Masters of Linen offers upcoming color trends

NEW YORK — Masters of Linen, the organization that promotes linen here and in Europe, sponsored a presentation at the Fashion Institute of Technology last week, outlining the three color stories for linens for spring/summer 2003.

Silence, the color story that conveys an intimate and serene mood, covers a range of whitened neutrals, from pure white and sandy white to tints with a hint of color, including powder gray, mist, and silvery cloud. Fabrics for this trend fall into extremes: the lightweight side of voiles, delicate crepes, ultra-fine jerseys, contrasting with compact, heavier but supple weaves and bleached linen denims. Linens blended with viscose or polyamide microfibers add softness. In addition, finishes may be ultra-matte or silky sheen, including pearlized surfaces.

Sensual and emotional colors are at the heart of Charm, the second trend story for linen. Combining the romance of the Impressionist era with a contemporary desire for everything natural, this trend includes such colors as clematis blue, briar rose, cornflower, bud green, rosewood, thatch, hay and russet. The linen fabric in this story can range from a pure linen to blends of linen with cotton or viscose. Surfaces may have a faded effect.

Discipline is the final story, the direct opposite of ostentation. The range of shadowy, darkened colors includes cobalt, coffee, grape, graphite, ebony, onyx, majolica blue, garnet and mystical black. The rustic, heavyweight fabrics in this trend are noticeably soft to the touch. Linen/silk blends are countrified in trashed, wrecked, faded and fibrous cloths or are more elegant in clean and structured cloths. The hefty fabrics also provide the base for such embroidery effects as jagged, interrupted, freehand or lace-like cuts.