Trend report: Black & White

One of the prevailing trends for spring/summer 2013 is one that goes beyond the transient character of fashion. Almost all great fashion designers seem to have embraced the timeless beauty of contrasting black and white and graced their collections with several bicolored silhouettes.

After last year's trend of color bombing, this year's colors have been selected with care. Such as simply coinciding colors as seen on the runway at Céline, Jil Sander, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Balmain, Proenza Schouler and Narciso Rodriguez. This style features an androgen look which can be worn during day and night time. A bit more of a playful yet artistic interpretation of the two color trend was spotted at Chanel, Alexander Wang and Dolce & Gabbana.

Each one of them took it to another level and translated this trend into fierce graphic designs, though it is Marc Jacobs who takes the cake with daring but spectacular graphic stripes and patterns. Unmistakably inspired by the sixties, but nonetheless with a fresh and modern vibe.

Balenciaga on the other hand, proves with success that a black and white combo is not necessarily straight-lined to be outstanding. The hyper feminine asymmetric black skirt is clearly defined by crispy white contours, representing the pièce de résistance of Balenciaga's spring/summer 2013 collection.

Wether it's a plain black and white combo, a sharp geometric statement piece or an utterly feminine bicolored design, this trend can easily be adopted by anyone who loves to spice up their looks with timeless class but nevertheless looking fresh.

Author: Elke Sockeel