Yayoi Kusama

OK if you have not heard of Yayoi Kusama you will now. She is a Japanese artist and writer. She is pretty amazing and is know for her paintings, sculpture, performance and environmental installations. She influenced artists like Andy Warhol and she is one of the most important artists out of Japan. She is famous for her Body Festivals in which naked participants were painted with brightly coloured Polka dots.

Anyway moving swiftly on to 2012 she has collaborated  Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton and its all about Dots.....check out the website:

http://www.louisvuitton.co.uk/front/#/eng_GB/Collections/Women/Yayoi-Kusama

anyway the windows of Selfridges pays homage to this collaboration as you can see the windows have gone Dot crazy!! but I love it..........the life scale model of Yayoi is so life like that having my photo taken outside the window I felt she was actually there watching me!!!!

Spot Trend

SPOT  TREND

I don't about you but I love when the new collections come out and I love certain trends. This season we see the Spot trend in Celine's resort collection S/S 2013. How you wear a spot can make any out fit look amazing.....for those not so bold why not wear a small scale spot pattern be it on a scarf or dress. But for those that just want to make a statement go for large scale spots like Celine's, people will defiantly be turning heads and hey isn't that what you want.
I love the Diane Von Furstenberg dress!!!! this is a must have!! I think its one that you can wear time and time again.
I have also included this Retro geometric circular bedding design that I designed for  Very for this season. Again its simple and hey why make it complicated. I love to see it in tones of charcoal and blacks which I think will it give it more of an impact in any room.

Photography: Celine, Diane Von Furstenberg, Cushion from John Lewis, Retro bedding from Very

The SPOT trend is not just in fashion but homeware too as seen with the bedding design above. But I thought I also add in the Tuscany garden set that I also designed for Very. I love the different textures within the circles. A spot doesn't just have to be a bold colour. By adding textures it gives the spot a new dimension. So if your looking for a picnic set for the summer why not check it out.

Tuscany design from Very

IBIZA part 1

Ibiza!!! what comes to mind?, raving parties, clubs such as Pacha, Ammesia and Eden to name a few......yes these are there if you want it........but for me its strolling on the streets of Ibiza town and people watching at  Salinas Beach is a must for you Fashion lovers. This is actually my first time there and it was Amazing!!! Such a great place to get it away from it all ( especially with the weather we have had in the UK ) and soak in the sun. But for me I love to see what people are wearing.

Ibiza did not disappoint with only my snappy camera and iphone off I went to photograph what was on the street. I will be blogging more about my trip to Ibiza and here is Part 1.
 Paisley print dresses and Engineered prints not surprising were everywhere. I love the border prints on the first pic, the girl looked fantastic in it too.
My favourite accessory was the indian embroidered bag ( see photo 3 ) I should have bought one from the Hippy Market but no doubt I will be coming back to get one in the near future!! Watch out for my other Ibiza reports......coming soon.

Sainsburys New Collection Spring Summer 2012

 If you have been shopping these past few weeks you will notice that IKAT/ETHNIC/ ANIMAL prints are everywhere on the high street. And here is a couple of prints that I designed that are currently in store at Sainsburys. I love the colour palette and the coloured Animal print. Enjoy!

Mens Print Trend Part 1 Spring Summer 2012

Hi guys here is a continuation of my Fashion trends for Spring Summer 2012. Today I am focusing on Menswear and a couple of the Print trends are Paisley and Ikat.

Paisley

I have again looked at Catwalk Etro being the main contender for the Paisley Trend. The Etro menswear collection saw men wearing Paisley from head to toe which for those that aren't scared to wear pattern. But for you who just want to tame it simply wear it back with plain bottoms. Or if like me you love your scarves Paisley scarves are a great way to accessorise. My must have is the Zara printed jeans!!!

Ikat

I love this Pattern and it was a hit a the Burberry Show especially in the Indio. As you can see Burtons and Topman have used it within their shirt collections. Its even on Shoes at Asos which looks great but I prefer it on clothing. Again this trend works worn back with plain bottoms. I have seen it on trousers too again I think printed pants will take awhile for men to wear- except Camouflage which I will be talking about later on another post. Pattern for menswear is getting stronger each season and I think we will be seeing a lot more of it!!!!
Photography by Filippo Fior and Yannis Viamos these images are not mine 

Spring Summer 2012 Print Trends

Well its been awhile since my last post. With juggling freelance work and kids time is limited however I wanted to write about some of the Key Print Trends  for this season. I will be adding more in the next few weeks but here are some of my favourite trends from Catwalk to High Street. There is some great affordable outfits out there on the UK high street and here is a selection. Remember if you are wearing Print you can go all out and wear top to bottom in Print but for those that want to tame these trends why not wear Printed tops with plain bottoms. Enjoy!!

Paisley

This is a Key trend this summer from the Pucci/ Etro / Jill Saunders/ Matthew Williamson Catwalk to name a few. The High street shops interpreted this trends in a variety of ways from allover printed dresses at Warehouse to Placement tops at River Isand. Depending on your mood you can make it sophisticated and elegant to Boho chic.There is something for everyone and I LOVE classic pattern a must have this season.

Flower Power
No surprise but there was an explosion of florals on the catwalks, designers Christopher Kane/ Chole/ Prada/ Mary Katrantzou/ Erdem used budding florals. Designers interpreted this trend in various forms from flowers between sheer fabric at Christopher Kane/ Photographic digital garden florals at Mary Katrantzou to sophisticated floral buds at Erdem. I saw this Trend for S/S13 at Premier Vision show in Paris in February and its not going away!!

The floral trend on the high street is everywhere from Printed tops at Oasis ( which by the way is looking amazing and is one of my favourite shops for this season http://www.oasis-stores.com/) to printed trousers at Top shop and if you want to wear them on your feet try Asos for their printed Wedges http://www.asos.com/Women/ so don't hold back there is something for everyone!!

Tropical

Last season I wrote about this trend called Tropicana but whats exciting about this Season is that the tropical imagery is mirrored and digitally printed giving it a modern look. Influences from Givenchy resort collection toStella MaCartney was a key for this trend.

Miss Selfridge  http://www.missselfridge.com have loads of amazing tropical in store and I love this dress on the neutral ground. Again I have to mention Oasis last but not least our supermarkets like Sainsburys and Asda even have these prints in their clothing ranges so you don't have to break the bank to look great and be on trend.

Watch out for some of my menswear Spring/ Summer 2012 trends coming soon!!!

images via style.com photography Monica Feudi, Yannis Viamos images from High Street stores own websites please note these are not my images.

MEETING GOK WAN

As a freelance Print designer/ consultant I do get to meet the occasional celebrities. And last week I got to meet the amazing Gok Wan and his cute dog Dolly. I had the opportunity to meet him as part of the Sainsburys Tu Clothing Design team. They work with Gok on his ranges for Tu Clothing. I also got to meet Goks team and the fabulous Carol Hayes, thank you Carol for your hospitality!!!. You can check out his ranges on the following link:
http://www.sainsburys-tu-clothing.co.uk

here is me and Gok next time I will get a pic of Dolly!!! Also if you want to check out what Gok is up to here is the link to his website: http://www.gokwan.com/

Mens Spring Fashion on the BBC Asian Network

Hi guys its been a busy week for me Monday was popping into the BBC Asian Network Radio show with Gagan Grewal to talk mens Spring Fashion... you can tune into the link below and go 1:20 min into the show to hear my slot. Scroll down the page until you see my name: Spring Fashion with Davinder Madaher.

Im discussing key print trends/ fabrics and colour....... so come on guys lets see you wear colour this season. I was in London on Thursday and the high street shops looked great with loads of colour and not only for the ladies but men too. I will be popping in to Zara next week to purchase some bright coloured jeans- can't wait!! Anyway heres a picture of me and Gagan. Pls not there is only 3 days left to hear the show!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cz5qr

enjoy listening to the show.
Another highlight for me this week was meeting GOK WAN with the design team from Sainsburys to talk about his new collection. It was great to meet him, I will be blogging about him soon so watch this space...... have a great weekend!!!

Loving Lavender

Hi guys

I thought I post about the Blossom design that I worked on as part of Very. I previously had posted the design when it first came out on my blog dated 16th November  in Reds and Black for A/W 2011. Its been recoloured in Lavender for Spring/ Summer 12. I love when a print is recoloured as it gives a design a whole new look. This Blossom design is no exception.

Lavender mixed with Stone and Cream is a great colour combination. The Lavender works well with the naturals. I think mixing it back with Stone coloured accessories looks great in any room.
Photography VERY

PREMIERE VISION PARIS

Hi everyone well I have just got back a couple of days ago from Paris from the Premiere Vision Show. Its been a crazy week with taking the kids to the Lake District to hang out with grandma and grandad as daddy jet sets to Paris for the show.

Anyway I had a great time working with the design team from Sainsburys as we had back to back meetings with Fabric suppliers as well as looking around the General Forums. I love Paris walking around the streets and getting inspired by the shops which I will blog about in the next few days....

The highlight for me is staying with my friends Memel and Claire and meeting their two year old Julie who has the cutest french accent. I love the fact we always meet up when ever I am in Paris and its been nearly 21 years wow how time flies!!!
Anyway will be posting pics later in the week........

Austerity vs Luxury

Hi everyone I just wanted to let you know that I got invited by The Trend Boutique to speak to students from various universities at the French Institute in London.
I was amongst other speakers including
Sally Denton: The Trend Boutique
Debbie Laurent:from Front Foot Marketing
Eli Ankutse: co founder of Apetogentleman/ Nivan & Joshua
Lucy Norris: Creative Director Pret-a-Rever.

It was a great opportunity to talk to students about the issue of Austerity v Luxury in today's society. I was able to share my experience as a textile designer, designing for various markets including the Supermarket chains- ie Asda/ Geroge, Tesco and Sainsburys.
And how these chains are quickly catching up with the high street stores. The fact we all look at same catwalks and go 'Inspirationl' shopping at the same places- basically the design process is the same.

I hope I was able to inspire the students too to work hard- this industry is very competitive and you need to not only just have talent but network skills too.
It was a great seminar and I hope to do future talks to students......cause they are the future!!!!

Watch out for my Trend talk at The Design Forum on 1st March. Talking trend for Spring Summer 13 with W4D

DOLLY MIX VINTAGE SHOP......

I don't know about you but I LOVE vintage clothing. And a couple of weeks ago I was told about Dolly Mix Vintage shop by my lovely Caroline. So today I wanted to talk about the Dolly Mix Vintage shop in Leicester a Vintage Heaven tucked away on Cank Street.http://www.dollymixvintage.com/#

When I went in I was literally in Vintage Heaven. This shop has two floors filled with vintage clothing and Accessories from top to bottom. The shop is owned by Jackie Patrick and her daughter Catherine Howell who runs the sister shop called Pink Pigeon. Another great find and for a future blog.

What amazed me was not only the clothing but all things that sat with them IE old teacups and saucers.My favourite was the old type writer in the menswear department. The Bogart framed poster and old radios......there is a lot of history in this store. I am always drawn to the shirts and jackets and resisted buying the amazing vintage bags as I had purchased one the week before- but hey one can never have enough bags-its not just the ladies who like their accessories! Men there is so much in this shop.

The store is defiantly worth visiting you will not want to come out. They even have their own vintage stylist Claire who looked amazing. She is there to advise you on what to wear and any other questions regarding how to wear vintage!
The shop is setting up a vintage wedding room/ boutique for those that are looking for something special and not on the high street. These girls will certainly dress you up and make you feel wonderful.

Anyway if you are in Leicester pop by and I know you will not leave with out purchasing a bargain and a one off piece that certainly will give you pleasure.
Please note I have so many more pics to show but these are for another time. I will certainly be writing up on these guys again for more fab pics.....

Its Friday!!

Ok it's Friday- and I really did not want to travel today. Well despite having an early start the only thing to wear was my Faux Fur Hat, Zara Coat and Brick Red Corduroy.
But my favourite item is my leather Vintage bag from Pop Boutique in Liverpool. It's great as I carry my laptop in it and other essential items for a designer.
My shawl is from India and always makes me appreciate colour in fact Victoria the product designer almost swatched it for her trend board.
It is a beautiful blue colour and my thoughts of india come to mind everytime I wear it.
Anyway I'm looking forward to getting home so over and out. Embrace the cold you can still look great!!

DRIES VAN NOTEN SPRING SUMMER 2012 COLLECTION

Ok its the new year and I love January, not necessarily because of making new year resolutions but because the Fashion Magazines are full of the New Spring/ Summer Collections. Although I have seen these already back in September on http://www.style.com/ I am always full of joy to see the Collections again especially after the Christmas season.
One of my favourite designers is Dries Van Noten who never fails to deliver an amazing show. And this season is no exception. The models wore beautiful couture inspired shape outfits. These were printed with Palm prints and outdoor scenes. My favourite prints is his collaboration with english photographer living in france, James Reeves http://www.jamesreeve.com/ depicting night time scenes from Las Vegas. I am assuming these are digitally printed to keep the essence of James's photographs.

I also love the botanical florals patch worked into beautiful statement pieces. DVN always shows a strong collection each season and for me this is simply beautiful........can't wait for his next collection.

Photography: Yannis Vlamos