Fashion Trends - Spring and Summer 2011

1. Animal Kingdom

Traditionally animal prints belong to winters. Among the most popular are leopard prints and tiger prints which are presented together with fur to create a warm and wild feeling. However, the animal prints extend to S/S collection this year. Beside the traditional prints, more animal patterns are added to create a genuine animal kingdom eg swan in Miu Miu collections and sheer butterfly for Sportmax. To make this trend more noticeable, Louis Vuitton even filled their fashion show with tiger decorations to harmonize their tiger prints designs.

2. Ethnic Designs

Ethnic elements are always popular in fashion designs no matter it's for S/S or F/W. Every year, fashion designers have picked out different ethnic elements from different nations to enrich their designs eg millitary look from Russia, kimono style from Japan, hippie style from Gypsy etc. This year, the focus is on China. Chinese traditional prints and fashion styles are widely adopted in the fashion design of various brands eg. Louis Vuitton has designed their collection showing Chinese Cheong Sam styles and Chinese fashion elements.

3. Acid Color

Harmony of colors or Clashes of colors is always a dilemma for women in choose their clothing set. More people will prefer a harmony of colors as it goes more natural in outlooks. However, this year, the dressing concept may be challenged by some leading fashion designers. The color schemes chosen by designers are in a more energetic and raw way eg teal and electric blue from Haider Ackermann and shiny yellow from Moschino. Clashes of colors are common on the runway eg Blue vs Orange and Purple vs Green (Jil Sander), Purple vs Orange (Gucci, YSL), Orange vs Green (Loewe). Eye catching is the way of choosing colors for this trend.

4. Clean Cut

Minimalism never dies. Less is more. Less design in clothing means more attention to the natural body. Clean cut design is a better way to outline the natural curve and shape of women. Modern fashion designers tend to over-design with the intention of showing how gifted they are. However, to design with less design elements is more challenging. Only a few masters in fashion can do beautiful clean cuts without losing aesthetics. Leading this trend are brands like Max Mara, Celine, Chloe etc.