Premiere Vision N.Y. - July 2010
What we saw at Premiere Vision & Textiles from Spain
Casual Elegance
By Michele Kantra
Overall the mood for fall ’11 is calm, casual elegance, a trend toward being more comfortable, to enhance a sense of well-being. A relaxed approach, with fabric handles lending themselves to gentle silhouettes. Today’s customer is looking to be comforted and reassured – and textile mills are delivering on this. Striking the right balance means easy but not careless.
Top Trends
• Relaxed Tailoring
• Soft Handles: velvets, sueded finishes, fuzzy textures for knits and tweeds, brushed mohair.
• Technical Fabrics: advances in surface coating, bonding, membranes, ultra light weights and multiple functions in one fabric.
• Offbeat Oddities: to add interest and excitement, even in a calm season there needs to be unusual creative additions. Ex: feather trims from QBD
Major Directions
• Tailoring fabrics are more relaxed. For casual suiting, look for softened surfaces with an unpressed look, such as garment wash wool. A grouping they named City Adventure, had a fall urban safari feel. Very sophisticated and a deliberate worn-look surface treatments. Outerwear shell fabrics with wrinkles, crunches.
• Dense fluidity, a continuation of the fluidity from spring, but these are heavy fabrics, with a syrupy drape.
• Brushed and hairy fabrics such as mohair, heavy tweeds, plaids. Fabrics from Spain had some wonderful heavy tweeds.
• Velvet and ribless corduroy. This really stood out as the must-have of the season. Especially washed velvet or corduroy that has the look of denim washes. Two mills, Velcorex (Philea) and Gierlings Velpor had great responses, and orders! from buyers on these qualities. In jeanswear silhouettes, this fabric is set to make a big comeback.
• Synthetic suede and leather looks. Advances in sueded finishes have become so sophisticated, the drape and feel is like the real thing. Look for great top weights and outerwear. Leather-look finishes are matte, vintage or waxy. Added benefit to customer is washability.
• Smart Technology. Technical fabrics continue to advance, with fabrics offering multiple functions, such as breathable, water-repellent, wind-proof, 4-way stretch. Ex: reversible bonded stretch fabrics, breathable silicone coating.
• Reticent Shine. Glossy surfaces with subtle shine replace the metallics we’ve seen the past several seasons. Biggest change: no heavy metallic treatments. Metallics, when used, are subtle such as Lurex thread within a tweed, to add a glint of light.
• Color palettes favor neutrals overall, calm shades of camel, greys, browns. Accent colors are rich, though, Premiere Vision predicting juicy shades of berry, deep pink, orange. Very important color: a dusty blue-grey.
See the fabrics swatches...interpreted into bestselling fashion trends…in the August 1-31 issue of Inside Fashion.