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.

a little about me .....

I’m a 25 year old casual wear designer based in a unique East London flat with my 2 flatmates and a slightly overweight cat.  Since graduating in 2008 I’ve had experience working for a high end brand and across the UK high street for a major department store retailer and a young fast fashion supplier. Now as a freelance designer with a little regular work I’ve found myself with time on my hands so began to “get creative” again.

This is my creative outlet.   A little showcase of my experimentations, toile’s, photographs and inspiration,  I hope you like it.

A little diary of the aspiring designer looking to make a mark in the big bad world of fashion.