a very interesting article we found on the importance of Prints in hard times.

By NANCY MACDONELL

May 3, 2012, 5:28 pm

“Over the past several seasons, love has shadowed hate as the common reaction to prints, a trend that many designers link to a yearning for better and simpler times; prints, they suggest, make you happier than solids. “What with the doom and gloom and never-ending economy, I think we all want some optimism and prints speak to that,” says Gaby Basora of Tucker, whose knack for marrying sophisticated prints and simply tailored shapes has converted many a print-phobe to the patterned side of fashion. “And there’s also a desire to be closer to nature and the earth, whether it’s with food or clothes. I don’t think it’s hokey to wear a gorgeous bird or botanical print. If that’s what you feel, we encourage it. Quentin Crisp said, ‘Be yourself and be it like mad.’ That’s the Tucker approach.”

If the idea of wearing, say, head-to-toe cabbage roses, an undertaking that requires a certain sang-froid, is daunting, there’s always swimwear, the designers of which have also jumped into the deep end of the print spectrum. In doing so they’ve ventured beyond the norm.

To keep up with the demand for prints, many designers work with textile designers, a mostly anonymous and largely unsung group who are nevertheless in the industry’s vanguard. In fact, because they work even further in advance than clothing designers, up to a year before a finished garment appears on the runway, print designers in many ways set trends. “Fashion designers would be lost without them,” Rose says. “They’re out there seeing what goes on, on the front lines. So much fashion starts with the fabric, and that starts with them.”

Discretion is the rule of thumb for print designers, who often function as a combination of trend forecaster, psychiatrist and design consultant.

to read the full story: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/behavior-pattern-the-psychology-behind-fashions-latest-favorite/?emc=eta1