Every season we get new and exciting trends from all the latest design houses from across the world. But have you ever wondered how these designers seem to read each others minds and come up with the same trends/themes? Is there some kind of secret meeting where all they all gather to set the agenda for the year? Do designers send spies to other fashion houses to steal their secrets? Well I can ensure you, its not that sinister! Most people would assume that trends come about when someone sees another person wearing a garment which they like and decide to mimmick the same style. However, that is not considered a fashion trend at all, but rather a ”fad”. It is important to realize that both terms are mutually exclusive. So what is a fashion trend then?
In order to understand the root of a trend, we must look at the fabrics first. Yes, you heard me, fabrics! Every year there are numerous fabric conventions held and major design houses will often send their designers to these massive expos. Here they will find a plethora of new fabric swatches, patterns, colors, textiles etc. One of the most popular and biggest fabric conventions is Premiere Vision. If you thought your local Fabricland shop was exciting, then wait till you visit a Premiere Vision convention!
With hundreds of the most prestigious fabric mills and textile manufacturers attending every year, you can see why all the major fashion houses like to visit conventions like this. They act as a crystal ball to see what could potentially be a ”trend” for the upcoming season. Fabric houses such as Sophie Hallette can make a designers job very easy. They provide fabric samples which already include intricate patterns, designs and embroidery. The designers then pick and choose the ones that appeal to their design biases for the upcoming season and incorporate the fabric to their designs. It’s simply a matter of taking the fabrics, cutting and moulding them until a actual garment is produced. But of course, there are designers out there who want a more distinguished and unique type of fabric for their collections and fabric mills are happy to obliged. For more distinct fabrics, we are generally leaning towards Haute Couture which is one of the reasons why it’s so expensive.
If you look at Sophie Hallette’s website, you will see they provided fabrics for Celine, Christian Dior and Givenchy’s previous Fall 2010 collections. In fact, this fabric house alone provides fabrics to dozens of some of the most notable designers of the world. Are you starting to see how fashion trends are created? It is quite astonishing to see how designers can be so influenced by these textile companies. So there you have it folks, the birth of a fashion trend! Stay tuned for my next article on the potential trends for the 2011 Fall season.
FASHION TREND FOR 2011 