I’m often stunned by the ready-to-wear clothes that pop up in my inbox or around the web — clothes that look freakishly as if they could have been made from one or another of the indie patterns popular in the handmade community (which, of course, were generally inspired by the runway or ready-to-wear, and around and around we go). Sometimes it’s downright spooky, as in the case of the Madewell dress above right, which is not only eerily similar to the Fen pattern (above left) I was obsessing over last summer, but is made in the exact same flowered fabric I had picked up around the same time and have pictured as a Fen on several occasions. In most cases, the timelines overlap in such a way that it’s obviously a simple case of great minds thinking alike, or tapping into the same zeitgeist (or following the same Pinterest feeds) for inspiration. But it’s fun to ride the inspiration merry-go-round, regardless!
The new Cadence pullover pattern (above left) is such an all-American classic/basic that its twin is currently on offer at none other than L.L. Bean (above right).
Madewell’s forthcoming overalls, above right, bring to mind the popular Turia Dungarees pattern (above left), with a few easy to swap out details either direction.
The Spring 2016 collections are chock full of capes, many of them admittedly more similar in shape to the Camden Cape pattern (above left) than this See by Chloé version (above right), but how great would Camden look sewn up in denim with classic blue-jeans buttons like that?
Your second picture could be straight out of one of my res(s)emblance posts. I’ve been playing the associaton game for a while on my blog, with a focus on knits. I must say that in many cases, the knit pattern precedes the high fashion or RTW proposition, which makes some of us wonder whether designers use knitting patterns as inspiration. When you start looking, you can find many such examples. It’s quite fun.
Oh fun — I’ll have to click over and take a look! I always love a good side by side.
Wow-The L.L. Bean looks so close. Wonder what their yarn would wear like and is there a comparable brand? 76% wool/17% nylon/5% silk/2% cashmere marled yarn
Fascinating! I thought the dress was ‘staple’ by April Rhodes at first glance!
Yeah, they had a dress last year that made me think of Staple (with some obvious differences) — http://fringeassociation.com/2015/07/20/idea-log-the-cinched-shift/
Fashion forecasts from wgsn are already for 2018+. I always feel it’s a very predictable thing which styles/colours are highlighted and adopted for the main market. As everybody is following any trend there must be similarities for shapes and silhouettes. We check mainly trend forecasts and catwalks.
That first dress is like Fen on the bottom and Easy Short-Sleeved Kimono dress on the top, right down to the sleeves, gathered waist, and keyhole back neck: http://patternrunway.com/shop/easy-short-sleeved-kimono-dress-pattern/
I love the version of the latter that I made, but I bet it’d be really cute with a curved hem like Fen!
On second examination, the sleeves on the Madewell dress are a little different (but the silhouette is still super close the the Pattern Runway pattern – the pattern’s sleeves are easier to work, though!)