The Familiar Strangers

I always believe the fashion trend have a big influrence on the graphic and illustration field, just look at James Jean’s illustraion for Prada in last summer, and the big slogan tee by House of Holland a couple of seasons ago, you can still easily find their footprint in the most tee and textile print in the market nowadays.

So now the SS09 runway show just finished last week and let see whats the next big wave coming to us.

1) The Yellow Submarine

Christopher Kane, DKNY, Alexander Mcqueen, Chris Benz, Bottega Veneta, Marc Jacobs

We all live in our yellow submarine, Yellow submarine, yellow submarine……..Yellow emerges in the show, and and we can find different type of yellow from lemon, pastel, pale, golden… just any kind of yellow.

Art works from Suprb, Kouridesign, Luke Williams, DHNN Studio

These are some of the works I found interesting, using yellow as hightlight and the yellow works well to have a very good focus point.

2) The Orange Bomb

Christopher Kane, Hussein Chalayan, Nina Ricci, Christian Dior, Valentino, Luella

Apart from yellow, the orange is coming all over the shows. Like the yellow color, we can actually find any kind of orange from bright to pale. Lemon and orange, Yumi!

Art works by Dave Kinsney, llya Kazakov, Keetra

The works by Dave Kinsney catch my eyes, traditional brush stroke mixing with orange, freshy. And Keetra use a fluoresce orange overlay in old style paper, the effect is eye catching.

3) The Bubble Soup

Dolce & Gabbana, Christopher Kane, Maison Martin Margiela, Chloe, House of Holland, Tao

Circle can be find as print and pattern shape in the commnig summer. I am not surprise to see it will influrence the graphic trend the most. From big dot like the halftone to some overlay pattern print, it is just interesting to see how it will go and and transform.

Artworks by Changethethought, Matt Judge, The Luxury of Protest, Alison Haigh

It maybe interesting too see if there will be more Tee print using a big circle such as the changethethough poster. And the techno graphic also has its place in the graphic field, and the eye ball pattern produced by The Luxury of Protest is just amazing.

4) They Doin’ the Mess Around

Alexander McQueen, Nina Ricci, Basso and Brooke, Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano

Mess Around! The big messy print with distant details come out big in the coming summer collection, the designers enjoy making using of the advanced technology to product stunningly colorful print. McQueen once again is my favourite, using geometic pattern with tons of gradient to produce an unique and stick-in-your-brain style print. Basso and Brooke also catch my attention with lots of Japanese pattern combining together in a very harmony scene. We have seen some colourful stuff in the recent Chalayan’s shows. This season, he didn’t disappointed me, at least in the graphic way. Elegant print coming all over the dress.

Artworks by Arnaud Loumeau, Unknown artist, Luca, Stephan Balleux

Frankly, this is the trend I most like, and am happy to see more and more this type of work floating around. The works of Arnarud is a fusion of japanese pattern and African form of color and pattern. I pretty like it. The 2nd is one of my favourite 2, but I cant find the name of the artist, if anyone know, please let know. The 3rd and 4th is some innovative way to paint on the skull, really really amazing!

5) The Mutant Stripie

Victor & Rolf, Balenciaga, Veronique Branquinho, Marc jacobs, Chanel, Marc by Marc jacobs

Stripe is a bit dated to me, actually, after the Gareth Pugh 07/08 FW Collection, I just lost my interested in stripe….I just hate to see them again and again!  but this season, it just transformed into different kind of “pattern” stripe, Thx for the evolution theory by Darwin. I start to see some interesting stipe and I really like the V&R style stripe, bold and thin and different color stripe form together, well, just stunning.

Art works by Tom Hinston Studio, Les Amoureux, Oskar Fishchinger, Unknown Artist

In fact, stripe in graphic is interesting to me, just like how we see the works from Tom Hinston, a kind of slightly repeated stipe can produce a effect that seems to me like an animated Ad box. And the 4th one by an Artist I cant find his name, it is harmony and elegant to me. If anyone know his name, please let me know as well.

6) Hello! Milk Shake!

Chloe, Chris Benz, Fendi, Alexander Wang, Balenciaga, John Galliano

Soft, comfortable, fade, desaturated, harmony, pastel….. maybe the description of the color. But I have a better term, milk shake color. After some colorful summer seasons, and some dull color winter seasons, they somehow blend together to become a subtle but eye catching form.

Art works by Ryanmrozowski, Patrik Soderstam, Courtillot, Keetra, Andrew Hem

We can already find the milk shake color in many art pieces nowadays. When I walk by some galleries in Hong Kong, I also can see some pastel color art pieces with unique color combination. I am happy to see Keetra bring this trend to the Typo world.

7) I Dun Wanna Leave the Safari

Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Louis Vuitton

The Animal Pattern was a great hit in 08/09 FW. And somehow, they still find their way in the coming summer. Alexander McQueen once again is my favourite in this category. Using animal pattern in a geometrical way, innovative and at the same time elegant. McQueen has been bringing us some great print recently, just look at how beautiful the 08SS dress it. And I think the Animal Print trend will pretty stay longer in the graphic field.

Art works by Oliver Hibert, Hvass&Hannibal, NOIR

We actually have animal pattern design floating around for a long time, remember the Camourflage pattern from Ape? So the public should be get used to it, but I found some interesting transformed animal pattern artwoks done by Oliver, Hvass&Hannibal and NOIR. I just prefer them then the camourflage pattern by any mean.

Tell me what you think Strangers.

References:

http://www.thefashionspot.com/

http://www.style.com

http://www.fashion-ation.net/