Milan fashion Week: mini trend

A little delayed report on Milan fashion week, been having an internet access crisis.  Opposing colour statements were made with a head to toe black and bold colour blocking the key messages of the week.

1.  Black

2. Bold Colour blocking

The 60s was a dominant theme that continued from the previous shows in London and New York with shift dresses becoming the shape of the season.  A new eddition of boxy woven blouses and outerwear teamed with skinny bottoms was a fresher take.

1. shift dress

2. boxy top

 Another look to take a slightly more formal slant than previous seasons is the androgynous dressing. Milan presented a structured, tailored look with DB tailored jackets and tux styling looking refreshing for the more daring.

London Fashion Week AW11 Trend Report :Key Shapes

Last week London was awash with colour for the AW11 presentations setting a bright light on the dreary wet weather.  I’ve already discussed key colours in my post yesterday, but feel an overriding theme of the week was colour blocking in various manifestations.  From tipping and collars in pops of varying shades to monochrome outfits, colour block shifts to using solid brights’ in contrasting colours for outfit building. I particularly like Jonathan Saunders surprising combination of bright, vivid blues next to a deep berry shade.

Shifts were the dress shape of the week throwing out modern takes on the 60’s siren staple.  A line, mini, midi, straight, wrapped, colour blocked, printed, sheer, knitted... you name it was in a shift.  Aquascutum’s slightly slouchy orange number took a newer slant, but would almost certainly only flat those sizes 8 and below with model stature.  For a more commercial take Topshop Unique presented a super cute mixed print version with a sweet peter pan collar.

It’s all about the shirt..... Paula Reed of Grazia fame said on her blog she wouldn’t know what to do without her jeans and shirt these days and neither do London’s fashion pack.  The shirt is the wardrobe staple of AW11, casual and washes, clean and minimalistic, printed and cute.  Or for an alternative more feminine look wear the shirtdress with the Jaeger style the most commercial, but long and lean for the cool acne take.

London catwalks continued to promote the winter crop, following on from the dominance of this shape on the New York catwalks.  A surprising and exciting note to be made on the return of the roll neck, shown printed, plain, layered, alone its definitely a one to watch. Think a really nice update for winter logo shapes shown on the Giles catwalk.

1.       Colour blocking

2.       Shifts

3.       Shirt/ shirtdress

4.       Crop  trouser

5.       Roll neck  tops

all images courtesy of style.com

London Fashion Week AW11 Trend Report :Colour Update

London Fashion Week was on fine form with its top designers presenting innovative collections.   Jonathan Saunders was the stand out star with a superb execution of colour and print into simple understated shapes, surely a major house will be knocking on his door soon.

Burberry continued with the 60’s theme from their pre-collection, but offered a more desirable collection with beautiful tailored trousers, shifts and their usual outstanding outerwear.  I particularly loved the suede and boiled wool mix tunic over textured tweed flared trousers.

Acne and Jaeger both moved on their collections with their branded shapes and look into the colours of the season.

And some of the UKs favourite designers Christopher Kane, Giles and David Koma all played with layer to different end results.  Christopher Kane’s take on craftwork techniques showed the designers innovation whilst the unusual gel filled panels on the shift dresses were not only futuristic, but an exciting and modern way of dressing.

As far as colour stories go London confirmed the Red dominance of New York the week before with strong tomato, Betty Jackson led the pack with a head to toe red collection.  Mustard and Chartreuse were also prominent colourations supporting the mustard and yellows from New York.  However the newest and most exciting colour combinations came with colours mixed back with grey. Used as an outfit statement with solid garments, colour blocking and trims.  It looks fantastically sophisticated in an Aquascutum mac, but also delivered in a fun and young way from Topshop Unique.

Key shapes and looks to follow. All images courtesy of style.com

Grey with Brights



Yellow and Chartreuse

Tomato

New York Fashion Week AW11 Colour Update

So many exciting new colour coming from the New York catwalks, but red and rust tones are the colour of season.

RED & RUST TONES

 MUSTARD & YELLOW

BLUSH TONES

KHAKI & OLIVE GREEN

AW11 New York Fashion Week Trend Report

A long old slog through style.com catwalk pictures has eventually enable me to create a rundown of key themes and trends from the New York AW11 shows which finished mid last week.

The shows were much of the same... minimalism, fabric mixing, layering. It seems there are 3 key designers that have influenced the American market over the last 6 months.

1. Alexander Wang: layering, asymmetry, fabric mixing all signatures Wang translated not only into his show, but across several major brands also.

2. Celine: Minimalism at its finest dominated the new York catwalks with clean shapes in sharp structured fabrics. And of course the winter crop trouser.

3. Marc Jacobs:  The designer delivered a strong 70s bohemian look last season with mid length full skirts a key shape for the collection.  This now saturated the New York catwalks. This season his presentation of a cleaner sharper look for his mainline collection will be sure to influence designers for ss12.  Whilst the polka dot theme will translate to high street and be everywhere before summers out.

With focus on presenting casual wear trends and key shapes that aim to bring a fresher look whilst noting the dominant shapes that have been shown for a couple of seasons.

1.       Sportswear styling/details:  The most dominant influence for updating basics and sleek casual wear

2.       Panelling and Fabric mixing: Saturated the catwalks, but nothing new here.

3.       Quilting:  Alexander Wang utilised this technique to brilliant effect, a great clean technique.

4.       Midi: A shape that’s gathering momentum on the catwalk, high street will follow suit.

5.       Kilts/ Wrap skirts: Midi wraps in checks and kilt styling look new and fresh.

6.       Asymmetric Hem: A clean look from the Acne camp.

7.       Textured Fabrics: Some exciting fabrications used in beautiful styles that make this difficult for high street copies at price points.

8.       Checks: Checks, ginghams, tartans, mini checks.........

  

9.       Crop Trousers: The winter crop is here to stay.

10.       Poncho: A bit surprised by the amount of poncho styles from the shows, but it’s a natural move on from the cape.

Watch this space for London, Paris and Milan reports.

All images taken from style.com, for full images and more more shows go to http://www.style.com/

second post... new style

So only my second post, finding it difficult to know what to write so thought I’d post another design, created in calico a  little while ago and realised in a beautiful engineered, rib, taupe and grey marl wool jersey. 

A summer course at CSM, sparked my renewed enthusiasm for toiling and moving away from my mundane and monotonous day job.  For anyone interested the course was called Cutting Edge Fashion a course that encouraged experimentation via toiling on the stand.   I highly recommend if for anyone who wants to start thinking outside the box again.  The course tutor, Stephanie Cooper, was inspirational and enthusiastic exactly what I needed. 

The course was a week long and I found myself stuck in a product designer mode, thinking what should I be making... a top, a dress?  She really pushed my comfort boundaries from working in commercial retail to try to stop thinking about the end product and enjoy the experimentation and concept process to see where it naturally leads.  It made the process of a designing a much more fluid, organic thought pattern which even at university we didn’t explore. Instead during my degree at LCF we always worked to a target customer and a specific product, removing the creative free flow element.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experimentation process and pleased that I know have a realised, wearable, but interesting result.  Thanks CSM.

Love to know your thoughts....

A few things I've made.

A little rummaging around in my crammed to the brim wardrobe found a few garments that I made a while ago.  So here's what you might say is my archive. A 3 piece showcase of what I'd like to call clean, soft, wearable casual wear.

1. Panelled chambray shirt.

2. Tucked sleeve mix jersey shirt

3. Manipulated stripe woven vest top with pleated leather trim.