ILLUSTRATION
Autumn/ Winter 2025/26
In a defiant resurgence, colour asserts its dominance in fashion and design, breaking free from a 25-year ban during a challenging post- World War I I era. Color becomes a symbol of revenge, steering fashion into a realm of wild creativity through sketching, collages, and various art forms, transcending traditional photography. Societal movements converge, emphasizing empathy, hope, and a radical pursuit of beauty. Southern stylistic emancipation, nostalgic retreat, and outsider art appreciation collide, positioning color as the epicenter of expression. This transformative wave introduces an activists mentality and advocates for sustainable fashion, emphasizing les s but more beautiful clothing.
Everyday fashion adopts color coding as puzzle pieces for individual artistic expression, portraying a new face of fashion. Analogies between color and human behavior add depth to the narrative, showcasing a studio’s portfolio of color harmonies. From floral tints in ceramics to the symbolism of green shades in vegetables, the discourse encompasses a wide spectrum. The strength of workwear in dark hues, the joy of acidic agents, and a movement celebrating color for its own sake create a vibrant tableau. The democratic display of brighter shades reflects the diverse character of all people. Cool neutrals act as a versatile canvas, absorbing strong contrasts, and drawing a vivid picture of an era where humanity revels in the extreme beauty and aura of color.
CANDY CULTURE
sweet spring / sweet summer 2025
In an unexpected mood that transports us back to insouciant days to get in touch with our inner child, we suddenly crave candy for a sweet spring and an even sweeter summer. Now that sugar has officially been banned from our lifestyle, we seem to desire it even more, and candy stores, chocolate bars and patisserie pavilions are popping up in city centres, village squares and airport lounges. They are decorated with folies and fanfare, executed in elaborate materials, gaudy tones and metallic ribbons, and with marshmallow pompoms in multi-coloured sweet style. Savouring childhood corresponds to our need for eating candy, relishing liquorice and hamstering chocolates. Moments of oomph in a world of anguish, fencing off the fear we have of war, climate abuse and the encroaching loss of self, when the bots take over. The scandalous behaviour of our politicians paves the way for us to feel as irresponsible as a teenager, also voicing our opinions in strong language with hardcore activism.
Design and fashion turn to fantasy and narration in order to cope, and scenarios from our infancy seem to strike a powerful chord. The need for the naïve and the mawkish quest for the colourful suggest a range of myriad hues from the palest gooey pastels to sugared florals via the tang of hard candy, while gummy bears are proud of their transparent gloopy character. The tints work together in squeaky harmonies just as all-sorts play the game and perfectly associate themselves with graphic black and white. Only some candy has the gift for providing essential neutrals, as found in liquorice and nougat, both responsible for elegant summer clothes that celebrate the comeback of formal fashion. Even more chic and stylish are the darkest ranges of réglisse black and chocolate brown, chosen for their presence in immense renderings of the spring suit and the summer dress. Adorable shoes are part of this candy craze and continue a discourse of blown-up proportions and viscous materials, giving the silhouettes a distinct Minnie Mouse allure.
SWADDLING
AUTUMN /WINTER 2024-25 Fashion & Colour Forecast
Swaddling is usually used to give infants the feeling of the safety they crave after leaving the protective warmth of the womb. The effects of such hermetic wrapping are visible in the overwhelming return of knitwear as a category of its own; no longer just an afterthought, it is a head to toe, day in day out, morning to evening phenomenon to reckon with. Hibernating while rolled up in sweaters, cardigans and blankets to help the body combat emotional stress and slow down the metabolism in order to use less energy of all kinds. Conditioning us as a survival mechanism. With sweater wear moving to centre stage, all the other categories of dress will follow the lead of knits.
PHOTO FASHION BY BABAA
Previous Forecast
CRAFTING COLOUR
spring/summer 2024
We have been discussing craft for several seasons and seen a gentle and gradual amplification in the markets.But now something else seems to be happening and feels like a paradigm shift from the industrial tothe crafted, from the serial to the unique and from the fast to the slow; sometimes exasperatingly slowwhich is a new way to test our patience. Provoking another way to conceive fashion, thinking stitch firstand foremost, and letting all other ideas fall into place at their own pace. Picking up the needle to stitch,mend or embroider, to secure tie-dye processes and bring fabrics together as patchworks, to calm themind and let intuition take over. Some people stitch for the sake of training and stilling the soul and seethe results like a personal journal into the unknown. All creatives are currently longing to use naturalcomponents, so plants inspired these exquisite colour ranges that are full of light and happiness. And for the first time, these hues are realised on linen which gives them a wonderful extra dimension
Previous Forecast
PIGMENT PROPHECIES
AUTUMN/WINTER 2024
For those who like terracotta, ochre or brown today, it is eerie to reflect on the origin of those warm and lively colours. One feels directly connected to ancestors that lived up to four hundred thousand years ago, before modern humans even existed. Now we are well into the 21st century, biding our time during the end of life as we know it. The progress made over past centuries has taken its toll and emptied the earth, impoverished our soil and destroyed our forests, preventing new generations to flourish unless a consensus on circular living can be made; which, at this point, seems unlikely. This demands new substances and pigments to work with, made from renewable resources and creative recycled solutions. Our own colour can be coveted as a source of beauty and melanin is a substance to reckon with for the future, as are natural resources such as mushrooms and algae, crustaceans and food residues. Colour comes close to clothe us…
Studying pigments can inspire us to make progress and write new scenarios for the future. Therefore technology will work on even newer materials that will colour our robots, garments and interiors while inspiring innovation; with pigments that heal and reach out to the human race, in its race against the clock. These almost alive substances are imbedded with information and will create emotional alliances with our customers, where clothes, objects and interiors become vehicles for learning and self-expression. Making us an intrinsic part of a brave new world..