The collections this season are threads of 80's and 90's trends taken into the new century.
The trends that play out on the catwalk are lingerie, the continuation of body con, and short skirts, digital prints abet with a softer more floral or animal print theme. Sugar sweet pastels and lace. Shorts are in abundance plus fabulous oversized white jackets and white cotton shirts.
Rather than a literal approach to the themes of safari or military which feature very strongly this summer, designers have produced something to wear to the office. Distinctive urban utility is seen both in safari colours and olive khaki's; collections to note are Chloe and Celine.
Every brand has its moment in the spotlight and this season its time to celebrate Gaultier, with a collection aptly named G-spot it is also time to see brands such as Kenzo and Dries Van Noten, flourish with a return to ethnic prints and urban cool.
Fabrics to been seen in cottons, hemp, batik, clashing prints, raw edges particularly at Jil Sander and Prada.
Accessories, the bum bag is back! Closely followed by the backpack, natural fibres such as canvas clash with the must have perspex Fendi clutch bag, and oversize brash gold necklaces. Socks must be worn with heels; hair is all about messy braids and soft - let it all hang out...
DRESS BEHIND BARS: PRISON CLOTHING AS CRIMINALITY
Juliet Ash, tutor in Dress and Textiles Design History at the Royal College of Art has explored prison clothing over the last 200 years. Prison clothing unlike other forms of dress are not decided upon in the same way as fashion. Ash provides a unique insight through the voices of the incarcerated. How prison clothing stripped identity and regulated bodies, a humiliating anti-fashion that was created according to the thinking at the time.
Ash explores themes of this unique form of clothing and discovers that prison uniforms tended to take on a new symbolism with political weakness or whenever a countries power is threatened. Ash discovers that the famous prison stripes were abolished in 1904 when American power was at its zenith. A more recent example under the Bush administration are the vivid orange jumpsuits at Guantanamo Bay, a time of crisis and fear in America.
A fascinating book that explores a unique area of clothing, the book uncovers a phenomenon in dress and symbolism that has an impact on our catwalks and contemporary culture in numerous ways.
WORN AGAIN
Founded by Cyndi Rhoades Worn Again is an up cycling company that makes design led products from corporate waste materials and has been giving a new lease of life to retired materials since 2005.
Collaborating with brands like Eurostar and Virgin, Rhoades has been developing sustainable lifestyle products, working with exciting designers such as Christopher Raeburn to create beautiful parkas from retired Virgin hot air balloons.
Passionate about products where good design counts Worn Again is an exciting and dynamic company.
www.wornagain.co.uk
www.christopherraeburn.co.uk
BOMPAS & PARR
Bompas & Parr creates fine English jellies, designs bespoke jelly moulds and curates spectacular culinary events.
Making extraordinary architectural jellies their work is both beautiful, cheeky and fascinating using food heritage for inspiration.
www.jellymongers.co.uk
SCHOOL OF EVERYTHING
An exciting social enterprise project - school of everything the website that helps you learn whatever, whenever and wherever you want.
http://schoolofeverything.com
SUGRU
A fantastic idea to make the small things in life better. Sugru is like modeling clay that cures at room temperature and becomes a tough flexible silicone overnight using the moisture in the air. So you can fix all your little everyday problems, great for us lefties where everything has a right hand grip, move over morph...
www.sugru.com
EARTHQUAKE HELMET
The Tatamet foldable helmet, a Japanese invention for earthquakes; it immediately struck us at Field Grey that this could have numerous other uses in workwear.
Its foldable design means it takes up less than a quarter of the space of a hard hat. It is also quite beautiful in its simplicity.
This foldable helmet is currently at the Serpentine Gallery in an exhibition entitled Design Real this exhibition explores the unique beauty and dynamic qualities of everyday design and objects.
www.serpentinegallery.org
www.curiosite.com
WE FEEL FINE
We Feel Fine is the result of a daily harvesting of weblogs that contain the words 'I feel' or 'I am feeling'. The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.
www.wefeelfine.org