a very long time, however it is referenced as a cyber girl. Brands such as Moschino have been centered around this style since their creation, making the edgy punk look go viral. This has developed into modern-day media through brands such as Dollz Kill and Nasty Gal, allowing the purchase of Cybergirl products to become more obtainable price-wise.
Many influencers such as Emma Chamberlain have paved the way for the everyday wear of Dr. Marten’s industrial boots. Previously known and seen in the high fashion industry as skull stompers, brands like Dr. Marten allow for a basic everyday wear boot that gives off a fashionable, and edgy look, while still remaining affordable.
A new trend that the brand Prada recently created is the idea that fashion products should be made and sold similar to art. This means that each piece is handcrafted and designed similar to a painting, or sculpture. Although many less expensive brands do not have the resources that Prada has to make this idea fully come to fruition, brands like Zara have attempted recreating this idea. Another way to dupe wearable art is to make it yourself by enhancing basic clothes such as jeans or simple blouses with your own creatives stitching or artwork.
Recently high fashion has gone back to the basics in which brands such as Balenciaga and Chanel have revisited simple designs that typically only include a black and white color combination. This gives off a clean, high-end look, and is luckily extremely easy to replicate. Brandy Melville, Zara, and other brands of the sort are known for their basic style in which you can pair nearly any shirt from the brand with nearly any pant and it will match.
The high fashion industry seems to be a strong believer in the phrase eyewear everywhere. Regardless of the outfit, sunglasses can be a staple accessory to nearly every look. Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and Charlotte Russe are less expensive stores that tend to replicate the sunglass trends that are set by high-end brands.
Although fashion trends come in waves, high fashion loves to surprise their followers by bringing back an old trend that failed in the fashion industry at the time it came out. This can be easy to dupe simply by purchasing vintage clothing from thrift stores, or wearing older trends as a statement.
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