From being traditional, embroidery has emerged as the hot, on-trend fashion that big brands and celebrities are endorsing and supporting these days. Towards the beginning of this year, a Jack Wills cashmere hoody for Taylor Swift was created by Louise Gray that featured the star’s nickname – TayTay being surrounded by a neon blanket stitch. Brands too featured various embroidered pieces in their collections. While T-shirts of Maison Labiche used neat, schoolgirl hand-stitch to create mottos like the dude and crazy in love that attracted buyers, casual wear like embroidered knits of Markus Lupfer’s and Kenzo’s embroidered sweatshirts were sell-outs. Christopher Kane’s jackets and jumpers featuring scribbled free-hand thread doodles and Stella McCartney’s Aertex with spiraling patterns of orange colored squiggle motifs also played an important in enhancing the popularity of embroidered fashion.

Many brands and designers that once focused on print are now exploring embroidery for creating surface embellishments with a dynamic appeal to them. Some designers are even using the ‘free machining’ technique where the needle is manipulated by a machinist to create a more random effect that’s difficult for the high street to copy. With the support and endorsement from big brands, designers and celebrities, people have become aware of how embroidered designs and motifs can be fashionable, thus giving a new lease of life to this creative art form that was not considered a front runner in the world of fashion even a few years ago.
Embroidery these days can be found in a variety of things. Let’s take a look at how it has added a dash of glamour and beauty to otherwise mundane attires and everyday things:

Embroidered shoes

Stepping out with embroidered shoes is in vogue these days. And embroidered shoes have become one of the most eye-grabbing footwear available today across the globe. To stay on the same page with the current fashion trend, adept shoemakers have mastered the skills of decorating shoes with this type of ornamentation. Unlike fabric embroidery, shoe embroidery uses slightly different methods and techniques. Sometimes, thick needles are used to embroider the base material – leather, while some other cases may use an embroidered fabric wrapped around the base material (like leather) and stitched in place. From shoes embroidered in gold threads and beads, velvet sneakers with animal and other small embroidery work, and embroidered suede sandals to denim ankle boots that are elaborately sequined and embroidered to give the pieces a metallic finish, you will have a lot to choose from. You may even check the stock of Eytys – the popular Swedish sneaker brand, which produced embroidered shoes with designs drawing inspiration from Afghan war rugs that have a custom of getting the apparatus of conflict, weaved into traditional carpeting.

Embroidered jackets

The light blue bleach washed denim features embroidered butterflies, flowers, tiger, birds and “l’aveugle par amour” (that means “blind for love”) appliqués. Pumice stones and enzymes are used to stone wash the fabric, followed by spraying that gives it a vintage, marbled effect. Drawing inspiration from Alessandro Michele’s hand-stitched, patched denim jacket, this embroidered jacket is lined with shear ling. Since the embroidered appliqués, which include some of the most recognizable motifs of the collection, are hand-sewn individually into the garment, completion of a jacket takes about four hours.

Embroidered shirts

You can make an event or any sport special by using customized embroidered shirts. From denim shirts to polo shirts, you can customize them with logos, name, numbers or artwork, which would be great to advertise your business, draw attention to a sport or special event, or simply give your staff a casual wear they can flaunt on days when official wear isn’t mandatory. Wearing customized logo embroidered apparel not only greatly helps you to enhance your branding and identity but also aids in building community and developing trust and professionalism.

Embroidered T-shirts

T-shirts with your company logo embroidered on it adds value to your brand and business. When worn by the staff as part of their dress code, such shirts also encourage a sense of pride and belonging. Unlike printed t-shirts, those with embroidered logos, numbers, names and motifs look stylish. No wonder sports teams, children’s sports leagues and many other organizations use these embroidered shirts in various events and special occasions. You can use this skill of ornamentation to spread the vision and mission of your brand.

Rising prices and the demand for embroidered stuff: From jeans with exquisite handwork costing £750 to a sequin-embroidered Saint Laurent dress with a selling tag of £11,700 and a Dolce & Gabbana dress with children’s drawings embroidered on it that could be your for £6,000, there’s almost no limit to what enthusiast would pay for exclusive and beautiful embroidered outfits.
Gucci’s crystal embroidered dress with sequins too finds many takers, despite its steep price tag of $14,000. The first phase of production of this dress involves arrangement of the micro square sequins in overlapping horizontal lines, which is followed by the second phase where small Swarovski stones and rosettes in different colors are embroidered onto the sequins. Due to the specialized craftsmanship that goes into the making of this dress, any difference between two pieces is considered a unique characteristic that buyers are willing to pay for, no matter what the price tag is.

Conclusion

From embroidered sweatshirts that blend the worlds of sportswear and fine art to handcrafted pieces that showcase artisan embroidery and craftsmanship, today’s fashion trends are driven to a significant extent by its base i.e embroidery digitalizing. With the involvement and patronizing of big brands, renowned designers, celebrities and popular fashion houses as well as reputed brands, embroidered fashion has taken the world by storm and has created a new generation of embroidery fans. Thus, embroidered pieces no longer need to be framed on the wall. You can wear them and even clean them using a washing machine (in many cases though not all) when they get dirty. As the trend is here to stay, it’s time to browse through some embroidered fashion trends to get an attire or two for yourself to flaunt.