A Guide to Fashion Forecasting - Fairchild Books

In practice, forecasters, whether attending a fair or walking down the
street, are always on the alert for fashion elements that catch their eyes.
They become gatherers of bits and pieces of information that, collectively,
add up to fashion developments. Lifestyle trends including vacation destinations,
entertainment choices, and artistic interests can also act as clues
to uncovering new developments and ideas.
On the streets, innovative youths experiment with new style ideas. On
the runways, the top designers challenge the acceptable norms and re-create
fashion with a sense of newness and imagination. Established and prominent
design houses, as well as new and up-and-coming designers, forge
ahead with fresh ideas that can be significant sources for forecasters. Emerging
designers, seeking to establish a reputation in the industry, can also
contribute trendsetting collections that anticipate new directions in fashion.
The fashion media have some of the industry’s most perceptive observers
reporting for them, offering forecasters useful, sometimes moldbreaking
perspectives. Women’s Wear Daily, the fashion newspaper for the
industry, photographs and reports the events of the industry. Books and
magazines including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Lucky, and Elle
capture fashionable trends. Many countries around the world promote
their fashion industries and styles through their own regional publications.
Forecasters research by observing trends from multiple cultures
and use this information to shape their predictions.
The Internet gives forecasters a speedy method to survey fashion
using social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
Blogs, which are types of Web sites, are another place to read about or participate
in tracking fashion trends. Bloggers, or the people who partake in a
blog, enter information, commentary, and descriptions of events or ideas.
Many blogs provide photos and ideas about certain fashions; therefore,
forecasters get insight and response by participating in the interactive format.
Web sites: www.blogspot.com; www.tumblr.com; www.twitter.com.
Chapter One : Introduction to Fashion Forecasting
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