Emilio de la Morena’s Fall/Winter 2018 collection took on the ‘80s with a focus on ruffled details, shoulder pads and mini skirts. The designer, influenced by Barbra Streisand’s musical Yentl, sought to express a gender queer philosophy through juxtaposing masculine tailoring with the iconic silhouettes from 1980s womenswear. Blazers with prominent shoulder pads were paired with mini skirts or ruffle-hemmed pants.

Attention was brought to the shoulders of dresses, too. One black dress with sheer lace paneling and sleeves featured oversized hot pink ruffles on the shoulders. A couple teal dresses had sheer organza sleeves with voluminous poufs of material at the shoulders. These were also accompanied by other ‘80s trademarks like a lace overlay and extra wide belt on one, and ruffle-detailed mini skirt on the other. The same puffed organza shoulder was a defining detail on several sheer button down shirts as well.

The other key detail of the collection was the different applications of ruffles. They appeared along the neckline of tops and dresses, at the hem of pants and skirts and basically everywhere in between. A slew of dresses consisted of tiered ruffles all the way down, which was especially striking when done in a saturated hot pink. Other bold colors like fiery red, cool teal and kelly green also stood out, although there were some ivory and black ensembles to balance them out.

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