This year I made the decision that I want to inspire myself as much as possible. I aim to create unique product for my clients, see what is going on overseas in trends, color, and marketing in the fashion world. I enjoy not just looking at shoes, but apparel, accessories, furniture, and generally just people watch. There is nothing more fun than sitting at a café with your sketch pad, sketching or writing your ideas, walking around the city with your camera taking pictures, and checking out all the shops and seeing what is going on in fashion. Traveling to different countries is a must for a designer! So, I decided to pack my bags and trek out to material shows and shop Europe.
My first trip started with going to Portland for their materials show. Although, this show is small and is more athletic based than fashion, there were definitely some great suppliers. One supplier I enjoyed was Omnipel (www.omnipel.com) I really enjoyed their array of products and diversity of high tech and fashion materials, specifically textiles. The colors, prints, and overall quality is great. They are a European company that designs in Italy but makes products out of China, which can keep the price relatively down. I am very much looking forward to receiving my swatches very soon.
Another supplier I was really inspired by is Ecco Leathers. They had the most beautiful camel leather, leathers that were amazingly soft and lightly shimmered, metallic’s that put to shame many metallic’s out there. The prices are great and have different ranges. I guess what more can you ask for from Ecco. As a company they always demand excellence.
Leathers by Ecco
My friend Jason Brown also represents a company called Shan Been Jeou, and I was quite surprised to find some great fashion pu’s and leather from them. It’s definitely worth checking out.
I really liked their print and textured leathers and pu's.
Right after the Portland Material Show, I went over to Bologna, Italy, and attended Lineapelle. Talk about a candy store for designers and anyone who works with product. I can’t tell you how much I love this trade show. The show is complete and utter inspiration. As you walk in, all you see are rows and rows of beautiful color palettes of textiles, uber luxe leathers, price point leathers and pu’s , hardware lasts, heels, wedges, trims and the list goes on and on.
I was amazed of how color is playing such a strong role in fashion in seasons to come…Hot Pink, Turquoise, Green, Orange. It’s all about brights.
I think the number one print I saw in both textiles, natural fibers, and leather was leopard. Leopard was EVERY WHERE. It was unstoppable. The leopard was played out differently which was refreshing. The print was large, or slightly juxtaposed to look like leopard and it left you wondering, pony leopard, foiled leopard, leopard on natural fibers like raffia or woven material, laser leopard. I also loved how some of the companies sampled the shoes, mixing small leopard with bigger leopard print in monotone colors. It was quite exquisite. Here was one of my favorite suppliers- Abip in Italy.
Leopard in small print and sporadic. Also, in pony.
Leopard but less obvious and large.Other stand out trends include:
I am enclosing some stand out trends below and am still awaiting more swatches so perhaps I will include those in the future. I will have to say what stands out the most to me is the natural products trends with natural leathers, hardware, wood, shells, raffia, basket weaving, braiding. It was great to see these all brought in mixing some of the fashion elements you will see below. I hope to be getting those swatches soon!
Colorful suedes- I loved this one by Richard Hoffman and prices are pretty good!
Tribal prints
Transfer studs and rhinestones
Vege tan leathers by Adige
Foil flowers or design on natural materials
Distressed leathers by Adige
Zebra
Various animal prints like tiger, cow, ostrich
Flower prints stamped on pony, pu's with embroidered flowers, flowers embossing and laser etched on leathers, and flowers printed on natural fibrous materials
Window pane plaids in colorful brights.
I loved seeing all the denim finished leathers, nubucks, suede. It was truly beautiful. Farway it looked like a pair of Acne Jeans but when you got close, it was an amazingly soft leather in different finishes, washes, and colors.
Perfed/Laser cut natural leathers.
Natural fibrous materials
Distressed leathers with fur. Ridiculously soft from Pistolesi SRL.
Shoemix is a game that promotes creative brainstorming. I am enclosing the you tube video for you to check out. At first, I was a bit skeptical but as I kept watching the video, and as it pertained to me as a working designer, I found it to be clever and kind of fun. It’s true, their are times as a designer where you are stuck. Even taking a walk or a break is not enough on those days that creativity almost seems impossible. This could be a fun game to get those creative juices going! I think I just might have to order it!!!
I am a designer based in Los Angeles. I design shoes. Yes, can you believe it? I am happy to say that I get to spend my days sketching shoes, shopping, looking at materials, magazines, etc. I design both women’s and kids’ shoes. I also have dabbled in designing accessories since my return from Spain...
Florence, Italy Trends
Italy was the first part of my research, shopping trip. After a few days at Lineapelle, I had the opportunity to go to Florence and check out the shops and street scene.
From the time I got off the plane, boots were all over place. Everything from ankle boots, to motorcycle boots, and probably the most present trend in Florence, in my opinion, was over the knee boots. Every other girl, woman, older woman had on a pair of over the knee boots.
Spring footwear was starting to come out in the stores, and there were also lots of boots for Spring. Everything ranging from over the knee closed toe boots, over the knee open toe boots, slouchy boots, etc. I definitely saw more knee height boots than ankle boots.
Spring Colors were much lighter such as Lt. grey, Beige, Tan both light and dark, White Red, Hot Pink, and Denim blue. Boots were mainly in suede or textile. Black was hardly present for Spring. It played more of an accent color.
Motorcycle boot looks
Boots with zippers
Open toe boots
Huarache style boots, lots of boots and sandals with thong ideas...oh, and you can't forget cowboy boots and shooties
Another trend included casual lifestyle footwear. During the time, I lived in Spain a few years ago, I would travel to Italy often, and it was not much of a trend to see girls wear uber casual shoes. I always felt that Italy was a fashionable city with women wearing heels, dressier type footwear like sandals with rhinestones, chains, wedges but on the dressier side. However, this year I found casual footwear to be everywhere ranging from fashion athletic, moccasins, or Ugg boots.
Fashion athletic looks with hardware
Boot Moccasin looks
Uggs and Moccasins
More mocs and casual looks
More trends include:
Transfer Studded Hardware
Heavy Hardware
Slouchy open toe boots and booties
Slouchy/cuffed sandals
Clogs
Perfed/Laser cut natural leathers.
Mesh uppers/ Sport influenced sandals
Zipper detailing- two tone
Ruffles
Sock detailing
Strappy sexy heels with large rhinestone details
Men's wear inspired looks for women.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with my shopping excursion in Florence. Generally speaking, I found Florence to be small and limiting. Yes, the footwear has always been beautiful, well crafted, and designers like Prada, Ferragamo, and Louis Vuitton are always surprising us, but I found there was not much variety with categories. This time around, I was pleasantly surprised to see some changes and new explorations amongst the Italians. Sport is coming on stronger in the stores and with the people on the streets. Casual footwear is spreading ferociously. Dress shoes continue to be a strong suit for the Italians. The one thing I will touch on lightly here is pricing. I found the footwear to be available for all pocket sizes. You can get a ballerina for 60 euros that was made in Italy and the design is very nice or you can buy a boot for 145 euros or a sandal for 500 euros. There were a lot of options and it’s something I see missing in the states. Stay tuned for more of that when I write about my shopping trip in Barcelona!!!