Fashion Trends of 2018

A high shined finish that you can find adorned to hundreds of different items, Sequins have become a popular and fashionable item in 2018 for their huge Colour range and variation but also the designs that can be created from them from simple words and Shapes to the “mermaid” style sequins popular with many high street stores. Traditionally created from a variety of plastics, these small discs are faceted and shaped to ensure that light is reflected to give the discs the appearance of bright and metallic shimmer. Sequins have holes punched into them in the centre or top in order to secure them to garments, clothing or even threading them with string to create a tight knit sequined line. 

A popular high street variation of sequins, which has been big sellers in Primark, H&M and House of Frasier, is the “Mermaid” style where the sequins are given additional colours and coatings for a unique appearance. The sequins have metallic or pearlescent colouring on one or both sides in complimentary or contrasting colours that when moved can create the “mermaid” scale effect with a variety of tones, shimmer and designs for fantasy inspired and imaginative finish.

Pastel Colours

A family of fun “ice-Cream” colours, pastels have been popular with younger children for their softer and “friendlier” tones of baby blues, pinks and mauves. Pastel colours are often referred to as “near natural”, “washed out” or “soothing” as the muted and softened colours give more of a comfortable appearance then the block Black or whites or vivid reds, blues and yellows.  

Originally popular in the  1980s for men’s fashion, pastel colours have been become more popular in fashion, especially when sculpted into “masculine” clothing such as suits, blazers and trousers,  for a more powerful and softened image of masculinity. Pantone’s executive director Leatrice Eiseman, explains that people are attracted to the pastels as “there is a certain softness, a certain ease, a lighter than air feeling” when surrounding yourself in these light tones. As well as “evoking a sense of calmness and balance” – I think to be fair, after a harsh and rough 2017; a more muted and gentle colour scheme is definitely needed! 

Check Patterns

An increasing popular design choice for clothing in 2017 and 2018, check (or for UK readers chequer) has a huge variety of styles and design for men and women so a more traditional clothing feel or something a little more “out of the box”
Some of the most popular variations of Check that you can find in clothing include

Argyle – A traditionally masculine check design, this design uses a variety of diagonal lines and diamonds (or lozenges) to create a woven, geometric design of varying tones. You can find argyle patterns in a variety of things – from socks and leggings, football jerseys, vests and even in male and female suiting. Argyle has become increasing popular with women, due to it's varied geometric designs, allowing more feminine colours and designs to be incorporated more. Argyle is now considered a non gender specific design, as you can see from the photo to the left of Tilda Swinton. 

Flannel – A softer check variant, this was stereotypical look for lumberjacks and woodcutters, with its bright colours usually accompanied with blacks, greys or navy blues.  Becoming most popular in the 1990s from grunge artists such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam as part of their overall look, it has becoming increasing popular once again in the past year years – as part of recurring fashion trend. Flannel can come in a variety of materials for its use – from lightweight baby flannel for children’s clothing, cotton (or canton) flannels to Ceylon flannel created from a wool and cotton mixture 

Gingham – One of the more feminine styles of check, they are created from dyed cotton or a yarn-cotton blend, with the height of it's popularity during the 1960s “mod” era. Gingham has been popular as a material for clothing, household pieces (such as aprons, tablecloths), suits and dresses (made famous by French actress and model Brigitte Bardot on her wedding day, sporting a pink gingham dress and also in American television by Lucille Ball, the main female role in "I Love Lucy" who was seen throughout the shows running in a 1950's style gingham dress) and even in some sporting and fashion goods. 

Tartan – A cultural icon for Scotland, this criss-crossed pattern was created from woven wool in a variety of colours to create its famous appearance.  The alternation bands of coloured threads are woven together to create this strong and agile material found in many variations – from traditional Scottlish clothing such as kilts, shirts, jackets and linings and traditional dresses and army wear – to punk clothing, hats, scarfs and other garb. Tartan colours can special meanings to Scottish familys (much like crests) but more modern tartans can be found in three categories – modern (coloured dyes from chemicals with vivid colours), ancient (lighter Shades of tartan simulating the aging of the materials) and muted (the shades between modern and ancient) 

Plastics

Traditionally used in waterproof clothing, such as raincoats, trousers etc, it became a popular fashion item in the 1960s for its “futuristic” styling and colours and could be manufactured in bright colours or make into transparent or translucent forms.
Modern plastic clothing uses a variety of flexible plastic materials in forms of flexible plastic sheeting and plasticized fabric. A famous variation of modern plastic are lenticulars, which are holographic surface which has a high, reflective shine and light-distorting appearance – which you can find in popular movies to represent “futuristic” clothing, such as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, as his baseball cap was made out of a bright lenticular. 

Fringing

Another fashion trend that has been becoming popular once again, fringing first made publication popularity in 1959 with Marilyn Monroe and her usage of them on corsets and dresses. Fringing is long strands of material which create added movement and dramatics to clothing that moves with the wearer.  Modern women wear clothes entirely created from the fringing material for long sweeping dresses, shirts, skirts and accessories such as belts, bags and coats. Fringing can be created from a variety of different coloured fibres (or the same colour for block colouring) woven together to create the sweeping strands which are able to freely move while in motion for a more playful look to standard clothing. Tassels are a popular variation of fringing for a more controlled appearance for embellishment on accessories and even non clothing items – such as curtains, Cords, cushions etc. 

Bold Colouring

Also known as “Rainbow” colouring, bold colour is a block of solid colour with little to no variation of tone in the material. Fashion designers use bold colours to create this illusion of “loudness” to an outfit as the clean, vibrant colours immediately catch and keep attention (compared to blacks with floral prints, or lighter pastels). Colour blocking of bold colours usually consist of two to three colours of complementary nature to prevent “colour clashing”. Although most designers keep colour blocking to the traditional opposite colours on the colour wheel, others have felt freer in experimenting with various tones and shades to create their desired effect.  The colours can be used to create body illusions, making the wearer taller or thinner using the simple stylings for a larger impact. Coloured jewellery and other accessories will complement the silhouette and colour matching in your fashion.  

Have an amazing day and we hope to hear from you soon!