Autumn/Winter 14/15 Knitwear Trends Forecast

I don’t know why I do this to myself at times. This week is our last week before we break up for our summer holidays and I have so much work to complete by then.

Today is the knitwear trends presentation at Designer Forum. When I booked my ticket for this event about three weeks ago, I completely forgot that it was the last week of uni, I think I was seduced by the price (£5.00)for students, plus because it was for knitwear trends A/W 14/15 which is the same season as my collection.

Even though I was hesitant to go on the day, deep down I knew that there might be something at the event that could help me with my project and it’s good to go to events like these, to network with different people in the industry. So I slowly dragged myself away from my work and went.

At the event Design Forum presented four trend prediction boards for 2014/15 before Pitti Filati. They had:

Conditions:
·         Mixture of science and nature
·         Environmental refuge
·         Future environmental tribe
·         Protecting nature but with new technology with an artist feel
·         Natural colours mixed with nuclear brights
·         Marble- surfaces-texture

Escape:
·         Technology in our life (trying to get away from it)
·         New World discovery
·         Space travel-technology
·         Exploring new things and places
·         New Spirituality
·         Cosmic Karma
·         Playful, adult playground, toys for adults
·         Geometric
·         Oversize properties
·         Playing with light

Silence:
·         Escaping the digital world
·         Big Brother watching you, No privacy
·         Rejection of technology
·         Protect one’s self
·         Armour shapes
·         Shell of the beetle
·         Mask
·         Chains
·         Oversize
·         A place to hide
·         Finding beauty in perfection

Heritage and Vintage:
·         Celebration of artisan skills
·         Old and New
·         Modern and traditional
·         Russia and Eastern Europe
·         Embellished
·         Adorned
·         Gold
·         Influenced by Churches

I enjoyed their presentation and it also made me think what trends my collection fits in with. Overall I think my work fits in best with escapism and the heritage and vintage trends.

After Design Forum, Mary Corcoran (Pitti Filati) started her presentation. This was very detailed and informative as there were loads of visuals, which I liked.

Even though I enjoyed hearing about women’s wear trends (because I am a girl). I wanted to hear about the men’s trends that were coming forth to see if there was anything similar in my work. To my satisfaction there were a few boxes I can tick off, for example:
·         Menswear embracing colour
·         Knitwear as a form of tailoring
·         Argon sweaters
·         Texture
·         Knitting that could pass off as fabric
·         Oversized shapes

Overall it was a good event and I learned a lot but it’s a shame I couldn’t show you any images from the presentation, here are some pictures I took from the event, enjoy!

Here are a few other trends that she mentioned:

Menswear
·         Early 90’s boxy square shoulders
·         Longer body length
·         Nirvana, grungy/punk influence
·         More Manly
·         Knitwear the new jacket
·         Chunky knit under tailoring
·         Contrast of casual VS tailoring
·         Granddad cool
·         Geek chic shapes
·         Menswear embracing colour
·         Folk
·         Tribal
·         Bohemian
·         Aran sweaters

Key Yarns
·         Bouclé yarn is back- adds texture (Chanel  use in Jackets)
·         Space Dye- Printed yarn
·         Yarns with metallic, shimmer-
·         Glamorous- viscous- evening
·         Riot knits-crazy knits
·         High pile of sheep skin
·         Anti-Fur- Knitwear is the solution
·       Devore  for knitwear

Key textures and Stitches
·         Jacquard- monochrome and Fair Isle
·         Intarsia
·         Reversible fabrics
·         Lace fabrics
·         Knit as woven- knitting that looks like fabric- Big trend for menswear

New ideas
·         Piling
·         Glow in the dark yarn- younger market
·         Edward canon

Shapes Environment
·         Shapes oversized
·         Layering
·         Capes
·         Ponchos