Themes for Autumn/Winter (UK) 2009/10 - images to follow soon!
(provided by Leonie Tovell MFIC, Blinkic.com)

• Disco Ball: this year heralds the return of the dizzy days of disco! Not all that glitters is gold. Silver short dresses are party ready and the opposite of oppressed dressing. Get spun round by sequins, lame, silks and mirror fabrics. Worn with opaque tights for a more covered up disco diva or with bare legs for max' exposure. The kenetic energy created by wearing so much metal has an electric feel. Wear jet crystals, shimmering fabrics and varnished ornaments to provide spectacular disco flashbacks!
• Anglaise: quiet understated elegance delivered by the palest of details, Anglaise is a trend of uncertain delicate patterns that manages to merge the wearer with the garment.Some designers use barely-there effects, where others chose to use lace or ethereal and wispish embroidery. Feminine touches of silk blouses, mineral structures and blurred effects that swoosh in silence. Seen on every conceivable surface from boots to dresses.
• Killer Shoulders: Cartoonish and obscenely exaggerated, we are in the grip of 'shoulder mania'. If you are not rocking the shoulder pad you are not on trend! In the dark they throw formidable shapes of razor sharp edges and scream of a Dallas revival. We hope the distilled versions on the High Street have detachable options so we can get through doorways!
• King Kong: Gorilla styilng now has a totally new meaning. Think Siberian chic: dresses with fur sleeves and monkeys as neck warmers. The brushed goats hair on knee length body warmers make unmistakeable impact in a multitude of vibrant colours. We also see gauntlet arm bands of fur that hover between wrist and elbow, like two separate detachable muffs.
• Pleats Please: Crumpled paper unfolded, wool straight out of the dryer - give you adequate room for imagining the type of pleat about to break forth. These deep pleats are not neatly pressed but ornament and embellishment. This trend is about geometry meeting chaos. Often on plain fabrics to show off the detail, looking like modern art.
• Peek-a-boo: Don't be surprised by a little bit of contrast poking out from beneath a subdued outer surface. The two-tone effect has taken hold and offers a flirty little glimpse of excitement. This pop of colour and contrast is as impressive as it is mood elevating. Cold hard black and white, warm and wise orange and cream, black and red, achieve greatness in moderation. This trend does not shout but whispers and alludes to a softer centre.
• Muted Blue: (hoorah for 'Summers'!) Blueberry is the "it" colour for winter 09. Imagine the stain a blueberry leaves - a deep rich pigment that is subtle and muted at the same time. Pale petrol blues, teals and muted blue-greys are everywhere. While we also see the typical winter fare of rich red, mouse, rust, ochre, putty, mustard, curry brown and black, the stand alone shade of the moment is blue...berry.
• Applaud the Collar: All rise for the return of the stand up collar. A delicious detail that has been missing from collections for some time, this classic line is tricky to tailor and signifies a skill. Following on from Historic Heroines, we have reverted to an old favourite. Bright, colourful, exaggerated and embellished this has been revamped to be larger than life, keeping your warm and stylish. Add gravitas with a demure version or wow with a fur trim and mutinous colour combo.
• Walking Boots: Crotch-high leather boots are so prevalent that they have stamped out their own trend. The staggering cage-heels of last season have climbed their festishistic way up the leg and now hover as high as micro's do low! If you like your boots to double us as waders, you are in luck. Think Pretty Woman, but surprisingly alluring. They are fashions answer to practicality: walking boots for non-walkers, waders for non-anglers and bondage straps for the 'look-but-don't touch' brigade.
• KEY DETAILS:
• Jewellery of the moment: huge chain link necklaces
• Clothing detail: stand up collar, high contrast combos, pleats and folds
• Clothing line: shoulder padding or leg of mutton sleeves
• Embellishment: bows are big
• Make-up: pale skin and rouged lips
• Footwear: leather wader
• Accessory: gloves (worn as scarves or belts), gauntlets and fur wrists

The recession? Presumed missing in action!

Spring/Summer 2009 Trend Report
(provided by Leonie Tovell MFIC, Blinkic.com)

Overview
Fashion editors may have declared this season devoid of creative flair and 'largely unremarkable', but we will find it gorgeous and highly wearable. If you are part of the fashion set, looking for awe-inspiring and overt creative genius, you may be disappointed.  If, however you are a lover of 'style' and want clothes that are beautiful, functional and buyable, you can stand up and cheer.  This is a season to celebrate glimmers of new ideas, notably from London fashion houses, and embrace the return of commercial fashion.

 

(If you only want to read about and view 'accessories' then click here. This season is all about the 'exteme' shoe, with embellishments of all sorts. Look out for animal print, tassles, fringes, beads, shells and every kind of African detail imaginable on other accessories. Super-sized accessories dominated the catwalk shows: big belts, chunky wooden bangles, huge plastic flower necklaces and jangly silver earrings, which are back with a bang! Hair was accessorised with girly bows, tiny hats with veils and floral headpieces.)

Themes  (key items scroll down)

• Cocoon Me - the organic folds of last season have gracefully morphed into gentle egg-shaped variations. Puffs that envelope with soft rounded hems, festival inspired lantern dresses, nougat covered in pearly white silds and leathers, trouser version is mushroom shaped like an upside down jodhpur (!)
• Fringe Folk - fringing is made chic and to add fashion faux pas to fashion folly, folk is back with it. Think Little House on The Prairie entertains Pocahontas, pared down fun flirty cuts, innocent gentle cololurs, oh-so-high hemlines, merging girly innocence with dangerously sexy details. 
• The Clash - a visual noise is created by this stop-in-your-tracks combination of raspberry and mango. A cacophony of warm oranges & peaches worn with cool pinks & purples (not sure how harmonising that is for my clients!?), mood elevating to behold, casual and cocktail wear, clashing vibrant shoes & bags, glowing sweeps of burnt saffron and cherry sorbet worn together.
•            
• Walk the line - get tangled up in one of the most prevalent catwalk details, a flurry of ribboning. Dramatic linear embellishments, bold emblems of this season, strong & contrasting in colour, satiny and graphically wound around simple dresses, used to bind loose whips of fabric close to the body.
• Barely there - nudeness and flesh detailing stay with us for another Summer season. A 'naked colour palette', shades range from champagne to chocolate, or deeper coloured see-through tops & skirts that bare all in a different way, diaphanous and subtle but they leave nothing to the imagination (!)
• Pure & simple - a pared-down puritan look devoid of decoration (great for 'Classics'). An antidote to fussy dressing, back-to-basics fashion, clean lines and wearable neutrals, head-to-toe tonal suits with matching vests and shoes, make-up is minimal, fresh and dewy, this is absolute simplicity (also good for 'Naturals').
•             
• Self preservation - think defensive, strong, sexy women in protective body armour! This trend is all about a forthright and predatorial menace, beaten leathers, blasted organzas and shiny manmade fabrics, screams 'don't mess with me!'
• Rollicking Riot - this trend represents joyous, humorous clothing that is concept driven. Silk pyjamas, kimono-inpsired coats, bearskin beehives and conquistador capes flaunt the real art of design, cleverly constructed and like a moving art installation, colourful and jaunty, think modern cuts with brazen accessories, creative, mad and riotous clothing.

Key Colours:          Mango & raspberry
Key detail:              Satin ribbon & fringing
Key garment:          See-through top
Key shape:             Cocoon
Make-up looks:      Pure & simple
Must have item:      Fendi mirrored belt
Key designer:         Salvatore Ferragamo

Autumn/Winter 2008 Trend Report
(provided by Leonie Tovell MFIC for Aston & Hayes, London)
* Don't forget to look out for Patricia Field's (of SaTC fame) limited collection for M&S this season*

Overview
The usual expectation of fantasy and escapism are met as always by the autumn/winter collections. Designers delivered highly original creations that are challenging to wear, play with form and show evermore complex ways of utilising technological advancements in fabric and manufacture. However, this 'fashion equivalent of comfort food' is fettered by an underpinning seriousness and sobriety in the shapes and colours; a reflection of the predicted recession and difficult political climate.

     

Themes                    

• 80's Revival (cocktail, goth chic, punk rock)
• English Heritage (heroine influences)
• Lace (Prada & me!)
• Organic structures (layers, folds, collars)
• Folk (70's inspired platforms & knitwear)
• Ardent Architecture (power dressing)
• Hats - very de riguer this season! (from the panama to the flat cap)
• Shoes - angular & futuristic, glossy & architectural! Shoot (shoe+boot) still key. 
• Colours - cooler tones with bright, exciting, rich, elegant hues. 'It' colour = blue iris.
• Extras - hair: heavy severe fringes, hosiery: opaques still key, eco clothing: slogans

     

If you would like a more detailed Trend Summary, please contact us:
mail@mycapsulewardrobe.com