Meggings

Stylesight has been noticing a lot of men in leggings lately, which have apparently been pouring into the streets of New York, Paris, London, and Tokyo since last year (after making appearances on the runway for quite a few seasons). Men have been wearing them all-year-round as a fun way to practice layering in changeable weather.

Textile Trends for Fall '09

(More trends from Stylesight.)

It is no surprise that knitwear was strongly featured in the Fall '09 collections. Knitwear has really come unto its own over the past couple of years with new techniques and forms being adopted. The knit evolution sees the upcoming season mainly featuring extremely shaggy knits in heavy layers and earth tones. 

I'm happy lace reared its head again. Traditional techniques have been used but with playful detailing like the blue shoulder pads showing through in this Givenchy dress and the black piping at Louis Vuitton.

Taking inspiration from underwear and lingerie, sheer layering can be seen in cotton, silk and polyester chiffon. 

Tapestry and upholstery brought a touch of luxury to the catwalk. A rich, textural quality is added using traditional techniques like embossing and flocking. 

Leather! Leather, leather, leather. Moving on from the heavy presence of tight, leather trousers/leggings and biker jackets, leather comes onto its own next season taking the form of seperates and dresses. In each case, the leather was clearly soft and supple to the point where it could be used as an alternative to wool in garments.   

The fur debate. I have never agreed with the use of furs in fashion, but that's a whole other blog post. Fur could be seen in the majority of Fall '09 runway collections whether it was used as a slight detailing like at Dior; with other furs at Lanvin & Fendi, or colour treated which was massive at Michael Kors and Gucci. 

Artificial furs were also present and are likely to be huge on the high street come September so if, like me, you don't want to wear the real deal, don't worry there will be plenty of faux alternatives.  

Colour trends for Fall '09: Part I

I can't claim credit. I have collected some of the key colour palettes taken from RTW collections from Stylesight. So here they are in all their glory:

Monochrome geometric patterns continue to be big but are more exaggerated and over-scaled than before with harsh contrasts.

There was a luxe survival feel to a lot of the collections; a return to a nomadic look with layers of furs and skins thrown together in different layers in earth tones.

Mixing of different grey tones top-to-toe was key but without the cold minimalist feel from the '90s. 

Usually no-go colours were placed together in unexpected ways. This was most evident with the navy & black combinations. Not only that, but the textiles were often entirely different in surface texture and created a new aesthetic.

Continuing on from the apricots, pinks and blush colours of Spring/Summer, the cosmetics are a more exciting way of looking at neutral colour palettes. The greys and brown tones add richness for Fall.