Floral prints certainly reflect the renewed desire for cultural heritage, which consumers perceive as familiar and safe. Painted flowers take us into familiar  settings of picture frames, while their artistic edge evokes an emotional outlet. Those flowers are proposed with different techniques and vary in scales, providing a sophisticated aesthetic which speaks to nostalgic hearts. The contrast to the digital world causes these brushstroke motifs to be admired for their tangible beauty, and appreciated as if meticulously painted.

As an ode to impressionist art that used dynamic brushstrokes to depict nature at  first-sight, screen-printing is experimenting with a similar blurring techniques for a meta world now. Flowers fade into the background as if captured in movement, dialoguing with the background and all the elements around in colorful unison. Blurred flowers are an innovative way to combine modern print techniques with the most classic print theme for womenswear.

The scale of flowers is fundamental to the specific aesthetic in print design: each flower has its own magical meaning and fits into a different scenario depending on its size. For this season, brands are focusing on macro-scaled motifs, creating an all-over artwork with big blooming flowers. Flowers reclaim their individual identity and embed a statement narrative: As a rebirth, deeply desired over the past months, these bold flowers are a suitable option for the more fashionable consumers that grow beyond their pre-pandemic selves now.

Consumers have spent their time dreaming about far-away tropics, yet today, islands that seemed unreachable only a few months ago, appear in reach. By seeking the opportunity to gather during summer nights and feel alive exotic botanics are refreshing the flower mix. While tropical design returns as a classic motif over summer seasons, it is now fusing exotic landscapes and nocturnal vibes: prints emerge on dark, intriguing backgrounds to seduce as nightly, glooming floras of endearing tropical paradises.

Groovy retro vibes have been around for a while now and still manage to feed consumers’ appetite for positive energies and relaxing atmospheres. The 70s were deeply influenced by a positivist culture that promoted peace and spread love. The effects of these cultural shifts were evident on design and are replicated in current approaches to flower prints, where a Woodstock vibe is visible. The retro motif is seeking for equal peace and similar states of mind now. Colors are precisely combined to provide calming effects and flowers have both, a delicate allure but hypnotic power.

Regency Core is still influencing current design narratives, bringing back England of the 19th century England to our current days. Accordingly, ditsy flowers function as a symbolic print to embellish this re-discovered aesthetic. As in a Jane Austen novel, young consumers want to revive the bucolic vibe and strive for a romantic hue in their lives. There they come, the little flowers decorating the garment with wallpaper effects. In line with the increase of must-have pieces, such as corsets and doll dresses, the ditsy print is creating a distinct aesthetic within the zeitgeist.

The strong appeal of nature, cottage life and horticulture appears to minimize impact on body and soul to escape the urban life. Even post-pandemic, this consumer feeling is influencing contemporary fashion. For summer season, dresses are calmed with botanical motifs, which combine flowers and other botanic elements into beautifully curated garden. In a studied manner, heritage motifs from the past are generating a renewed traditionalism that can be applied to fashion products.

Minimalism has become more alluring since we’ve been forced to face the effect of consumerism on the planet and on our own lives. This theme shaped a new cultural shift and certainly affected some designs to the roots. The interest in primal motifs constantly grew, as it promises to bring us closer to earth again. From tribal to primitive art, pre-historic influences are fusing with the dressy pattern of florals. Primal flowers have been recently rediscovered and integrated into summer collections, with simple draw-lines and limited colors to describe the beauty of simplicity and the essence of our ancestral connection with nature.

Another aesthetic that seems more reductive, is taking flowers out of the print and retaining their traces, their shadow in duo-toned patterns. The figure-ground contrast is a powerful graphic element capable of emotive styles with only two colors and seemingly simple, outlined shapes. Simple repetition patterns that build on this contrast of background and flower can also be used to create an intense optical effect and play with existing – not existing even more.

The kid core trend is strongly influencing fashion, ranging from monochromatic styles to artful collage prints. Naive and child-like flowers are an extreme result of this powerful aesthetic and take us back to the effortlessness of the good old days. Playing with colors to enforce moods and restore energies,  these quirky motifs are reminders of light-hearted happiness of childhood and affect a very energetic power. This intense happiness seems essential for greater communal strength and delivers a core message during challenged times.