The past year has been a tumultuous one, politically and socially for women, with the rise of the very necessary #Metoo movement.

Women’s voices are being raised across all platforms, challenging stereotypes and questioning status quos. This directly relates to the world of fashion also: more than frivolous escapism, there is a sentiment at the base of fashion trends that indicates a current mood.

And from a few of the more dominant memes I’ve been seeing, welcome to the revolution.

1. The comfortable shoe. It makes perfect sense that the minute high heels went out of fashion and the designer crocs and fur-lined rubber slides hit the catwalks: we were never going to look back.How did we put up with those years of vertiginous heels and fashion idiots falling off their shoes, when it was the most obvious metaphor for hobbling since foot binding in the Tang Dynasty?
   
   

   Sneakers. With a dress. Why didn’t we do this a lot earlier? Photo: Getty

   Saying a woman wore “sensible’ shoes was once a term of derision, insinuating that she was plain, or a lesbian who didn’t give a s— what men think, and that is the look most women are enthusiastically going for now, by the way. The sensible shoe crowd, were – who would have thought – incredibly sensible and figured out very early that it was easier to fight the patriarchy if your feet didn’t hurt and you could run for the bus.

   Whichever designer decided that a funky sneaker makes a pretty dress look more modern should win every fashion award, for the rest of eternity.

2. Sustainability. After being assaulted with every fad a designers could conjure up, we collectively realised we had too many clothes, and that the planet was suffering for it. Over-consumption of cheap clothes has devastating effects on the environment and the fashion industry is a leading driver of climate change due to the greenhouse gas emissions from textile production.While there is still huge demand for fast fashion in the lower end of the market, the mid-market consumer is buying less, making more considered purchases and asking questions about sustainability and best practice for workers.
3. Less is more. This used to be term that related to style, the idea that you didn’t need to lay it on thick to make an impression, or as Coco Chanel purportedly said: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”
   

    

   View this post on Instagram

    

   I really thought this young lady was one of the most stylish I saw during my last visit to Paris. Simple, chic outfit and great hair! In this period of overdone everything it’s so refreshing to see a little understatement occasionally, Paris @libbyataylor

   A post shared by Scott Schuman (@thesartorialist) on Oct 8, 2018 at 9:05am PDT

   But the adage has now come to mean that owning less is more. An edited wardrobe means your life and presumably your mind, becomes more organised.

4. Victoria’s Secret is on the wane. Quelle surprise that women, who last time I looked mostly purchase their own underwear, decided that tizzy spectacles of freakishly proportioned supermodels in bedazzled angel wings were not something we could relate to.
   

   Victoria’s Secret: presented by women, bought by men. Photo: Getty

   I feel confident in saying that once you’ve left that scratchy, neon-pink G-string in nylon behind, there’s no stopping you.

5. Blazers. Oversized blazers.
   

   Natalie Portman in Manhattan earlier this month. Photo: Getty

   They, too, were once associated with the sartorial style of the sensible shoe women, WHO HAD IT RIGHT ALL ALONG, PEOPLE. Blazers and sneakers. It’s back to the ’80s. But with better hair.