Bold, expressive patterns were all the rage on the spring runway and were presented in a variety of ways, including typography, die-cuts, and woodblocks. A highlight of the runway season was a color-exercise-inspired pattern used throughout Chanel’s collection. The pattern used “150 different tones” and came from a 19th-century sample board by Royal Talens, a company that produces oil paints for artists.
Prada continued the artist-inspired trend by using a parade of oversized portraits on dresses, coats, and bags and by openly crediting the six artists who painted the portraits. Crediting textile designers and artists is a rarity in the apparel industry and exemplifies just how important the artist is to this spring’s trends.
Florals are an essential part of any spring runway, and this season, florals seem to fall into one of two camps: soft, romantic, hand-painted florals or bold, abstract, flat florals.
One of the standouts of the season was the Rousseau-inspired jungle florals at Hermès. The hand-painted florals were used in a slightly oversized manner and were the highlight of the simple silhouettes. Dolce & Gabbana took the trend in a slightly different direction, inspired by ancient Grecian motifs. The collection had a very romantic, dream-like feel.
Clean, crisp vectorized florals were used by several of the big names as well. Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors used mid-sized florals in simple two-color patterns, while Marni and Emporio Armani layered multi-colored flowers and foliage to bring depth and dimension to the patterns.
We also saw color palettes being used in two extremes: muted tones and pop-art inspired brights. The pop art influence seen in pattern styles had a clear influence on color palettes and is a way for more conservative brands to incorporate the trend. Reds, yellows, oranges, and blacks were seen at Alice + Olivia, Céline, Alexander McQueen, and Dolce & Gabbana.
Muted, desaturated palettes were also seen. Antonio Marras featured soft, desaturated landscapes, while Jeremy Laing and Céline applied the palettes to abstract textures and nature-inspired motifs. But big and bold is carrying the spring forward.
