‘Prints’ is that one element in fashion which when experimented with each season, brings a twist into the regular florals, geometrics and abstracts, making any garment dynamic. Moving away from all things staple, designers for 2014 seem to have foreseen a complete year of prints inspired by art and its diverse adaptations. Keeping it individualistic with street art inspired human expressions and faces, there is also an influence of pop-art with one of our favourite animals – the cow, and what completed our research was the obvious oriental take on prints extracted out from centuries old Chinese porcelain art. Team Fashion Forward Trends puts together a trail of what is going to emerge as the biggest print trends in the near future…
With the comeback of pop-art in fashion, 2014 will see a rather quirky flavour in fashion, feeding the colourful youth with a print that ‘moo’s’ – the cow print. The very first fascination of the cow came into notice when the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced a new exhibition in late 2012 in order to explore the impact of Andy Warhol’s work on contemporary artists. Released was Warhol’s version of silk-screen cow wallpaper, showcasing a cow’s face in popping bright colours, repeated to make an eye catching print. Since then it is the trend of pop-art and the cow together, that has been exploited by designers, graphics and media alike, to make artworks that celebrate the importance of the ‘cow’ in our lives.
Even though the trend was noticed enough on stationery, home décor, paintings and packaging throughout 2013, the gala interpretation in fashion came about only with the recent 2014 spring collection of Moschino, where a big animated version of a cow featured on a bright red puffed skirt dress. Even Indian designers like Masaba with her cow print saree and new-age brands like quirk-box with their colour blocked cow graphic, have recently made a huge impact on the domestic audience as well. Popular in the international markets was also the newly launched capsule collection by Comme des Garsons who teamed up with Andy Warhol Foundation, bringing out Warhol’s hot pink cow wallpaper pattern from the 1960s, overlaid on a bright blue chequer board pattern on a shopping bag, and plastered with inky spots on a T-shirt.
But while the above was all about a more playful version of the cow, the trend has in time matured for 2014, taking a rather sophisticated twist, being placed in the category of animal print as well. Leaving behind the regular snakeskin, and leopard print, designers both for the next summer and the next fall, sported a rather rare to be spotted cow skin on the catwalks. Something fresh in a same old animal print segment, these black and white, unbalanced blotchy spots, have made it to the streets hitting the fashionistas, the trend cart for bags and scarves and also shoes. Showcased by a fleet of designers like Marques Almeida, Wali Mohhamed Barrech, Rachel Roy, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg and Burberry, the print is out on classic trench coats, jackets and statement dresses as both skins and prints, while more ready-to-wear versions of it are being enrolled by fashion forward brands like H&M and ASOS in the form of cow skin prints on sweatshirts, shirts, shorts and lowers.
Gone are the seasons, when emotions and expressions were expressed only through colours, mixed media of flowers and geometry or the course of a designer’s strokes as staple prints. 2014 will be the year of the ‘face’, which will define the truest form of expression coming from an individual. Holding a strong artistic vibe behind the whole concept of these emerging face prints, amid all the summer florals, designers took a rather refreshing turn, taking inspiration from art and the need of self-expression to make artworks which were literal faces, either doodled, embellished, knitted or digitally photographed.
Most eminent on the catwalks of Prada, were ultra colourful coats, bustier dresses or skirts with female faces as a leitmotif, showing multi-visions of womanhood that echoed the political street art of LA, Mexico, and South America, citing works of Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera. Looking for a message behind what these faces implied, the designer stated, “I want to inspire women to struggle.” On similar lines of art, was yet another designer Anatonio Marras, whose prints were reflective of female bodies changing into new forms. Also in line was Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who made dresses with doodled Brancusi-esque kissing faces, as vibrant explorations of his own art.
Undoubtedly a strong trend for the next summer, while for some the art of the face lied in the form of paintings, for other designers like Giles, faces were in the form of famous personalities staring out of digitally printed photographs on fabrics. Bringing out a few more tribal variations, it was finally designers like Givenchy and Lug Von Siga, who portrayed the tribal face, painted and masked, giving a rather folkloric turn to the trend. A category of prints which is rather versatile in interpretation and presentation, face prints are bound to take varied forms with retailers, be it high fashion, high street or the masses.
Call it the love for pure indigo or the intricacy of oriental art – together as china blue, raging is the must have ‘porcelain print’ in fashion. A decorative combination of white and indigo, from the world of Chinese porcelain and pottery to feminine garments, designers have adopted the trend with open arms. In a fairly noticeable quantity on the runways, the trend has graduated from literal interpretations of Chinese porcelain designs such as those of floral, landscape, and knotted or paisley-esque, to similar versions adapted from the exquisite indigo patterns of the Portuguese tiles.
From slight traces in S/S 2013, to a little more A/W 2013-14, by iconic designers like Valentino and Giambattista Valli, the print was quickly picked up by fast fashion brands like Zara adorning dresses, blouses, trousers, and even accessories. But failing to mature up into a full-fledged trend this year, even though the high-fashion streets are already loving the print, variations of it have popped up yet again on the recent fashion weeks, with more designers picking up the look for 2014. While Dolce and Gabanna moved a step forward by mixing the intricate indigo porcelain pattern with other delicate elements and colours making it all the more rich, the trend also manifested in the Sao Paulo fashion week with Teca by Rocha showcasing a range of long dresses made from sheer, flowing fabrics with fine porcelain prints, and Blueman presenting a landscaping version of the same.
Found in both formal and casual wear, what is different about this print trend is that it can be aptly placed as a placement prints in most of the ensembles like ready-to-wear tops and tunics, and become a statement piece when transformed into trousers. Waiting to touch the hearts of the masses by next year, diversifying from the regular garment categories, it is the latest swim wear collections such as the one of Nanette Lepore’s porcelain printed pool pants and cropped bikini top that made us believe that the print is only waiting to be pumped in bulk in the markets.
