How to do the plastic trend for SS18 without looking like a Barbie girl

Wipe clean, repeat

plastic trend
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Rex)

Wipe clean, repeat

To quote Aqua: 'life in plastic, it's fantastic'. And it certainly is for SS18, with the PVC trend having a moment with our favourite designers (Staud, Burberry, Chanel) and high street stores (Zara, Topshop, Mango).

At London Fashion Week, it was a hit with the street style set too, with the Chanel see-through hat, Burberry rubberised trench coat and Staud Shirley bag being the items of choice this season.

plastic trend

But how do you nail this tricky micro trend in your average everyday life? Well, as with most trends, it's more wearable if you're subtly nodding to it.

You might choose to accessorise a denim jumpsuit with some PVC boots or a clear handbag. Or give a tough edge to a feminine blouse by pairing it with vinyl trousers.

Or perhaps the perfect finishing touch to a sharp suit is a clear trench coat, which you can also layer over your favourite coat to give it an instant update.

plastic trend

What you do want to avoid is going the full head-to-toe look, for fear of looking like Kim Kardashian circa 2015. Or to quote Aqua again, like a Barbie girl.

Shop my top plastic picks below.

Shop now: BURBERRY Belted rubberized PU trench coat for £1,495 from Net-A-Porter

Shop now: VINYL TOTE WITH INTERIOR BAG for £29.99 from Zara

Shop now: MR BY MAN REPELLER Crystal-embellished PVC and metallic textured-leather mules for £134 from The Outset

Shop now: Vinyl Kick Flare Trousers for £39 from Topshop

Shop now: Padded Pak’r Film for £85 from Eastpak

Shop now: YEEZY Tubular clear over-the-knee boots for £390 from Mytheresa.com

Shop now: MOSCOT LEMTOSH TT SE Opticals for £310 from MOSCOT

Shop now: VALEXTRA Iside Medium raincoat for £115 from Matches Fashion

Shop the latest Eastpak Accessories on the Marie Claire Edit.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.