Floral prints in the autumn-winter collections

IN A CONSTANT WONDERZINE HEAD talks about trends from the podium that can be adapted for your wardrobe for the next six months. In this issue we understand how designers interpret a print with flowers that is not typical for the autumn-winter season.

How it all began

Prints with flowers, like most items of clothing, appeared many centuries ago. It is believed that the first fabrics with different types of flowers began to be produced in Asia, and then they were brought to Europe. At first, the flowers were printed on silks, and later the Indians transferred this design to chintz, which in the 17th and 18th centuries fell in love with the same Europeans. In the era of the industrial revolution, floral fabrics began to be put on the clothes of ordinary people, although earlier they were considered the privilege of the rich. Fashion for different types of colors on clothes - especially in the spirit of the East - is introduced by impressionist artists, and then picked up by modernists. At the very beginning of the 20th century, the flower print was widely used by designer Paul Poiret, who was engaged in printing textiles: the current Marni prints look like his drawings. The next wave of popularity of flowers comes in the post-war time, when designers headed, of course, by Christian Dior decorate women as they can: with all the familiar silhouette of the new look, and with some pretty roses.

The flower print of the new season calls the Wall Street Journal a legacy of grunge and punk from the 1990s. So, Italian Ricardo Tishi, creative director of Givenchy French, combines roses with a cage and puts this collage on leather jackets and shirts, and Edie Slimane from Saint Laurent is inspired by Courtney Love and shows mini-dresses in small florets. They are supported by MSGM creator Massimo Giorgetti: “I'm tired of the bright and fluorescent, these are things for the spring-summer season. My new prints are for the romantic punk rocker.” There are a couple of exceptions - prints that are not inspired by the subcultures of the end of the last century, but are still atypical for the season. Dries van Knoten's floral pattern looks like a wallpaper pattern. Valentino designers Maria Grazia Kyuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli put blue roses on dresses and capes that remind of Gzhel. And the flowers on the coats and suits of Louis Vuitton and Rochas resemble typical patterns on linen and pajamas, which inspired the collections of both fashion houses.

How to wear floral print now

The iconic for the fashion of the 1990s and now offer to wear dresses with deliberately voluminous cardigans, mesh tights and coarse boots on massive soles. Large flowers will look advantageous on things inspired by men's clothing: baggy long sweatshirts or two-piece suits. But on the underline clothing, they may look too decorative. Such a design is better to wear as a monoprint, as suggested by designers Jonathan Anderson and Erdem Moralioglu, or combined with suitable saturated colors, as Italian Antonio Marras does.

BEWARE!

There are no universal rules for combining multi-colored prints, so be careful: you need to think carefully before putting on a floral pattern with either a base cell or a strip, or with more complex prints, such as digital or photographic.