Modern Fashion Design and Vintage Influence

Modern Fashion- An ever-changing cycle

Modern Fashion is an ever-changing cycle. As soon as one season gets underway, another is already planned and in production. Modern trends battle to be totally unique as many styles and looks have hints of previous trends and vintage inspirations. Iconic vintage styles for previous decades have paved the way for many designers who have taken inspirations from colours, cuts, design and style.

As New York and London Fashion week get underway in the next few weeks, we are sure to see hints of vintage styling and design amongst the many designer collections on show. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, vintage looks and particular styles from previous decades give us popular well known designs that everyone love to wear and recreate fashion from a bygone era.

Many people may be unaware that modern styles and designs are sometimes taken from vintage designs and here are some of recent examples of modern designers using vintage inspirations for their collections.

Swing back to the sixties

Styles from the 1960’s have always been a popular look. Short hemlines, funky graphic design and shift style dresses have been an inspiration in modern fashion designer collections. Spring/summer 2013 saw the playful side of the era with bold colours and cute dresses from designers such as Prada, Louis Vuitton and Moschino. An upcoming trend for autumn/winter 2014 sees darker tones, prints and shift dresses create an on trend look for the current season. Orla Kiely recreated this 60’s style favourite on recent catwalks.

Flirtations with the fifties

The 1950’s saw gorgeous feminine full skirt dresses and figure enhancing looks. This look has been recreated many times with several designers taking inspirations from the gorgeous cuts and styles of this decade. Back in autumn/winter 2010 designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana and Dior celebrated prom style looks in their collections. Other designers’ collections saw light fabrics and spring tones such as Temperley London’s pieces in spring/summer 2013.

Modern Fashion and The eclectic eighties

This decade itself takes inspirations from a previous era. The well-known large shoulder pads from this decade were originally developed in 1930’s fashion. Other distinguishing features of the 1980’s included bright colours, tight print leggings and tailored power suits. Designers such as Marc Jacobs and Donna Karen used inspirations from this iconic era in previous autumn/winter collections.

There are many other designers that have taken inspiration from vintage decades including iconic prints such as geometric and asymmetric design shown on Issa and Matthew Williamson’s collections. 1970’s romanticism was featured in velvet styles from Emilio de la Morena whilst folk design enhanced collections from Meadham Kirchhoff in recent autumn/winter collections.

There is no getting away from the influence of past decades in today’s Modern Fashion fashions. Each season sees variations of iconic styles and looks, each has its own merits and influencing features for a future generation of trends.

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