Keeping up to date with the fashion world has gotten a whole lot easier now with the internet. We now have instant updates on what’s happening around the world not only in the fashion world, but also in the every aspect of life.
There are various websites we continuously check to see the latest news or trends in the fashion world; I particularly enjoy viewing live feeds of the latest fashion shows, the most recent being updates are the Fall 2013 Couture shows.
Here are the top 5 fashion websites we keep an eye on here at Digital Fabrics.
1. Style.com
Latest shows updated as they happen, fashion news, parties, trends, street style photos, behind the scene shots, beauty and much more.
style.com
2. Who What Wear
Fashion trends, celebrities, where to buy, shopping and beauty.
www.whowhatwear.com
3. The Satorialist
Fashion Blog at it’s finest.
www.thesartorialist.com
4. Stylesight
Inspiration for any creative person looking for fresh ideas, trend forecast, inovations, news on fashion, art and culture.
www.stylesight.com
5. Vogue UK
Up to date fashion shows, beauty, fashion news, street style photos, parties and much more.
www.vogue.co.uk
Sometimes you come across a website, which keeps you going back for more, the website ShowStudio has an array of pages to inspire anyone. Having a fashion design background I was drawn to a project on the website, which invites designer’s to share a pattern. The project began in 2002, offering patterns from designers such as John Galliano, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander McQueen, Martin Margiela and Giles Deacon. My favourite so far is the Giles Deacon dress, the pattern which was taken from the Autumn/Winter 2007 collection, is a basic dress which you can transform into your own and can easily be transported into 2013. With the currently print trends you could design a print featuring cactus, cats, crystals, florals, anything really and you could print this on one of our great fabrics and get sewing; to create your own personalised designer outfit.
Head over to ShowStudio and get inspired. They have great articles on designers and artists and you can download the Giles Deacon pattern to create your own.
Giles Deacon
Giles Deacon
Paula Maso & Neliana Fuenmayor, ÆTHER
Images from Show Studio.
Fausto Puglisi : Clover Canyon : Monique Lhuillier : Tory Burch
As the temp around Oz drops this weekend and the snow bunnies rejoice, if you need a little warming look forward to sunnier days by perusing the Pre Spring/Summer ’14 shows coming out of Europe.
These in-between season showings have an over relaxed and mellow vibe with the exception of the exciting prints and splash of colours pre-empting the full blown summer buzz. There seems to be a real movement around the digital fabric printing in many of the new collections, which is so nice to see being that Digital Fabrics is in the business of digital printing…
There are the pretty florals and the tropical imaginings but there are also so really intriguing combinations out as well. Bold graphic motifs paired with photographic images and ditsy florals. Scale is on the large side with many panel pieces on show making for great statement pieces which are likely to carry through to the summer ranges. Even the boys get a look in with some funky mix up prints stealing the show!
In any case, the parades might just warm you from the mere idea of warmer days. Rug up and enjoy here.
James Long
Fashion prints refer to the printed designs on fabrics specifically for the fashion market. Whether it is a Haute Couture label in Paris or a small local designer at the markets in Byron Bay, almost every clothing designer will incorporate a fashion print within their collections from season to season.
Just like the ever changing landscape of fashion design styles, so too do fashion prints follow trends in style and subject matter. Even a simple printed stripe or spot pattern is following a trend on colour, size and location on the finished garment.
Fashion prints are becoming an increasingly utilised tool in a fashion designer’s tool kit. We live in a hyper-visual world, where images of fashion parades stream the internet just as instantaneous as they happen. The increasing need to have a positive impact on sales delivers an exciting and diverse fashion print market. The inspiration for these fashion prints come from as varied a source as the combinations of things to search for on the internet.
Fashion prints find their way onto fabric in a multitude of ways, in combination and alone. Fashion printing techniques include screen printing, rotary printing, burnout, sublimation and are not limited to embellishments such as flocking and foiling. Printing can be applied with inks or dyes and can be found on almost all fibre types and constructions in one form or another.
Designing a fashion print takes consideration not only of trends and seasons, but also the type of garment it will be used in as well as the target market of the fashion label. Developing the seamless repeating pattern can be tricky but also highly rewarding seeing the final product on the body.
At Digital Fabrics, we can assist you with your fashion print selection and development for you next seasonal range. Please ask us for more information on the types of fashion prints we have on offer for you to purchase, as well as the digital design services you can employ to get you fashion prints looking great!
Status – As an indication of wealth or opulence, uses the motifs (but not limited to) of gold chains, jewels, animal skins and ornate scroll work often all in combination and in rich vibrant colours.
Checks/Spots/Stripes – patterns of squares, circles and rectangles of varying size, colour and orientation i.e. horizontal/vertical as well as edge definition. A broken or ‘non symmetrical’ circle is still considered a spot.
Scenic/Pictorial – Traditionally called a Toile de Jouy, uses figurative scenes of an illustrative quality (now more photographic) and often with a narrative and generally in a horizontal orientation. Traditionally printed in monochromatic colour on a plain white or ivory ground.
Paisley – Stylised tear drop motif often with abstracted floral elements in accompaniment, now seen with various combinations of many types of fashion prints. Paisley takes its modern name from the Scottish town which saw a great deal of production of these patterns in the 1800’s. These motifs are now most recognisable as Indian or Middle Eastern from where its tradition is embedded.
Tribal/Ethnic – Perhaps more appropriately termed World Cultures, using motifs and elements specific to a nationality or culture with a western interpretation. Popular areas of inspiration are Africa, India and Arabia but also include the folk arts of Eastern Europe and South America. Care must be taken not to use motifs or symbols of a spiritual or special meaning to the culture being used as inspiration.
Fashion prints are as trend driven as colour and garment style. Fashion prints are becoming an increasingly utilised tool in a fashion designer’s tool kit. Therefore although the following is a general run down of the various types of fashion prints, depending on the season and year, some maybe more popular than others.
Floral – associated with any plant form depicted whether it be a flower bud or tree. There are names descriptive of the scale of the floral such as Liberty or the style such as Ditsy.
Geo – Geometric prints range from colour blocking random shapes to the tessellating patterns inspired by Islamic art. Geo prints can also fall under Abstract or Graphic.
Graphic/Abstract – Abstract is used to describe unrecognisable forms and motifs, mostly because they cannot be described any other way. Graphic is descriptive of the boldness of a print. Refers to predominantly modern designs and sometimes goes hand in hand with another of the types listed here i.e. Graphic Floral.
Animal/Skin – Printed replicas of various animal skins not necessarily the full body of the animal itself i.e. leopard, snake, alligator, zebra etc.
Conversational – Recognisable images such as everyday objects and animals generally taken out of familiar context or placed in conjunction with out of context images i.e. human legs carrying houses. Often ‘cartoon’ in rendering and with a whimsical feel, also called novelty prints.
The Graffiti Room (www.style.com)
The Metropolitan Museum in New York opens its doors this week to the annual Costume Institute exhibition with this year’s theme, Punk: Chaos to Couture. It looks back to honour the roots of the antiestablishment counterculture that emerged in the seventies and how this ended up inspiring and influencing all levels of the fashion world from then till now.
The exhibition show cases many high end designers with pieces that perhaps were never intended to be worn in any form, and were merely used as shock factors on the runway. The question surely then has to be asked, is it really punk if its couture? If it causes discomfort, then that’s surely a nod in the right direction.
It all comes down to the truism that everything old is new again, and when considering fashion everything really has been done before but the magic is how it is interpreted and reinterpreted. Surely everyone has had a go at punk, whether it be street level or couture. If you look back and see a (fake) leather jacket, ripped jeans, a safety pin holding something together even if unseen, that rebellious piercing or tattoo when you were 16, the political t-shirt you now just wear to bed…It might not be properly hard core but there’s an undercurrent just as there is a flower child in us all as well!
So get a little disruptive this weekend, provoke your inner punk and meld in a little DIY couture just for the hell of it.
Ukraine born Masha Reva is an artist who is using fashion as her current medium, and absolutely killing it. After researching up on Reva I was confused as to why I hadn’t heard about her work earlier, she is a truly gifted being. Her website showcases all her work from videos, illustrations, photography and collections. Seeing her ‘merging’ 2012 collection I instantly knew what I wanted to share on this blog; the explosion of print, the styling, and the backdrops all work together to show off these incredible prints and garment shapes. It’s no secret that I love the use of prints to revive a design and Reva has highlighted how well a print can make a garment.
http://www.mashareva.com/main/index.php?/fashion/-/
http://www.mashareva.com/main/index.php?/fashion/-/
http://www.mashareva.com/main/index.php?/fashion/-/
http://www.mashareva.com/main/index.php?/fashion/-/
Images from http://www.mashareva.com/main/
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