Picture from www.style.com - Alexander McQueen SS09 

Striking prints are everywhere this summer from Kaleidoscope to monochromatic to digital and pixellated patterns. They are bold, bright and can’t be missed. Alexander McQueen led the way at the Spring summer 09 catwalks with his shattered crystal or mosaic prints. The look was computer generated and challenged the eye in the way that no ditsy floral print ever could. The key to wearing these eye catching prints in a stylish way is by choosing key simply cut clothes like shift dressed and t shirts, the patterns do not need any further complications. Go as bright and multicoloured or as simple as you like, there is plenty to choose from. This is a great modern way to wear this seasons neons without looking like a raver that got lost in the wrong time zone.

If you though you couldn’t do graphic prints then try keeping it really simple with this monochromatic Pharmacy Industry Top

picture from  www.g-pisd.org

Imagine a sun drenched beach, turquise sea, palm trees and brightly coloured hibiscus flowers. These colours and pictures make you feel warm and happy. That is why I love tropical colours and prints for summer clothes, they remind me of everything that summer is  about. I also love the retro Hawaian surf wear feel of many tropical prints.

I love the mixture of colours in this Tropical print dress. It is perfect for a summer party, evening out on holiday or even a wedding.

This Tropical vintage dress is great for beach wear or a summer barbeque or picnic. It is casual and relaxed but a great colour with a really sweet floral print.

These Yellow Tropical Hot Pants would look great with a tropical coloured halter neck top for an perfect beach outfit.

This Tropical Foral Print Scarf is the prefect accessory for adding a bit of a tropical feel to a neutral work suit.

I make no secret of the fact that I love bright and colourful clothes, especially in teh spring and summer. For spring summer 09, I was delighted to see lots of gorgeous and very modern prints in bright colours.

At Alexander McQueen, the prints were inspired by nature and environmentalism and had a modern computer pixelated appearance. I think this was my favourite of all the spring summer 09 colourful prints.

At Jonathan Saunders, the cool watercolour like prints were made using the most amazing colour combinations.

At Peter Pilotto - bright swirly prints were used on expertly draped dresses for a great effect. Just as would be expected from the design duo at Peter Pilotto.

I love the interesting print on this Santacroce shirt.

Circles and semi circles seem to be a bit of a theme at some of the spring summer 09 shows. The geometric shapes formed by lots of circles or semi circles embellishments and laser cut pieces attached to garments made for some interesting silhouettes. The roundness of the clothes is something of a development on last seasons rounded shoulders and tulip skirts, with shapes now even bigger, stronger and sharper than before.

At Dolce and Gabbana - full circles were used to make a very interesting and exaggerated sleeve shape that was complimented perfectly by the understated pencil skirt.

At Chloe - Small semi circles along the shoulder and arm line of this jacket made for a soft but dramatic shape.

At Christopher Kane - semi circles inspired by dinosaur scales gave the skirt a very interesting three dimensional shape.

At Marni - Lots of circles in strong colours or black were used to make a compelling decoration.

pictures from www.style.com

If you want to add a bit of circular fashion to your wardrobe look out for spotted and geometric circle prints, embellishments in circle or semi circle shapes, big rounded shoulders and jewellery with circle and semi circle shapes.

For a subtle take on the springs circle trend, I love these Dower & Hall Forget Me Not Print Circle Earrings

I always love writing posts about Dries Van Noten and I couldn’t help writing a post about his Autumn Winter 08 collection. As usual Dries has put together a collection that I can only really describe as very clever. His combination of patterns, textures and colours is a unique skill that is not often demonstrated by other designers. His clothes are lovely but the real talent is in the combinations. Any one can combine lots of different patterns and colours but few could make them look this good.

This outfit does mish mash perfectly combining a neutral tailored jacket over a longer chiffon blouse with pale lilac trousers and black socks. 

 This outfit is gorgeous I love the multicoloured trousers under the black dress and striking orange and black jacket.

Dries manages to balance out the sugary floaty lilac skirt perfectly with this chunky knitted jumper.

pictures from www.elleuk.com

If you want to have a go at combining colours textures and patterns, this Paisley Jacket is a great starting point.

At the Autumn Winter 08 shows, it was clearly evident that D&G like a bit of tartan. The catwalk was awash with tartan in every conceivable way.

 Tartan with velvet for a cool retro vibe

Tartan with spots and flowers for a new take on the summers mixing of patterns trend 

Tartan with another classic Scottish design- Argyle which is said to have come from the tartan of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in Western Scotland.

Tartan with Checks

Tartan with tartan

Tartan with paisley

Tartan with everything.

pictures from style.com

I have also recently spotted a D&G advertisement in a glossy magazine that feature tartan with leopard print. I am stunned! There is probably not 2 more arguementative prints than tartan and leopard print. The tartan and leopard print contrast in just avout every possible way. Tartan is bright colours, a uniform pattern with straight lines. Leopard print is neutral colours with softer wavy lines and a less uniform pattern. I think this combination is really only for the very very brave.

 For me the highlight of the whole D&G Autumn winter 08 collection is the long tartan evening dresses. The look was softened by using chiffon and ruffles and frills. This is a great way to convert this summers chiffon, flowing and frilly trend to a winter alternative.

 If you want to get the D&G tartan with everything try teaming these Pamela Mann Argyle Tights with a tartan skirt.

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Pictures from Style.com

I have recently posted on how stripes can be used as an optical illusion to trick the eyes into thinking that you look different and also on the mixing of patterns for spring summer 08. The spring / summer 08 collection from Thakoon combines both of these ideas in one. With bright bold prints teamed with blue and white stripy prints and a variety of different lines, taking the eyes off here there and everywhere. My eyes were so confused they didn’t know where to to look. This is a really interesting look but not one for someone who wants to fade into the background or merge into a crowd. The mixture of patterns and lines is both interesting and rather tiring on the eyes, so perhaps not ideal for the morning after the night before.

In a stark contrast to the business of these outfits, the collection also featured brightly coloured dresses in just one colour. These were nice but not nearly so interesting. If you would like to work this confusing look, then try combining these Emilio Cavallini Striped Capri Leggings with a gorgeous floral print dress.

Dries Van Noten

Roberto Cavalli

 Just Cavalli

Pictures from Style.com 

Spring / Summer 08 is to be filled with all sorts of patterns from stripes and spots to stars and floral. Many designers have intensified the effect of the patterns by mixing different patterns together. At Dries Van Noten, they were bright and clashing giving the collection a light, relaxed, summery feel. At Roberto Cavalli the patterns were similar shades of purples and greens.  The Just Cavalli patterns were bold and bright with black and white increasing the contrast.

In an attempt to become more adventurous with my sense of style, I will be trying to experiment with patterns this summer. Some of the mixtures that I have found work particularly well are:

Stripes and floral in similar colour schemes

Similar size patterns but with clashing colours if I am feeling very brave.

Different patterns similar colours like this Ana Mika V top dress below (right)

2 similar colour floral patterns but with different size patterns like this Laura Ashley floral maxi dress below (left).