Fashion is going through a terrific fascination with patterns and prints: some designers are constantly developing innovative digitally engineered textiles, others are going back to techniques mainly employed at couture levels; some are borrowing ideas from faraway countries, others are studying the archives of famous textile workshops.
If you consider yourself a pattern and print fan or if you are a fashion designer on the lookout for further ideas and inspirations, Elizabeth Walker's Style Book II - Pattern and Print (Flammarion) may be the publication for you.
The book is divided in nine different sections tackling a bit of everything, from international indigenous influences to Orientalism and the Far East, passing through checks, gingham, flora and fauna prints, typography, stripes and spots.
The author juxtaposes one archival image with a more modern one, so you may get Mayan teenagers during the Day of the Dead celebrations in Guatemala on one page and Anna Piaggi on the next; a fashionista in a Peruvian knit tunic and a Umatilla woman on an Indian reservation in Oregon; Björk performing in a rainbow-coloured gown and Tibetan women during the Litang Horse Racing Festival; Jayne Mansfield in leopard print pants and a model from the '50s in a shirtwaister with a dachsund print and a wide sash; Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce in a bird patterned cropped top and Jermaine Jackson in a blue birds and bees floral shirt; Nijinsky in the Blue God and a Turkish street vendor; a Chanel look from 1989 and a group of men in Hussar uniforms.
Though this volume does not contain any essays about our current fascination with prints and patterns (and that's a bit of a shame actually), it features over 400 pages of inspiring images, and ideas: from newspaper, traffic signal and logo prints to sequinned designs inspired by musical instruments (think Cher and Liberace); from flags and symbols of peace to crosswords and space age motifs; from Art Deco to Optical and Pop Art prints; from animal (including snake, leopard, tiger and zebra prints) to botanical and nautical; from striped looks from the late 1800s to Mondrian checks and graphic triangles, from enormous spots on a 1970s Christian Dior dress to paisley prints.
Some of the most beautful pictures feature the costumes of Kuna women in the Colombian jungle, but there is a long section dedicated to tribal décor, beaded, printed or woven motifs that anticipates the African influence that will become a fully-fledged trend come next Spring.
Another interesting inspiration that we will see entering our wardrobes in the Spring/Summer 2014 season is the exotic one, analysed in the book through Hawaiian shirts, as donned by Elvis Presley, Tom Selleck, and American actress Dorothy Lamour in a 1940 picture portraying her in a simple yet striking orange and green dress.
The section about Orientalism looks at a myriad of influences, from Japanese costumes to Burmese, Mongolian, Bhutanese, Indian, Indonesian and Javanese ones. Leaf through the book to marvel at Maharajahs covered in sparkling jewels and magnificent sapphires or admire the stunning modernity of Denise Poiret.
Quite a few images included in the book feature Hollywood stars, but pop, rock and glam musicians also appear here and there together with elegant models from the '50s or from recent catwalk shows, modern celebrities, eccentric socialities, women in traditional clothing, and ladies at Ascot races.
There are some faults with this book, one is variation: in some cases a specific theme is tackled using images of the same person wearing different garments (Cher and Kuna women appear more than just one time). Besides, every now and then the descriptions are not very detailed, there are no in-depth texts to accompany the various sections and most images are taken from the same archive (the Getty Images Gallery), as if the volume was hastily put together with no chance to do further researchers (surely the butterfly section could have been expanded, after all, the history of fashion is full of butterfly prints, plus there are no images of Schiaparelli's original newspaper print - yet these are the consequences of limiting yourself to research things in just one archive).
As a whole, though, it's a book worth getting, especially if you work in the fashion industry and you're in search of an instantly visually striking and inspiring idea.
Style Book II - Pattern and Print by Elizabeth Walker is out now on Flammarion.
Image Credits
All images courtesy of Flammarion
1. Book Cover.
2. A Nepalese woman in traditional clothing.
3. American socialite Peggy Hunt in a long zebra-print skirt, 1952.
4. Model in a shirtwaister with a dachsund print, 1955.
5. American actress Jayne Mansfield in a white T-shirt and leopard-print pants, c. 1955.
6. Madonna performing in a rather bizarre outfit, 1983.
7. Singer Jermaine Jackson of The Jackson 5 in a birds and bees floral shirt, 1972.
8. British model Twiggy in a newsprint dress in London, 1967.
9. A dress with enormous spots and tiny dots, from Christian Dior's Spring/Summer 1970 Haute Couture collection.
10. French model Ines de la Fressange during Chanel's Autumn/Winter 1989 show.
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