New York Fashion Week was crystal crazy

Crystals are shaping up to be one of the biggest trends for Spring/Summer 2018, with nearly 2.2 million of them featuring during New York Fashion Week alone, courtesy of Swarovski.

The Austrian crystal powerhouse teamed up with fashion designers including Jeremy Scott, Jason Wu, Creatures of the Wind and Tome for the event, helping the creatives work a little sparkle into their collections.

Jeremy Scott celebrated the 20th anniversary of his eponymous label by incorporating 400,000 Swarovski crystals into his collection, focusing the bling mainly on a front-zip parka dress, a ruffled parka dress, a flight suit, and a pair of cargo pants. Crystallized accessories such as backpacks and combat boots also featured heavily. Meanwhile, Jason Wu embellished dresses with asymmetrical, sewn-on crystals, as well as developing his 'Mosaic' jewelry collection with a range of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings featuring the crystals. Creatures of the Wind and Tome also had the chance to experiment with sustainable crystal joblots from the brand, for the first time.

Swarovski, for its part, has been busy leading the charge for a more responsible fashion industry, via a new sustainable collection from designers Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters. The duo have created a custom lacquer featuring Swarovski ‘Crystaldust', which is created as a by-product of the group's crystal cutting process. Over 1.7 million Crystaldust pieces were applied as a finish to re-worked, one-of-a-kind leather coats, skirts and boots.

"We've always tried to take a very careful and conscientious approach in our process of making and manufacturing," said Gabier and Peters in a statement. "We go to great lengths to ensure that we are not wasteful in our development and in our material consumption."