Spot The Difference

Sitting on a spotted chair at a spotted table and staring straight into the camera, George Clooney’s face and hands are the only things that are clearly visible.

The recent December ‘Art’ issue of W Magazine saw Clooney made over by famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama – best known for all those colourfully spotted Louis Vuitton handbags. Peppered with black and white polka dots, the camouflaged Clooney resembles a living and breathing version of one of those colour blind tests we were forced to do at school.

While we’re not advocating taking things to this extreme, it certainly is worth getting a little dotty about spots this season. A timeless print, polka dots go through peaks and troughs on the men’s catwalks, falling in and out of vogue when the mood takes designers and brands.

This summer was a high, though, with spots being seen at all the global fashion weeks, in collections as diverse as Burberry Prorsum, Acne, Marni, Canali and Kris Van Assche.

The great thing about polka dots is there are as many variations as there are dots. From large filled circles to tiny pin-dot motifs, there isn’t one defining look – which means we can all put our own individual stamp on the trend.

This is also a print that hasn’t been ‘owned’ by any particular brand or label – unlike, say, zig-zag stripes (Missoni) or small floral prints (Liberty) – so from high street to designer, they work on any budget. This year’s democratic print of choice, you might say.

On The Runways

As far as the high fashion designers went, Christopher Bailey at Burberry Prorsum returned to a favourite muse, David Hockney, in a collection full of bold hues and contrasting patterns, most notably large colourful polka dots.

This is the artistic side of the trend, delivering colour and interest in equal measure: a balanced dot to background ratio.