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AW20 Trends: Pattern Play

Sandra Halliday
10 March 2020

London Fashion Week tracked New York in many of its biggest trend stories but there were subtle shifts too. For instance, the checkerboard made less of an impact but is still worth noting because of its potential for easily updating core separates.

Check moved out from being a secondary trend to the big story in London. And here it was seen across just about everything, making a big impact on coats but also on the dresses and tailoring categories. For dresses, designers used it creatively, often cutting panels so that the checks worked almost as pattern contrasts and looked more fluid than a traditional check would. In tailoring, contrast checks (some of them so faint as to be barely distinguishable) also perked up some quite conservative pieces.

AW20 Trends

Erdem, Erdem, Markus Lupfer, Erdem, Rejina Pyo, Shrimps, Temperley London

Florals against dark grounds were a carry-on from New York but perhaps not as dominant as they’d been across the Atlantic. That said, this is clearly a big story for the AW20 season and could be one that we see hitting retail earlier during this year.

Christopher Kane, Christopher Kane, Erdem, Fiona O’Neill

Geometrics made their presence felt as giant statement patterns that came in printed, woven or pieced forms. Som elf the big names embraced the trend but the work of newcomer-to-print Fiona O’Neill (showing as Part of the BFC’s Positive Fashion exhibition) was also an impressive and more commercial move on from her previous hand-painted collections.

Awake Mode, Burberry, MM6 Maison Margiela, Awake Mode, Burberry

Animal prints are on the must-have list season after season, but while NYFW kept them largely for coats, in London they made an impact for day and eveningwear too. The primary choice was leopard (when isn’t it?) but zebra prints also made their presence felt on fluid silks.

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