The Light Side
By Michele Kantra
A light season…an upbeat mood of cheerfulness, flow and liquidity, positive energy…plus nature inspirations. High creativity blends with these of-the-moment themes, to bring fresh, optimistic ideas to customers, who are beginning to look upward, from out of the economic downturn. Textile innovation will be key, according to Sabine Le Chatelier, PV’s associate Fashion Director, and they approached R&D this season as scientific researchers.
New Strategy
Many mills are open to better partnerships with designers by offering smaller deliveries, according to Philippe Pasquet, CEO of Premiere Vision. Sustainable fabrics account for about 20% of mills’ output, and steadily gaining.
4 Main Trends
1. Water World. Smooth fluidity. This “Liquified” trend affects all aspects of the fabrics: handle, color, print/pattern.
• High-shine wet-look surfaces, lustrous subtle shine surfaces, iridescence, transparencies. Liquid super-drapey knits. 2-sided fabrcis, 1 vinyl, 1 charmeuse. Layering of matte with sheen.
• Ocean color palette: Blues, aquas, greens, purples. Meditteranean Blue (midtone) seems to be the highlight.
• Prints are taking up this trend, with a passion. Themes of sea, ocean, waves. Underwater effects of distortion. Motifs of underwater life: jellyfish, corals, underwater plants, fish. Watery, washy print treatments, diluted, blurry.
2. Navy & Indigo with White. Nautical elegance with metallic gold or silver added in. For tailoring and casual. Clean, pared-down mood.
• Fabric categories: Noble fibers, compact & open weaves, linens, chambray, pique, oxford, stripes, novelties. *Denim also features strongly in this category. New: Denim prints onto twills or smooth surface fabrics: print is distressed, but fabric is not; from Philea. Another example: drapey knit, from FTF: print of allover denim pockets, then overlaid with sequin surface.
Highlight: from Gratacos, a denim floral jacquard, with metallic raspberry floral centers.
3. Rustic Naturals. Natural handle fabrics…un-ironed, wrinkled, crunchy textures. Linens, tweeds, cross-weaves. Shantungs with subtle sheen. Crepe-hand knits. Some rustic linens get a shot of metallic woven in. Natural color story, with spice tones important. To note: wood-tone neutrals have a pink/peach cast. A few fabrics with a “Country French” feel. A few madras plaids, bright/natural combos. Even a gold sequin fabric, gets an aged, worn, weathered treatment (from Gratacos).
Sub-category: Polished refinement gets injected into this category with soft metallics of copper and bronze, and Terra cotta tones.
4. Cheerful. Brights, used in unexpected novelty fabrics, i.e. laces, embroidered tulle, semi-sheers. Coral, reds, orange, pinks predominant, followed by saffron yellow, lime, bottle green. Highlight: beautiful novelties from Malfroy-Million and Pizval.
For more fabric and print trends…plus working drawings, fashion illustrations and more…check out Inside Fashion! Spring ’11 fabric reports start in Feb 1-28, 2010 issue. Or contact us at: subscribe@inside-fashion.net