Psychotropic-
- (adj)- affecting the mind so as to produce vivid visions.
- (adj)- affecting mental activity behavior, or perception, as a mood-altering drug.
- (n)- a psychotropic drug, as a tranquilizer, sedative, or antidepressant.
In 2018, we will be drawn not just to the natural, but the super-natural. Environments will become “phygital” hybrids- hyper-textured, hyper-exotic, and hyper-censorial- and there will be a new thirst for experiences and materials that create feelings of euphoria.
The PsychoTropic trend has a hyper-real quality, inspired by virtual reality, where the man-made and the natural become indistinguishable. Designs focus on tropical themes and offer a sense of escapism, making them perfect for high-summer collections.
PsychoTropic embraces a more skewed, idealized version of nature, fit for the digital age, where beach themes and high-summer stories are re-imagined with a hallucinogenic, hyper-real twist. Colors are deep and saturated, and the natural synthetic are juxtaposed, creating design direction that feels unusual and fresh.
This high-summer palette is characterized by striking juxtapositions and contrast with brights such a s Lightening Bug and Yellow Glare appearing heightened next to lush rainforest tones of Kombu Green and Deep Jungle. Colors such as Psychic Green and Charged Pink also feel slightly digital, as though taken from a screen, and their saturated quality gives them a psychedelic appeal. This is a palette with plenty of opportunity for mixing and matching, particularly for print design, making it ideal for high-summer palettes.
Psychotropic sees lush botanical themes on a heightened almost synthetic form, with motifs that have a hallucinogenic quality. The deep and saturated colors, and the juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made creates an unusual tension that feels new for the Spring/Summer season.
PsychoTropic Womenswear S/S 2018:
Amazonic- Irregular patterns are rich in texture and color in this story, which takes inspiration from the depths of the rainforest. These exotic effects will appear across a range of categories for this Spring/Summer season, from swimwear trims and fringing on ready-to-wear items.
Jungle Ruffles- Ruffles have been trending since Spring/Summer 2016 season, inspired style for Spring/Summer 2018, with bigger proportions, tropical prints, and lush summer colors.
Plastic Paradise– Exotic plants and textures are recreated in almost surreal synthetic forms. Surface interest is key, seen in the fabric manipulation of fashion innovator Iris Van Herpen, as well as in futuristic-looking embellishments.
Botanical Transparency- Transparency emerges as an important direction for womenswear in this season. The wet leaves and plants of humid jungles inspire organza wovens that have a see-through botanical look. This look becomes more commercial when paired with woven tee, a key item or the season.
Firefly- The glow of fireflies inspires this story, where apparel takes on neon and soft glow-in-the-dark effects. This is perfect for high-summer partywear, either as trims or integrated into the fabric construction.
Hyper Tropics- Digital prints take inspiration from tropical nature, with heightened colors to create a surreal look. Stylized florals are distorted through magnified scale or interrupted effects. Try layering prints in contrasting styles and colors to make a stronger statement.
Natural Patterns- A range of camouflage and animal-inspired patterns emerge for more daring denim designs. Ocelot patterns are updated with contemporary colors, and patterns can be used for statement outerwear or matching sets. Tonal indigo hues work best for commercial markets.
Influencers:
Gucci- Alessandro Michele’s eccentric vision for Gucci has done wonders for the Italian house, and his now-signature eclectic embroideries tie in perfectly with the PsychoTropic trend.
Bruno Novelli- Novelli’s pop-bright artworks mix elements of landscape and fantasy. Surrealism and Cubism to create a futuristic cut-and-paste style that is perfect for print inspiration.
Olga Amaral- This fringed masterpiece from Olga de Amaral is a great reference, with its sumptuous color palette that evokes this trend’s tropic theme.
Patbo- Brazilian designer Patricia Bonaldi mixes casual, evening and beachwear styles in her collections. For S/S 17 she mixed tropical leaf prints with rich pleats and conversational embellishment.
For accessories, this trend inspires a vibrant commercial look for high-summer collections, featuring stimulating color combinations, tactile materials, shimmering surfaces, and designs with day-to-night versatility.
The PyschoTropic trend, hair stories are inspired by hyper-tropical references with plastic-like, wet-look updos, and textural updos featuring braids and twists.
Hair is doused in gel for a wet-look finish, and styled into tightly tied-back low ponytails. Texture is key, with the focus on either prominent comb marks on the head or hair that is super slick and smoothed flat. hair has a lacquered, plastic quality.
Deep, tropical tones of blue and green have an artificial quality, and are layered and placed haphazardly in different sections. Color is applied in a halo shape around the top or painted in a patchwork technique around the front of the head.
Unusual plants inspire textural updos. Styles have a surreal quality, with hair braided and twisted into neat knots, buns, or fishtails and positioned on the forehead, falling over the face. Accessorize the looks with oversized hair clips on the top of the head, and pull out fine strands at the front for a softer appearance. (Lightweight styling creams offer strong hold and malleable texture to prepare for styling.)
Women’s PyschoTropic Footwear:
Twilight- Tapping into the evolving demand for items that can be worn from day to night, dramatic, statement materials are applied to casual and core styles.
Use glitter-saturated surfaces that have a mesmerizing, color-shifting quality and a coarse feel to create impact.
Beachcomber– A need for escapism is driving a trend to reconnect with the natural world. Beach-inspired materials and embellishments such as shells, sea grass, and rope or twine remain key but are updated with a contemporary luxe feel through the use of metallic accents, unexpected placements and muted colors.
Influencers-
Lane Marinho– Sao Paulo-based designer Lan Marinho hand makes shoes using rope, cord, stone, natural shells and coral, putting an exquisitely modern spin on high-summer beach-inspired aesthetic.
Marcela B- Marcela B makes contemporary high-summer shoes using natural materials and beach-found embellishments and details.
PsychoTropic Menwear S/S18:
PsychoTropic reimagines beach themes and high-summer stories with a hallucinogenic, trippy twist inspired by an enhanced relationship with nature. All-over prints and synthetic, glossy materials are important and reflect a longing for paradise, whether naturally-occurring or man-made.
The casualization of the men’s wear-to-work wardrobe evolves in this direction with a tropical touches and bolder colors. High-sheen and metallic fabrics have a hyper-real quality, giving casual sporty staples a nostalgic attitude, and elevating summerweight tailoring with a breezy sophistication as well as a more intense palette. Print and patterns are refreshed with odd motifs and atypical placements.
Hypernatural Placements- Streetwear staples and summer shirting feature intricate embroidery to create an overgrown, lush look for the young men’s market. Floral prints are replaced by block graphics and Eastern-inspired renderings of mountains, clouds, and mythical animals. Atypical placements replace all-over prints.
Botanical Green- Intense green jungle textures inform a new colour palette for denim. Lush shades of midnight teal, deep jungle and new leaf feel fresh on glossy wax-like coatings, seersucker fabrics, and other lightweight fabrics. Fine stripes and micro-slubs create subtle surface variations.
Ocean-inspired Camo- Aquatic camouflage and deep-sea creatures inspire new animal prints. Designs look to the counter-shaded camo of tropical fish, or the dappled waters of coral reefs. Monochrome markings look almost digital, appearing both natural and super-natural with a luminescent glow. This is especially relevant for lightweight performance shells and graphic base layers.
Sensory Sport- Fitness increasingly acknowledges the importance of mental wellbeing and sensory stimulation. Neuropriming uses energy pulses to stimulate the brain in readiness for activity, while ‘hearables’ delliver in-ear feedback in real-time. The next generation of smart apparel uses data-to-skin haptic technology to allow the wearer to ‘feel’ feedback, while advances in VR create increasingly immersive workouts.
Plastic Island- A new approach to sporty dressing combines heightened awareness of sustainability with the humid neon glow of tropical urban nights. Easy summer staples such as tees and board shorts are mixed and layered with more technical sports items, which use recycled materials for an unashamedly synthetic look.
Organic Camo- Perennial camouflage print stories are updated with organic motifs. This is a versatile direction that works across casual bags through to sartorial soft accessories. Overlay prints and use a dark, tonal palette that plays on light and dark to add drama and emphasize the hide-and-seek nature of camouflage designs.
Influencers:
James Merry- James Merry’s embroidered customization of sport logos has a cult following. It offers a modern botanical twist on ideas for placement graphics.
Liam Wong- Hazy, tropical city heat is a key thread throughout this trend, and this idea is perfectly encapsulated in Liam Wong’s photographs of Tokyo.
Avatar 2- The fantasy drama is back. Delve into the planet of Pandora, and see this lush, tropical, alien world come to life once again. Scheduled for the screen in December 2018.
David Edgar- Putting aside steel to work with recyclable bottles, this sculptor’s work is a comment on consumerist society and its effect on the environment.
Gucci- Alessandro Michele’s penchant for complex embroideries and the grandiose provide perfect inspiration for Psychotropical’s luxe mood.
Men’s PyschoTropic Footwear:
Organic Speckle– Men’s footwear has a relaxed approach for the season. Clean slip-on patterns exaggerate cleated outsoles, highlighting the importance of foot and ankle support. Soft-touch suedes and Lycra skins offer modern sport and casual applications to classic footwear silhouettes.
Psychedelic Lounge– Graphics and placement prints experiment with color and construction, resulting in distinctive psychedelic shapes for casual and active styles. Layered floral, butterfly and bird motifs are mixed with contrasting camouflage base prints to create fresh new upper treatments.
Influences:
David Edgar- Artist David Edgar makes striking sculptures of marine creatures from recyclable detergent bottles as a comment on sustainability.
Salvatore Ferragamo- Luxurious and inspirational, Salvatore Ferragamo’s S/S 17 collection offers playful and tropical colour, material and print detailing.
Wilfried Grootens- Artist Wilfried Grootens paints extraordinary dots and tendrils sandwiched between dozens of laminate glass layers to create optical float paintings that resemble microscopic creatures.
Surface & Materials: PsychoTropic S/S 18
Enigmatic Metallics– Metallic finishes have a mysterious iridescence with blends of green, blue, silver and violet, similar to peacock feathers or butterfly wings. Dichroic coatings, thermochromatic inks and ombré blends create changeable color effects, which take the form of pearlized sheen or glitter surfaces.
Hyper Nature- Exaggerated surfaces create a hyper-natural, super tactile direction. Virtual texture is explored through computer renders, and physical products feature surreal three-dimensional skins with densely encrusted beaded textures, using recycled plastic and recycled glass from the sea.
Mesmerizing Movement- Refracted and optical color effects give products and materials a sense of hypnotic movement. Interiors play with distortion through reflection, while lighting, glassware and jewelry create a greater sense of visual depth through layers of encapsulated color or using etched or faceted surfaces.
Glowing Translucence- Jellyfish and other sea-life inspire a new realm of rubber resin and bio- or recycled plastics. Materials feature a delicate pastel palette and gummy touch for pliable, sculpted jewelry and accessories, while recycled plastic waste results in new, whimsical furniture forms.
Euphoric Ombré- Psychedelic colors and materials evoke a sense of high-energy euphoria. Filtered neon lighting creates an uplifting mood for interiors and other physical environments, while dichroic finishes, off-register printing and ombré color harmonies give products and materials a sense of positive energy.
Mirroring Nature- Highly polished metals and reflective glass surfaces feature ombré gradient tints in tropical hues for mirrors and glassware, or are used to recreate natural forms such as fruit, flora and fauna for a flawless, high-definition direction for jewelry and accessories.
Tropical Grains- Color is used to re-energize natural patterns and textures for high-summer. Tropical leaf and exotic wood-grain patterns feature a mix of bright and natural tones together, helping to enliven turned wood products and veneers, as well as basketry, interiors and apparel textiles.
Influencers:
Wilfred Grootens– Artist Wilfred Grootens paints extraordinary dots and tendrils sandwiched between dozens of laminate glass layers to create optical float paintings that resemble microscopic creatures.
Ryter Design- Ryter Designs RECYCLINE objects turn PET bottles into everyday useful objects such as containers and planters.
Ken Samudio- Filipino accessories designer Ken Samudio was originally a marine biodiversity biologist. His organic jewelry uses recycled beads from recycled plastic bottles and sea glass.
PsychoTropic explores an idealized nature of the future.
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