How trends are born
“it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry, when in fact, you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room… from a pile of stuff.” Miranda Priestly, “The Devil Wears Prada” 2006
Miranda Priestly’s monologue in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” demonstrates the incarnation of the trend. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is a warm recommendation for the weekend. 😊
A trend is the general direction in which something develops or changes, the dictionary definition refers to a common preference in society, tendency, line of progress. The word trend can create a resistance for some of us, we don’t always want to be in trend, we want to be different and leaders. On the other hand, we are all inspired and influenced by different worlds of content, and we can admit that sometimes it’s fun to let go and let someone lead the way for us.
Trend forecasters are those who follow the way social trends and cultures develop, and their effects on the emotional, physical, and visual state of their environment. One of the leading trendsetters in the world is Lee Adelkoort, Dutch by origin, lecturer at fashion schools around the world and owner of a leading trends agency based in Paris. Lee specializes in predicting trends in fashion but has a lot to say of all other areas of life. For her, forecasting a trend is a kind of intuition, a kind of ability that she trains, like a muscle, to feel which of the bubbling things will grow into something significant. She explains that a trend is part of an existing phenomena, no one invents a trend, one can only study it and examine human behavior through it.
So how are trends born? Trends can arise from a variety of sources, which often involve a complex interplay of creativity, culture, and consumer behavior. The starting points of a trend will be in the marvels of life, from natural disasters to pop culture, art, history. They can arise from social or cultural movements such as sustainability, which began as a burning environmental issue, and developed to innovative materials, new esthetics, and even unique colors. Technologies can also manifest as a trend in the form of wearable technology, innovative fabrics, or even completely new ways of producing and consuming fashion. Finally, the fashion runways and present new styles, colors and patterns that set the tone.
Our world is fundamentally creative, from every nature phenomenon to all human creations. Trends serve as a compass that guides the creative journey of designers, brands, and enthusiasts alike. Trends that were born on fashion runways and break the boundaries of the medium, and take on innovative expressions in our daily lives, in design of human, architectural, and product experience.
Trends are largely reflected in colors. Colors carry symbolic meanings, help us analyze and interpret feelings and can affect our mood. Two of the leading enterprises in color prediction are WGSN and Coloro. The color study they published for 2023-2024, a year in which the world is still recovering from the effects of the plague, predicted a year of both healing colors and brighter colors, of travel and exploring the world.
At iota we draw inspiration from the world of fashion, from nature, wanderers, and vagabonds. We explore the fine lines of the ugly and the beautiful, the boring and the inspiring, the nostalgic and the current. One of the main things that lead our design processes is the textiles, the colors, the different tones. Everything starts from the fiber of the yarn and progresses upwards in a creative process that fascinates us every time.
We wish all of us to choose the colors and paths that will do us good this new year.
Our recommendations for brands and inspiring individuals that make us think and hope:
https://www.instagram.com/leandramcohen/
https://www.vogue.com/article/best-copenhagen-street-style-roundup
https://www.instagram.com/susiebubble/
https://www.instagram.com/styledumonde/
https://www.instagram.com/coloro_
https://www.instagram.com/wgsn/
https://www.instagram.com/lidewijedelkoort/
https://www.instagram.com/chloe4dayz/
