Apparel Online India 1-15 July' 17 | Page 46

FASHION BUSINESS What the industry has to say on… Shirt silhouette of S/S18: Alok Singh, Kashvi Designs – “I believe that Spring/Summer 2018 is more about shedding off trends and going back to perfecting the simplicity of the shirt. The season has called for a more basic approach and we believe that high-quality fabrics are the key trends this summer. We are making predominantly slimmer fits in fabrics like giza cotton, poplin in light colours to let quality take centre stage like never before. However, to uplift these fabrics, we are definitely making use of new styles of buttons like shell, ring and shaded buttons.” 5 6 7 Alex Mullins E. Tautz KTZ 5 DRENCHED CANVAS Fashion without prints is like a cake without sugar and this season’s shirts are being dipped in artfully printed funky pop-culture motifs like peanuts or plain old florals on washed out bases. The artistic delight does not end here of course. From Pinterest- inspired paint drippings, peculiar watercolour intonations, to splashes of ink, art is unquestionably taking over our upper body coverings this summer. From Alex Mullins’ chaotic sunflowers that looked drained of all colour to the paint bucket of blues and oranges that seemed to have fallen over the Songzio boys, art prints are clearly looking up this season. 6 BANDWIDTH BOYS Nautica always makes its way into summer collections, one way or another. This year that way is the vacation dreaming, lounge-worthy blue stripe, instantly making you wish for summer in the South of France. From multi-sized bandwidth to clean ESSENTIALS Art mirrors life and so it has always shared a great relationship with fashion. However, those abstractions of references are getting translated in very literal ways, renditions of which are found aplenty in men’s collections. and classical pinstripes, stripes – and especially the vertical stripes – are dishing up unsoiled, effortless sophistication on the runways. Vertical stripes that stood out in London included E Tautz’s louche cream and navy pinstripe safari jacket, and the broken up streaks on Qasimi’s navy and claret summer blouson. 7 BRING THE BOXES Competing fiercely with each other are this season’s favourite checks – both the Shadow and Gingham criss-crosses bringing their ‘A’ game to men’s shirting this summer. This trend is one part David Bowie in Young America and the other part 1980s work wardrobes all over. Being the epitome of classicism, both of these patterns as well as a few others walking together, make checks the bountiful high-rider of this season. Just one look at Oliver Spencer nailing the game of boxy checks in utmost style would be enough but we are not discarding KTZ and Christopher Shannon as the checkered trendsetters either. 46 Apparel Online India | JULY 1-15, 2017 | www.apparelresources.com Trending prints: Raveendran PV, Dinesh Apparels – “Prints are a key detail for men’s shirts in Spring/Summer collections. We are painting small motifs like flowers or animals and even a bit of geometric patterns on light backgrounds. Stripes are also coming forward as key patterns and we are working on a lot of engineered designs of cross striping and striation techniques to implement the same. There is a dominance of softer colours as always but a hit new trend is contrast which transports a fun dimension to basic hues.” Added details: Vijay Dalitarty, DVR Garments – “Although the colours and fabrics are largely basic for next summer, details are where all the innovation is happening. We are making boxy fit silhouettes using cotton, poplin and viscose fabrics in soft weaves like twill. Logos and oversized pockets are going strong on the chest while contrast colour sleeves are also a fun addition. We are also using closures like concealed zippers and novelty buttons to add a twist to basic silhouettes.”