Frill Finish | Trend Brief - Part 1

During our first month of the course, we were given our first brief, which focused on a popular trend in AW 16/17. The trend that we were given was 'Frill Finish'. This was from frills on clothing to accessories. 

Once we were given the brief, we were divided into groups. I was placed in a group of 5 girls, however 2 of them didn't show up therefore there were only 3 of us in the end. Initially we thought that it would be difficult to find enough material for each mood board. We had to create and present 4 mood boards in total. The 4 areas that we had to create our mood boards on were: 

Trend

Media

Retail

Consumer. 

Since this was our first brief, it was set so that we could begin to gain an understanding of the first stage of the FCP process which is the context stage. The other purposes of the brief were to:

Practice researching and analysing (collect, categorise, analyse)

Understand the process of trend forecast and adoption by retail and consumers

Understand the seasonal nature of the fashion industry

Understand the different sectors/ levels of retail

In seminars, we did the trend and media mood board first and the retail and consumer mood board second. So I will split my blog posts similarly since I don't want to make the posts too lengthy. 

Mood board 1 - Trend

To start with, for this mood board, each member of the group got many images of the way in which the Frill Trend was shown on the catwalk for the current season (AW 16/17) and future seasons (SS 17/18). Also, I collected some older images from as far back as 1980. For this, I mainly used WGSN. I found WGSN the most useful as I was able to see the trend forecasts from the past as well as the future and see how the trend has adapted and changed throughout the years. After we all had gathered our images, we were told that we shouldn't be looking into the future or the past, but instead we should only look at the way that our trend is presented on catwalks today. Therefore we had to disregard a lot of our research. 

Yet in contrast to this information, in a seminar the week after, we did many exercises so that we could truly understand our trend and the fine lines between our trend. For example, my group were mistaking pleats and folds for frills/ruffles. As well as this, we were informed that we should look at the history of our trend. This meant that we had to research new information and re-think the layout of our mood boards.

Taking all of this information into account, we decided on a time line layout for our trend mood board. We gathered our secondary images and organised them into year groups so we could clearly see the progression of the trend over the decades as well as see where the way the trend is today has stemmed from. 

1500's

One of the most popular accessories worn in this period was a ruff. A ruff was worn by men, women and children and evolved from a small piece of ruffled fabric at the drawstring neck of a shirt. Ruffs were made from starched linen cambric outlined with lace detailing. However, as the century wore on, full lace ruffs started to become popular. This accessory was very time consuming to make, therefore it was set at an extortionate price. Since it was so expensive, they were a potent symbol of status and wealth, as anyone who could afford to wear and maintain a ruff was clearly not a labourer. 

1600's - 1800's

After that I looked at bustles, which was a key accessory worn by women in the victorian era.  A bustle is a type of framework used to expand the fullness or support excess fabric at the back of a woman’s dress. Since this structure was to hold the back of a dress in place, it accentuates a woman figure which resulted in highly idealised representations of female sexual identity. 

70's

In the 70s, frills were the most popular on shirts. These were particularly popular at prom season. These were very elaborate and exaggerated. 

80's

In the 80s the rah rah skirt was very popular. It is a short ruffled layered skirt that originated from american cheerleading and became a popular fashion trend amongst teenage girls in 1980s. In the Oxford Dictionary, this skirt is described as the first successful attempt to revive the miniskirt. A lot of famous pop stars wore this skirt which increased its popularity e.g. Kylie Minogue. 

As well as this, ruffles were popular in rock music and they started to make a comeback through the romantics. Adam Ant was one of the main influencers of this. 

90's

In the 90's Prince truly began to make frills popular. He was one of the most iconic people that was known for challenging the stereotypes of men and women, which showed men that they don't nessecerily have to be a completely feminine detail. 

Modern day (AW 16/17)

Looking at frills nowadays, and the rest of the information for our timeline, frills are very versatile meaning that they can be put onto almost everything. For example, whilst some designers such as Gucci focused on adding frill detailing onto dresses and tops, others such as Fyodor focused on adding frills to skirts and trousers and some designers Balenciaga incorporated frills onto everything. This showed that the frill trend is very versatile and can be adapted in many different ways. I believe that this trend is popular this season because they add a delicate and effortless feminine feel to any outfit, which means you can feel sexy without having to show skin making perfect for any age. As well as this, frills can be very minimal with subtle detailing as well as very bold and vibrant with excessive detailing. Unlike the 80’s and 90’s, I found that frills weren't present on male clothing this season. 

Future


From research done on WGSN, it states that Frills are going to be very popular in the swimwear market for SS 17. It is going to be the main trend in swimwear and will be on everything from one pieces to bikinis and caftans. 

Another direction frills will go in the future is kids wear. On WGSN it states that in AW 17/18, frills and ruffles will play a huge part in kids wear and will be a key trend. For younger girls there will be frills on everything from sweatshirts to collars and dresses. 

Mood board 2 - Media

For our media board, we decided to look at different ways in which media sources have been reporting and interpreting this trend. We sectioned our board into reports/articles, celebrities, editorial images and advertisements. 

Reports
The main reason that I decided to look at articles and reports is because I wanted to see what people were saying about their trend as well as the different opinions and views on it. One article that I found on WGSN states that frills will be popular for many seasons to come. Ut said tat after the trend "dominated social media feeds, street style and in-store presence", they said that the frills/ruffles trend is set to be popular for many seasons to come. 

Another article that I found on ELLE states that there were so any frills at New York fashion week that it was channelling the flamenco lady emoji. I thought that this article was very clever and effective because with the use of emojis, it is increasing its chances of engaging with the younger market and using terms that are relevant and popular in society today. This will most certainly effect the way in which the trend will grow. 

The last interesting article I found described that frills are a mega trend and they will continue to be a key part of seasons to come. I think this is because they can be subtle, or exaggerated meaning that there is something for everyone. 

Celebrities

Emma Watson (26 years) and Naomi Watts (48 years)

The celebrities we chose chosen are from a variety of different age ranges. The age ranges from 23 to 51 which shows that our trend appeals to more than one age market therefore increasing the versatility of the trend. Also, each celebrity has a very different style, which also shows that this trend can be very over the top or more muted for people who don't want to draw too much attention to the ruffled item. 

When looking at celebrities wearing these clothes, I noticed that the majority were wearing tops or dresses with ruffled detailing rather than trousers and skirts, which were very popular on the catwalk. This shows that the catwalk trends have not completely translated to celebrities which will heavily impact what is sold in high street stores especially since consumers want to buy what their favourite celebrities are wearing. 

Adverts

Kenzo Ad from American Vogue

When looking at how frills were used in advertisements for fashion brands, I found that many different brands used frills. I noticed that the frills used on advertisements were included to add femininity to these adverts, and without them the brands would have found it more difficult to convey their message. The advert above is an example of the way frills can enhance an image. 

That is all of the information that I sourced for the first two mood boards. So I will make sure that I will do another post when the last two are completed, as well as my thoughts on the way our presentation went. 

Thanks for reading.