Bright lights ahead

HIGH STREET FORECAST: 2013 looks set to be a luminous year for fashion. Stephanie Smith finds out what’s on the horizon.

HAVE seen the future and it is bright ... and shiny ... and really rather beautiful.

Dazzling, but also complex, ethereal, dream-like, mindexpanding, yet endlessly piercing in its clarity. Prepare to be intrigued, as fashion turns supernatural, starting with holographics, a key trend, with tops, skirts and dresses featuring panels of mirror-bright, swirly sheen, while accessories bring a slant of fascinating, ever-changing gleam.

Look out for key pieces, such as pencil skirts and simple tops, in high-shine metallic fabrics featuring cool and clean silvers and ice blue. Jonathan Saunders and Alexander Wang both showed shine leather jackets and pencil skirts for spring 2013. For a textured, minimalist look, team coloured, metallic, high-shine skirts with fine-knit and jersey marl sweaters, for a pared down yet luxurious feel. Indeed, metallics are finding their way everywhere for spring 2013, with animal prints also getting the shine finish treatment.

Emerald green will be the colour of 2013, according to the Pantone Colour Institute, which analyses influences from travel to entertainment to make an annual colour forecast. Lively, radiant and lush, the most abundant hue in nature, the colour of growth, renewal and regeneration – reflecting, as fashion does, the mood for what is deemed to be most needed in the world. Look out for sparkling emerald

It’s all about bringing heaven to earth, to play in our Garden of Eden.

jewellery, while bags and shoes will add zing to spring looks, as will all-over emerald green lace (Valentino showed a green lace jumpsuit). Mint green, ice blue, vibrant lilac, pale terracotta and rich cream will underpin the spring palette. against an abundance of white.

Monochrome, meanwhile, provides definition and formality with graphic twotone structure, and bold stripes. Look out for black peek-a-boo and cut-out designs.

Our fascination for florals continues, with a richer, deeper backdrop, while graphic prints bring a sense of ordered, artistic chaos. This is a season of refined and heightened prettiness, with exotic touches on bright pastel silks, featuring beading influences from India and Russia.

It’s all about bringing heaven to earth, so we can play in our supernatural Garden of Eden – and that sounds like a lot of fun.

Twitter: @yorkshirefashQ