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fashion: feature
 It's what we'll wear, 2011
Above and right: Bec & Bridge, spring 2010, at Rosemount
Australian Fashion Week, catches on one of the trends identified
by the author for 2011.
Bronwyn Williams attends the trends’
presentations at Massey University,
and finds students’ predictions in line with her own for 2011
photographed by Getty Images
LAST WEEK, Jack
Yan (publisher of Lucire)
and I were asked to judge and mark the presentations by Massey
University’s 2009 fashion students predicting trends for
2010–11. Their presentations were intelligent and thought-provoking.
It was clear that they had researched widely, not just on worldwide
clothing trends, but on politics, technology developments and the
global economy. While nobody can ever forecast the exact trends
that will be picked up in the future, theirs were calculated guesstimates,
and were very much in line with my ideas and predictions for the
next couple of years.
What we will be seeing in 2010–11 in catwalk
trends, and in 2012 in street trends, will emerge as refined versions
of the trends we are seeing today. Just as 2008’s grunge–rocker
look developed into the glunge–slasher trend that we see in
2009 at Rodarte and Dion Lee, styles will not change dramatically,
but will come forth as sophisticated developments from existing
styles.
The current resurgence of the 1980s’ luxe
rocker, with leather, rips and studs, will develop into a trend
of lady-killing opulence for 2011. Alexander Wang could be
credited with spurring this trend in his fall 2007 collection. After
Wang, every designer worth their salt began sending leather pants
down the runway. It took a while to filter down, but now both leather
and pleather trousers are available on the high street. Twenty-eleven
will give us a more gentlemanly approach to this trend: think Gucci’s
look in autumn–winter 2008 channelling Keith Richards and Jimi
Hendrix, or Rhys Ifan’s character Gavin in The Boat That
Rocked.
Whereas now we are just beginning to feel velvet
again, 2011 will bring it to us in a big way: expect to see it worming
its way into menswear as well. Military and matador jackets will
be rootled out of dusty cupboards; in fact, anything with embellishment
will be crazed over. Twenty-eleven will give you leather boots that
jangle and fabrics that glisten.
There is a certain degree of contradiction in
many trends we are seeing
today—particularly noticeable at Australian
Fashion Week for spring–summer 2009–10, where loose flowing
fabrics were roped in with heavy leather belts, and feminine florals
were balanced out with heavy heels and patent footwear that screamed
dominating sex. Twenty-eleven looks like it will be a concoction
consisting of all things girly, garnished with a dash of
intelligent punk in this contradictory trend. The fetish
feel of the future will be a lot more subtle than today’s standard,
morphing from our current dominatrix undertone to a loftier ‘I’m
sexy but tough—don’t mess with me’ attitude for 2011.
See Balmain spring 2009 for a peek in on the new look.
With the hullabaloo the world is making about
the dire straits our planet is in, it is no wonder fashion is developing
a conscience. We are already seeing a rise of the eco-trend,
with organic cottons, bamboo and other sustainable fabrics being
more widely used. Twenty-eleven will see an explosion of this trend,
with the development of sustainable fabrics and a refinement in
the design of eco- clothing.
This new movement is all for earth’s preservation,
and it is important for us to show others how much we care. We are
going back to our grass roots and competing to be more eco-friendly
than our neighbour. Back in our grass roots the colour scheme comprises
of browns, creams and hints of nature’s sky blue. Deep forest
green and the greys of the storm clouds also feature. Fabrics are
loose and sustainable in organic cottons, linen, reused rubber,
and plastics. The look is bookish and intellectual; the character
is a traveller of the world, and stems from Burberry’s spring
2009 and Marni’s resort 2010 collections.
These trends are merely a forecast and a framework
for what is to come in the seasons ahead. Not all catwalk looks
make it onto the main street, certain designers are always going
to throw something at us that is left-of-field, and there will always
be erratic micro-trends at street level to surprise and inspire
us. Let this be a guide but not a restriction to the adventurous
directions in which your wardrobe can go. •
Bronwyn Williams is assistant fashion editor of Lucire.
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While nobody can ever forecast the exact trends that will
be picked up in the future, theirs were calculated guesstimates,
and were very much in line with my ideas and predictions for the
next couple of years
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