Sales season is almost over and the first autumn items have arrived in the stores. Perfect timing to have a look at what’s ahead fashion-wise at one of my favourite high street stores, River Island.
The a/w collection shows us 6 different trends; Downtown, Blogger, Scandi, Futuristic Goth, Maggie and Baroque.
Downtown – ‘Boy dressing meets Punk’. Influenced by the Soho (NY) in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the designers bring us lots of oversized swagger coats layered over geometric prints.
Proving just how this phenomenon is shaping the British high-street, River Island comes with a couple of Blogger - inspired looks that are described as ‘organized chaos’ and consist of fun mixes of colour, fabrics and prints with crazy statement pieces. It’s a rather freestyle look where anything goes; more is more.
Scandi – ‘Vikings and Warrior Princesses’. Thé trend for you if you’re looking for some beautiful outerwear. Animal motifs, tartan, furs and checks galore, with a dark colour palette perfect for moodier winter weather.
Futuristic Goth brings the Like A Prayer era Madonna look up to date with leather, silky slip dresses, velvet, sheer & chiffon, delicate lace and lots of crosses and harsh accessories with spikes and chains. I’m loving this mix of hard and soft textures.
Maggie – Prim, proper and ‘Quintessentially ladylike’. Maggie celebrates your inner Kate Middleton, but also carries the 1950s appear into an additional season. Tweeds, boucle, pastel colours and touches of gold take the Chanel-esque appear into colder climate. The accessories in this collection are a fantastic place to commence look out for leather gloves, costume jewellery and fab fur stoles.
Baroque – ‘Lavish and powerful’. There are two sides to this trend; a more formal Eastern Baroque (brocade, tassels and pearly queen detailing) and the casual Urban Baroque (leather, wet look fabrics with Victorian touches). Lots of opulent detailing, fabrics and accessories.
The opulence of the baroque trend definitely caught my eye and I’m looking forward to grab me some statement pieces for the winter festivities. I’m also drawn to the contrasts of the futuristic goth looks, even though I have nothing in my closet that’s even remotely similar. Oddly enough, I don’t have any interest in the ‘Blogger’ looks. I guess this sort of indicates a blogger can’t be pushed into one style category. Which trends are your favourites?
River Island Design Forum by William Tempest
That’s not all folks, as usual RI also brings out a capsule collection. The River Island Design Forum returns this autumn with a brand new designer; William Tempest! Tempest is a London College of Fashion graduate who worked for Giles Deacon and JC De Castelbajac before launching his own line in 2009.
For the RI collection William drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian mythology, 1920s interiors and the work of M. C. Escher. This resulted into a collection of effortless eveningwear in black and nude fabrics and geometric art deco patterns.
The 13-piece collection is expected to arrive in selected stores and online in October.
RiRi for RI
More exciting news from RI is that no one other than Rihanna is going to design a capsule collection for them that will be released next spring!
‘We are thrilled to be collaborating with Rihanna and to be the first fashion brand to work with her in this way. Rihanna is a style icon, from street to chic she enjoys her fashion. As soon as we started to work together we knew this was a perfect fit. Rihanna will be designing the collection and we will be sharing our fashion experience with her to develop a range her fans will love.’ - Ben Lewis River Island Chief Executive
‘I’ve been wanting to design my own collection for some time. River Island is the perfect partner for me to collaborate with and working with a British, family run business also really appealed to me. I find London really inspiring and River Island loves to have fun with clothes. I’m looking forward to working with them and creating something really special.’ - Rihanna
Talk about a perfect match! Little is known about the upcoming collection to date, but I’ll keep you posted!
As you can see there are a lot of things to look forward to. The only thing left I’d love to get in my inbox is a press release saying they’re finally going to open a second Belgian store. Let’s keep those fingers crossed because you know what they say; good things come to those who wait!