Trend/Show Report Spring Summer 2013

The spring summer 2013 ready-to-wear fashion shows in New York, London, Paris and Milan showed an abundance of different trends. Some of the most abundant ones being neon’s, stripes, Mesh, White, and Metallic’s. Throughout these trends there are variations across all of the shows and cities, and show the designers and brands image, style and design aesthetic.

In London the neon trend was more prominent than in New York, Paris and Milan. Designers such as Simone Rocha, Erdem, Mathew Williamson, Antonio Berardi, and David Koma captured the bights most powerfully. At Simone Rocha, the collection started quite calmly with whites and blacks, however towards the end of the 30piece collection, there was a strong injection of neon lime and neon coral dresses, coats and bags. At Erdem, the neon’s and bright flashes of colour were seen throughout the entire show. The neon, although equally as bright, appeared more toned down, as the pinks, yellows and oranges were used more as a print rather than a solid colour. In Milan the neon trend transferred into the makeup, as the models wore a fluorescent pink, by MAC. Along side the neon makeup at Missoni, and the clothing being equally as bright as in London, the fluoro colour also translated into the shoe. Bright orange ankle straps, on a nude court shoe, pulled the entire look together. At Proenza Schouler in New York, the show, unlike the others, started with a bang of neon, and then as the collected progressed did not die down. Bright cherry reds, which had not been seen in London or Milan cut through by looks with neon green geometric shapes. At the Paris shows Chalayan brought a pop of neon into his collection, by using the highlighter green, orange and yellow more as an accent, rather than dressing the models from head to toe in brightly coloured garments.

No white after Labour Day? In the spring summer shows 2013, this rule seems to be disregarded by a multitude of designers, in Milan as well as at the other ready-to-wear shows for spring summer 2013. White leather, white fringe, white shoes, dresses and trousers, all make an appearance in the classic silhouettes that are iconic of the designers showing in. Roberto Cavalli, Jil Sander and Emilio Pucci all show classic tailored shapes, along side more modern cuts. Whilst Topshop Unique in London has some very classic pieces that could be mistaken for Jil Sander, the whites are a lot sheerer and less heavy than those in Milan. In Paris, Chanel showed full white garments as well, however adding embellishments, over top of the base fabrics, altered the trend of minimalistic white garments. Within the Parisian collections white was not as strong as a trend as in Milan and New York, however did play a major role, within the more monochromatic collections, such as Ghesquière’s collection for Balenciaga.

Horizontal, vertical, diagonal as well as any variation on a striped print and graphic surfaced at all of the fashion weeks. The stripe trend is a fashion week staple throughout all of the cities as well as seasons. Last season it was Miu Mius turn, the season before that Céline‘s. This season the colours, direction, length and width all varied from designer to designer, but the essence of the striped trend stayed the same. Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger lead the trend. Tommy Hilfiger’s extremely eye catching vertical and diagonal stripes, in royal blues, primary red and white, instantly reminded of the sailor trend. The stripes were bolder on the oversized suit jackets and trousers, and thinner lines on the more delicate garments, such as the tops and dresses. Also in New York Marc Jacobs used the same style of stripes as well as materials, shapes and types of garments to bring his point of view across. Although the thickness and style of stripes were almost identical between the two, the colours differed. Marc Jacobs used a lot of blacks and whites to steer away from the sailor look, and push the striped trend more towards the sixties. Stripes also were seen in Paris, Milan and London, however it seemed that New York’s stripes were bolder than the others, with exception of Dolce & Gabbana in Milan, where the stripes were horizontal rather than vertical.

New York and Paris showed a vast variety of mesh. This trend was seen in all of the major shows, such as at Helmut Lang, Jason Wu, Céline, Stella McCartney and at Alexander McQueen. Helmut Lang incorporated mesh into almost all of the looks, by using the fabric in different aspects of the garments, as well as in different amounts. Cut outs around the shoulder area, the legs and the waist seemed to be a reoccurring theme. At the Parisian shows Stella McCartney used a similar approach to Helmut Lang, however the mesh was a white colour, rather than a skin-toned shade as it was in the Lang show. Céline incorporated the mesh trend, by using honeycomb mesh, as well as mesh more like that at Helmut Lang’s show, exclusively on the upper body. In Milan the mesh was used as a complimentary draped fabric over the top of the main silhouette. Georgio Armani embellished the mesh, to make it look more ethereal and movement, in comparison to the collections in the other cities, where the mess functioned more as a structural and graphic element.

Last but not least, Metallic’s were brought from last season, into spring summer 2013. Metallic bomber jackets, trousers, tops, skirts. Everything. Alexander Wang stuck to silver jackets and jumpers, where as Burberry Prorsum went all out by using metallic materials in gold, pinks, purples, green and blue shades. These ranged from tops and skirts, to dresses coats and even bags. The Burberry Prorsum collection was by no means subtle in comparison to Alexander Wang. Markus Lupfer chose to use subtle moss green metallic as well as a more muted silver. The dresses also have a more subtle shape, and the collection seems more timeless, despite the metallics.

These five trends were by no means the only trends shown this spring summer 2013, however some of the most prominent, and likely to be the most influential throughout the year, as well as transfer onto the high street as well as into future seasons.

The west end is home to one of the major shopping streets in London. Located right off oxford street, on regent street the two Scandinavian stores H&M and COS are to be found surrounded by both high street and high end stores.

Hennes & Mauritz AB consists of five independent brands. H&M, being the main one of them, first opened in Sweden in 1947, not only is H&M represented in over 40 different countries, but also has an online collection  (H&M Shop Online) aimed at those customers who prefer and enjoy shopping from home.

COS (Collection of Style), also part of the Hennes & Mauritz AB group, now has over 50 branches located in Europe, Asia and the middle east, since its first launch in 2007. Similarly to H&M, COS has a collection and catalogue, which is both available online as well as in stores.

Both of these stores have a very individual and unique shop lay out and aesthetic. The exterior being the signature to Regent Street, both stops are identical in this aspect. However with the shop is divided into three different floors. Basement, ground and first floor. The basement holds ladies, lingerie, sizes 18-28, maternity wear, kids 0-14+years and denim. The ground and entrance floor displays exclusively womenswear. And finally, the first floor, which comprised of womans- as well as menswear. These floors are accessible via escalator or elevator.

COS on the other hand only has two floors. A ground floor, which is entirely based on women’s garments and accessories; and a first floor, which is shared between woman, men and children. Unlike H&M, COS does not have an escalator, but has stairs instead. The interior of H&M is also very different in contrast to COS. Although both H&M and COS have stark white walls, the general shop floor layout as well as décor is rather contrasting.  Whereas COS’ shop aesthetic appears to be more sleek and reflects the Scandinavian roots by making use of neutral tones throughout the store, with seating areas, composed of original Scandinavian grey sofas and rugs; H&M seems to be less stereotypical  “Scandinavian” and more accessible to everyone. The music at COS is background music, and rather mellow, allowing the costumers to communicate and have a more relaxed atmosphere, with electronic-funk sounds. When entering H&M, instantly the rather loud, upbeat pop music, from artists such as Lana del Ray, becomes apparent. Along with that, the abundance of racks, rails as well as many mannequins scattered throughout the shop are instantly visible. Apart from the ‘Basic’ range, H&M’s ground floor is rather unorganized. Although the accessories such as jewellery and shoes are accumulated in one area, the garments are scattered throughout without what seems to be any rhyme or reason. COS, on the other hand is colour coordinated and organized by style and type of clothing.

Not only do both of these shops have their own, unique “look”, but also the range of garments has its own vision.  COS’ collection is modern and timeless, as well as being functional, good quality at an “affordable” price. The materials that are used in the manufacturing of COS’ garments consists of cashmere, cotton, wool, merino wool as well as lambs wool, polyamide, elastane, viscose, mulberry silk, metallised fibres, alpaca, mohair, modal and leather. The colour scheme of the current collection is full of indigo and navy blue, as is very prominent throughout all of COS’ collections, year round, as well as a series of green, ranging from forest green to olive green, khaki and lime. Mustard, grey and biscuit tones, sands and pale pinks, corals. H&M’s colour scheme does show some similarities to COS. There is an abundance of black, dark grey and light beige and beige marl, burgundy, dark turquoise, powder pink. The materials are similar as well. Coats made of mohair, wool, and polyester, trousers made of cotton and elastane, and jumpers, t-shirts, tops and dresses made up of these fabrics along with imitation leather and metallicised fibres. The difference between the two brands, although they have similar colour schemes and fabrics, H&M uses a lower percentage of the more expensive and quality fabrics as opposed to COS.

As a result of decreasing the percentage of higher end fabrics, and mixing them with those that are of lower quality, the cost of H&M garments are lower than those of COS standards. Although both brands are classified as “affordable”, H&M appears to be on the lower end of the scale. T-shirts and Jumpers ranging from £5.99 to £12.99, trousers, skirts, dresses, jackets and coats all under the £60 mark. COS, somewhat more upscale, ranging between £25 and £115 for a blouse, and the highest priced coats at £175.

The cost also factors into the costumer profile, and employee profile. The employees are all extremely friendly and willing to help. Their “uniform” is either a selection of COS garments, or plain garments of their choice, as long as no branding is visible. This shows the employees own fashion sense, while still keeping the COS aesthetic. H&M on the other hand has no distinctive uniform for their employees. The shop assistants wear silver nametags, pinned to what appears to be their every day apparel. The ratio of employees to customers and shop size is also dissimilar. COS has a large number of employees that are extremely hard working and motivated. On the contrary, at H&M a minimal number of employees who wondered aimlessly when on the shop floor.  The costumers are partially overlapping, but mostly, H&M is more accessible and visited by a larger range of shoppers. Men, Women as well as families and youngsters, seem to shop at H&M. COS, although having similar ranges of garments, the clothing seems geared more towards those who are able to pay for higher end fashion and materials, as well as enjoy more sophisticated and a different perspective of modern fashion. This also shows in their costumers, as these are mostly between the ages of 25 and 60.

As a whole, the shopping experience at COS is very different to that at H&M. I personally prefer COS’ designs, materials and shop layout. H&M is great for finding current fashion, however may not last as long as the timelessness of COS’ garments and accessories.