The Livetrend Team has attended the leading Textile and Design Fairs: Milano Unica  and Linea Pelle – in Milan and  Première Vision – in Paris. Focused on recent developments and innovations in fabrics and materials, this report provides you with all the necessary trend directions for SS23.  The stories are curated to offer you guidance on design choices to create the best products from the very beginning.

How can textiles adapt to an antithetic movement? 

Recent times brought back strong polarized sentiments which will lead fashion through profoundly antithetic trends moving forward. A unique reaction to uncertainties and frustrations generates deep and multifacetted consumer attitudes: an ancestral longing for the past is generating a glimpse of positivity towards the future, while a deep craving for genuine and rural lifestyles is juxtaposing a digital ethereal world. It happens all at once, seeking for closure, hiding in serene loneliness, celebrating re-birth, staying still and moving fast.

SS 23 reflects a complex world where natural and artificial, frivolous and sober, real and virtual, all interact with each other. And while these concepts will not only co-exist, they serve as complementary elements that better address continuous changes and more complex consumers.

The textile trend Rural Roots celebrates the rediscovered connection between man and nature. The past years generated an intense hunger for communal and genuine sensations, now expressed through visionary rusticity. With this textile direction  SS23 embeds nature into an upgraded countryside tale of revitalized roughness and genuine nuances. Consumers’ desire for enhanced ruralism will be enlightened by raw fibers, distressed fabrics, ropes, knots, and raffia trims. The palette draws upon primitive feelings and will present stimulating natural notes, a hymn to soil, plants, and mycelium, combined with traditional motifs, echoes of local craftsmanship and ancient knowledge.

SS23 will certainly represent the climax of a regenerative path: learning how to breathe in chaotic times and save notions of serenity from cynicism and frenzy. Zen-ergies draws upon an ideal world of multiplied lightness and restorative beauty. Tactile emotions are crucial for this design direction and bring a focus on natural and airy fabrics that augment physical sensations and provide consumers with a relaxed and calming touch. Color tones are pale and delicate, from dreamy blushy hues up to tranquil aqua, spiced up with sienna brown notes. In this ethereal world, prints and trims represent a moment of recollection, a bridge to an oneiric dimension where marbles and gemstones infuse new vital energies.

For SS23, Eco-Lab gravitates around the notion of exploring nature, admiring wilderness and enhancing the world through a digital sense. Earth becomes an immersive scenario where fabrics have the prime function to protect and preserve the body during the expedition and fuse into new meta natures. Thick fabrics are essential, as well as waterproof, resistant surfaces with rubbery effects. This textile direction will define a new symbiosis between nature and digital: preserving the world we inhabit, while learning how to survive in it. From this notion, augmented mimicry effects imitate botanics with irregularity and puckerings to create an all-encompassing, sublime, atmosphere.

Next summer season is indubitably carrying a new sense of freedom that will pervade our bodies. Playing with the great cruises from 60s and 70s, Exotic Clash is a story set to celebrate cosmopolitan vibes under a cheerful umbrella. Vibrant colors, as power pinks, energized oranges and oceanic indigos merge into a joyful color mix to boost fun vintage motifs. The eccentric aesthetic looks for colors and prints that are there to be seen.  Bright and glossy surfaces are orchestrating femininity to its fullness within the textile trend, while light cotton, and tubular jersey evoke a faraway resort land. Re-inventing and combining are key for this trend, so that updated archives and experimental new styles become the most pleasurable way to relax and breathe again.

It is time for new elegance. Golden shades are theatrically coming back to embody heritage and aristocracy. Nostalgic Glam is a SS23 trend story about the intense longing for the past and its traditions, a metaphorical journey to a paradise lost. Expressed through embellished memories, a new glamorous and glorious era is shaping the summer season with damask satin and upholstery brocade inspirations played on precious silk jacquard, moiré detailing, grosgrain ribbons and marvelous buttons from ancient wardrobes. From the lingerie world, this theme is surfacing feminine organza and romantic chiffon to provide a dreamy note. The special occasion feel deserves pompous materials and structured silhouettes that build on a curated color palette: Colors, which enhances sophisticated tones as dusty pastels, antique pinks, sumptuous whites and dark-shaded greens.

What if the future is about exploring an inner space rather than leaving our earth and heading to stranger planets? A hi-tech paradise that celebrates a multi-sensorial beauty and fluidity as in a Digital Romance story can certainly be replicated on earth. This SS23 world offers a fascinating reality of lilac, aqua and blue notes, where surfaces are iridescent, shiny and bright. Fabrics are elaborated with a futuristic eye: poetic see-through fabrics, digitalized weaves, futuristic craftsmanship that combines the softness of intangible tulle net with hard and daring metallic materials. Our avatar bodies will navigate a digital ocean into a romantic and mystical narrative.