Trending Next Spring: Peplum Party

I lied. Sue me. I thought I'd covered all the trends for next spring, but it turns out there was one staring right at me and I didn't see it. I don't know if I should feel stupid for not noticing it, or feel bad for neglecting it. I was taught in English class to not use possessive pronouns without an antecedent, so we'll work backwards and I'll give it to you now: the peplum.

You may not know what a peplum is (I've come across a few people who thought I was speaking another language when I mentioned it, no joke), so here's a dictionary definition:

peplum |ˈpepləm|

noun

a short flared, gathered, or pleated strip of fabric attached at the waist of a woman's jacket, dress, or blouse to create a hanging frill or flounce.

• (in ancient Greece) a woman's loose outer tunic or shawl. [ORIGIN: via Latin from Greek peplos.]

I hope that satisfied your needs. Quick question: how is that pronunciation key supposed to help me? How am I to know what an upside down "e" sounds like? I think we should spell everything out phonetically. Like, "magical" could be "majkl." That's how my family plays Bananagrams and it works out very well every time. 

The thing about the modern peplum is that they're either a) very surreptitious or b) not in the usual place. There are a few traditional ones out there, but for the most part they're hiding from us. That's why I couldn't find them. We have Harper's Bazaar and the Man Repeller to thank (who else would it be, ever?) for opening our eyes to this revolution. 

Peplums have this majkl (see above) quality about them that when worn, can create the illusion that you are Scarlett O'Hara and have an itsy-bitsy waist. They create this hourglass shape, a benefit for those of us with box-shaped torsos. They also add a whole bunch of fun to an otherwise boring garment/outfit, hence the title "Peplum Party." There were a few designers in particular who just dominated this trend, like Vera Wang and Givenchy, but mostly Vera. There are literally seventeen peplum'd looks from that collection that I have saved on my laptop, which means there could be more that I don't know about. That's insane. 

I would tell you how to wear them, but I think for this one the photos speak for themselves since there are so many uses shown in each collection. 

Photo bombardment begins now. 

All photos via style.com.

Peplum over pants: 

                             Dries Van Noten                                                                  J.Crew     

          

                               Nanette Lepore                                                                  Sass & Bide

          

                                   Vera Wang                                                          Yves Saint Laurent

          

Double skirts: 

                               Alberta Ferretti                                                                Vera Wang          

          

                           Alexander McQueen                                                        Christian Siriano

          

                                     Dior                                                                           Givenchy

          

                             Jonathan Saunders                                                             Vera Wang
          

                            Haider Ackermann                                                              Givenchy
          

                           Marc by Marc Jacobs                                                          Valentino

          

                                  Vera Wang                                                               Z Spoke by Zac Posen

          

Then there's all of these that I was not aware of until I did some more internet stalking. 

Not sure where to buy clothing like the above that doesn't cost a bajillion dollars? It's DIY time, baby! Other peoples' DIYs, of course. Like this one from a pair & a spare. She does the best DIYs. 

Despite the fact that I've been on vacation for one and a half days already, my brain is still fried from school and I'm having trouble putting together comprehensible sentences so I'll just stop here. 

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