Harmony, hope, reciprocity, and refuge. These are the concepts that chose Mrs. Venetia Koutsou, fashion expert and fashion design lecturer, to define what's going on in fashion trends work for next spring-summer of 2022 and autumn-winter of 2023. These concepts define, according to Koutsou, the current state of mind of our society.

Venetia Koutsou starred in the online presentation organized by SEPEE, the Hellenic Fashion Industry Association, and partner of the EU-funded TEX-MED ALLIANCES project. This webinar, which took place on 27th November, reunited more than a hundred people of different countries of the Mediterránean basin. There was a lot of expectation to know what's next on fashion looks after the "corona-pandemia". And Mrs. Koutsou answered all questions.

The fashion lecturer thinks that "harmony aesthetics show us a return to the basics, as consumers pare down the excess, for positivity, grace, and healing. There is a mathematical approach to design that reclaims geometry to soothe and heal. A plea for comfort". In that sense, Koutsou talks about a mood that chooses comfortable clothes (elevated loungewear, sweater dressing, long and lean dresses, and skirts, delicate next-to-skin sensibility, etc.). In her words, "as we enter back into the world, our clothes become our comfort zone. Our home away from home. We seek out our emotional armor, that leaves us feeling cocooned and swaddled. This enveloping design inspires new contemporary codes, that infuse comfort into everyday life, reinventing everything from tailoring to eveningwear". About colors, the fashion expert said that the most coherent palette is what she defined as "serenity". A palette of beige and gray hues, enlivened by softly saturated pastels. Colors embodied in materials such as dense micro styles, warm merino's wool blended knits, supple cotton crepes, silks, etc.

About the hope concept, the fashion lecturer said that, after all that we have lived in the two last years, "we recognize the need to turn inward to find honesty, reflected in products that embrace exposed internal structures and unexpected cutouts, that reveal our innermost selves. Hope proudly displays fractures and scars-proof of a life lived and fought for in a visually appealing manner. The use of techniques like stitched joinery represents our desire to pick up our broken pieces and use them to create something new, rather than throw them aside. Hope is an ongoing process". That mood makes fashion designers "embrace imperfection and conceptualize ways to reconstruct design. Here we find ways to reinvent tradition in a minimal sense with classic patterns and blocking". And for that, the best colors palette is what Venetia Koutsou defines as "brutalism and upbeat", so, muted neutral hues, rich grungy tones, and bright, cheerful hues. About patterns, what's coming on is to rise up a playful remix of traditional prints (tartan plaids, windowpane checks, patchworked construction, color-blocked techniques, and bold colors).

Fashion trends of 2022 and 2023 are also constructed on the concept of reciprocity. That means, for Mrs. Koutsou, "a newfound appreciation and mutual respect for the cyclical nature of Reciprocity, we must foster new technological innovations and products that nourish and benefit the environment and not just the human consumer".  That's why she thinks that fashion designers "will go beyond biomimicry and use nature not as a template to mimic and copy, but instead, examine how our actions can profoundly give and not simply take. Nature is no longer considered a place in which humans reside and use. It is a living, breathing being in which we live alongside in the truest of partnerships". Reciprocity will be represented in fashion design by "the fusion between natural and artificial worlds. Spaces and wardrobes become seemingly immersed in an ecosphere, blurring lines between natural and manmade". So that, next year we'll find in fashion stores a "nature-infused color palette" . For Koutsou, that means "the vitality of tonal warm hues and scorched vignettes like volcanoes, molten lava, and the hazy skies elicit a heatwave of warning, but also vibrancy and glaring beauty. Biologically abundant jewel tones are grounded with organic neutrals that serve as a foundation for hyper-saturated brights".

Finally, fashion trends for the next 2 years will be influenced by the concept of "refuge". That means, to put on the value of our ancestors. This is a sweet and lovely definition by Venetia Koutsou: "post-pandemic, fundamental safety shows up in how we increasingly want places where we can retreat and hide away from the world. As functional outdoor wear transforms within a city wear spirit, the refuge concept first looks to age-old techniques and traditions, which are revived in a way that not only pays homage to generational wisdom and craft but proves that their influence can look elevated and modern in their use. Next, adaptability and utility provide a necessary level of order to our lives, and while they're fundamental parts of stability, there's beauty to be found in precise lines, historical artistry, the balance of light, and fabrics that are used in a decisive, meaningful way. Finally, comfort can take us to dreamy new heights by finding solace in things like the curves of caves and cocoons, warm minimalism, and illuminated wellness". So that, the principal colors will be "fiery shades of red and orange evoque natural elements. Steadfast neutrals provide the best kind of relief"; refuge style will suppose materials as woolen fibers, refined warmth, shearlings, mohair’s an intricate cables, among others.

Resuming all, the 10  seasonal colors for 2022 and 20223 will be: spellbound (purple), saddle (beige), vicious (red), satsuma (dark orange), burst (dark yellow), morpho (blue intense), biome (grass green), Jackfruit (green lime), sanctuary (lavender) and calm (soft beige).

The Lecturer Venetia Koutsou closed the webinar answering all questions of the participants.