AW14TREND REPORT

IntroductionForecasting is a key area of risk analysis for the product development and fashion industries.

This Trend Report is a reference guide for emerging trends in the fashion industry for western markets, primarily the UK and Ireland.

The goal of this report is to offer practical suggestions to help develop prod-ucts and sevices that will appeal to the future consumer, while keeping the focus on what is happening in today’s marketplace.

There are many kinds of trends that can guide a business. However, it takes a practiced eye to identify trends, and a trend is most valuable when iden-tified very early in its course.

Trends emerge from both the emotional and practical needs of the popula-tion. Current events, the state of the economy, the global market, and cul-tural influences all have their impact in forming these trends.

Gaining an understanding of trends over time can inspire the product de-velopment process and provide a greater chance for success in todays fast moving market.

Contents1. Overview2. Trends3. Elegant Presence - Description 4. Elegant Presence - Moodboard5. Elegant Presence - Colour Palate6. Elegant Presence - Mood and Feeling7. Ethical Narrative - Description8. Ethical Narrative - Moodboard9. Ethical Narrative - Colour Palate10. Ethical Narrative - Mood and Feeling11. Fast Media - Description12. Fast Media - Moodboard13. Fast Media - Colour Palate14. Fast Media - Mood and Feeling15. Escaping Reality - Description16. Escaping Reality - Moodboard

OverviewFashion is fast, life is moving quickly, we want things now.

Everything matters, we want to know where things come from, are they ethically sourced? Good Quality? What are we eating? Who is it affecting? So many questions...

The trends featured in this report have been carefully chosen according to consumer behaiviour patterns and the direction in which life seems to be headed. Future needs are considered according to outside factors that may affect them.

Information has been gathered from a range of publications and existing reports. Museum/gallery exhibitions, emerging technological trends, home design, upcoming films, popular events and performance in retail have all been contributing factors.

There are eight Pantone referenced colours in each of the four trend re-ports, taking you through Autumn Winter 2013/14. Each palatte shows the ground colours for each trend and talks through what they mean.

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3 4

Elegant Presence Ethical Narrative

Fast Media Escaping Reality

Elegant PresenceThe bold lines and Art Deco feel give a powerful structural feel. Volume and proportion are brought into the equa-tion with excess - imagine rolls and waves of fabric trying to break free - confined by the initial structure. Pres-ence is about being seen, Peacock and Jewel colours ensure this. Black keeps a certain order about things. Erté style drawings inspire print within this story bring-ing more presence to the structure and a 20’s feel.

Jewel coloured pinks and greens along with the peacock blues give a rich and bold feeling. Blacks and grays bring the bright colours under control and the noticeable bright gold brings elegance.

The power and prescence of an intelligent successful woman, shown through strong Art Deco structure and bold peacock colours.

Ethical NarrativeTodays naive attitude towards ethical produce is mirrored with the fick-le and slightly showy products featured in the mood board. Ethical Nar-rative almost celebrates the untruthful ‘Eco’ feeling that so many of us buy our way in to. A natural feeling is given by rough and raw patterns, which enable people to buy a feeling that they should only be able to obtain through hard work. Beauty companies such as those who sell perfumes will package their product in such a way that makes the buyer feel better than if they had bought something in a regular glass bottle. There is a retro feeling behind the ethical hype, brought to life by the brightly coloured Roberts radio of times past and the home-baking fren-zy that has swept the nation. Be prepared for more fads from the past.

Natural wood and skin tones give this trend the earthy feel it so needs to seem genuine. Stone colours, both dark and pale are used to create tex-ture and give a rough edge while retro feel bright reds and deep burgun-dy bring give this palate depth.

On first glance we see a raw and natural ‘Ethical’ feel image. In reality we are hiding behind our gimmicky products. It’s okay so long as we know it.

Fast MediaWhile traveling on the train one day I took a photograph. The result was simply streaks of light. Life is getting faster, technology is getting faster, social media is taking over. We all have so much to do that we are looking for ways to simplify and organise our lives. Fast Media in-corporates this feeling with clean lines, smooth surfaces, structure and order. Modern design is a contrast to our busy culture and echo’s the way tablets and mobile devices condense down and display a busy diary in a minimalist way. Think straight lines and square shapes, shiny smooth surfaces and flashes of light. Think of a digital life.

Plenty of minimalistic white is set off with cold technologically inspired grays and blues. Flashes of bright yellow and a bright blue give that glim-mer of hope that our devices give us when we need them.

Everything that is fast can be caught, sorted and minimalised by modern technology.

Escaping Reality

Every day someone seems to have a new answer to our troubles. The current economic climate... The country’s issues with politicians... Where does our food come from?.. Cameron suggests marriage. Lets create the perfect lives for ourselves and escape the reality of what is really happening. Once tucked away in a duvet and the dreams be-gin none of the worries of the world really matter. The feeling is of the one provoked by the Tim Walker exhibition, swans, unicorns and larger than life friendly bee’s. Candy floss hair in pink and white with friends who really don’t exist. In a dream you really do have the per-fect family, the perfect home and you can escape to anywhere with-out boundaries.

A real array of primary and secondary colours suggest that anything is possible here - we are here to have fun after all. Lots of pale pinks and white give the trend a dreamy quality and remind us not to worry.

The Tim Walker Exhibition inspires a positive dreamy feeling where we can simply escape from our lives - however serious the real world may be.