Sunday 31 January 2016

Seeing double


Recently I posted a short, well fairly short for me, review of the Pre-fall 2016 Womenswear collections- my favourite design ranges, prints and colour combinations. I also mentioned how there seemed to be an increase in soft focus 80's style photography and Victorian-esque family portrait photos. This post acts as a continuation of my Pre-fall review. Almost every design collection for the Pre-fall season featured pairs- some figures were intertwined(Yigal Azrouel); some standing hauntingly side by side(Veronique Branquinho), some standing/sitting at different levels(Erdem) and some standing slightly back appearing almost as a shadow(Elie Saab). "Twinning" is taking over. Matching hair, colour co-ordinated garments and mirrored poses all combine causing us to see double in the design collections.


Although the Men's Autumn/Winter 2016 fashion weeks are not yet over(finishing in New York on 4th February), we are seeing the twinning theme continue through to menswear although not in as many collections.


Why is it that we suddenly have the urge to dress to match? 

Could our lack of global uniformity be causing us to find unformity elsewhere? Is it to show allegiance to one friend?or does this stem from a deeper obsession with pairs/twins? Whatever the reasoning behind this doubles sensation it is obvious that this craze is gaining immense popularity both on and off the runway.

As can be seen in the photographs below, twinning is hardly a new theme. These photographs, found on Google, date all the way back to the 1920s.


I can remember being a child and absolutely hating it when my younger sister dressed to match me. I should have viewed it as a compliment but when you're 10years old and starting to create an identity for yourself you don't want anyone copying you. One of my biggest fears throughout school was turning up to a party/ non uniform day dressed the same as someone else. Now all of a sudden we're being told it's en vogue to dress the same!?

Back in 2008 Louis Vuitton teamed up with Marc Jacobs and showed a haunting 60s inspired collection which featured a row of escalators down which pairs of models came. It was like a fashion army. This is the first time I can remember seeing pairs on the runway.


For S/S 16 Rick Owens shocked the fashion world with his catwalk collection oddly entitled "cyclops" which showed pairs of models strapped to each other in what can only be described as a fetishistic manner.


Other recent mens/womens collections have also featured pairing heavily.

Top row left to right: Miu Miu, Chloe Pre-fall 16, Balmain Pre-fall 15, Dior Pre-fall 15, Trademark SS15.
Bottom row: MSGM Fall 15, Jil Sander, Emporio Armani SS15, Belstaff Fall 15, Loewe SS15.
Fashion editorials have also been completely on board with the twinning trend throughout 2015.

Top row left to right: V magazine, Thisispaper magazine, V magazine, V magazine
Bottom row: Vogue Paris, Elle Mexico, Cosmopolitan Turkey, Vogue Russia.

For Spring/Summer 2015 Lanvin did an entire editorial campaign featuring pairs dressed to match.

 

Why has 'twinning' suddenly become a thing? This trend isn't reserved solely for the runway, it's appearing more and more frequently in street style shots too. Until recently this 'dressing to match' trend was viewed as quite kitsch and rarely seen outside of Korea, Seoul and Hong Kong. Why has it suddenly taken off in the west?

When the same trend is being reflected in both the runway design collections and in street style it's definitely worth taking notice of. It looks like the doubles trend is here to stay.



Monday 25 January 2016

Pre-fall 2016 trends and collection favourites

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.

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