This Paris Fashion Week Trend Is Carrie Bradshaw-Approved

Paris Fashion Week is but a mere three days underway, but oh what a three days it has been! We’ve seen mega stars posing in front of the Eiffel Tower (hi, Hailey Bieber), and a dreamy 16th century-inspired collection from Maria Grazia Chiuri at Christian Dior. And, of course, a few notable patterns have begun to emerge on the runways. One that stands out to the TZR team? The rosette trend, which began sprouting back on the Copenhagen catwalks, continued growing at New York Fashion Week (see Prabal Gurung and Batsheva), and now seems to be in full bloom.

Exhibit A: The big, fanciful flourishes at Dries Van Noten — on the side of a blouse, cascading off a single shoulder — in pastel and flower print chiffons. (Florals on florals for spring? Actually groundbreaking.) Then, at Rochas, the design element made menswear shirting feel sweet and fresh, while also giving flouncy little party dresses a sassier spin. And if you haven’t made time to look through Acne Studio’s latest, it’s worth a peek if only for the playful additions of rose-adorned waist belts and blazers with gingham fabric buds, many of which were cheekily placed atop each breast on the bra line.

Of course, I’d be remiss to say rosettes are something totally new. The style was first documented as a popular shoe embellishment amongst the upper echelons of 17th century British society. Since then, floret accents appeared on countless 1980s prom dresses to Gwyneth Paltrow’s fan favorite pastel pink 2015 Oscars gown to Carrie Bradshaw, who has oft worn the style through the years. Most recently it popped up during her turn on And Just Like That... as the counterpoint to an elegantly oversized white jacket, although who can forget Carrie’s bold black and white Sonia Rykiel top when she arrived in Paris to live with Alexander Petrovsky? It was practically more rosette than shirt.

Fabric florals, both big and small, also seem to be having a moment on the street style scene, which is arguably a bigger bellwether for what’s happening in fashion than the runway or pop culture. I’ve seen them taking up the entire chest of dresses and adorning show-goers’ necks. The beauty of the accent is that you truly can wear it in subtle and flashy ways depending on your mood — and, yes, still feel like an IRL heroine of your own HBO hit show.