Spring 2008 Colors and Trends

So people ask me all the time what the deal is with trends. Here's my problem: Right now, I'm not looking at this season's trends... well... I am... but for next year. So, because I was looking at the stuff for Spring 2008 last year around this time I went through the work of looking up information for you guys from recent publications and stuff.

Let's start off with color forecasts. I'll tell you what Pantone said (more than a year ago) and then show you what the designers put out (about 6 months ago) so that you'd be seeing it in the stores about a month ago. So, you're already late, might as well start making fall trends look good. But, for those who are stubborn (or wait to start wearing spring clothing in Florida till now) I give you the color forecast.

Pantone Spring 2008 Color Forecast
The colors are actually really, really pretty. They're pretty feminine, but the pink is super dusty and muted shell (that looks awesome with black). All in all, they're colors that can be worked into gothic wardrobes really easily for a pop of color, and like my friend Katrina and I have been doing since last December, grey is super big. So, time for everyone else to catch up. Anyway, at the end the designers that were featured give you their idea of the most popular things for spring. Everyone is saying white, but getting goths to wear all white (or any) is pretty hard, so I'm going to have to second Carlos Miele's idea and say beige (or even better, bone) and grey. Goths who do this for spring will look like they know what there's doing and really, it won't kill you, I promise. Go with light grey though, no charcoal. Think new pewter or old silver, metallic but not shiny, that makes your faded blacks look richer, mysterious, and antique. All the designers (big and small) stayed with this forecast so all the colors were used a lot. Yellow, both purple shades, the blue, and the red were used by everyone.

A Huge Lot of Pictures:

Biggest Trends:
Feathers & Fur
Surrealist-inspired prints
Draped silhouettes
Flower shapes
Satin fabrics
Yellow
Purple
Semi-brights with Black
Hats & other head coverings
Return of the natural waist
50's & 20's
Star Motifs
Polka Dots & Stripes

Added Bonus:
Wearing your fetish-nurse outfits makes you look like a Louis Vuitton model
Even though a lot of Southern goths might not know much about SteamPunk, the runway seems to be taking notice...

My Picks:
Lightweight, wide-leg jeans (grey wash)
Something purple: Puce (the grey-purple), Plum, or Eggplant, all work and are big big big
Something yellow: I really like the Lagerfeld dress that I included which is yellow with a black mesh overlay. Try and find knockoffs at a cheaper price... cause that shit's hot.
Vertical stripe dress: Red and white or black and beige (btw, if I can find more fabric... I'll be selling one super soon)
A new hat... any hat, a bowler or a cloche are my top favorites


P.S. I've decided that if I move to Europe, I'd like to live in Belgium and work for Ann Demeulemeester, new to my list of favorites and oh so close to the top. Look her up on Style.com... everything, and I do mean everything she does is somehow gothic.

Fabulous Paris Fall 2008

If for nothing else, anyone interested in fashion at all should constantly check out STYLE.com for the clips from fashion shows. One of my biggest pet peeves with the Style Network is that they no longer show anything about the shows on their channel. I'm going to link to my favorites from Paris Fashion Week for Fall 2008 just because I still can't quite figure out how to cut my posts (working on it though).

1: John Galliano
Style.com has everything for this show (as it should) and the video goes over most of the best items.

2: Nina Ricci
The color palette for this collection reminds me of a dying moth and at the same time
something about my childhood. Who knows... Again with the jodhpur pants. This time in satin. Very sexy.

3: Louis Vuitton
Because of crappy purses, people tend to completely ignore the wonderfulness that is Marc Jacobs for L.V. The structure of these pieces (more hip action!) is amazing. With all the fabric sculpting going on it appears I may need to take up draping again if I'm going to create some of these shapes for myself.

4: Alexander McQueen
An obvious inclusion for me. If I could realize the ultimate fashion job it would be for Alexander McQueen. This collection is... It's just absolutely beautiful.

5: Chanel
One of my favorite things about this collection video was how Lagerfeld was like "That's very flattering, but there's not crime." with a twisted smirk when the commentator commented that his show was like a Hitchcock dream sequence. He's just the shit. This collection is full of the things gothic business women love to wear to the office.

6: Givenchy
The. Most. Gothic. Collection. Ever.

7: Stella McCartney
This collection had so many wonderful ideas going on. Little mini bubble dresses (endorsed by Twiggy no less) and handmade felt and all this English-ness. Very flirty; a different take on the "modern-hippie" trend.

8: Viktor & Rolf
Ok so for one, they had semi--if not COMPLETELY--industrial music in this collection... and that makes me very happy. Second I REALLY would love to hear how you guys think the letters are possible. Think of how cool it would be to translate this into all kinds of things. I'd love a jacket like this with religious and mystical symbols done in black... or even some crazy words like No and Dream. What a concept! And the staples?! I'm TOTALLY doing that!

Also, on an unrelated note, the music at the Karl Lagerfeld signature show was really really awesome. I think it might have been some kind of French Trip Hop... which is the most awesome thing in the world. It reminded me a lot of Ladytron. Anyone know who it was?

So that's all I'm going to feature. I wasn't really feeling anything from the other shows. They had a few key looks, but overall were not inspirational to me. You can check all the shows out on Style.com for yourself though and form your own opinion. I only had a chance to look over the shows that had videos, but if you see a great Paris collection that I missed, please point it out to me so I can drool, too.