The overall Title for the collection is Alternative Values - it is intended to introduce and encompass the idea that we are re-thinking values and how we approach the future and in particular in relation to fashion.
it is intended to be a positive and forward-thinking theme and even the colour of the book - rich deep orange (Marmalade) is intended to be positive and re-assuring, a traditional autumn colour but also a fun, lively, positive colour.
ANIMALISM – taking a soft-touch-focus on wildlife; tone and tactile inspirations from fur and pelt, feather and plumage, broken and interrupted pattern via a natural colour palette.
Taking inspiration from nature, in particular the animal world, textures and surfaces that evoke animal textures, soft and furry, curly and loopy constructions, sometimes silky and luxurious, comfortable and warm. Friendly, cuddly and sometimes a little playful - the feelgood factor is important, garments that will be like a hug or a warm embrace. Natural blends and looks enhanced by technology; sometimes stretchy, light or dense, easy to wear and carefree. A colour palette that evokes our ideas of nature and nurture, from dense black shades through luxurious mid-tones and delicate-looking shades of winter white
DENSITY – a discrete softly-softly theme incorporating brushed and fuzzy textures, light and lofty illusions, blurred and indeterminate colour effects.
Light lofty yarns, volume without weight, blends and constructions that suggest softness, out-of-focus textures. Sometimes dense and impenetrable sometimes fine and barely there. Melange and heathered effects continue the theme of disappearing in fog and reappearing out of mist. Mini-boucle textures create irregular and unclear surfaces - not quite plain and not really patterned. Soft colours have a washed out look, sharpened by richer mid-tones and defined by dark hues.
CONTACT – exploring the senses of touch and surface, covering and revealing, aged, washed and faded looks, subtle encased effects and ideas of alternative viewpoints.
Somewhere in this theme is the idea of memories, slightly romantic - the idea of a colour, once deeper but now faded and washed out, but fondly remembered. The idea that like our favourite jeans or something old and worn, it just gets better with age. Weathered effects tough but also soft. Encased and tubular yarns veil and subdue colours, half hidden - half revealed. Soft melange effects mix colours, evoking change and transformation. Colour evokes our favourite jeans too, the utility of blue. the changing sea and skies. Warm natural shades are reassuring and timeless.
COMMUNITY – a richly coloured and diversely textured contemporary collective, incorporating heritage values with new ideas and youthful uptown style.
Reflecting our modern world, a colourful mix of cultures and traditions, lively, old and new, a little bit mixed up and transformed. Rich glamourous tweeds incorporate lively colour and texture in unexpected and exciting ways. Yarns are twisted and wrapped, mixing textures and colours, encased and constructed, complex and clever, frequently not quite what they seem - revealing other strands and influences. Young and old, new and familiar mix and crossover. Colours are largely mid-tone not really bright but appearing confident and exciting, stimulating and new.
CELEBRATION – a lively, upbeat group; an updated interpretation of some of our favourite textures, enlivened with uptempo colours and new effects.
This is the really lively one, fun and upbeat. A celebration of technology and texture. A rich mix of textures. Traditional tweeds are given a boost of fun and funky, strong confident colour is softened by melange and mouline effects or allowed full reign in energetic saturated solid surprises - neps and pops of colour where you least expect them! Traditional textures and effects are revived and given new life with bold exciting combinations or relaxed into after-midnight moods - dark is never quite black.
MODERNISIM – a new take on simplicity, combining up to date techniques with our all-time favourite fibres, newly made-over for clean updated classics.
This is the theme for the confident urban dweller. Contemporary in every way, classic and even minimal sometimes, never over-stated, but assured and right in any situation. Yarns a clean and rounded, softly defined and confident or quiet and discrete, never shouting, but getting their message across of modern sophistication and confidence. Luxury is implied but never overstated - the epitome of stealth dressing. Drape is cool and a little relaxed, yet but can take on formal too. Colours are clean and cosmopolitan, almost season-less, international.