Motif Makeover

Your favourite prints for summer just underwent a makeover. We scoured the shelves and runways to see how designers are giving those floral, digital, nature-inspired and nautical prints a twist. Typical no more!

Quirky, flamboyant, kitschy, seductive... Come summer and prints come into their own, in one avatar or another. And in a time where everything is permitted, especially in the world of fashion, the call of prints becomes even harder to resist. Good news is, when it comes to prints, too much is never enough. This season, those romantic, impressionist-inspired, oh-so-typical floral prints seem passé. Instead, they’re taking on a different look and feel. As are nautical prints, which have been quite a summer staple the last few years. Presenting to you the new summer prints—wallpapers, seaside and tropicals.

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If Wishes Were Wallpaper

With design and décor going minimalist, the wallpaper trend of yesteryears seems delightfully retro. Dolce & Gabbana uses a textured wallpaper effect on their creations, as do Indian designers Pankaj & Nidhi. Gucci, on the other hand, opts for XXL Art Nouveau prints, and Gauri & Nainika are all about the old Hollywood look. The house of Carven showcases romantic, floral chintz, with a boudoir-inspired spirit. Designers like Dev R Nil are turning to more graphic prints, while Rohit Bal keeps to floral blocks and ethnic khadi prints. Wallpapers from children’s nurseries and the bedrooms of teenage girls are being transposed onto blouses and tunics. Jil Sander’s creations exemplify this. We go back in time to our teenage days with Miu Miu’s adorable kitten-print wallpapers, which can be seen on coats, dresses and skirts. This trend seems to be anything but child’s play.

By the Seaside

The slightest hint of the nautical theme is enough to make you want to vacation at a beach resort. And that’s exactly what this summer’s trend is aiming for. Missoni uses wave prints, Kenzo opts for tiny fish, Olympia Le-Tan showcases medusa patterns and Acne Studios splashes its clothes with stylised anchor motifs. Gauri & Nainika current collection is inspired by the Amalfi Coast and have played around with colour in nautical stripes—those blue-’n’-white stripes are just so 2010! Ashish, Viral and Vikrant, and Josh Goraya have played with blues and whites in atypical prints to create an oceanic vibe, without going the sailor way. The ocean seems to be at the heart of so many fashion collections, this season. Kenzo’s collection showcases T-shirts with a message ‘no fish, no nothing’, designed in collaboration with the Blue Marine Foundation, which is fighting against over-fishing in oceans. When dressing up for the beach also means contributing to the environment, we just cannot resist!

On the Topic of Tropics

Flowers continue to be at the heart of almost every summer collection. However, this year, we travel to the tropics to get some lessons in style. South America’s rainforests inspire designers, who use hibiscus, palm and coconut tree motifs on urban collections. At Hermès and Shiatzy Chen, Douanier Rousseau’s jungle art is transposed on to combinations and explorer jumpsuits. At Dior, Oriental flowers are showcased in fluorescent colours. At Prada, the tiare flower is used on graphic summer jackets. Closer home, Rajdeep Ranawat gives Rococo art a tropical floral twist in his collection, Rococo Goes Tropical, while Jenjum Gadi goes beyond your usual flora and fauna. He picks out the unlikely insects and places them on whites, making for a surprisingly breezy collection. Krsna Mehta transplants a wild flower garden onto her collection. Now sure is the time to celebrate nature!

From the June 2014 issue of L’Officiel India.