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Given the current tempestuous climate in global political and cultural landscapes, fashion — always a mirror of the zeitgeist — is evolving in reflection of it. With this, so is the term “classic” adopting amorphous interpretations. Here, 10 accessories from MATCHESFASHION.COM that are offering new meanings to the oft-used adjective in the midst of these troubled times.

Prada Elektra bag and Flame wedge

“The whole point of my job is trying to understand how women can be powerful but also feminine, and be believed and stay respected when everyone assumes those things mean you don’t care about clothes,” said Miuccia Prada after her Fall/Winter ’18 show. The collection was a reverberation of her vision: a bricolage of acid-packed hi-vis gear spliced with tulles, meant to equip “any woman to be able to walk on street late at night and be super-sexy without being afraid.”

The empowering phosphoric wash extended to the Elektra — Miuccia’s military-inspired bag swathed in pyramid studs — and the fiery tips of the Flame wedge that was resuscitated by popular demand from the Spring/Summer ’12 archive. The accessorial salvos for the season.

Gucci Broadway bag and lace gloves

Alessandro Michele thrives on hyper-nostalgia. Ever since taking Gucci’s creative helm in 2015, the impresario’s unwavering eclecticism ushered in a new dawn of retrospective fixation. For the Broadway bag’s Fall/Winter ’18 evolution though, he honed in on an era closer to the present: the noughts. The epoch of Tom Ford at Gucci, to be exact.

Alluding to its high-octane spirit, the Broadway’s buckle forms a crystal-encrusted G logo, centre stage on its sensual midnight-blue velvet surface. Anchor it in the present — according to Michele’s escapism take of it, at least — and handle the Broadway with monogram-weaved lace gloves.

Versace Pillow Talk Signature Dea print bag and Cameo earrings

At Versace, its 20th anniversary tribute to late founder Gianni sojourned into a second act for Fall/Winter ’18. Accessories continued to delve into the rich grandeur of Versace’s heritage where ornate brocades run rampant — as seen on the Pillow Talk bag — and its talismanic Medusa head icon takes centre stage on the Cameo earrings — symbols of a celestial golden era. A distant era jarringly offsetting the present.

The Pillow Talk bag is a totable sanctuary. Though admittedly comforting to carry around a fringe-trimmed cushion, slack it is not. Adorned in the house’s Dea print, it pictures an intricate mirror print depicting Grecian statues and fighting leopards. Pair it with the maple brown Cameo glass drop earrings for maximum time-transcending clout.

Balenciaga Ville S bag and hoop and pendant earrings

Demna Gvasalia’s work may be polarising, yet his distinctive aesthetic — irreverent, bold and brash — is inarguably pivotal in setting the pace of fashion. At Balenciaga, a French house with decades of feted couture history, the disruptor has been remixing archival elements and putting his own spin to them since becoming the creative spearhead in 2015.

Attuning to the chaotic spirit of the world, Gvasalia further explored his logocentric mania for Fall/Winter ’18 collection. In one of the iterations, the Ville S bag is emblazoned with an all-over pattern, evocative of industrial warning tapes, repetitively spelling the brand in the house’s updated typeface. In contrast, these sculptural wooden hoop earrings are the muted antithesis, yet making for a fitting complement.

Marine Serre Dream silk scarf bag and single scarf earring

Nascent Paris-based designer Marine Serre is anything but impartial. Her all-round awareness for politics, society and culture fuels her output: futurist clothes and accessories that are both great to wear yet powerfully instigative. Her very-first collection, Radical Call for Love, was a retaliation against terror attacks and featured a controversial crescent moon logo. It was hardly any surprise it won her 2017’s LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize.

Her follow-up outing for Fall/Winter ’18 saw more protective futurewear, this time with an urban cadence on athletic influences. Standouts included the spheric Dream bag, a glossy gymnastic ball-shaped handbag covered with upcycled-silk scarf, of which can be attached to a detachable shoulder strap too, whichever the wearer’s preference is. Another is the lone scarf earring, with the word “Futurewear” printed on its fluttering edge, dangling off-kilter from a silver metal charm forming the now-signature crescent moon icon.