In yesterday's post we explored the liquid inspirations behind a collection showcased during New York Fashion Week. In that case the designer moved from photographs of pools, but there have been other fashion collections for the next season inspired by water. 
Sea-life was indeed the main theme behind M Missoni's S/S 18 collection that had a literary starting point, an epigram from Book XII of Homer's Odyssey ("First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them"). 
The results were delicately pleated and knitted dresses with mermaid and starfish motifs, coral, clamshells and fish. 
Missoni's zigzag and chevron patterns were also reinvented as waving motifs or crocheted waves, they therefore lost their sharp geometrical edges. 
The best results were achieved in the long pleated dresses evoking the attire of classical Greek heroes and heroines and the honeycombed separates calling to mind fishing nets. Also the accessories – such as a small pouch with a dangling fringe vaguely reminiscent of a sea anemone – were inspired by the sea.
You could argue that there was nothing new in this collection as these are the sort of dresses you may easily find in a Missoni collection and therefore in one of its shops all year around (like the one in Venice where a multiple layered inverted cupcake evening gown will set you back 10,000 Euros… View this photo), but the execution and the quality were impeccable. 
The same can't be said about Shrimps that also moved from seascapes for the next season: the favourite faux-fur label of many young influencers and high profile bloggers, Shrimps has widened its offer developing a ready-to-wear collection revolving around vivid prints with a childish twist about them.
Showcased in London during the local fashion week that opened on Thursday, the collection was characterised by girly and saccharine moods and by the dreamy seascape paintings of artist Faye Wei Wei.
Apron dresses (in sheer pink or in a white and green patchworked motif) abounded and so did tiered skirts or ruffled dresses at times decorated with prints of shells, houses and animals. Most pieces were matched with very unflattering fuzzy slipper-like shoes that didn't do much to dispel the impression this is not a fashion label for grown-ups.
The offer was completed by a long white coat with a train and narutomaki-like swirls in blue and green and yellow splashes (apparently a reference to Murano glass since the house founder, Hannah Weiland, was proposed in Venice this year).
Reeking of childish experiments gone wrong, Shrimps' collections should lose their heightened degree of naivety as soon as possible, otherwise the brand will remain locked in a Meadham Kirchhoff syndrome, that is it will just keep on producing frilly frocks or fluffy coats thinking all women are Alice in Wonderland types spending their lives moving from one fashion show to the next.
Can't resist the sea inspiration and don't want to wait till next season to go for it? Well, create your own designs: there are a few fabrics inspired by the sea and featuring prints of waves, fish and shrimps in a limited edition on the Vlisco site. Can't sew? Make a headdress with the fabrics: turbans will be very fashionable again from now on, especially since the sad fashion elite started raving and ranting about headwraps after spotting too many of them on Marc Jacobs's runway during New York Fashion Week.
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