Première Vision Paris - July 2022

arlier this month, the designers at Studio 104 visited Première Vision in Paris. The go-to trade show for fabric inspiration, industry connections and the latest fashion trends. 

It just so happened the day we had planned to attend was the same scorching hot day as a national rail strike in France! We prepared for the long journey ahead with some breakfast pastries and enough canelés to last the day.

Upon arriving at PV we headed straight for the design areas. This gave us an overall sense of trends and what sort of fabrics and trims we might see the most of. It also helped us ease into the day as well as giving us a few extra mills to add to our pre-prepared list.

Our first impression of the design areas was bright and excessive. There was a huge array of textures, especially appliques and intricate laces. Jacquards were present but loud prints and sequinned fabrics took a centre stage, for example, there was a whole section dedicated to ‘mermaid inspired’ fabrications. Other large sections were the eco furs and delicate, intricate fabrics. The prints stood out to us as something that could be translated into uniform as well as statement hardware and trimmings.

A print trend named ‘Folk Folly’ particularly caught our attention. The trend derived from Eastern Europe and the Ikat patterns, but in their all-embracing, almost psychedelic style they are far from the literal versions.

Prints tended to have brown backgrounds while the very large designs were displayed with supple, almost softened contours. Scales are combined, patterns within patterns combine the very tiny with the very huge, and the eye gazes into infinity in this obsession with decoration.

Overall, the prints are very ‘retro curtain’ looking but there’s a mix of geometric and more organic shapes and patterns. Later in the day we struck gold finding a fantastic mill that had a wide selection of fabric print bases for our own print and jacquard designs; perfect for clients who are looking for a completely bespoke uniform.

Whilst we always come away from PV with a lot of inspiration for future projects, we also focus on finding solutions for designs that we’re currently working on. Whilst we were there, we really wanted to find some technical fabrics for a client that needed a practical solution for their uniform. 

Discovering the masses of technical fabric options at PV was eye opening and somewhat overwhelming. We saw incredible new technologies and sustainable innovations such as the ‘Water-Zero’ project that has reconsidered the way nylons are dyed and subsequently uses significantly less water than their competitors.

Synthetic fabrics also had more personality thanks to fine slubbed yarns evoking plant fibres. Others more textured by light embossing, like Japanese paper. Ripstops were deliberately contrasted and enlarged, almost mini-windowpane checks, making them just as fashionable as they are practical. 

Attending these key dates in the fashion calendar offer a huge amount of inspiration to our design, production development and production team. To see how these creative exhibitions have informed our bespoke uniforms head to our portfolio page. For our detailled and unique process, from uniform concept to manufacture and delivery, head to our process page.