The new prints seen on the runways give us a direction of the decade and mood of the following seasons to come. Florals came in all colours, sizes and techniques but the styles differed; where London and Paris embraced wintery florals, Milan begged to differ by presenting summer blooms. Geometric designs were in place too at the Italian capital, and a variation of stripes was pegged as the most popular across all fashion weeks. Traditional checks and plaids made way for themselves at London and New York where we witnessed patchwork and quilting coming into play. Trend Analysts at FFT have round up the most interesting shows that incorporated prints differently which will help in guiding you for the coming Fall season…
Dark Florals
Taking a break from New York’s folkloric prints, London spearheaded with winter florals at various shows. The styles and varieties of blooms differed – dandelions at Topshop Unique, reversed-jacquard roses at Erdem, daisies bundled with poppies at Preen, patchworked florals mixed with embroideries at Burberry Prorsum and Matthew Williamson’s wallpaper florals. Temperley London embroidered florals in shades of blue, yellow and orange whereas Giles opted for mushrooms instead of flora which created a whimsical aura instead of a feminine one. While at Paris, eveningwear silhouettes were worked on by designers like Alexander McQueen who used oversized roses, Chloé incorporated garden sprigs, strewn in with butterflies and Leonard’s large lilies covered a pinafore-shaped dress with full skirt. Kenzo used florals in a casual way by adding repetitive chipper daisies, Stella McCartney also used green daisies and at Valentino there were giant blooms constructed in satin, appliquéd alongside butterflies on sheer gowns.
Geometry
Interestingly geometric prints prevailed at Milan’s runways the most. Gucci started off the trend with their mathematical geometric brocade in metallic colours of gold, copper and black. At Les Copains, the geometric designers were laden with shiny diamonds; Tod’s made use of triangular shapes where a pink surface was topped with silver, champagne and chocolate metallic diamonds on a pant suit silhouette. A similar pattern was repeated on their other top and pant sets. It was Fendi who used fabric-blocking and patchwork in rectangular geometric prints – a few large scale ones on shift dresses and coats that went along with them beautifully, others were small in size and turned into voluminous quilted pieces. The metallic sheen of these styles resounds well with the 1970s trend and the glimmer softens the hard-hitting geometric angular prints.
Checked
New York and London always go back to the classics and so they did again at the Fall ’15 collections with a plethora of checks and plaids. There were smart checked pants present at Daks, Emilia Wickstead and House of Holland, where some were bigger in hounds tooth patterns in shades of pink and red. There were traditional ensembles at Mother Of Pearl and Topshop Unique. But the most intriguing pieces remained the complex prints that looked uncommon. At Paul Smith, they come faded and in washed out geometrics which were all-over woollen coats, jumpsuits and peg-leg trousers. The subdued palette kept the large scale print from looking dull. Preen reworked checks by experimenting with patchwork in different rectangular shapes which kept things graphic and dialled down the fussiness.
Light Florals
Where London and Paris swore by winter blooms on silhouettes, Milan took a different route where summer florals replaced their wintery counterparts. The runways were full of white, beige and blush pink fauna, Dolce & Gabbana started with a tribute to motherhood by repeating the rose motif – it was used across a white background on a full-skirted and long-sleeved dress. Sportmax put ornamental poppies and daisies against a white surface; they were outlined in black giving a graphic edge and used in asymmetrical dresses that were spliced with panels. At Antonio Marras, a scrawled black bloom against white merged with a checked monochrome print where black was in prominence. Marni’s beautiful jacquard in pink was scattered with large blooms, again ornamental poppies, which were etched to soften the pink and black contrast. Black as a colour was present throughout, but applied with a lighter hand than in the other fashion capitals, where darkness resided.
Stripes
Stripes as a print was set for an obvious revival as the seventies era reigned. House of Holland used broad stripes in red, pink and purple on furs and panelled dresses, stripes in lurex threads worked their way onto roll necks and skirts at J.W. Anderson, Jonathan Saunders covered his collection in striped down skirts and roll necks, or down one-side of a dress and horizontally in gradient tones whereas Roksanda’s stripes were spliced together on coloured furs. Rainbow stripes showed up again, bursting asymmetrically across a sweater dress at Au Jour Le Jour and found their way on knits and tube dressed of lurex at Emilio Pucci. At Moschino, one could witness the thick sportswear stripes on crop tops and miniskirts and at Jil Sander they were mirrored which looked retro. Ann Demeulemeester took a monochrome turn with the lines not only fading in gradient down the body, but also becoming narrower to resemble pinstripes.
