Fashion Trends for Fall: Big Shoulders, Even Bigger Coats and a Color Story to Dye For

Paris has spoken, and fashion's final authority has laid down the law: This coming fall, it's all about power shoulders, enveloping outerwear and a color palette that runs from somber to surreal.

If Milan softened up with romance and New York leaned into Y2K grunge, Paris countered with sartorial surety – a wardrobe built for the sharp, the serious, and the spectacular. Coats are enormous, tailoring is back and drama is dialed up on every front.

While trends may start in luxury, they quickly trickle down, as fast fashion companies like Zara, H&M, and Shein race to transform runway spectacle into mass-market hits.

Here's what ruled the runways:

Coats So Big, They Might Eat You

If you thought last season's outerwear was oversized, Paris just laughed in your face.

This season, coats aren't just big – they're monstrous. At Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière sent out blanket coats with pannier-like hips, reminiscent of 19th-century railway travelers layering for the journey ahead.

Meanwhile, Balenciaga's Demna reined in the theatrics to focus on pure, sculptural volume: wool coats, puffer-gown hybrids, and structured trenches that redefined silhouette without gimmicks. Marine Serre, ever the sustainable innovator, crafted oversized outerwear from upcycled materials, proving excess and ethics can coexist.