Check this out Tartan is back

Its Winter and checks are here again, dogtooth checks are very popular on the high street at the moment but my prediction is we will see more classic traditional tartan back on the autumn winter 13 catwalks in authentic colours. This makes me wonder if the kilt will be back in fashion next Winter , I suppose we will just have to wait and see. 

Tartan Fashion

Street shots taken from 

http://blog.stylesight.com/street/tartan-times

blue top, topshop

shoes christian louboutin

Prints Instore this week

High Street Prints

I attempted to do some Christmas shopping yesterday and took a quick look in  Primark , I spotted some really fun prints and some great animal conversational all over prints see below.

Love this cushion I spotted seen in Debenhams.

Animal Print Tutorial

Following the animal prints in the last post I thought I would show you a quick tutorial as to how I go about producing such a design. 

step 1

Take a picture of your animal or find a good copyright free high quality image and open this in adobe photoshop CS5. 

step 2

select the filter gallery from the top menu bar and select the cutout filter, I then adjusted the settings number of levels 8 ,edge simplicity 0, edge fidelity 3, this then changed the picture from a photo print to more of a simple print with fewer colours and detail.

step 3

I then selected some photo's of a hat and a bow tie that I liked and and placed each one on a separate layer and added the same filter as in step 2.

step 4 

I then deleted any background they had by selecting the magic wand on the area I wanted to delete and then pressed the delete button.

step 5

I then adjusted the size of the hat and bow tie by using the scale tool which is under the edit tab -transform-scale, I then used the rotate tool  to get the right angle of each one,this is found in the  free transform- rotate, under the edit tab at the top menu bar.

step 6

Then to change the colour of the hat and bowtie I selected a pink colour I liked from the swatches palette and then selected  image tab from the top menu bar, adjust-hue and saturation , in this box I selected colourise and then moved each bar to get the desired colour.

step 7 

Then before I placed my final print into illustrator I checked there was no white background in the layers palette highlighted, the background should look transparent. That part is now finished and 

I then placed my image onto my vector design I had created in illustrator.

see below one finished Pyjama style.

Quirky Animal Realism Prints

Animal Character prints are soon to be appearing on ladies tops,knitwear and nightwear. The trend is to make the prints look more life like as oppose to cute cartoons  as seen in previous seasons. The animals themselves look more life like but then have a quirky edge by adding bow-tie's ,Hats ,glasses etc. Although there is already a few of these prints around at the moment the trend is defiantly going to be much bigger next year. I am currently working on a few Animal placement prints for the UK highstreet which will be in store next Autumn winter 13. Below are some pictures I used for inspiration when working on my designs.

Add caption

Free skull vector clipart

To get you started on those skull designs here are some free downloadable vector clipart patterns and skull graphics enjoy x
download vector skulls here

Skull Feature

The High street has been saturated with Skull Imagery over the last few seasons and it seems to be a trend that maybe around to stay a little longer as still some designers were still draw to skull prints for the spring summer 13 collections, Bright Mexican influenced skulls were seen at  Mayan Hanson spring summer 13 catwalk shows. The newer take on this trend see's skulls  bold and bright in geometric or tribal themes or the reverse and very feminine and subtle as seen in lace prints at Emilio Pucci. Personally am not sure if the skull thing has had its day what do you think?  see below some more inspiring  skulls Pictures.

Gypsy Nomad

This Bohemian Spring Summer 13 look has very much a folk gypsy influence.  It is more Luxurious  than seen in previous seasons with Intricate Embroidery and cutwork being  key. Paisley and foulard patterns are seen in bold colours and are mixed with geometrics to give them a up to date feel . See below some inspiring picture's along with some free ethnic floral and paisley vector clipart to download.

download free vector clip art here

My Top 5 Fashion Apps

If your a smart phone lover or I Pad crazy then I am sure you will have a few fashion apps on your devices. Personally I would find it difficult now to do without my I-phone I just cant resist to check out my  favorite sites and keep up-to date with all the latest fashion news.There is so many fashion apps available its can be hard deciding  which ones to install  So I have compiled a list of my personal favorites  I would also love to know what  your favorite apps are.

Pinterest

I Am a massive lover of Pinterest, If you haven't heard of it, its basically somewhere you can pin all your favorite pictures into categorized boards you create, you can search and follow other people and find some really inspiring pictures if you click on a picture it then gives you an option of repining it and if you then click it again it takes you to the original source where it came from, which is a great way of finding interesting blogs and sites. The only downside to pinning on your I- phone is you can't pin from websites like you can on your PC, well at least if you can I haven't worked out how to do it yet, but the app is still great for searching the site itself. You can follow me on Pinterest  here and we can then begin sharing our inspiring images.


































Shopstyle
I love this app, In my opinion its the best shopping app it has various categories women ,men, kids and home and you can search and look at thumbnail pictures of hundreds of items from over 300 outlets it allows you to customize the search so you can find the right colour, size and price range, its great for finding bargains.

Lookbook

This is an app where people upload there look its great for inspiring street wear pics each picture has a number rating depending on how many views it has had, so you can do a search for what's hot being the most popular.

Trendstop

This is a great site for keeping up-to date  with up and coming trends fashion news and catwalks.

The only downside to this app is there is only so much that is free and some of the content can only be read if you subscribe, one month subscription is £1.99 , 12 months £8.99

Style.com

The best app for viewing the latest catwalk shows, it has full coverage of all the shows plus a great archive, it also has videos and photos from all the latest parties and a fantastic style blog

Free People Launches on-line in the UK

1970's U.S fashion label Free People  launches on-line in the UK, sister brand of Urban Outfitters and Anthroplogie. It has a boho, hippy, feminine feel many pieces are embellished and use a mix of fabrics.The collection not only covers ladies-wear but also overs footwear, a pet range and in the home section there is some beautiful printed skateboards , never thought I would want to own a skateboard again but would love one of those to hang on my wall.
The price range differs from the affordable dresses starting at £28 to the more pricey going up to £800.
See below some of my personal favourites that I would like on my Christmas wish list.


Visit Free people website

Source: freepeople.co.uk via Emma on Pinterest

Kitsch Comic book printed sweaters

Think comic book, retro, pop art .This story is bold and fun with explosive prints. I love the nerdy printed star wars sweaters teamed with pretty girly skirts, here are some of my favourite inspiring pics along with some downloadable vector clip-art so you can start you own kitsch designs.

EPS vector clip-art below to get you started download link below http://www.2shared.com/file/_LsZDA2M/COMIC_POP_CLIPART.html

Black and white Monochrome trend

Black and white will always be seen as chic and classic, and looks like it is still on trend  this winter and into next spring summer, this time round it has moved on from simplistic,with complex geometrics and futuristic colour blocking . Marc Jacobs SS13 collection had a very strong mod feel with with lots of black and white stripe's and patterns. Channel's collection also had a black and white theme see below some of the best monochrome catwalk looks along with some of the best statement street shots enjoy ! x

Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2013 above.