There are some interesting hexagons in the market these days. Jonathan Saunders’ Resort 2012 collection takes on a digitized honeycomb approach while Ippolita’s chandelier earrings keep the theme (and the gems) loose and organic. Bringing shading and optics into the mix, Escada Sport’s latest round of bags applies a similar palette and optic theme.
Our friends Claudia Brown and Jessie Whipple Vickery at Pattern People have some cool projects up their sleeves. Today I present you with their latest and greatest – a collaboration with the Ace Hotel in Portland.
On October 1st, Pattern People was tasked with designing their dream room for a day. Their idea resulted in all-over patterns (obviously) from wallpaper to bedding to pillows. Instead of working at full-scale, they recreated a miniature room complete with tiny furniture, plants, lights and of course, surface designs. As the finishing touch, the diorama featured a fish eye peep-hole, adding to the miniature magic.
Meet Ashley Galloway. She’s both a friend and a source of creative inspiration. She currently lives in London and walked me through the Power of Making exhibition at the V&A a few weeks ago while I was in town visiting. With a background in photography spanning the magazine publishing and art worlds, her eye for curation is impeccable. On a recent family trip to Cape Town, she put her fashion sense to work pairing up with a local tailor to design custom clothing using African textiles. Here’s her personal account, I love the idea.
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I have a love for textiles and through my travels I’ve collected many unique pieces. In 2004 I was in Cape Town, South Africa and had a custom embroidered muumuu created at the Pan African Market. When I returned this fall I went to the same clothier and created the two-piece, skirt and blouse from his range of fabrics. I mixed and matched the fabrics to get the right combination. For the outfit on the left, I chose two fabrics that had similar sized patterns, the same pallet of oranges and blues, and also complimentary flow in the patterns with a lot of vertical movement.
The outfit on the right is a faux polka dot pattern made of images of Guinea fowl, which are native to Africa (I had an encounter with some in a garden earlier that day). I like using similar colors and mixing patterns to get the ‘it’s so wrong it’s right’ feel – it’s bold but not over-the-top.
The dressmaker took my measurements and I described my vision of a high wasted pencil skirt to the knee and a simple, fitted blouse. Further down Long Street I found the Mali Custom South African Designed Couture and was mesmerized by their fabric samples. I bought several pieces of fabric for my collection and chose the fabric for the dress pictured in the middle. I spoke to the tailor and described the design that I thought suited the fabric’s pattern – a halter dress, highlighting the paneled shapes of the pattern at the neckline, with a sash to accentuate the natural waistline created by the three sections of the fabric’s pattern. He was as excited as I was about my new clothes!
Though I drew influence from the recent season’s trends of mixing textures and patterns and Burberry Prorsum’s Spring ’12 Collection, I have always been inspired by the vibrant textiles of Africa and I thought these bold patterns, made into modern silhouettes, would suit my life when I returned home.
In line with the graphic styles we’ve all been seeing over the past six months, Hammocks and High Tea, a Brooklyn-based textile and design studio presents a vector-friendly collection of pillows. The patterns are beautiful, unexpected and might I say, European inspired.
I recently gave a talk on color in the digital sphere and it’s influence on tangible design. The audience was a mix of color-obsessed industry folks and continuing education creatives. Though this particular mood board didn’t make it’s way into my slideshow, it’s an interesting compilation of pixelated pastels. Taking a nod from computer themes, these Pokemon characters, Missoni pillows, Preen dresses and Repetto flats all tell a broader pink and magenta story.
Tying the theme together nicely, the Intro Now and Recco screen grabs from Mobile Patterns remind us to cross reference our influences for a an accurate depiction of what’s current and what’s to come.
Over the past 12 months I’ve collected lots of suiting swipes. Though the editorial’s not terribly current, the textures are timeless. Styled and shot for Dazed & Confused, Another Man, Calvin Klein and Zink, the black and white pairings are interchangeable, simplistic and a nice mixture of high and low design. Which patterns will you be wearing this Fall?