Stahl predict colour and texture trends

The colours of fashion often reflect our natural surroundings and these form the basis for the fashion forecast for spring/summer 2003, complemented by the strong colours in plastics and the cool colours of Cuban culture. Blues and greens echo the sky, leaves and grass, while deeper colours of red and blue and paler pastels are reminders of flowers. Just as many environmental arguments are turning towards the traditional organic ways of gardening and farming with its greens and browns so, too, does leather turn towards organic colours to create natural and surreal new surfaces, textures and structures. Surface and finish are the key elements and since organic implies nature, this will be the theme for luxury leathers. Retreat - Re-invent is inspired by a fashion move back towards formal dressing with its tailored looks and soft elegance derived from the classic beauty of the shine and lustre of satin. Colours are mainly deep and rich, blue, green and brown. Pattern is derived from texture. The luxury of the past is to be repeated with black and white and with aged leathers and dense, heavy, oily nubuck. Moving from the bright colours of nature and the past, a gentle and subdued colour range is used in the Balance group. Here, bleached neutrals of grey, cream and pink, will be used alongside chalky, silky soft nubucks and smooth alabaster, opaque, marble, bone and matt leathers. The emphasis will be one of increasing softness. Increasing softness is carried over into Mellow, a range of yellows through to orange, green and tan, in waxy, opaques and eggshell textures and velvet feel nubuck through to oily pull-up. Looking back at tradition, this group includes soft and very soft leather which is milled and smooth as well as sophisticated soft buttery leathers. However, spring and summer are not just times to reflect on nature and on the past, they are also seasons for sunshine, for brightness and for fun. Leather fashion is no exception, and the anticipation of the Exposure group of colours is one of softness, succulence and silkiness. Here, the fun effects include gloss, pearl and luminous colours used in contrast with iridescence and crackle effects. Here the modern and the dated looks come together to create elegant, design-led, timelessly stylish looks. The colours are gathered from the other groups but are lighter, brighter shades, even more sunny with more than a hint of spring, of the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Throughout the whole, colours and their uses show many different influences and variations on a theme. These colours can be used from silk effects to suede, from waxy, opaque, dense and eggshell effects to polished patinas and tone-on-tone effects. Overall, the picture is one of refinement and taste.