This month I seem to keep noticing retro objects, colours and fashion around me. Iconic retro brands such as Lego are making a comeback with hair accessories, watches, bags and belts. These fashion items may seem child like, but I am sure consumers are keen to find something different. The retro trend has been prominent in fashion design, Graphic and illustrations and even interiors.
I believe that retro is going to be a key trend this Summer and you’ll be noticing acid red and bright yellow everywhere you go. The strong influence on the sixties makes it all the more exciting bringing back key symbols, colours and designs ready to change the way people live.
This is the moodboard that I have produced from the above inspiration…
Just as I managed to catch up on my short nights of sleep in Paris, I get ill again with the flew. It’s all you need when your back in the UK with endless amounts of rain and snow showers. However whislt sitting in bed feeling sorry for myself I came across this fantastical window display in Printemps department store in Paris. The theme of the display was Alice in Wonderland, topical for the moment as the film is being released on Friday. I feel as though the window displays create a magical, fantasy world for consumers to engage with especially with the oversized objects and bunny mannequins dressed in designer clothes.
I believe that fantasy and make believe is an area that consumers are particularly keen on due to the images and illusions that can be taken from it. By placing designers such as Christopher Kane, Maison Martin and Chloe it helps us visualise the fantasy of Alice and Wonderland, but at the same time come back to reality and appreciate the beautiful tailoring and detail of the garments.
It was an early start again to make our way to Premier Vision, the world’s premier fabric show.
Unfortunately I could not take any photos at the show as we were not allowed. However I did made mental notes on the fabrics and visual language used. Each stand had exciting fabrics for future collections that reflected next seasons colour palettes.
Seeing as I couldn’t take any photos today I have posted a video on Premier Vision giving you an insight into what the event was like…
At the trade show there were trend magazines available to purchase and look through. As students, we could get a discounted rate for the magazines. After looking through about 30 magazines, undecided as to what to buy as I wanted all of them I ended up buying a collection of 3 trend magazines on surface and texture. Here are some examples of the magazine. The visual content of the magazine was amazing and detailed.
That evening we went to eat in a little restaurant by the Eiffel Tower. I have included a picture of me in front of it all lit up.
Back to the hotel to get some sleep as we have to leave at 7.30 a.m in the morning to go home.
Today we woke up early and made our way to the Pompidou centre where we noticed some great street style around the area. Whilst waiting in the queue for the Pompidou to open I caught some snaps of people wearing exciting outfits that caught my eye! I noticed that many of the people we took photos of tucked their jeans or trousers into their boots.
Street style outside the Pompidou...
The Pompidou centre has a great architectural structure to the exterior with a complete contrast to the interior. I found the exhibitions stimulating, exciting, whilst at the same time disturbing. One of the exhibitions was about genitals and some of the images and visual references were quite shocking and surprising. But like they say ‘its art’! I really loved all the contemporary art work in the gallery.
This is just a sneak preview of some of the work at the Pompidou…
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Our next stop was the lifestyle store, Colette. What a shop! It sold everything from clothes to CDs, books, magazines, watches and art work. The mens collections were very retro with bright coloured prints and ice cream motifs on the sweaters. Being inside the store gave me a feel for the lifestyle that people bought into, which was an expensive one! The store had a really great concept with limited edition products and collaborations with artists for certain items. If I could I would have bought every item of clothing in their!
Street style outside Colette…
It was time for lunch and our tutors had recommended a famous tea room called Angelina’s which was situated right by Colette. This was no ordinary tea room but one that had beautiful 19th Century décor inside and was famous for its African hot chocolate. I had to try it of course. It was seriously heaven. Wow! My friends tried the pastries and cakes which were also delicious. All the cakes and macaroons were displayed in glass cabinets all stacked up so perfectly.
After experiencing Angelinas, we planned the route on the metro map to get to the Printemps department store to look at predominantly, the menswear section. On the way to the metro we passed a luxury chocolate shop where all the chocolate were handmade each day and had an array of multicoloured chocolates.
We finally arrived at the Printemps department store and went to look at the menswear department first where we found most of the designer clothes were displayed in an orderly way, neatly folded and hung perfectly. Each designer had they own visual merchandising and colour palette.
I picked up a look book on mens current trends in the department store here are some visuals below of how it looked inside.
When I arrived back to hotel I was shattered, but after an hour of rest I felt refreshed and ready to go back out. Helena and I decided to go to the Six Huit boat bar that the guy in the salad bad had recommended to us. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find it situated in full view of the Notre Dame and lit up so beautifully on the canal. We ordered tapas and listened to a jazz singer whilst having a spectacular view of Paris.
Here is a video clip of the live band in Six Huit…
Blogger, fashion lover, beauty junkie, and magazine hoarder living in Manchester. I love to travel, drink tea and discover new and exciting finds. Marketing is my day job!