We recently became aware of the newly published illustrated book “Flora Fashion ,” in which renowned fashion and young designers such as Elena Nazaroff, Aphia Sakyi, and Louise Sommerlatte reinterpreted the world of botany with wonderful fashion illustrations.
The lightness as well as the playful elegance of the floral illustrations quickly captivated us. Reason enough to dedicate a detailed contribution to the illustrated book.
At the same time, a question that has repeatedly arisen in the past came to mind again: what sources of inspiration do fashion designers on for their creations and collections in general?
From the tedious search for the muse
As long as you're not under time or performance pressure, the creative process can be a fun and entertaining affair. But as soon as you have to produce new ideas on an assembly line—as in the fashion world—and fashion critics are at the ready, without a structured approach, you'll quickly run out of ideas.
Have you ever wondered how top fashion designers always succeed in creating a collection of collection like a well-oiled clockwork? Apparently these exalted people never run out of ideas.
It is therefore part of the secret of success of every established designer to have an almost inexhaustible repertoire of inspiration sources. But there is no secret superpower behind it, but a structured and ordered work process.
Inspiration in creation of fashion is the result of a longer, creative process. This also includes research, research, and dealing with a wide variety of things, information and topics. Above all, it is the procurement and collection of ideas, suggestions and order of thoughts. In this way, influences are made from impressions, which will also be visible later in the designs.
In fact, the majority of everyday work is characterized by creative professions , including designers of all kinds, by hunting for the muse. It is important to find them if possible, to capture them and then to keep alive as long as possible.
Demanding designers set particularly high expectations for their own ingenuity. Their next creative achievement should be a breakthrough, one that surprises, amazes, provokes, and ideally a new trend . For this, inspiration should be sought in unusual places. Even completely crazy ideas and intellectual deviations should not be ignored.
A look at 33 things that inspired the celebrated designer star at New York Fashion Week 2017 brings up astonishing astonishing. You can find out more in the contribution of the Instyle Magazine: 33 Things that Inspired Fashion Designer and Their Collections .
Where does inspiration come from?
So the muse often does not knock on the door so easily. If a delivery or delivery date moves closer, it slowly but certainly uncomfortable. Where should the inspiration come from now?
Fortunately, there are some good sources that have a reliable ideas for designers of all kinds and façon. Including quite unusual.
01 museums, exhibitions and art galleries
Photography by Clem Onojeghuo @Clemono2, via Unsplash
If you do not want to leave the world of art and design, visit a museum, an exhibition or a gallery, spark true kiss fireworks of the muse.
These primal sites of the art world are a wonderful source for primary research on fashion inspiration. For one thing, they are home to a wide variety of artifacts, exhibits, objects, and historical treasures.
Second, there are numerous special exhibitions worldwide that show inspiring works by fashion designers, artists or architects.
If you happen to live in one of these metropolises or if travel costs are only a minor factor, then we definitely recommend Sir John Soane's Museum in London, the Musée Christian Dior with Christian Dior Garden in Granville (France), the Museo Ferragamo
Of course, countless other museums, galleries and exhibitions are also suitable all over the world. A short local search on Google will help you quickly here.
02 Vintage Archive
photography by Max van den Oetelaar @maxvdo, via Unsplash
The vintage scene is perfectly suitable to be inspired by the fashion of earlier years and get to know the construction methods of historical clothing and accessories more by-past for decades.
For some designers, there is nothing more satisfying than leafing through old books, magazines and journals and discovering something unique, long-forgotten.
By the way, online searches and browsing are considered overrated when it comes to the targeted search for vintage pieces. You're more likely to discover antique clothing and treasures lost over time by digging through old print media in large archives.
If you are looking for a certain decade from the start from the start, you will most likely find it disproportionately in the city archives of those metropolises when this fashion was booming at that time.
Vintage bookseller
photography by Darwin vegher @darwiiiin, via unsplash
Large booksellers with an extensive range of vintage books were once only reserved for the most demanding and most exclusive fashion houses. Since the advent of providers such as Idea Books (@IDEA.LTD) and November Books (@NovemberBooks) on Instagram, we have all enjoyed.
The books are not always completely copied, but they still offer enough inspiration. Interestingly, the best designers do not buy fashion books, but rather books about great photography and general culture.
You can also find special books, illustrated books, and rare editions at the German online bookseller Zweitausendeins
03 films
photography by Jason dent @jdent, via unsplash
The film industry has always been very closely connected to clothing and fashion. Several films were style -defining in different forms and set completely new trends.
Using film as a starting point for their research and search for inspiration is something designers have been doing for years. A whole range of runway trends have been established or even catalyzed by cult films. As a designer, you shouldn't close yourself off to the multimedia, visually stimulating, and immersive world of films and series.
The following 3 masterpieces of film art deserves an explicit mention at this point:
Breakfast at Tiffany (1961)
Audrey Hepburn's wardrobe by costume designer Edith Head was the stuff from which dreams were made.
Her iconic black dress was designed by GiveCenchy and the remaining articles were either made by the studio or acquired directly by well -known designers who worked in the 50s.
The autumn collection 2008 by Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga had quite appeared to have been inspired by the “little black” of this film.
Moulin Rouge (2001)
With costumes by Catherine Martin , also responsible for the costumes of "Strictly Ballroom" and "Romeo and Juliet", this musical film by Baz Luhrmann has helped to generate enormous interest in the burlesque and corsetry trends.
Even beyond the cats on shows by YSL and Balenciaga , this fashion was back on the streets and alleys of this world.
Fun fact on the side: the costumes were historically not entirely correct, but referred to more contemporary mastery from Agent Provocateur.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Sofia Coppola's "scandal" by Agnes Poirier , the film critic for "Liberation ." "The story acts as a mere backdrop for extravagant decor, and the magnificent Palace of Versailles becomes a boutique hotel for the jet set—yesterday and today," the critic continued.
The film is lavishly decorated and extraordinarily rich in patterns, textiles, and colors. It will indulge the taste buds of any fashion designer and transport you to another world—full of splendor, pomp, and excess.
The costumes were designed by Milena Canonero , the ironic glam-pop soundtrack from the eighties comes from Sean O'hagen.
Other style -defining film jewels for fashionistas:
- A sweet Fratz (1957)
- Blondes preferred (1953)
- The devil wears Prada (2006)
- The silk thread (2017)
- The September Issue (2009)
- Dior and I (2014)
- Valentino: The Last Emperor (2008)
- A single man (2009)
- The Crown - the series (2016)
- Girlboss - the series (2017)
- Gossip Girl - the series (2007)
- The House of Eliott-the series (1991-1994)
04 on the street
photography vov koukichi takahashi @koukichi_t, via unsplash
Pioneering fashion often arises from bold improvisation or a lack of funds, coupled with ingenuity.
It is difficult to say who first decided to combine different items of clothing for the first time, the designer or the customer. Jeans and tips, fur and crazy colors, heavy boots and summer dresses - all of these combinations appeared over time and through experiments.
Or let's take a look at the modern fascination with rags and torn clothing. Used look , destroyed look – where do these trends come from? Perhaps from a designer's weariness with the tendency toward perfection, glitz, and glamour. Or from a lack of ideas, resources, and alternatives. It doesn't matter, because the result has far exceeded all possible expectations.
05 markets
Photography by Charisse Kenion @Charissek, via Unsplash
Most fashion designers visit a flea market from time to time in search of inspiration and individual pieces away from the common fashion.
Found objects can become the starting point of an imaginary journey and thus a design muse. Discovering a story about the objects found can further stimulate the imagination. Ideally, until the designer has a sketchbook full of ideas that support the design process.
If you have the opportunity, the following international markets offer a veritable cornucopia of inspiration:
- Marché aux Puces - Porte de Clignancourt, France
- Portobello Road Market - London, Great Britain
- Feria de San Telmo - Buenos Aires, Argentina
06 foreign cultures
photography by Pavan Gupa @cgram2000, via unsplash
Have you ever wondered why Japanese motifs are so popular in fashion collections ? This is because designers like to be inspired by the dazzling and multi -layered Japanese culture in general.
Asian motifs and topics fascinate us people from the western world and are characterized by a very special charm. The fashion, the patterns, the colors, the hairstyles differ so much from what we have here in the western world that the temptation is too great to get past it. The whole atmosphere, which is created by the exotic image and color worlds, is almost captivating for us Western cultures.
Other strangers, exotic and distant cultures are of course also possible as a source of inspiration.
Fashion designs inspired by cultural elements
07 travel destinations
Kelsey Knight @kelsoknight, via Unsplash
In principle, strangers, unusual and distant places are always suitable to break through the usual thoughts and to shake the sluggish upper room again properly and get it trot.
If you as a fashion designer keep your eyes open and actively keep your mind, you can discover new and exciting opportunities for design development almost anywhere. Keep in mind that everything around you has the potential to become part of your research and your thinking process.
This also applies to trips and city trips.
Discovering and getting to know other cultures, countries and places can offer a rich source of inspiration material. Collected impressions and accumulated information can then be translated into contemporary fashion design.
Large fashion houses are happy to send their design teams abroad for research purposes . They lead a photographic diary together with sketches of their discoveries and document all their finds. These can be fabric cuts, jewelry, artifacts, clothing or accessories.
Traveling is always a question of budget and unfortunately, you cannot visit all the places worth seeing on our enchanting earth.
However, the following more and less relevant destinations should be on the list for (fashion) designers:
- Paris
- new York
- London
- Los Angeles
- Milan, Italy
- Rome
- Barcelona, Spain
- Madrid
- Berlin
- Florence, Italy
- Tokyo, Japan
- Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
- Abidjan, ivory coast
- Accra, Ghana
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Beirut, Lebanon
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Lagos, Nigeria
08 architecture
Tobias Keller @tokeller, via Unsplash
Since we are on the subject of traveling and world metropolises, you will also find another source of inspiration right next to the people: buildings and buildings.
Some architectural sights are so elegant and so striking in their form that they are easily suitable as a mental template for new clothing. The chosen combination of colors can also inspire and get new ideas.
And it's not just about completely crazy buildings as models for haute couture collections. Architecture is a sublime art form, and with its elegant lines, exciting forms, and playful silhouettes, it offers many a perfect template for the fashion world's runways. Whether antiquity, Rococo, Baroque , or Bauhaus ... the spectrum of architecture over the past 3,000 years offers a broad spectrum of styles, eras and manifestations.
Fashion collections inspired by architecture, sculptures and paintings
09 traditional clothing
Photography by Hassan Wasim @Hwasim, via Unsplash
In addition to vintage fashion and cultural models, traditional robes, clothes, shirts and traditional costumes are lined up.
There are entire countries, such as India, where traditional clothing is still very common. In such countries, the use of traditionally anchored patterns, colors and templates in fashion collections is an obvious choice.
In many other countries - including most nations in the western world - people have long since stopped wearing traditional clothing. In this case, it is not obvious to search for inspiration in traditional clothing. Here the inclusion of traditional elements in modern fashion creations requires a little more effort and creativity. The results could be all the more worthwhile ...
10 nature
Photography by Jeremy Bishop @jeremybishop, via Unsplash
Finally, we probably come to the “most natural” and obvious source of inspiration: nature. She surrounds us, we inevitably encounter her almost every day and yet we sometimes overlook what is right in front of our eyes.
The view for the miracles and the beauty of nature must then be trained again. The astonishing variety of shapes and colors can only be captured stimulating with open eyes and a certain level of mindfulness.
It is sometimes difficult to imagine that someone comes up with a clothing design, only by looking at a sunset or a tree line. But nature is a great source of inspiration.
Fashion designs inspired by plants
Fashion designers would be crazy or terribly ignorant not to use it. Fortunately, they use this never -ended source of concepts, moods, impulses and enlightenment extensively.
This is also the case with the illustrated book "Flora Fashion," which brings us back to the starting point of this article. In the following section, we'll show you how this illustrated book of fashion illustrations was inspired by the world of botany and the wonderful results it has produced.
Inspired by nature and botany – The illustrated book “Flora Fashion”
Nature has provided important inspiration for fashion ever since humans began covering their bodies with clothing. The kaleidoscopic and diverse world of botany, in particular, is a seemingly inexhaustible source of fruitful inspiration for shapes, colors, patterns, textures, and materials.
The international designers who participated in this illustrated book and used flora and fauna as an idea generator also followed this path. The result was a lively, colorful and delicate journey into the world of plants and fashion.
Established designers as well as talented young designers provide a wonderful mix of high-quality fashion illustrations from a variety of fashion styles.
From flower to design
Starting with a plant of their choice, the designers developed a design based on its distinctive colors, shapes, and patterns. Ideas took shape in sketches and drawings, which an illustrator ultimately translated into beautiful fashion illustrations.
The only requirement for the designers' choice was that the plant emphasized or mirrors its individual cultural origins.
The multicultural mix of their creators became a formative part of the floral illustrations, as did the diversity of the flora.
The following fashion designers participated in the illustrated book:
- Louise Sommerlatte (Kenya)
- Emine Capartas (Türkiye)
- Elena Nazaroff (USA)
- Hassan (Afghanistan)
- Zahra (Afghanistan)
- Rula (Syria)
- Aphia Sakyi (Ghana)
- Sabine Feuilloley (France)
- Lara Regula (Germany)
- Sarah Wolff (Germany)
... and these plants served as an impulse provider :
- Aloe africana
- Alpine-Encian
- Sword
- California wildflowers
- Poppy
- clove
- Sunflower
- tulip
- Imperial crown
- Crowd
The illustrated book deserves the rating “particularly worth seeing”. Incidentally, it is available as a free download directly on the Flora Fashion website.
Owner and Managing Director of Kunstplaza. Journalist, editor, and passionate blogger in the field of art, design, and creativity since 2011. Successful completion of a degree in web design as part of a university study (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expressive painting, and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.
