Patchwork is a major ready-to-wear trend this season

Patchwork was definitely back in the Autumn-Winter 2015-16 collections, as it was seen in a vast array of pieces in all different types of fabric. Let's take a look at the most beautiful patchwork colors, finishes, and patterns showcased on the catwalks.

The patchwork trend started last summer, has continued this season, and will still be in the news in Spring-Summer 2016. Many of the fashion houses rocked the runways with patchwork outfits.

A mixture of fabrics, prints and colors in patchwork form will therefore take center stage this year, ranging from very traditional to more quirky and even completely eccentric versions.

A patchwork of prints, colors, and fabrics 

Patchwork is everywhere this season, but one particularly strong theme is patchwork revisited in denim -- in dungarees, trousers and jackets.

The designers unhesitatingly put together pieces of completely different fabrics to make coats, capes, dresses and even skirts.

Miu Miu adopted the theme wholeheartedly, although it went for subtlety, with very discreet patchwork, adding pieces of printed python to a heavy knitted coat. Valentino, Giambattista Valli and Masha Ma also offered patchwork outfits with the same low-key approach.

In contrast, other fashion houses dared to offer highly colorful and eccentric patchwork. Chloé was the fashion house with the most identifiable patchwork piece in the form of a cape coat featuring a myriad of pieces of diverse fabrics.

Patchwork was also brought to the fore by other fashion houses such as Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Christian Wijnants, but partly or completely reworked with a more modern slant. The eccentricity remained, but the pieces were also elegant.


What about accessories?

The trend has not yet spread to shoes, which were very restrained and did not feature the patchwork of the 1970s and 1980s.

As seen this summer, leather accessories played the patchwork card in a subtle but effective way. This was particularly the case at Miu Miu which offered more patchwork, as did Louis Vuitton but the trend remains low-key on such pieces.