According to the New York Times, there are too many trends. (I hope not, I make my living writing about them!) The appropriate number notwithstanding, trends do serve a purpose: to help us organize the chaos that is fashion. And chaos it is, kids. Look around—shoppers ain’t shopping, prices are surging, everyone is sustainable (but not), and every brand has a creative director coming or going. It’s a big mess! Now, should the discerning shopper jump on every -core out there? Absolutely not. But it is worth examining when some of the brightest minds in clothing design seem to divine a similar feeling from the zeitgeist. And as the flurry of fashion weeks conclude, we’re starting to see just what these febrile brains are thinking about the season ahead. It’s a very funny thing we do, to ask these artists to predict the future every six months, and then to plant a flag with very real commercial repercussions. But that’s just the way things are done here. Let’s take a peek at what’s around the corner.