so.
i went to the LA textile show. and I went to one of the seminars on trend and silhouette. I went for freelance reference for a client. for those who don’t work in fashion: there are these companies that produce books a couple times a year with trends of what everyone will be wanting to wear next year: including color, fabrics, silhouette, prints, ideas etc. they also do presentations.
if you work for a company with a strong identity, they usually choose not to use the service. if you work for a company that doubts itself or doesn’t/can’t hire the right people, or that views fashion as a race not a field, you may be asked to use the service instead of actually designing. a very busy company may also use the service. of course, if you are a designer who is busy checking your yahoo and your gossip blogs (you know who you are and i think you’re rad: don’t change), you may find these services to be a god send.
personally: i have nothing against them: but have only referenced them when buyers i worked with treated them like the bible. i do like the idea of them: these people transversing the globe in search of what is new and true. rarely, however, does that idea match up to what happens, like in this most recent case….
i sat there for about an hour while the speaker simply showed slides of what was in stores in europe and asia.
while maybe even 5 years ago this might have been helpful to designers, merchandisers, etc, but with the internet (so that you can go to topshop and see what they are selling) and the flow of information (fashion moves more quickly as we watch the same movies and tv, read the same articles and books, listen to the same music and experience similar economies and political situations to our global friends) it was a bit…lacking.
i waited for a summary at the end: like why we are returning to plaids (comfort, warmth and tradition in times of uncertaintly, maybe?), more traditional shapes like blazers (same), punk shoes and graphics (financial nervousness), and trompe l’oeil graphics (you just have to ignore that: british people do it because japanese people do it: but really, even i tried and its no good over here), and seperates (people need to work new pieces into an existing wardrobe due to the economy).
but that was it. very disapointing.
I think it can be done better (networks: not shopping trips), smarter (conversation, not meetings), quicker (online: like twitter, not like dial up), and awesomer (challenge the participant: don’t placate them).
