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Design Trends: Spring/Summer 2017

As the owner of a creative business, it may not come as a surprise that one of the favourite parts of my job is coming up with the vision for a new collection. And the spring/summer season is by far my favourite season; it always gets my creative juices flowing! There isn't really a routine step-by-step process I follow. I may be inspired by a colour, a shape, or a film I've seen. It really could be anything.

One thing that I do all the time though, is research trends. These can be forecasts of colour trends, design trends, technology trends, you name it. I love colours and sometimes, I will see a colour somewhere, in a photo, in nature, at a leather trade show, and the whole concept builds up from there. 

Mood boards are my favourite 'creative aid', kind of like flash cards were when I was a student at  university. I like to spend hours making mood boards, I find it really relaxing and inspirational. I'm a very visual person and I love the way images make me feel.

Every image in the mood board represents something to me. It takes time and there are a lot of cuts and layout changes during the process. You can't have too many images or the message will be lost. I may start with an image and end up not using it at all because I've gone a whole other direction.

This season it was blush pink. I saw it at the leather trade show in Milan and it was love at first sight. Pink is my favourite colour, I love every shade of it from the soft pastels to the vibrant magentas. I fell in love with this particular shade of pink because it's so versatile and the perfect neutral that will look good with anything in your wardrobe. It looks amazing with black, navy, chocolate brown and grey. It looks casual with jeans and super stylish with white. The warm wine coloured interior I chose gives it that kick that doesn't make it look too girly. In my opinion, it's the perfect bag colour that should be in every woman's closet! 

In addition to the blush pink, I added a beautiful and super versatile sky blue and paired it with a smoky bluish-grey interior and then of course, we have our classic black, but with a very feminine rose interior. I told you I love pink, right?! ;)

Once I have set my heart on the colours I start putting together a mood board of images I've been collecting. I collect images  all the time. I have folders, envelopes, scrapbooks and cork boards (yes, that's a pre-Pinterest board), covered in photos, postcards, magazine tear-outs, furniture catalogues... all over my house. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but it's my creative livelihood. I know exactly where everything is and I can locate an image I found years ago and know exactly why I saved it. 

 
 
 
 

If you're curious about my design process, you can view all my design trends and moodboards here.

Ciao for now,

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I'm Alexandra, founder and designer of Alexandra de Curtis

I’m Alexandra, founder and designer of Alexandra de Curtis. I love to share my passion for quality, Italian-made products and effortless style. Sign-up to my newsletter and join our exclusive tribe of fabulous women around the globe. You’ll be the first to know about our new arrivals, pop-up events, private sales and special discounts, so you can live Italian, no matter where you are!