The possible fashion fads and trends
suggested in these pages here for 2005 are related to female styling only.
These pages are my analysis, personal opinion and fad prediction of the next
common new fashion themes we are likely to adopt.
(Page written early Jan 2005)
What is clear is that A NEW SILHOUETTE IS
EMERGING AND IN COSTUME HISTORY TERMS IT MAY WELL THE MAIN OUTLINE THAT DEFINES THE NOUGHTIES. This new silhouette is neat and small at the top, but much fuller in the
lower half.
A long known fashion fact is that a season's
main look always hinges on 4 or so key pieces.
Choose the correct key piece for you and
your body whilst camouflaging your imperfections. The secret to
getting a look that suits you is in simply picking out the bits you like,
rather than going overboard on the whole look. Less is always more.
I see
key female fashion pieces for spring summer 2005 as being the shrunken cropped jacket,
the fuller bigger longer 'gypsy' skirt, cropped
trousers or overlong trousers that get rolled or turned up, the empire line dress or
top, flat or wedge shoes and masses of tribal style
jewellery. One other feature that is likely to develop, but
more slowly, is hip and derriere interest in the form of soft
bustles and side pockets/panier
hips. However there are plenty more looks available and discussed
below.
A true trend is a change, a movement toward a
new idea or new or different way of doing things. For example it has
been a strong trend in the past decade for women throughout the UK and the
world in general to more and more wear trousers for every type of occasion. The
actual styled type of trousers
they have worn though varied from boot cut to palazzo, to cargo pants to
pedal pushers to low rise versions and are better described as fashion fads.
Most of you reading this will have keyed in
the words fashion trends in an effort to find out what colours, styles and
new materials are likely to be in the shops near you soon. So let's
not worry too much whether these ideas expressed in these pages for Spring
Summer 2005 here are a trend or a fad, a theme or a
preference or craze.
The fact is fashion is moving so fast that we
need to decode quickly the distinctive details that create a new key piece.
Today
designers present a fresh catwalk idea, and within a few weeks they are horrified
to find that more than one high street store is already selling the cream of
their designer collection ideas.
Some of the suggestions for fashion listed
here are already in the shops, the ideas and concepts having been ripped off
even before a top designer can get his spring summer stock into his or her
outlets. This is having the effect of many of us having a more fluid
wardrobe than we ever did in seasons past; where we are constantly adding
and subtracting garments as we revise and update our concept of what is a
contemporary fashionable image.
The ordinary person can be as up to date as
the woman with thousands to spend and indeed this is becoming a problem at
the higher end of the market, as those who desire exclusivity often dress in
a very similar way to those who know little or nothing about fashion, but
just happened on an item in the shops that copy designer ideas immediately.
Shopping in the sales a few weeks ago, the
thought crossed my mind 'why bother' as I saw little clutches of new clothes
arriving which were far more interesting for my brain to feed on and lust
after than anything dying on a sales
rack. I decided to wait for a few weeks and move onto the next fresher
look, remembering the golden rule of never buy into a look that's on the
wane.
Fading high fashion fads should be left to fade away gracefully.
Remember the poncho - it's now another fashion fad that has become so
ubiquitous that only those who have bought them already are wearing them
still. As a fashion it's fading and being replaced by warmer more
functional capes. So any you see hanging around on sales racks are best left there now.
Recall to mind the shearling or faux fur gilet? Yes unlike the poncho it does
fulfil a function of actually keeping the wearer warm, but sadly it has
suffered from too much exposure. But if you do still succumb to a
gilet in the sales at least it will stand you in good stead in the garden on
cold days that's if of course it didn't make you look twenty pound heavier.
Maybe it will morph into an Afghanistan inspired 1970s Mongolian hippy
styled coat for winter 2006! Hedge your bets for now and invest next in a newer shapelier cropped jacket
for spring summer 2005.
In 2005 and 2006 a new attitude to comport
yourself and be more lady like will emerge as grooming makes a welcome
return as the film star look 1950’s look continues and this coupled with
films such as Aviator, and the about to be remade Brideshead Revisited will
rekindle designer and consumer interest in the fashions of the 1920s and
1930s.
Decorum in dress is back - Trash dressing is
dead - Ladylike is the mood of the moment. Chic and refined, polished
and dignified, graceful and groomed is in. Revealing, scanty clothes
and endless tawdry images of barely dressed celebrities are now tiresome to
the point of boring. We've seen it all before. Gentler, less
crude images are beckoning.
There is no doubt that consumers are changing
and are rather more sophisticated personalities than those of 20 years ago.
Many are older and wiser some are young and informed.
They simply refuse to fit into the demographic system that marketing men
would like them to slot.
My website readers are ordinary people,
ranging from Miss Mere Mortal to Miss Musthavethatnow. From research I have done with them Ibelieve that just about
everyone interested in fashion today, assumes that not only can they aspire
to designer (ready to wear) goods and have their eyes on even costlier
ranges, but they can and do often buy them. Nor do
they mind mixing TopShop or Monsoon clothes with Dolce and Gabbana or
Matthew Williamson. They buy what they like and woe betide a
manufacturer who misses the vibe they have tuned into. Poor customer
knowledge and mismatched goods in store means the retailers never
recoup lost sales.
Take spectacles as an example. Consumers may purchase new spectacles once a year or every 2 years, so many
now only opt for a designer brand name to ensure the spectacle shape has
some wearing credibility in styling terms.
The same goes for special occasion, 'reward
myself' buys
or recognisably costly shoes or bags. Access to luxury is available to all
consumers with goods such as sunglasses, perfumes and beauty products being the starting
points. From there it is one step to the belt, or designer jeans or the
luxury bag. In fact compared to the new luxury designer brands,
standard ready to wear designer items
are often not that luxurious.
There are certain fields where this is
happening more and more even among your grandma or great grandma who may
well be a baby boomer and cash rich. The huge purchasing power of baby
boomers may mean that a separate youth culture may be in decline. In
2006, just one year away, 50% of the UK female population will be over 40.
Marketing men would like to get inside Ms.40's head, but somehow find her
elusive and changeable, when what they mean is they have less control over
her once easily recognisable predictable whims.
High street goods are now seen as not only
affordable, but also disposable and we find marketing men in despair as they
cannot track how the consumer is thinking as well as they have done in the
past.
There is no one fashion look. The look
is eclectic, with many global influences all paying a part. Much
of the mode is no longer exclusive because of digital communication which
has an immediacy and an instantaneous characteristic about it, that no other
communication has ever had.
This dribble down effect to the masses in
what is comparatively an instant not months though can have a negative
effect on brands. Those who once sought exclusive brands now seek out
designers who produce personalized goods or very limited editions of an item
or even one offs that are edgy and have a buzz. This is the world of
demi-couture.
Only China and
Japan (see footnote) still
consider logos desirable aspects of dressing, with many westerners rejecting
them years ago. Now in Britain, only chavs really wear logos to
any extent these days, with logo fatigue ensuring that others reject any
item or fabric associated with logos and by default with chavs and their
lifestyle and attitudes.
Logo fatigue is reason enough
for the next 'clunky' arts and crafts look taking off in a big
way. No two pieces of a craft inspired piece should strictly speaking look
alike. For tomorrow and next year and the foreseeable future
individualization, personalization and customization which empowers the
consumer with some measure of self selection and personal designing input is
what it's all likely to be about. Visual logos the same as everyone
else wears are now out, and
to be really fashionable your style must be customised and made more
personal to have cachet.
Exclusivity and scarcity has returned so that
the luxury market can reinvent itself providing personalized luxury items
with a fleeting life and few in number. Some companies will in
future produce limited editions of around 50
items or 100 items. Many are already doing this. One method of
doing it is to make perhaps 80 items and give away half of them to friends and
high profile celebrities. Then hold back the items until they become highly
sought after and are hard to find and so are then desirable and must have
items within a specific group of decoders of fashions.
'Beyond luxury products' will become a new norm for the rich to seek as they
crave rare materials and unusual finishes not generally seen. An
example of this is the use of Tyvek with marvellous technical properties
used in garment making in previously unexplored ways to created unusual
crafted clothing. Another 'beyond luxury product' might be custom made
jeans at $1000 basic price when made with superior $40 a yard denim plus
even extra costs for custom enhanced diamond studding when required.
Having a personal fragrance made easily falls
into this category, but clothing is the most outwardly obvious signifier.
Moneyed celebrities do this all the time. Scent systems sell pink
lotus a perfumed oil used by Madonna. It contains pink lotus
Sandalwood, and tuberose at £107 from 8ml. It's from Scent System in
UK.
The ultimate personal fashion indulgence item
of this decade is of course a nip and a tuck, teeth whitening or implants
and let's not forget the removal of tattoos once a wanted personal fashion
accessory for many. All at a beyond luxury price.
Fashion involves seduction of the senses. We
see an image of a product which is new and we fix our mind so often on
obtaining that new ‘thing’ whether it be a piece of the latest jewellery, a
garment, a car, a hairstyle, or even a holiday. All are subject to fashion
whims. We do this even though we know that fashion is fickle and ephemeral
and that fashion will move on almost the moment we have established in our
minds that this is the new ‘new’.
The Chinese market is huge and the Chinese
luxury market is still way behind the level the western world enjoys and is
a market still to be captured. However sociological differences
and attitudes between regions means that manufacturers will need to tailor
their goods accordingly.
Fashion-Era.com looks at women's costume and fashion history and analyses the mood of an era. Changes in technology, leisure, work, cultural and moral values. Homelife and politics also
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