PURE London Trends- Mix it up !

leather and fabric shoes - mix & match

Note the floral lining on the child's tweed coat

Mix it up, use it up, thrifty fashion

Joules - tweed over dress, stripes contrast with weave

An example of mix and match texture trend -  sheer skirt , smooth velvet jacket, warm woollen scarf and a bag that combines it all ( use up the left over fabric to make the accessories) - thrifty and fabulous




Textural contrast and bespoke hand craft looking embellishments

tweed jacket, layered

Detail important, see the lace heart and back label with bow - this was appealing and a quality pointer 

Liked the back detail of this tweed jacket - compliments the frilly dress

Feminine textural contrast trend

I enjoyed my day at 'Pure London' yesterday. It was well organised and had an excellent and diverse collection of home and international brands.
What stood out for me 
Tweed and quality weave woollens and calm tartans were popular mixed and worn with silks, velvets, cottons, poplins, jerseys and knits such as Fair Isle. Inside is as important as the outside! I was attracted to those brands that paid attention to detail, for example I like to see coats lined imaginatively with pretty florals, spots, stripes, bright or pastel coloured fabrics (Barbour are doing a floral lining now in their fitted coats) and colour contrast piping even thin lace trim along the seams and hem with small ribbon plain or patterned bows.
It adds a feel of luxury. White stuff has placed a thin lace trim on some of the hems of their summer skirt linings - if you are paying more you expect something that has the feel of being bespoke and not off an Indian or chinese assembly line ( even if it is)! We have seen this trend emerge in a small way this winter in other brands such as  Bodens, Jack Wills, and Joules. Paul Smith has been doing this for years... 
I thought I liked Salt Waters' Collection the most however having looked at their web site think the styling is not great, the model is too young and frankly looks bored in most of the shots, a more womanly figure would have looked better in these styles, the clothes looked better on the hanger mostly! sorry !   
Norwegian brand Ti Mo and Swedish brand Bohemia most represented the strong layering, texture/pattern contrast trend pointing it to a more girly feminine style by using embellishment such and lace and sheer fabrics and detail focus on the finishing. 
I think the consumer will become more discerning and savvy, demanding more cache, quality and value from their purchases in these spending cautious times.