The way to reach market today is by creating innovative fabrics either through interesting weaves and prints or through creating sustainability by using technology for new experimentation. There are aspirations to achieve a harmony between sustainable development, a healthy lifestyle and the dynamic fashion world. The clear message of eco and sustainability reaches through re-cycling and up-cycling. In trend are Hybrid fabrics that mix ampleness and ergonomics, organic cotton and recycled polyester, in a friendly and futuristic spirit.

In terms of design there is a reverence for the past while gazing hopefully toward the future. This can be seen in Victorian elements, gothic architecture, heraldic motifs and harlequin prints. There is a return of bright colors and strong folklore statements, inspirations from around the world with embroidery, appliques and felting treatments.

Dream like nature is envisioned in both urban and tribal settings. The forest-like vegetation in both these settings is either mysterious or nearly surrealistic. Nature enters our living spaces, gives us touch of romance. Green, the season’s directional color unifies this eco modern style that merges city and nature. Warm tones alongside cold tones define this relationship between the Organic alongside Artificial. There is a movement from the conventional to a humorous distortion of the existing patterns and visuals such as checks, flower or geometrics.

Another interesting theme in prints includes enlarged or fragmented pixalation. Using pointillism s minimalist and monochromatic range of scattered motifs and patterned grounds creates optical effects. Traditional fabric weaves get enhanced by performance elements. Mineral tones are the basis for designing this balance between the warm and cool tones.

In this time of global recession and climate change Price, Quality and Longevity are the buying Mantra. People’s attitudes and belief systems are being altered and so will their opinions, desires and priorities be.

Based on the study of Promostyl, Textile View, Premier Vision,  Lenzing forecast

MAGIC

MAGIC gives us the ability to imagine and to change. It opens up a world of infinite possibilities, connecting us again with the child we once were and still lives within each and every one of us. For Spring/Summer 2010, let’s use our own magical thinking to create products that surprise both the world and ourselves. “Magic is a bridge which allows you to move from the visible world to the invisible, and to learn the lessons of both worlds.” The intent of the magic determines the color to use.

Shadowplay

A counter to the past few seasons’ push toward all things bright and kaleidoscope in feeling, the color palette of Shadowplay goes beyond simple neutrals and monochromes to a more immaterial quality of blacks, grays, sands and whites. A great range to use as a basis with other color stories, shadowplay shows the importance of half tones, in both light and dark color families

Mirage

How we look and perceive the world around us is conditioned by light or the lack thereof. Mirage is marked by a simple, warm and natural summer “white” look, followed around by soft tinted, cool shadow neutrals. Here it is all about sunburned whites and down to earth shades.

Hypnotic

Here we use mixes of pastel, vivid and acid tones to create a universe in which both natural and synthetic materials are combined to give color an artificial appearance. The hypnotic palette frees us to flee the typical and established color combinations and connect with an imaginary future where we change our reality through the use of color.

Alchemy

Alchemy gives us the spirit of life and light, the energy of the sun and the tantalizing flames of a dancing fire. A color frenzy balanced by the essential neutral beige which sits in a pivotal spot between the stimulating and enlightening bursts of orange and yellow and the creativity and spirituality of the pinks and purples.

Talisman

The shades in the Talisman palette appear to have a magical power and radiate a powerful energy. This is a range of colors that are eclectic and the whole attitude here is about freedom of expression and the idea of new shades being applied to classic materials. What is important here is an interpretation that is exuberant, exotic and irregular.

Tale

Romantic and pure, blending like a soft kaleidoscope, Tale embodies a palette of subtle shades of pale. Colors are clean, harmonies are light and shapes are ancestral and classic. There is a feeling of understated materialism with the real magic clearly lying in the simplicity.

Shamanism

Incorporating colors from nature, Shamanism lets us connect with our more animalistic side. With trash highlighted as a design option, objects appear unfinished, materials look eroded, finishings are purposely soft and worn out and luxury fabrics are raw or rough.

Spellbound

From the deepest indigo, oriental ink and royal blue to the paper white, yellowed parchment and onion skin, the colors in spellbound let you start with a blank page and combine the magic of these colors to tell a new story.

The Interior Trends as per IMM  Cologne 2009  is divided into Four Categories:

I would discuss here one category which is very interesting:

Extra Much/ To the Limit/ Juxtaposition / Virus Attacks / Trash Luxe

The search for new, groundbreaking materials, designs and structures drives us. A design is only good if the creator has given his all.

Juxtaposition

We follow two options simultaneously but still arrive at the same result. Our second life is a parallel universe, which looks damnably like the first one.

Trash Luxe

We are recyclers of industrial waste, infiltrating it with plenty of feeling. The new luxury is out there on the street, all you have to do is collect it.

Colours:

A blue-grey base is this year’s background colour, along with a broad spectrum of May green, bright orange and yellow. Apricot and cream, a variety of blues ranging from lavender to cyan, copper and gold complement the look.

Shapes:

A uniform look is indiscernible because of the vastly different approaches adopted, which range from the conventional to the experimental, from the technical to the organic. In addition, some designs are down to the material or manufacturing technique used.

Materials:

New materials and technologies dominate. Technical synthetics, previously unused in the furniture segment, are making inroads. In addition, new perspectives are opening up for familiar materials like aluminium and Plexiglas, due to the use of innovative processing techniques.

Promostyl Style guide forecasts four print trends for the Spring Summer 2009-10.

The first theme Decadance gets influences from Art Nouveau and Art Deco. There is lot of  influence from William Morris Patterns.

The second theme Post-it revolves around Japanese liberty patterns and is minimalistic.

The third theme Wave is inspired by classical country motifs influenced by Japanese motifs.

The last theme Wild is based on vegetation , foliage, rhythmic stripes colored with retro colors.

There were lot of interesting  lectures related to trends in Heimtextil.   PerclersParis, one of the  trend research agency Sari Myohanen presents four trends to her audience.

The first theme was Instant City based on functionality of the product superimposed with sensuality.The next theme was Ambivalence based on sustainabilty and eco luxury. This year we are not talking about just sustainable products but we are adding a new luxury to it. The thrd theme was Envisage based on obvious well being. Its about wellness movement, macrobiotic food, antibacterial fabrics, encapsulated fabrics giving lot of finishes related to freshness and fuctionality with understated ornaments. The last theme was Migrations based on cross- cultural ethnic mix.

There was a  glimpse  of lifestyle products in different contexts – from the eco-kitchen, with its heavy lifestyle influence, to new typographies for table runners. “We are at the moment living in a time of opposing tendencies” says the agency’s senior stylist. One current pushes us in the direction of a sustainable “slowing-down lifestyle” (she calls this trend “urban nature und radical design”). It seeks authenticity and substance and is more about quality than quantity. It finds expression in durable, practical, timeless furniture and home decorations, which “seduce us with their lifestyle implications” and have finally rid themselves of the “purple dungarees” image. On the other hand, there is sense of acceleration and a life lived at break-neck speed, dominated by amusement and fun: high-tech fabrics that are functional rather than sustainable. “A paradox“. And how will the notion of sustainability develop? I ask as a final question. “Natural materials; but elegant. New surfaces and new forms. Bast, terracotta, everything hyper modern, new indigo style, batik patterns”. And I wonder, how come there are these contradictions? If sustainable products, which people enjoy and which are fun because of modern design, take account of the environment and natural resources, and are not manufactured using child labour, then this ought to be a fantastic symbiosis, shouldn’t it?

There once was a woman  who decided her underclothes should be made of milk, her blouse of green wood and her skirt of the Spanish broom whose bright yellow flowers scented the summer evenings. She also desired a jacket that hung to perfection, and finally chose one made of corn.

Now this may sound like spinning an improbable yarn. But teasing out fanciful threads from unexpected fibers has become a thriving industry near the northern Italian city of Brescia. “We cannot compete with China in terms of cost and bulk for basic products,” said Romano Bonadei, co-founder and past president of Filartex, a yarn-spinning company that focuses on high-end yarns. “But we can hold our own when it comes to producing customized yarns for clients whose needs we take care of,” from concept definition to communicating with weavers “we know will do our product justice. We sell a service, not a yarn.”

Today cotton cultivation ranks second only to corn as the world’s most polluting agricultural product.

Filartex has created a solution to the problem in a line of naturally dyed yarns made from hand-picked organic cotton, as has another company in the Brescia area – Maclodio Filati. Testing in both these companies’ well-equipped laboratories has shown that fibers unstressed by chemical substances have 10 to 15 percent greater absorbancy to dyes than conventional cotton. So dyeing requires lower concentrations of the color, and finished textiles are easier on the skin.

Maclodio is breaking new ground. The company has started spinning yarns made from cultivated wood fiber registered as Lenpur, an American trademark for which Maclodio has exclusive distribution worldwide, except in Japan.

The timber, Canadian silver fir, is harvested according to ecological criteria, and the yarn produced by the company’s method is not only extremely smooth, but also wears well in hot or cool climates. It has the coziness of silk, the feel of cashmere and the freshness of linen. The fact that Lenpur absorbs water so readily and then releases the dampness into the air makes it useful as light, silken toweling.

Milkofil, another yarn by Maclodio, uses spinnable fibers obtained from casein, the white, odorless protein from which cheese is made.

Fibers were, in fact, first obtained from milk in 1935, when fascist Italy was bent on pursuing a policy of autarky, a commodity self-reliance aimed at avoiding international trade. Under names like Lanital, Aralac and Merinova, these yarns replaced wool until the postwar period. By the 1950s, however, such substitutes had been happily forgotten as an embarrassing blip on the national fashion conscience.

A few years ago, Beringheli’s team rediscovered the process and began testing it. They found that milk fibers are soft, brilliant, anti-bacterial, absorbent and humectant – in other words, the milk protein contains a natural lubricant that keeps the skin moisturized and smooth, and the absorbing power of the yarns draws dampness away from the body, stabilizing body temperature. Maclodio registered Milkofil as a trademark in 2007, and a major European producer of baby and children’s wear will be using the yarn in its future collections.

Maize is the source of another fiber that can be woven for the production of some impressive fabrics. The American firm Cargill Dow of Minnesota has registered its process and supplies the fibers that Maclodio turns into the yarns used for a silken-draped jersey fabric.

Collaboration with research centers in Italy and Romania has led to the discovery of an environmentally friendly process of enzymatic maceration of the harvested plant that produces some promising fibers. Initial tests suggest that the yarns will be similar to linen and hemp, but 75 percent lighter, with the added boon of absorbing dye better than linen does.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has declared 2009 to be International Natural Fiber Year.

Source:IHT

Pantone Selects Color of the Year for 2008:
PANTONE® 18-3943 BLUE IRIS

Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the des

ign industries, selected PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris, a beautifully balanced blue-purple, as the color of the year for 2008. Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.

“From a color forecasting perspective, we have chosen PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris as the color of the year, as it best represents color direction in 2008 for fashion, cosmetics and home products,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “As a reflection of the times, Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspect of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic. Look for it artfully combined with deeper plums, red-browns, yellow-greens, grapes and grays.”

Pantone Selects Color of the Year for 2007:
PANTONE® 19-1557 TCX Chili Pepper Red .

The word urban is thrown about so casually nowadays that it is hard to determine what it actually means and whether it means the same thing in every context.

There has been much debate in the music industry about the word urban actually acting as a euphemism for music of black origin, however, the dictionary defines it as of or living in a city or town. So what does the word urban actually mean? And more importantly, what does it mean in the context of fashion?

For the purposes of the UK Urban Fashion Awards, the word urban has been taken to mean the culture that arises in cities and towns as a result of the fusion of different cultures, lifestyles, ideas and attitudes.

Urban Fashion is edgy and reflects lifestyle, attitudes and individuality. Unlike mainstream fashion, anything goes in the urban fashion world and designers are not pressured into conforming to trends. This scene is a law unto itself and trends change with the wind. Inspiration for urban lifestyle trends comes not from the media but from those trendsetters, those individuals within the scene that lead. Those that turn ideas into action. Those who refuse to follow conventions. These are the people that direct the urban scene.

Urban Fashion does not bow to the trends dictated by mainstream fashion. As its central themes are individuality, going against the grain and youth culture, it is an industry which is evolving very rapidly and whose path and trends are somewhat unpredictable. Influences are varied and numerous and include American, British, Asian, Caribbean and African culture, rock, pop, hip-hop, indie and dancehall music. The skateboard culture, youth culture and mainstream fashion also influence urban fashion. All these influences and many more have given rise to a rich fusion of colour, design, style and attitude, which has created the unique and distinctive UK Urban Fashion scene. This scene is also quite distinct from mainstream fashion because the designs are more practical and are, therefore, more likely to be worn on a day-to-day basis, which is to be expected in view of the fact that the word urban is often thought to be synonymous with what is happening on the streets.

In conclusion, urban fashion is real fashion, style that exudes individuality and attitude and is what the ordinary fashion savvy shoppers are wearing right now

source: www.uufa.co.uk