Apparel April 2019 Apparel May 2019 issue | Page 96

TREND TALK
Tropical Trend Tales
As summer prints create a riot this season, Chitra Balasubramaniam explores
what the season has to offer for fashionistas.
Yes, summer is here—with spring being non-
existent in several parts of the country—and with
it has appeared a burst of colours and prints
for summer wear. The world looks to summer
more kindly, as it is then that there is much
experimentation with colours and lighter fabrics.
After the cold days of winter, it is the season to
wear minimal clothes and enjoy the sunshine. The
world over, the trend seems to be one wherein
formal and informal converge with one another
with a very thin line of demarcation. The prints
for spring/summer veer towards travel, leisure,
fun, free-spirited and bohemian. So there are
paisleys, and soft and dreamy silk scarf patterns
which allude to wistfulness, florals, and butterflies.
Animal prints stay and of course, African prints
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with a great deal of abstractness find their way in.
In India, the choice of fabrics ranges from
cotton, light silk, linen (which is extremely
popular), modal to tussah, and blended fabrics.
One fabric whose popularity has soared is khadi.
Khadi is used in all its avatars—slubbed, rough,
extremely fine as well as denim and coloured. It is
one fabric which is going to see much innovation
in the days to come. Most of these fabrics take
to prints beautifully and hence are coveted, but of
course, it is cotton which rules the roost.
INTERNATIONAL TRENDS
Earlier, India was isolated from the trends
overseas but with most international brands and
chains making their presence felt in India, global