Fashion Trends 2004-2005
Autumn 2004 & Winter 2005
Part 1 - Colour, Fabrics, Pattern & Textures
By Pauline Weston Thomas for Fashion-Era.com


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General Outlook for Fashion Fabrics and Textiles Trends 2004 - 2005
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The General Outlook for Colours, Fashion Fabrics and Textiles 2004/2005

Colours 2004/2005
Colour is reborn making it the main trend to follow in 2004 and 2005. Colour is back with a vengeance and autumn 2004 and winter and summer 2005 will see bright dramatic jewel colours vying for attention in a multitude of materials and textures.
Fashion Colour Palette for 2004/2005

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Picture of Fashion Colour Palette Autumn 2004 and Winter 2005

Colours to choose from for 2004/2005 include:-

dusty apricot, old gold, mustard yellow, honey, yellow gold, banana cream, topaze, burnt ochre, camel, stone, sepia, peach, orange, brown, bronze, chestnut, tobacco, wood tones, cocoa, chocolate,

ballet pink, bright pink, rose, sugar pink, dusky pink, hot fuchsia pink, coral,

chilli red, berry, scarlet pepper, garnet, bordeaux, burgundy, beetroot,

Green is big, very big this season, and there are so many shades to choose from that every skin tone can find a green to suit them. Choose from lettuce, cucumber, eau de nil, avocado, asparagus, clover green, kiwi, pea green, moss green, leaf green, pistachio, olive green, parsley green, Kelly green, sage, mint, basil, bay, ivy, pine green, emerald, olive, jade, verdigris, sea green to aquamarine,

washed out blue, ice blue, pale blue, ecru, beige, blue, denim blue, sapphire

lilac, lavender, true purple, amethyst, violet, aubergine, grape - purple and lavender will abound,

grey, charcoal and of course black, cream, oyster and white, crystal white and ivory.

But the colour story does not stop there, Metallic Colours are hot for Autumn 2004 and Winter 2005. Metallics and more metallics will shimmer and shine on many diverse materials.

Copper leather and metallic leathers will enhance skins. Coloured tights in copper and other metallic tones will shimmer boldly and subtly and the choice to have this lustrous sheen on materials, from fabrics to footwear will be yours.

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Fabric Trends 2004/2005

With fabrics there are 4 big stories. The first is that printed pattern is back and the second is the use of fur in a fresh way as a contrast against other fabrics from chiffon to satin to suede to leather. Fake or real, both fur types will be popular. The third is that glorious tweed fabrics and textured fabrics made from woven ribbons, will add even more textural interest when set against materials that are smooth like flannel. Knobbly tweed jackets contrast with plain smooth trousers giving even more attention to the tweed. Finally down filled or padded items, especially functional parkas will be practical and fashionable.

Chiffon, organza, shimmering metallic lace, satin, silks and crepes will all play their part.

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Pattern Trends 2004/2005

Pattern will be everywhere. Paisley and geometrics will predominate. Blended checks, speckled materials and colourful herringbones amid reversible two colour fabrics all make impact.

Imagine all the colours from a kaleidoscopic pattern and visualize them on hosiery, dresses and knits and you have an idea of how much pattern will be about in autumn 2004/winter 2005.

Graphic pop art prints amid floral prints, will sit happily with the neutrals as more and more individuals accept pattern and colour back into their life. Pucci prints have been revisited and other prints that may emerge this autumn include those with a natural feel using bamboo grasses, tiny florals and grape prints.
Texture Trends 2004/2005

Texture is set against textures with knit against ribbons or tulle against cashmere or velvet and fringe everywhere. Ribbon is threaded through not only sweaters, but also skirts and there is a French technique available now to produce a new material as a woven ribbon fabric.

Tweed comes in many forms, from the luscious irregular 50's style Bernat Klein type yarn textures found in Linton Tweeds used to make clothes for top fashion houses like Chanel, to the regularity of herringbone, Irish speckle tweeds to Scottish houndstooths.

Wrinkles, crimps, ruffles, fine pleating and quilting are built into otherwise plain fabric structures.

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Knits Trends 2004/2005

Cosy angora sweaters with fur trims, oversized large cardigans with contrasts of texture with threads of colourful ribbon, piping trims and tipped edges, fur effect sweaters and fair isle masculine style knits sum up knitwear for autumn 2004, winter 2005. Fur patches on elbows to knitted-in tufts of fur and long thick mohair made to appear like fur are some of the concepts that will appear in knitwear.

Knits, leathers and furs dominate for autumn 2004 and winter 2005. But look out too for tulle skirts, laser cut leaves of leather trimming all sorts of garments and photo print and digital print fabrics. Tweeds with raw edges that fringe. Tweed, tweed and more tweed was favoured by Badgley Mischka, Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta. Many tweeds shown on the catwalk had raw fringes and the fabric could be inset with jewel rhinestones.
Furs Trends 2004/2005

Fur will be used everywhere with knit or fur with leather, shaved fur, fur collars, fur bolero shrugs, fur tippets along with other animal materials such as leather mixed with suede or natural cotton corduroy.

Political correctness and a genuine dislike and boycott of the the use of animal products by some, has meant that fur has been out of fashion so long, that designers have become unused to working with it. However along with the new techniques discussed below and other approaches such as dyeing fur multi colours, many are approaching it with a newly found creative flair breaking old boundaries as they handle what almost seems to some like a new material because it has been out of fashion for 20 years or so.

Statistics suggest that fur sales in Britain have increased by a quarter in the past year. The fur trade business is now worth over £177 million per annum and the average fur wearer is aged 35 today. Fur is worn more subtly today rather than in the full length mink or beaver coats of seasons past.

Typical usage is a simple trim on a hood or wrap scarf and the fur might just as easily be rabbit as mink. In addition fur became fashionable again when it was true vintage fur, where it was a physical impossibility to have been in any position to protest about the trapping of the fur if it was trapped so far back in history such as in the Edwardian era.
Techniques in Material Trends 2004/2005

Fish Scale Fur Technique

Many fur houses have now taken a fresh approach to manipulating material which has produced highly innovative ideas. One technical innovation is Saga's fish scale technique which uses different fur types such as silver fox with mink to create a lightness of texture with pattern and almost creates a new fur. Saga is a leader in the fur world of fashion.

Laser Work

Add laser cutting to featherweight chiffon and tulle fabrics, suedes and leathers and the versatile shapes and pattern it can cut in these contrasting materials means that unusual combinations of textures will create fabric interest only seen before in couture work.

All these factors will add up to say winter 2005.