river island spring summer 2013

river island up's its game...

First thing I have to mention about the River Island SS13 collection is just how different it is from anything else I've seen on the press day circuit so far this year. No ghastly neons, no overuse of the nautical trend, no extreme boho looks or ridiculous uber girly pastels and best of all no horrible granny florals. I've been disappointed with the previous River Island Spring/Summer collections and talked about them in posts before. I always think their Autumn Winter stuff is amazing but come spring it just falls flat. I feel this season they very much focused more on a more fashion forward look rather than sticking to those same trends that come round every year. It's refreshing and I really do think they've done so well. I can also see a lot of catwalk influence in these collections, especially shows that I saw while I was at London Fashion Week. I've really seen River Island evolve over the past few years into a shop I used to think was full of tat to one of my favourite shops. Every season I'm surprised and impressed with what they have to offer and they show no signs of slowing down.

I've made a video of when I was there to go alongside this post which you can see above or on my Youtube Channel!

The collections for River Island Spring Summer are:

Road Trip: This collection embraces the wild west with a fusion of buttery leathers, suedes and fringing. Key to this look is heavy layering but in soft, sheer and romantic fabrics and then toughened up with harsher materials to finish. Think fringed kimonos chucked over sheer maxi's, oversized embroidered lightweight scarves. The key colours include creams, blacks, tans and flashes of ochre and red to give pops of colour. Prints within the trend seem to have a heavy Western feel.

Denim Couture: This collection presents the mixture of textures and fabric in cool colour palettes of blue and white to give it a fresh, ultramodern feel. Super soft jersey and denim are combined to create reworked jeans, skirts and jackets. River Island has mixed their core denim range with embellished tops, heavily beaded skirts and jumpsuits.

Army Lux: This trend focuses on the outdoors with a fashion forward modern luxe feel. Classic jumpsuits are given an urban edge in oriental patterns. Khaki satin shorts are mixed with metallic to create a modern twist on military. While subtle trims, snakeskin and embellishment all add to the glamourous feel to create more evening looks.

Retro: Inspired by the 50's and 60's this look is ladylike, soft and heavily influenced by the popularity of vintage fashion. Here the trend mixes 50's inspired skirts and leather jackets to bring a futuristic vintage vibe to the looks. This trend focuses a lot on pastel colours (think fondant pink, soft blues and creamy violets), embellished dresses, adorned clutches, decorative hats and block heels.

Space Mono: This is my favourite collection that brings together sportswear mixed with sharp tailoring. Very minimalist in its approach, the looks are controlled but also feminine in a variety of textures and fabrics. The collection is predominantly black and white with hints of neon popping through in places. The trend has a 90's street style vibe going through it with cropped sports tops and baggy trousers and high top trainers. Accessories for this look include trainers, baseball caps and oversized clutches.

What are your thoughts on the collection? Yes, or No? Or is it just too soon to be thinking about S/S!

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