Style that sizzles: spring/summer 08-09
2.2 k views | By Bianca Mangion
For a sparkling season ahead, savvy retailers should be aware of all the style ingredients of the most mouth-watering summer sizzlers. BIANCA MANGION reports on what's fashion fine in 08-09.
Grey-cloud days and double-doona nights might make it hard to believe, but spring is only a leap away. And as the frost melts and a warmer sun rises over a new season, fashion-forward customers will be hungry for hot, fresh pieces bearing this season's most sought themes, motifs, colours, shapes and gemstones.
Sharon Graubard from New York-based ESP Trendlab has outlined five themes for the warmer months:
Mad Avenue is an irreverent mix of ladylike couture - a classic tweed jacket is thrown over a skirt made from floral-printed scarves; a pretty top has an open back that reveals a sheer bra. Lovely colour tames all the wild individuality, with flower-petal pinks and corals, and 1960s greens and turquoises.
Urban Legend is where 1980s punk goes delicate and refined, dipping into romantic fairytale imagery that includes fairies and gnomes. The palette has a feeling of mist and fog, with muted purples, lilacs, greys and blues. Bits of feathers, tribal beading, and metal beads have an almost fetishist allure.
Simple Life mixes basic ingredients like organic cottons in stripes and ginghams, laundered linens, indigenous prints and timeless shapes - it's a break from trendiness, a reach toward something more meaningful and enduring. Colour is universal and tomato red, indigo, grass green and chambray blue fit in anywhere.
Body Electric is about the mystic relationship between the physical body and the spirit within - active wear influences become ethereal, with diaphanous layers of tulle and chiffon floating over stretchy tanks and sheer pants. Colour is bright but with a feel of transparency, with sea foam green, peach and yellow working with warm neutrals and a jolt of blue.
Cinema File is all about the hypnotic power of film and the hold that iconic Hollywood imagery has over our collective imaginations - wide trousers set off tiny, swimsuit tops and nude-toned satins skim the body. This time around, however, seams are crooked, edges are raw, imagery has an edgy, noir-ish quality. The palette is black and white, important boudoir nude tones, fuchsia and deco jade as accents.
Jewellery-centric themes have also been observed in the States. JCK writer and style guru Cynthia Sliwa reported on the emerging Grecian goddess theme, saying a focus on ancient design was epitomised with coin jewellery, perfect with the style's flagship piece - the draped dress.
A perennial favourite, coin jewellery is much like animal print fabrics - it comes back into vogue regularly after a season or two of being out of the limelight, according to Sliwa.
Still OS, leading jewellery design fairs in America have exhibited a handful of dominant themes that will no doubt assimilate to the Australian market. Recent JCK and Couture shows in Las Vegas saw a focus on Art Deco, vintage designs and geometric designs.
Style blog Fashionising.com also mentions "diamond-studded geometric shapes" as heating up for spring/summer: "Classic Art Deco geometric shapes, like sharp diamond cuffs or geometric brooches. Stars are also a big motif, so cute diamond or marcasite stars will also get plenty of wear."
Australian suppliers are already heeding the call. New Aussie brand Georgini Collections features "fashion-forward, fun and modern designer jewellery without the price tag," according to owner Gina Kougias. Designs are influenced by high-end and classical jewellery, particularly Art Deco style.
Kougias says spring/summer 2008 will see the launch of The Georgini Black Label with clear, champagne and black stones.
It seems this range could assimilate to the Cinema-File theme (mentioned above), which uses "black and white and nude tones in glam silhouettes borrowed from 1920s, 1930s and 1940s films. Estate jewels, ropes of pearls, deco enamel pendants and platform shoes create the look," Graubard explains.
Najo is also releasing a black and white CZ range. One of the 16 new ranges comprising its spring/summer collection, it boasts CZ and enamel rings in dark, sultry colours.
Also loving monochrome, the Georgini Black Label is all about luxury, according to Kougias. "The pieces are delicately made using a variety of both Signity CZ stones and the larger AAA grade CZ stones, hand cut exactly the same as diamonds to create perfect colour, cut and clarity," she says. "The designs are very classical, intricate and luxurious. They are perfect for a special occasion, bridal or a personal luxury."
Personalised pieces were also hot in Vegas. "Consumers are increasingly interested in items that have a story to them, and designers are obliging," wrote Catherine Dayrit in her report on the show for JCK magazine.
And Australian suppliers know the popularity of personalisation all too well. "More and more, we're noticing a demand for jewellery with meaning, rather than just as a fashion accessory, whether it be a luck charm, a stone with purported special qualities or a special quote," says Doron Berger, director and designer, Blue Turtles.
D&G by Fossil
Berger's signature range is Poetic Pieces - sterling silver jewellery inscribed with quotes and words of wisdom by some of the world's greatest visionaries and luminaries.
"We find it is inspiring the customers of manufacturing jewellers, gift shops and inspirational style stores alike," he says. "Not only do they touch people personally; they are ideal as meaningful gifts."
Akin to personalisation is adaptability and changeability. This is something that Ole Lynggaard - the Scandinavian label making its Australian debut at the Sydney fair - believes it has down-pat.
"We will be launching a quintessential Scandinavian jewellery concept (functional and clean/simple design)," says Martin Glisby, president, Ole Lynggaard Asia Pacific. "Our clasps and charms can be opened (using our patented clasp concept) and necklaces, bracelets and pendants can be innovatively interchanged to suit every mood and occasion."
Ole Lynggaard's flagship concept is Sweet Drops - a leather bracelet hand-sewn in calf skin, with removable and changeable Sweet Drops charms.
According to Glisby, Sweet Drops was only launched in Denmark early this year, but the concept has already become its best selling product concept ever.
"Each drop is beautifully crafted to bring out the vibrant colour and form of the stones, hand picked by designer Charlotte Lynggaard," Glisby says. "Sweet Drops varieties include the extravagant - paved with diamonds - the feminine - rose, amethyst or smoky quartz stones - or the modern - black silver or natural black onyx."
Different colour combinations and a choice of yellow gold, white gold or sterling silver can be combined with silk necklaces with white or yellow gold ends.
Personalisation, it seems, will prevail well into the New Year, with many jewellery suppliers re-evoking and fortifying the theme in their new collections.
"The charm jewellery and customised bracelet trend has had a significant impact on the Australian jewellery market," observes Ciara Ryan, Pastiche. "We expect this trend to continue and grow over the coming year with the introduction of new styles and designs, new concepts and complimentary jewellery ranges in gold and silver."
Ryan says the huge success of Pastiche's Lovelinks and Petites has led the supplier to continue expanding its charm range, adding new, vibrant colours and custom-designed links.
These chunky, neo charm bracelets will find themselves at home among a bevy of equally bulky pieces this season.
Statement bangles and cuffs was one trend recently highlighted on Fashionising.com. Worn on the wrist or upper arm, stone-set, chunky silver or gold, lucite or wood varieties will sell strongly, according to the blog, with motifs like serpents and exotic animals particularly strong, come summer.
And once again, Australian designers have proven to be on the ball: "Bangles have featured as a huge trend for spring/summer," says Kougias. "Georgini has a large selection of both claw-set and bezel-set bangles and wide, pavé designs."
Najo, too has hit the nail on the head, with a range of modern silver bangles and pendants (on long chains). According to director Jo Tory, the bangles are made from "brightly-coloured resin and silver in red, orange and turquoise."
But arms and wrists are not the only body parts privy to chunked-up adornment. "On the catwalks in Europe, there have been many enormous, over-the-top pendants," Berger observes.
Dayrit also noticed eye-demanding cocktail rings had continued their reign at Las Vegas shows, albeit with a fresh take: "All-metal incarnations or mostly metal pieces that forgo one large stone in favour of a few small diamonds or gemstones scattered here and there," she describes. "While these rings are large and statement-making, many designers are offering airy, openwork versions that give the feel of volume without the weight. For those who do like the look of one large stone, rings set with cabochons are another prevalent look, offering a new air to the faceted look that has long been a favourite."
It seems anything eye-catching will have its day in the sun this season, with long chain necklaces "still very much in vogue," according to Tory. She also mentions "beautiful bunches of silky snake chain with highly patterned enamel and CZ trims, lots of big, bold, silver hearts on chains, bunches of charms on chains and rings, bunches of spring emblems in brightly coloured enamel," as winning hearts for spring flings.
Girly-girl will get a re-polish next season with hearts not the only chic-motif set to flutter. According to Style.com, Vogue magazine's online home, the "long-standing love affair with the twin loops and tails" of the classic bow is back in a big way this year. Designers are reportedly all tied-up "with the (potentially naughty) association of impeccably trussed packages waiting to be undone." And the runways of Jil Sander, United Bamboo, Wunderkind, and Marc by Marc Jacobs have not been immune.
ESP Trend Lab
Apt for spring, nature motifs are also forecasted for new season styles. Trend blog Fashion-era.com describes jewellery this season as "a bejewelled museum of natural history. Buds and blossoms are fresh off the stem. Animals, birds, and insects have legs and ears, wings and beaks. Fruit is ripe and round, ready for picking."
And while flora and fauna are nothing spring-fresh to the jewellery designer's palate of inspiration, these three-dimensional models will now be found not only on the brooch, but also on rings, earrings and bracelets.
"Roses perch on the finger. A vine twists around the wrist. Wings extend and jewellery takes flight into new levels of dimension. Delicate small diamond stud earrings by Dalumi are cupped in curved petals that leave the earlobe. Rings by Sevan Bicakci are piled with insects and flowers and all manner of garden friends or a flock of butterflies to unheard-of levels of boldness. This is jewellery for collectors," says the blog.
And Graubard agrees. When asked about this season's hottest motifs, she says, "Painterly florals are key, as well as fairy tale illustrations, winged creatures and animals."
While new-season's motifs can be seen clearly now the rain has gone, the colour spectrum still needs clarification. Pantone, the provider of professional colour standards for the design industry, recently released its Fashion Colour Report Spring 2008 - which always coincides with the beginning of New York Fashion Week. The report has the top 10 colours for women's fashion for spring 2008.
This season, energising brights will harmonise with calm neutrals. Variations on primary colours such as siren red and cool, water blue will be smash hits, while going green will also get the go-ahead.
"The spring 2008 colour palette perfectly reflects the cheerfulness of the season," says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director, Pantone Color Institute. "Stabilising neutrals combined with pops of brighter colours to create unique, distinctive looks are the basis for a great wardrobe."
With the release of each new Pantone report, jewellery designers sit pretty, knowing there will be a gem to match each newly-coveted hue.
Georgini for example, will introduce its "modern, young and fun" turquoise earring, pendant, ring and bangle sets.
"Inspired by the blue seas of the Mediterranean, turquoise is a favourite amongst our customers and it was also a very popular direction for spring/summer overseas," Kougias says.
But while following fashion is often paramount, many Australian designers and suppliers feel the beauty of a natural gemstone is something that sells itself, regardless of trends.
"With coloured gemstones, anything goes," Berger says. "It is the natural beauty, and increasingly, the metaphysical properties of the gemstones that are appealing to people now, more so than just the fashion value. People buy gemstone pieces to last way beyond fashion trends."
Berger believes a growing awareness in Australia of the myriad varieties of natural gems available, is aiding the uptake of higher-quality stones.
Pastiche has gone nuts over natural, preparing to launch a new range of natural stone and sterling silver pieces at upcoming fairs. According to Ryan, the range has already received positive feedback: "The range features ocean jasper, red tiger's eye, spider web obsidian, brecciated jasper, kambaba jasper and labradorite," Ryan says. "These stones have amazing natural beauty and large, bold pieces show off their individual characteristics. Some stones work well in smaller pieces and will also be featured to cater to those who prefer a more delicate look."
When it comes to delicate and lady-like, one cannot go past the pearl. There is just no shaking the supremacy of this perennial favourite, set to make a come back next season.
"Pearls will again feature strongly in our collection with a major new focus on freshwater pearl jewellery," Kougias says. "Spring/summer will see adjustable length leather lariat and choker necklaces and matching bracelets with large baroque, rice and round shape freshwater pearl drops. This new large size pearl is extremely chic."
According to JCK, the May 2008 issue of Vogue labels pearls "as ladylike as they are efficient." And Anne Slowey writes for the June 2008 issue of Elle magazine: "It's a welcome return to an era when dressing up was an everyday affair, and these formal trapping[s] have arrived at a moment when the trashy tide has washed (for now, it seems) out to sea."
Don't let customers drown in the same dull stock this spring/summer. Draw some fresh ideas from the fashion following and incorporate some trend-typifying pieces. As the weather heats up, retailers will quickly realise how classic and conservative is so last season.
Posted August 01, 2008