I'm currently working on designs for Spring and Summer 2009. That's not a typo, 2009 is right, that's how far ahead the textile artists/designers have to work. The market for this season begins in Jan 2008 as in right now- I shouldn't even be blogging this, I should be working. This is when apparel designers go shopping for inspiration and ideas to build their collections. I'm usually more focussed on t shirt graphics but I do some textile designs if I have a strong motivation or am inspired to do this. This is mainly because the the market demand is driven by womenswear and I don't really have a 'pretty' hand. I could direct my attention to the menswear market but the prints they want tend to be less forward and less interesting- so I'm sort of caught between the two. Until there's the right moment when what I like to do coincides with what's in demand.
Remember my post where I mentioned the developing trend for gardens and flowers. Well thats really gathering momentum now. The recent spread in Vogue Italia by Stephen Meisel was really interesting - just a huge clash of flower prints staged like a Klimt painting. So I'm definitely jonesing to do some floral prints. Coincidentally another development has been trending over the last couple of years- the rise of the surf short. The men's market has gradually been taking on this item as a wear everywhere garment- not just the beach. The good news for me is that the print tastes in this sector of the market is pretty forward and it loves tropical flowers.
So I'm working on a few of those. Can't show them here as I sell the proprietary rights of the print along with the actual print. I did however start this artwork pictured above a while back. Its based on a photo I took of the honeysuckle at Mamaroneck and is a test/trial for some artwork that I will be making available through this site in the near future. The color palette and the rustic weave gives you a good idea of what I'm working on.
