ABSTRACT PRINTS: ARTWORK IN MOTION

At L’MANE, a print rarely begins as decoration.

It begins as artwork  an exploration of colour, composition and emotion that eventually finds its way onto fabric.

But the transformation does not end there.

Once artwork meets a garment, it begins to interact with form, construction and movement.

FROM ARTWORK TO PRINT

Abstract artwork gives us the freedom to work beyond a fixed image.

Colour can be enlarged, fragmented or repositioned. A brushstroke can travel across a silhouette. One section of an artwork may become the focus while another disappears entirely.

The aim is not simply to reproduce the original artwork on fabric, but to understand how it can become part of the garment.

THE SILHOUETTE BECOMES THE CANVAS

Where a print is placed can completely change how it is experienced.

Across a clean silhouette, the artwork can remain uninterrupted. Introduce pleating, draping, asymmetric construction or layering and the image begins to transform.

A colour may disappear inside a fold. A line can be interrupted by a seam. A section of print may only become visible when the wearer turns or walks.

This interaction between artwork and construction is where abstract print becomes particularly interesting to us.

PRINT WITH RESTRAINT

Expression does not always require more.

Sometimes artwork covers the silhouette. At other times, a small section of print creates greater impact  appearing beneath a layer, inside a pleat or against an otherwise restrained surface.

This balance between expression and restraint allows the artwork to become a considered part of the design rather than simply its most visible element.

DESIGNED TO CHANGE WITH MOVEMENT

A printed garment is never experienced from only one angle.

As fabric moves around the body, the composition continually changes. Pleats open and close. Layers shift. Different areas of colour come into view.

The wearer becomes part of how the artwork is experienced.

That is why movement plays such an important role in the way we develop prints at L’MANE.

ART THAT BECOMES CLOTHING

For us, abstract print is not about following a particular aesthetic or trend.

It is one of the ways we build the L’MANE design language  alongside architectural form, fluidity, proportion and unexpected detail.

The artwork begins on a surface. The garment gives it form. Movement brings it to life.