Prints are one of the main trends we recently saw on fashion runways, not only those for the last 2014-15 season, but for the past couple of years, too. From Andrea Pompilio’s contemporary approach, to avant-garde abstraction of Walter Van Beirendonck, up to Maison Valentino’s effortless elegance, prints are a bold highlight in current menswear.
Considered one of the most important creations in fashion history, textile printing was born as duplication of images. In Europe and India the act of printing clothing came before the one on paper. Until the seventeenth century, in fact, symbols and figures were usually printed on silk. The most interesting element in such an ancient phenomena, is the way designers combine the technique: we see medium-sized polka dots matched with narrow stripes, in Pompilio’s subtly ironic version. A different point of view came from Van Beirendonck, with optical prints meeting bright colors, skinny silhouettes and huge sneakers. Whether you look for classy style or a bit of pop extravaganza, prints are such a big tendency, you should not even try to escape from it.
