The Evolution of the Brazilian Floral

Florals are one of the most popular patterns on fabric. Walk into a clothing store and a floral print is guaranteed to cover a few garments. I myself have designed or refined a bunch of florals for Mata Traders like the Roses print and the Falling Florals print. You might be asking what makes this floral print different? 

One of many images from StyleSite Trend Forecast for Spring 2014.

We always start by looking at the trend forecasts to see if there is something we can adapt for the clothing we make. The image above hooked us in. Check out how intricate the designs are and how the colors are so vibrant that they pop off the screen! I immediately started researching tropical and local flowers of Brazil and started drawing. I had pages of sketches but ended up using 2 main flowers as my focal images to then construct the grand repeat. For weeks I worked on using 4 or 5 vibrant colors weaving them in-between each flower in a vision of a dress bursting with an energetic floral. Towards the end of the design period, reality set in and the entire design team realized that we needed to change our perspective on this specific print. 

Yes, having a super crazy colorful dress would be awesome but how many of these colors can we really get with the natural dyes from our cooperatives? Would 5 colors be too much to produce? What if it doesn't translate to a dress? With a new vision, we scaled the colors back from 5 to 2, we produced the print on a large scale and made one color variation in similar blues and one in red and purple. 

From right: Parisian Book Shop Dress  &  Isle of the Sky Dress 

The dresses came back wonderfully! The scaling back of color makes these dresses seem so much more sophisticated. The Isle of the Sky Dress in the blue fabric is calming and almost has a floating feel to it, while the Parisian Bookshop Dress in the red and purple color combo is vibrant and gives of a dramatic vibe. 

This is a perfect example of evolution in a print. We started with a wild vision of different Brazilian flowers cascading in many colors across dresses and ended up with a simpler and calmer version. The design team had to figure out how this fun and crazy trend could work for us and our abilities and facilities and in the end created a wonderful print. 

Forecasting the Doodles Print

I get so excited about the first day of the design process for a new collection at Mata Traders. The design crew sits at a table and combs through the trend forecast. We identify what we like individually and then think about what would work well with our manufacturing capabilities and overall esthetic. Sometimes (if we're are lucky) we see really strong trends and decide to merge them. That was the case with this Doodles print.

Doodles Print. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman. Dresses by Mata Traders. Spring '13 collection.

There were some great images in our trend forecast back in 2012. One page was full of   hand drawn doodles, which is one of my favorite styles to create. After perusing the pages a bit more, we noticed the slight shift from the southwestern/aztec trend that were all the rage in Spring 2012, to more Moroccan and Moorish geometric trends popping up all over the Spring 2013 forecast. Combining both the hand drawn style with Moroccan and Moorish shapes seemed like the perfect match.

Dresses by Mata Traders.

This Doodles print was designed as a traditional block print which gave a softer, yet still edgy feel to the fabric. It was produced in 2 color ways, on 2 different garments and gives off 2 totally different vibes: The strong and structured Shanghai Shift Dress on the left and the flowy and playful Twist and Twirl Dress on the right. 

I personally enjoyed the challenge of merging different trends. Just reminiscing and writing about this process has gotten me excited about the start of designing a whole new collection. In just a few weeks we will start designing for Mata Traders' Spring 2015  line and I am sure we will have many amazing stories of processes and inspiration to share with you.

Frocktober Fest

These last 2 years as a freelance textile designer for Mata Traders has taught me so much not only about myself as a designer and the process of designing for a collection, but it also reminds me that in the end, it makes someone happy. Recently, I have been finding images of women who are wearing my designs who share it on social media and blogging about it. It is one thing to design a pattern for a product, but to actually see it on a person in the real world is a wonderful feeling. Seeing that it is the beginning of the month, I will refer to this as a Frocktober Fest!

I gathered some images of these fabulous ladies (some of whom I actually know!) and am excited to share their blogs and websites with you, my fellow readers! 

1.Mushmina 2.Jenny Levison ( a family friend fabulously sportin' my rooster print!) 3.Walking with Cake 4.Birds of a Thread 5.Cuddly Cacti (She owns a sweet fair trade, non-profit shop called Mitla Moda) 6.Fair For All Guide 7.Only Just Be 8.Un Petit Fauve 9.Anne Eaikin Moss (another family friend who said she saw this in a Baltimore shop window and instantly recognized that it was one of my prints!) 10.Mushmina 11.Un Petit Fauve (I am in love with the whole concept of serenading a corgi) 12.Verily Merrily Mary.

I hope you check out these fantastic sites and blogs, and may you celebrate Frocktober Fest in your own unique way!