Inspired by the stars, this wardrobe staple is an easy reach for party season.
As the woman who brought Carrie Bradshaw to life, we can always count on Sarah Jessica Parker to inspire us when it comes to style.
And the actress did it again this week at the Golden
Naturally, Parker wore Michael Kors for the occasion: a full-skirted, princess-length dress from the spring/summer 2025 collection, rendered in black lace. It offered just the right degree of risque – and at 59, she robustly proved that the lace trend is not limited to the under-30s. In fact, we’ve seen it on the red carpet a lot lately, on Zoe Saldana, Katie Holmes, Jennifer Connelly, Poppy Delevingne and Kate Moss too.
I say trend in the loosest sense of the word because lace is one of those things that never really goes out of style, although it has been given a fresh jolt of relevance thanks to Chemena Kamali’s boho-luxe reboot of Chloe – prettiness and femininity are very much back on the fashion radar. Loosely inspired by the 90s and early 2000s, it thankfully comes without the flammable fabrics and unflattering tendency to cling in all the wrong places.
In fact, a whole slew of brands are using lace in a way that is elegant, grown-up and infinitely more sophisticated than we’ve seen in the past. The little lace dress is 2024′s answer to the little black dress, and it’s more wearable than it sounds – it suggests bare skin without actually revealing too much at all.
Take Me+Em’s interpretation of the look, a Wednesday Addams-esque lace minidress with a decorative collar and sparkly buttons. Only the sleeves are unlined, but they give it a sexy edge. Or consider a dress from Self-Portrait – designer Han Chong has been doing lined guipure lace dresses for over a decade, and they are modern classics.
Wiggy Hindmarch, founder of Wiggy Kit, whose new partywear collection just dropped, uses lace to add subtle coverage on the arms and decolletage: “We use black Chantilly lace which has fine scallops and delicate ‘eyelash’ edges,” she says. “This works so well on a dress to soften any hard edges, it always elevates a garment into something extra special.”
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Advertise with NZME.Or consider the offering at Rixo, always a reliable source for party-friendly looks: “We love a lace trim as it allows us to tap into the trend without it being too revealing or overpowering,” says co-founder Orlagh McCloskey. “[It] adds femininity to a party look and a vintage-feeling detail to our favourite shapes and silhouettes.”
“To keep it modern and grown-up, it’s all about balancing it with simple, clean pieces,” says Jannine Vinci, founder and creative director of Oseree. “A black or white lace dress with minimal accessories is a sophisticated but effortless outfit.”
A great lace dress should be versatile, not just when it comes to different kinds of evening events, but for day events as well, says personal stylist Charlotte Handley-Green, who works with Gabby Logan. “Lace has multiple personalities, from serene to sexy and everything in between. A structured lace dress for evening doesn’t need much in the way of thought or accessories, so don’t overcomplicate it; jewellery can be kept to a minimum – a beautiful heel and clutch is all that is required. For a daytime lace look, layer it: a lace-trimmed dress teamed with a boot and a blazer gives a more modern feel and can take you from work to weekend.”
If you’ve already got a little black dress, you could use lace as an extra layer, or to give it a fresh spin without looking like you’re trying too hard to cover up.
The best thing about lace though? Unlike sequins and velvet, the little lace dress is not redundant outside of the festive season. And in these sustainability-conscious times, a piece you can rewear year-round is the most stylish thing of all.
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