The Pre Ready-to-Wear Spring 2013 collections show a spectrum of short shorts, peplums, pastels and geometric mixes. To prepare for the upcoming four weeks of fashion week fun, let’s take a look at what each city, New York, London, Milan and Paris have in store for us.
To start off the festivities, New York will be featuring a sea of teal, cobalt blue and bright orange. Designers like Michael Kors and Thakoon stuck to these color palates, while Marc Jacobs used unconventional print pairings and Derek Lam showed checkered shirts and pants. Prabal Gurung displayed diamond shapes and large black and white squares on his designs. A particular standout was Jason Wu. From his impeccable tailoring and placement of bold seams to trim the body, to an interesting mix or Hawaiian flower prints and jewel flower appliqués, to popping coral and cobalt blues, his collection hit on each trend.
Across the pond in London, Burberry Prorsum showed skinny-legged pants and a play on the standard suit. They put casual monogrammed t-shirts under suit jackets, or paired comfy knit sweaters with tailored pencil skirts. They even featured t-shirts and bra straps under cocktail dresses. Silk blouses in light pastels adorned the Matthew Williamson runway along with scalloped neck dresses.
Italian designers like Emilio Pucci showed a different color palette, of maroon and army green, but still incorporated this ever present trend of bold flower prints onto a few pieces. Prada’s pre-spring collection appears to be the most unexpected of all, showcasing dark blues and magentas, in oversized shapes and large scalloped collars and even fur coats!
In Paris, designers must be predicting April showers, because they’re supplying May flowers! From Balmain, to Valentino, to Givenchy, each incorporated delicate flower appliqué and paisley prints into their collections. But to keep from being expected, Parisians created a punch with a loud leopard print suits (Valentino), edgy black and white diamond and pin stripe patterned ensembles (Balmain), and paisley infused geometric designs, creating an almost nomadic/futuristic look (Givenchy). Main shapes to watch out for are full skirts with schoolgirl collars, the peplum and dresses and pencil skirts cinched at the waist.
All in all, these four cities seem to have produced similar trends but it will be interesting to see how the pre-spring collections translate onto the fashion week runways.