Earlier this month, I went on a trip to Paris. Fashion capital, beautiful, artsy, stylish Paris. I hadn’t been for many years, so when the opportunity came up, I was very excited. There were various business reasons for the trip, but we'll skip the boring bits and concentrate on the most important part of the visit- the shops!
Come and look around the shops with me, and find out which fashion print trends caught my eye, and which trends we at George Prints Studio believe are going to stick around for a while.
As I spent a day wandering around the stores, soaking in all the colours and inspiration, there were four main concepts that I noticed cropping up again and again. Being the height of summer, brightly coloured and statement prints were everywhere of course, and although I've discussed four different trends below, everything kept coming back to one common theme: a sense of escapism. Keep reading below to see what the four individual trends are.
HOT TROPICS
Firstly, all things tropical. From palm trees in Le Bon Marché, to cactii in Galeries Lafayette, this theme appears in garments, homeware, and shop displays. Prints are brightly coloured and playful, with palm trees, animals and postcard landscapes. Styling is fun and jolly, still full of tiered skirts, puffy sleeves, bared midriffs and oversized straw hats. This is a trend that has been growing for a couple of years, and seems to have reached its peak; full-on, lively and loud, as demonstrated by the Farm Rio pop-up in Le Bon Marché.
Where will this trend go next? Remember the pineapple? Well, we’ve been noticing an increase in banana motifs appearing in prints, and we’re anticipating everything to go full-on bananarama by Summer ‘24.
JARDINS PARISIENS
Botanicals, florals and lush greens, similar to those seen in the hot tropics themes, are given a Parisian spin; they become classy, stylish and timeless. Greens are in classic and wearable shades with delicate, hand-painted floral motifs on white backgrounds for a beautiful and neat feel. This trend was visible in printed dresses and scarves particularly and into the gifting sections. It was abundant in stores’ design and visual merchandising, where the decor was feminine and charming, with bunting, canopies and a fete-like feel, to bring the outside in.
OCEAN LIFE
This is a theme I’ve written about previously, and which I love. Yet, I find myself surprised that it has stuck around for a couple of seasons now. Ocean motifs- fish, starfish and seahorses, in particular, adorn dresses, tops and scarves. They are given a grown-up feel by the styling of day-dresses, silky shirts and shirt dresses. This theme has evolved from the flat colourful prints that it started out with; the drawings have become more refined and delicate, and the motifs often mixed in with other themes.
VIBRANT CLASH
Large scale, dramatic abstract prints are everywhere, and the way that brands are mixing these in their displays is visually exciting, speaking to our culture of constant stimulation. The displays are a riot of colour and print, with each rail showcasing a mix of clashing prints and colours. Individual prints are often in a reduced colour palette of 3 or 4 colours, with large scale gestural and painterly mark making, or bold contrasting geometrics, making beautiful and eye-catching stand-alone pieces.
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