VIEWPOINT COLOUR

ISSUE No 5: ORGANIC MATTERS

Everyone is agreed! If we are to save our selves and the environment, we need, urgently, to reassess our relationship with our beleaguered planet; we need urgently to abandon our “Masters of the Universe” mentality and humbly accept that Nature has been creating a perfect, interactive system from single-celled organisms to complex ecosystems. Only one of the many life support systems on which we depend – soils, aquifers, rainfall, ice, the pattern of winds and currents, pollinators, biological abundance and diversity – need fail for everything to slide. Tipping points are too easily passed, institutional and political failure pushing us ever onwards to the cliff edge.

Some are already betting on the worse. Others of us, not so dystopian, are turning to technical and economic solutions to avoid collapse in the belief that nature and technology improve upon each other. That’s great, but shouldn’t we start by following nature’s very own, unadulterated model, applying its efficiency to create new ways to create and consume. Some thinkers and designers are already embracing organic principles emulating the way spiders work, growing materials as if plants, taking inspiration from nature’s patterns and colours. But, it doesn’t stop there...

A new aesthetic is taking hold blending the natural world with the spiritual and mystic, comprising colours that represent both the calming and dynamic facets of the natural world and offering products that combine both natural and futuristic elements. And talking of times to come, we are sitting on the brink of a new visual realm where we ponder a new nature reality as designers ask, “What will be the next natural colour?”

As Cotton Inc concluded in its own vision of S/S 2020, “Looking to nature as the true innovator as it inspires all industries from creative design to logistical engineering, our lens, through which we analyse and appreciate nature, is forever altered.” 

VIEWPOINT#5: ORGANIC MATTERS CONTENT

Colour News
Our round-up of all the latest developments and happenings in the world of colour.

The Context: Organic Matters
Forward-thinking designers are seeking to harness the power of nature’s super-efficient circular systems, as we start to realise that working with nature rather than against it provides the best hope for the planet. 

Colour Forecast S/S 2020
Nature remastered, untamed flora, mineral patina and raw earth are our pointers to the season ahead.

Visual Essay: The Living Surface
Featuring Fernando Laposse, Martijn Straatman, Jonas Edvard, Studio Klarenbeek & Dros, Nienke Hoogvliet and Atelier NL

Colour Inspiration: Painterly & Imperfect
Natural and organic-based paints work in harmony with nature to create pigments with unique and dynamic depth. It’s time to exchange pristine, flat colour coverage for warmth, depth and painterly richness.

Colour Meaning: Off White
Far more shades of white are commercially available than of any other colour; the variations of off-whites are far more than just a blank canvas.

Pantone Announces the Color of the Year 2019
PANTONE® 16-1546 Living Coral. Life affirming coral hue energizes and enlivens with a softer edge.

Long Term Colour Forecast: Hyper Chroma Nature
An infrared macro lens captures an exaggerated simulation of a nature that never existed. Colours take on an artificial authenticity, hinting at a hypernatural future in which human intervention manipulates and enhances the natural world.

TEXTILE VIEW ISSUE # 125 MORNING SONG

SPRING 2019

Rent a life

Renting clothes is not a new concept: high-priced, designer items worn for a single occasion, such as a wedding, awards ceremony etc, have long been available for hire. Services that cater to high profile careerwear or short term situations like pregnancy also have their raison d’être. But now subscription services, which offer long-term borrowing on everyday items are mushrooming as well. Mall companies and retailers such as Ann Taylor, Express and New York & Company have all launched monthly subscription services with monthly fees ranging from US$50-95 as a complement to their sales model. Meanwhile, Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London, launched it first streetwear hire pop- up store last December. But does the rental model really work at mass consumption level.

According to Allied Market Research, the online clothing rental market will only reach US$1.8 billion by 2023 still a minnow compared to the trillion-dollar total fashion retail market. But are the figures right? According to research by Westfield, 7 out of 10 UK shoppers would pay to rent the hottest fashion/Instagram item of the moment. For 33% of them, the appeal lay in saving money, while 1 in 8 were motivated by the desire to shop in a more sustainable way.

And if renting did take off with consumers, it could help medium priced clothing chains fight off a stave of problems from declining traffic through to continuous markdowns and excess inventory. It could even provide a route to finding a new customer base. But then again, ownership is a powerful thing. Perhaps the biggest fashion question of the future will be how to differentiate between designing for renting and designing for keeps.

CONTENTS TV #125

Inspiration

The Future of Making

From cyclical design to socially aware timeless aesthetics, from grown to engineered scenarios, these six themes are set to make and shape fashion in seasons and years to come.

Lifestyle

A softer world by OvN. Take a step back and relax! Be thankful for what you have, connect to the lightness of being, and enjoy life as it is!

Season in review

Autumn/Winter 19/20

Menswear r-t-w designers

It is clear that the future is very much on the designers’ minds – seen either through flashes of the past, techno rave or sci-fi. The season is utopian in colour for many, dystopian in layers of retro-futurism for others.

Season in focus

Spring/Summer 2020

Womenswear inspirations

Attitude is everything, be it quiet and noiselessly resolute or fierce, provocative and strident. So many things are worth fighting for and our modern woman is determined to stand for all of them.

Womenswear colours

We open with a group of warm, gentle, luxurious neutrals that. Softly coloured pastels sit next to a group of modulated, recycled colours. Fresh uplifting brights full of dynamism and spirit demonstrate boldness and muscle.

Womenswear key looks

In a cross gender/cross cultural world, casual disorderly clashes are welcomed. We see this code mixing with the drive for regenerating, recycling and a desire for responsible products.

Womenswear fabrics

The initial goal might be to manufacture more quickly, efficiently and sustainably, but we must continue to invest in textile technology to achieve more interesting and desirable product development.

Womenswear trimmings and accessories

From forceful and architectural empowerment to super smooth sensuality and assertive seduction, from the mythical goddesses of ancient times to the pussy power collective of our new modern world: feel free to celebrate female fashion.

Casualwear colours and styling

For S/S 2020, we look into developing consumer lifestyles: what drives their thinking, their choices and their vision of the future.

Menswear colours, styling and fabrics

S/S 2020 presents a season of diverse colour ranges, from dark and moody looks that reflect this uncertain time to fresh, nature inspired harmonies and flamboyant palettes that celebrate optimism and omni-culture.

Forward view

Autumn/Winter 20/21

Women’s and menswear fabric and colour forecast

For A/W 20/21, we present nine fabric inspirations born out of a love for textiles and an eagerness to trigger and inspire desirable garment concepts.

Print design forecast

The A/W 20/21 season is about sisterhood, enchantment and magic – celebrating wild women through stories of folklore and colourful ritual.

Bloom Issue #24:
EARTH MATTERS

This century is bringing a moment of reflection and radical change, making up for a century of abuse, greed and violence. For the first time, a post fossil society is emerging, giving humankind some hope and faith in the future. Resetting attitudes and mentalities towards having more respect for the earth and each other. Therefore design will mine conceptual matter, taking inspiration from the earth and trying to give back its beauty and strength, restoring her self-respect and reflecting on the huge gift this planet was, and still will be for us humans.

A wealth of ideas will sprout from the earth, analysing all her entrails and components, to be transformed into dimensional textiles and earthbound colours. In this issue of Bloom, we explore artisans and scrutinise artists, visit farms and look at new ingredients such as banana fibre and old recipes including paper and felt. Bloom will continue to promote new ways of coping with sustainability and respect for our planet.

Our entente with nature will be re-written and re-invented; we will try to live together in a more harmonious way, giving and taking, and caring for one another. A more intimate and intuitive relationship will be the result, based on primitive emotions, ancient rituals and archaic systems, re-inventing animism.

– Lidewij Edelkoort

Bloom, a horti-cultural view, is the first magazine of its kind, analysing with informative and inspirational photography and texts the major trends in this area, and how this relates to industries as varied as fashion, interiors, design, packaging ,cosmetics, food and culture. bloom speaks to all levels of the industry, from hybrid creators to growers, buyers, distributors and florists, as well as to the general public at large. 

Inspiring photography and texts relate them to trends in society, fashion and design. 

The magazine speaks to all levels of the industry, from flower designers to growers, buyers, distributors, retailers, and consumers. Each issue treats a specific theme. 

• major retail trends

• translation of the trend themes into ideas for bouquets 

• new ways of presenting flowers and displays

• interviews with innovative professionals

• ideas for including flowers and plants into rituals

• flowers in art 

• examples of merchandising 

• fashion trends and flowers 

• ceramics and glassware

• flower and symbolism

• botanical gardens 

• pots 

• hybrids 
  
  
• future flowers - two years in advance for seed - producers and grower