Top 2011 Fashion Designers Revisit the 1950's Prom Look

Are you wondering what the fashion forecast will be for Prom 2011? Every September, the fashion world vamps up for the new Fall/Winter/Spring designs. This year, Oscar de la Renta, according to the New York Times reporter Valerio Mezzanotti, "took the cake". While other designers like Carolina Herrera were not as popular, the response for Oscar de la Renta's revisiting the Prom look of the 1950's was overwhelming.

1950's Prom Will Rule 2011

Evening wear and Prom dresses for New Year's Eve parties to Senior Prom's will most likely have designs related to this 1950's Oscar de La Renta inspiration. In addition to the clothing, de la Renta also created a runway atmosphere complete with period music like the Platters and their hit "Only You". Silk faille, silk chiffon, and silk organza were popular vintage fabrics used. Mezzonotti was quick to point out that a pink and green bolero style gown was a tribute to Lilly Pulitzer.

Lilly Pulitzer Looks Rule Prom 2011

Lilly Pulitzer is a designer that has historically focused on large, bright floral silkscreen styled patterns on a white background. Within the patterns, the borders of the flowers and leaves often overlap. This causes the fabrics to appear wild, vivid, and optical illusion in effect. The patterns are contrasting colors variations of historic wood block calico designs originating in India during the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the mid 1800's.

1980's Influence At Prom 2011

Using Lilly Pulitzer style fabrics look can be interpreted as another re-visitation to 1980's fashion. Loud, confusing, and obnoxious were fabric and design trends that got their hold in the Op Art movement of the 1950's and somehow picked up Picasso. By the 1980's, they gained speed and exploded in the textile world. In the 1980's, textiles that were previously considered hideous and painful to the eye were revered in many ways.

Among the many trends of the 1980's, there was also a huge vintage movement toward 1950's fashion. Perhaps Oscar de la Renta is giving a not so subtle nod toward fashion marriages that should have happened back then. While many designers presented plain or ordinary knock-offs of their previous collections, Oscar de la Renta outperformed the rest in creativity and wear-ability.