INSPIRE

REALM OF THE SENSES:
The Passing Winter, 2005 (left) by Yayoi Kusama; The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (below left) by David Hockney


labels and screengrabs an image of a field of daisies and tulips. These disparate images will be the raw ingredients of her dynamite S/S 12 collection.
    'I wanted my prints to mimic the sheen of steel, engineered around the body, like a car chassis,' says Katrantzou. The process saw her translating complex references into waiting list-worthy cocktailwear, with structured sheaths made from engineered prints of 3-D chrome
July 2011, Islington, London:
designer Mary Katrantzou is
spending another long night
on her laptop. Bathed in the
eerie light of her screen, she’s
surfing for inspiration. She
stumbles across the crushed-car
sculptures of US artist John
Chamberlain, dragging and
dropping the images into a
folder. Her cursor hovers over
pictures of tropical fish; she
clicks to enlarge a few tin-can

The new season presents a brave new era in
fashion. It's hi tech, it's crazy, it's modern,
and it's totally desirable

of peonies. And what about
Dolce & Gabbana's
1950s-silhouette skirts, bustier
tops and sundresses peppered
with chillies and onions?
Hyper-real, computer-generated
images, of course. As for the
soundtrack to Christopher
Kane's metallic brocades cut into boxy 1960s pieces –
'Think high-def fashion
as seen in 3-D and with
the colour turned up'
none other than Lana Del
Rey's Video Games. Are you
seeing, um, a pattern here?
   In short, energetic digital
prints in exuberant hues
executed in delicious fuss-free
silhouettes are trending for
S/S 12. Think high-def fashion
as seen in 3-D and with the
colour turned up, or, if you
prefer, a new maximalism
flying in the face of austerity.
   The broader cultural world,
too, is brightly blurring the
digital, virtual and physical
worlds. Take Yayoi Kusama's
mind-boggling multimedia
works (at Tate Modern until
5 June); the iPad art recently
seen in the Royal Academy's David
Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture, and
German painter Anselm Reyle, who
uses foils from shop-window
displays, car spray and urban
refuse in his work (at The
bodywork, undulating tropical
fish and abstracted florals.
   Katrantzou is not the only
designer whipping up digital
prints and computer-enhanced
hues of Avatar-like brilliance.
The bird-of-paradise print
pieces from Givenchy?
Digitally manipulated.
DvF's Photoshop floral
pyjama pants? Inspired by
web-game imagery. Preen's
sugar almond-hued pencil
skirts? The geometric print
comes from pixellated prints
Modern Institute in Glasgow
later this year).
   Music is also tuning into
the vibe. Classical violinist
Hahn-Bin is a fan of Gareth
Pugh and Jeremy Scott,
and his stage look includes

'Digital printing means
more freedom to make
hyper-real designs'

make-up that's part alien, part
avenging angel, while rapper
Nicki Minaj's digi-print outfits
and synthetic-hued hair bristle
with an energy that makes her
the poster girl for the mood.
   'It couldn't have happened
before the internet,' says
Sandra Keating, womenswear
print designer at trend
forecaster WGSN. She's
named the coterie of creatives
who use the internet as a		 research tool and computers to
create work 'the jpg generation'.
'These image makers have an
"anything goes" attitude, mixing
lo-fi and hi-fi images with no
global boundaries, and an
addiction to more and more and
faster and faster. Plus digital
printing means they have more
freedom to produce hyper-real
designs with multiple references.' 		   No one sums up the
screengrab fusion better
than Jonathan Saunders,
who cites the inspiration for
his pill-hued, ombré-printed
current collection as
'American housewives in
the Eisenhower era, the
bright Miami sky, Dan
Flavin's light installations,
Edwardian portraiture




I PREDICT A RIOT:
Rapper Nicki Minaj (left) and violinist
Hahn-Bin (Self Portrait, far left) have
embraced fashion's hyper-real new look
and the surreal images of
Diane Arbus.'
    For MATCHESFASHION.COM joint CEO
Ruth Chapman, customers
are as much part of the jpg
generation as designers,
cutting and pasting fantasy
outfits on Polyvore an
'These bright pieces give an instant "shock" of pleasure'
adopting a pick 'n' mix
attitude to buying outfits
from MATCHESFASHION.COM.
   Of course, in a climate
of more-and-more tweeting,
Facebooking, YouTubing and
Instagramming, fashion is
fighting for airtime. Without
its trompe l'oeil shells, real
shells, coral and dyed blue
goose-feather hem, would that
 
Holly Fulton dress register on
the radar of the customer
receiving hourly feeds on
Tumblr, Pinterest and Twitter?
   'Well, there's so much
information around and
we have such a shortened
attention span we need to
be hooked now,' agrees
Chapman, who commissioned
Fulton and Katrantzou to
create exclusive pieces, plus
an exclusive collection from
Saunders for MATCHESFASHION.COM S/S 12.
'These bright pieces give an
instant "shock" of pleasure.'
   That pleasure extends to
craft, which has gained a new
currency for the jpg generation.
'For me, using print and
decoration to make pieces 3-D
is key today,' says Fulton.
   Such an artisanal craft
element also introduces the
idea of clothes as investment
luxury. 'There is a collectible
feel to these wow pieces,' says
Chapman. 'It's buying into
art you can wear; considered
purchases that harness an
impact all their own.'
    It seems S/S 12 is the season
of the dazzling keepsake piece.
'I see my clothes as being a
collection of experiences,' says
Fulton. 'I think that now is a
very special time in fashion.'
SHOP STELLA MCCARTNEY SHOP TABITHA SIMMONS SHOP RUPERT SANDERSON SHOP LOEWE SHOP CARDHOLDER BY PIERRE HARDY SHOP MSGM SHOP DIANE VON FURSTENBERG SHOP JONATHAN SAUNDERS SHOP CHRISTOPHER KANE LOEWE SHOP CHRISTOPHER KANE