In an effort to
maintain some consistency in my blog I've decided not to do whole print
trend reports on the Pre-fall and Resort collections. Only select
designers create Pre-fall collections and so it's quite hard to make any
worthwhile trend predictions from these. This being said, I do want to
share some of my favourites, along with any mini trends I see emerging. I
might even include a miss-matched board of all the print designs which
have caught my eye as it would be a shame not to keep a record of them.
First up is a
selection of my favourite colour combinations from pre-fall 2016- these
aren't necessarily the colours I predict will be the most popular, they
are the ones I seem to gravitate towards and the ones which I am most
likely to wear. Although,as a general statement, the pre-fall
collections demonstrated a wide range of deep rich jewel tones,
designers are beginning to show that they are not afraid of mixing
colours- teal blue and salmon pink at Milly and rich purple paired with
mustard yellow at Victoria Beckham are perfect demonstrations of this.
So now for my favourite collections...be warned there are quite a few...
First is Diane Von
Furstenberg. Dvf, I find, is often a little hit and miss. I always seem
to love the prints but a lot of the time feel that the styling is a
little off. For example I was not a fan of her recent SS16
collection(http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2016-ready-to-wear/diane-von-furstenberg)
but love what she has shown us for pre-fall. A fresh blue, orange and
green palette toned down with inky navy's and strips of clean white
combined with abstract geometric prints juxtaposed over one another
creating a slightly retro feel.
Next...Michael Kors
collection. Kors is a designer I tend to reserve judgement on, mainly
because I really don't like the general obsession with the bags and
watches this brand is so well known for, but I have decided that I
shouldn't let this affect how I view his collections. The Michael Kors
pre-fall 16 range isn't particularly ground breaking but I felt it
deserved a spot in my favourites because I love the tight colour palette
of black, white, pink and nude against the stark silhouette floral
prints. Silhouette style florals have also appeared in several other
pre-fall collections(Orla Kiely and Carolina Herrera).
For this
collection, the Preen team leaked two collections: Preen by Thornton
Bregazzi and Preen line. I didn't love every garment in the collections
but I do think their prints are amazingly rich in colour and so have
combined my favourites from both lines. A particular Preen print
favourite of mine is the floral overlay on the delicate grid, giving a
slight nod to the 80's. Floral grid work also appeared in several other
pre fall collections(Julien David and Raoul).
Oh Rebecca Taylor!
There is nothing about this collection that I didn't like. From the pink
and blue chintz print to the geometric florals and the dark brights
colour palette. I will definitely be working on a few versions of these
prints in my spare time.
Next is Orla Kiely.
A brand which is immediately recognisable by the flat colours and
signature simple floral prints. Although the prints for this collection
weren't exactly groundbreaking, I loved the way the photos were styled
with the patterns as a backdrop.
I have to say when
Victoria Beckham turned her hand to fashion way back in 2008 I was
sceptical. I always find it slightly frustrating when people who have
reached 'celebrity' status decide on a change of career, especially when
it's a change of career to fashion. Her pre-fall 2016 collection,
however, completely won me over. Colour pops and playful print
experimentation along with refined styling,the collection included a
blue strawberry print for goodness sake-what's not to love about
abstract fruit!
For his pre-fall
collection Christopher Kane used a spray paint effect to create a
beautifully soft and artsy print. I love how the splattered style
prevents the florals from having a solid outline. In recent seasons
there has been a huge preference for 70's style florals with flat
colours and solid outlines, this technique of using the negative space
is a breath of fresh air. I will definitely be trying this out.
As a general rule
checks and plaids bore me. I have no problem with wearing them but
designing them can be so tedious and borderline mathematical which my
brain quite simply just can't grasp. For the pre-fall collection Lupfer
has managed to inject creativity into the plaid by layering flat
coloured folksy florals over pastel checks. With a colour palette of
black, deep green and sugared pink he has managed to make a strong yet
feminine check.
Missoni collections
always make me wish I had done knitwear instead of
print....almost.....then I am quickly reminded of the amount of fights I
had with the knitting machines and I realise I should stick to drawing!
What this company can do with knitted garments literally amazes me.
Their pre-fall collection is so lively with a huge array of vibrant
colours and knitting techniques that completely baffle my brain.
Particularly the bottom right image where they have manipulated the
stitches to look like a digital glitch print. Wow....just....WOW!
Anyone who follows
this blog will know that I basically adore Mary Katrantzou. She was the
first designer whose collections really stole my attention and peaked my
interest in becoming a print designer. Once again she hasn't
disappointed, providing a bright range of digital prints drawing
inspiration from oriental kimono artworks and curvilinear shapes
reminiscent of paper folding.
Last but not least,
although somewhat surprisingly, Versace. I think this might be the
first time I have ever actually liked a Versace collection. Normally I
find that their garments look quite cheap with overly stark graphics and
an excessive amount of gold but for pre-fall 2016 they presented a
softer more print orientated collection, which obviously won me over.
Not only did they have a great balance of abstract and floral prints,
they also had a cool pastel blue and lilac colour palette- my favourite
end of the spectrum.
In recent seasons
there has been an absence of animal print, but in the pre-fall 2016
collections furs and printed skins have begun to seep back in. The
Calvin Klein collection was particularly good for animal print with a
soft watercolour effect print- definitely worth a look. It will be
interesting to see if animal skins increase in popularity in the Fall
collections after taking aback seat for so long.
So you have seen my
favourite collections, but I've also chosen some prints I particularly
like. I'm going to use the below board as a reference point when I
finally get around to doing some design work outside of my day job.
These prints will be my inspiration and I intend to work into creating
some print designs based on these styles. I'm actually quite excited to
get started!
For some reason, in
the pre-fall collections, I seemed to be more aware of the photography
and styling of the images. I noticed two fashion photographic trends
emerging that I imagine will become extremely popular in magazine
editorials for the next year. The first is a soft focus vintage 80's
look(shown below) and the second is to style the photo as though the
models are posing for a Victorian-esque family portrait.
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Well
that's all folks. That was a pretty epic size of a post so I hope
whoever is reading this has enjoyed it. There is another post based on
the pre-fall collections for 2016 which I am currently working on an
will post soon- I thought it might be a little overwhelming to add it on
to this one.
Ciao for now x |
