Trend forecasting

TREND FORE CAST ING DANIEL ENRIQUEZ GON15468090

REFUGEES Culture continues to impact works in the fashion world, but one overlooked aspect would be the influence of refugee living. Photographers, stylists, artists and designers have incorporated or even in some cases mocked refugees which has seemed to add more to the controversial uproar already at play.

In 2015 Hungarian fashion photographer, Norbet Baska, was harshly criticized in the media because of his refugee inspired photoshoot with models portraying different scenarios and hardships that refugees face. The photos depicted those who were subjected to the refugee crisis in Europe.

Models were seen wearing “refugee-like” clothing while surrounded by barbed wire. Others showed the model being dragged away from police. Viewers expressed their opinions on Baska’s photoshoot and some of the comments were wildly critical. According to Buzzfeed News who reached out to the photographer, he did the photoshoot in an unsuccessful attempt to raise awareness of the refugee crisis.

Fashion and its seemingly inevitable impact on culture has taken the world by storm. It has correlated itself with world matters such as the refugee crises. Not everyone can agree with this new approach leaving people who follow trends wondering the motives of these fashion icons and designers.

It is relatively normal to question if they are “raising awareness” or simply using the concept of refugees simply using the suffering as personal propaganda.

The fashion world is not only inspired by refugees, but it has provided jobs and opportunities for them. Businesses and designers are helping to pave a way for refugees to become a part of the industry. Refugees are participating in runway shows, becoming muses for photographers and even beginning businesses of their own.

It is not uncommon for refugees to go without work for some time after their transition, but fashion has opened new doors.

Refugees have every right to conserve their traditions while away from home. Though it may be hard to conveniently find traditional cloth and materials, it is not impossible. Many migrants were and still are able to gain access to their traditional materials.

The Ethical Fashion Initiative is one exceptional organization that connects with marginalized designers. It was created in 2009 and began in Kenya. They believe in a fashion industry that provides workers a living wage and are offered dignified working conditions. The organization also supports rising designers from Africa and encourages them to join in collaborations with other designers.

A lot of people fail to notice that refugees and designers from all over the world play a pivotal role in our fashion consumption today. It is not often that someone buys an article of clothing and inquires about the hands that sewed it together. Refugees are placed in sweatshops and dangerous conditions, all to make little to no pay. This limits those with a true passion for design, tailoring, sewing and fashion to a condensed unfit factory.

How Fashion And Refugees Relate Bria Bates May 16, 2016 https://www.theodysseyonline.com/how-fashion-and-refugees-relate

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ESCAPISM The idea of escapism is nothing new, of course; it is a cornerstone of entertainment. The resurgence of musicals and nostalgic films such as La La Land serves to underline the fact that the roots of escapism extend well beyond any given media platform. But as Neil Hughston, chief executive of creative agency Duke, quips, in this climate, escapism is “less of a trend, more a necessity”. As a result, he believes brands must be bolder in the experiences they create for consumers. “Escapism isn’t shorthand for lying, it is about offering a shard of light when the world feels so dark,” he adds.

More consumers are creating light for themselves, dedicating a greater amount of time and effort to experimenting with augmented and altered realities. Some experts believe this is contributing to Facebook’s loss of traction with the youth market. Alain Sylvain, chief executive and founder of innovation and brand-design consultancy Sylvain Labs, says Facebook is no longer really used by young people because it is too tethered to reality. “There isn’t any exploration on Facebook where you can escape,” he points out. “It is the closest experience we have to the real world online.” Other platforms, including Tumblr and Instagram, offer more opportunities to reimagine your identity, he contends.

This thirst for experimentation crosses the imagined divide between virtual and analogue pursuits. Becca Smith, behavioural analyst at consumer-behaviour research practice Canvas8, points to the examples of Punchdrunk and Secret Cinema, which brought immersive theatre and cinema, respectively, to the masses. She explains: “We are moving beyond passive to active escapism – where you are partici-pating in something, rather than a viewer.” This is creating pressure for brands to offer more interesting and complex narratives in which consumers can truly lose themselves.

The new escapism: Why brands must be bolder in entertaining consumers Nicola Kemp May 02, 2017 https://www.campaignlive.co.uk

STRONG & STABLE Political dressing is fashionable right now, but is it fashion?

all the ingredients of fashion, but not in the right proportions.

Celebrities and stars turned up dressed in black at the 75th Golden Globes Award ceremony. Instantly the media was in frenzy over what they dubbed “political fashion statements on the red carpet.” This is just the most recent droplet of a rainy season of purportedly political fashion.

Fashion — as it is defined — occurs when a society at large agrees to a style, aesthetic or cultural sensibility for a period of time. Fashion’s sizeable social scope and requisite expiration date is what makes it so useful as a marker of time.

It all started with the pantsuit parties in solidarity with U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. It then progressed with white supremacists uniformed in polos and khaki during their infamous Charlottesville demonstrations last year.

As the effects of Brexit, a Donald Trump White House and the rise of so-called alt-right activism in Europe and North America ripple through the cultural waters, political dressing is trending. Protesters of all stripes — feminists, white supremacists, antifa, nationalists and social justice advocates — are outfitting themselves to match their political mindsets.

One sees it used in film, literature or social science research. Thus, fashion means timed changes in taste at a social scale. Fashion occurs in any realm of human pursuits including arts, music, technology, even scholarly discourse and of course, dress.

Simultaneously, “black bloc” dress indicated a willingness to resort to violence if necessary, much like the Black Panthers did in the 1960s and 70s. The Panthers took advantage of a loophole in the second amendment of the U.S. constitution that made it lawful to wear unconcealed firearms in public.

Could it be that like fashion studies, political dressing is a fashion trend? Based on the number of collections that included political statements during the 2017 fashion weeks, the answer would be a rotund yes. Several collections during the last season of fashion weeks employed political statements.

Political runway antics included pink pussy hats at Missoni. There were white bandanas as a symbol of inclusion in Tommy Hilfiger, Thakoon, Prabal Gurung, Phillip Lim, Dior and Diane von Furstenberg.

Meanwhile, black berets à la guerrilla or Black Panther uniforms were shown at Dior. As well, all sorts of slogans printed or embroidered in a diversity of garments popped up at Ashish Gupta, Public School and Christian Siriano, punctuated by graphic underwear in LRS’s collection.

This, however, isn’t necessarily good news. The fashion industry has a solid record of co-opting political and countercultural movements, marginalized groups and non-Western cultures, then making a good profit out of it.

This type of political dressing is not the dress code of politicians. This is individuals and groups using everyday dress to express their political outlook. The problem is that often participants and commentators, reporters and scholars, quickly rush to label it fashion.

But is political dressing fashion?

We could blame the political dressing vs. fashion confusion on the ubiquitous and pervasive public presence of the contemporary fashion industry. From the 18th century onwards, a large sector of industry has been occupied with manufacturing what dresses us: This includes garments, accessories, beauty services and products. This industry, along with advertisers, coalesced into an all-encompassing fashion industry.

The political dimension of clothing is intuitively understood from the moment individuals are born. Because essentially, human society equals dressed society. What one wears, how one wears it and when one wears it constitutes expressions of degrees of social freedoms and influences.

It’s not surprising then, that in today’s globalized world, most people automatically identify clothes with fashion. After all, they are one of the most visible outputs of the fashion industry.

Of course, the fashion industry would do nothing to clarify this; it is in their best interest to be perceived as the source of fashion.

The good news is that political dressing may be fashionable, but it isn’t fashion. Not even the global fashion industry can prevent individuals from using their dressed bodies as a tool for political discourse.

Dress expression ranges the full political gamut from conformity to rebellion. Simply put, dress style that challenges — or is perceived as challenging, or offering an alternative to the status quo — spontaneously acquires political meaning.

That same fashion industry employs a global army of trend forecasters to fine-comb historical records and a multiplicity of current cultural sources and happenings. They use this data to identify what colours, styles and products people would want next season.

So go ahead, pick your preferred political graphic T-shirt or wear the colours of your party of choice. Just remember that isn’t fashion, unless most everybody else decides to dress the same for a while. In which case, your options are: Embrace your fashionable status or change either your outfit or political affiliation.

Hence the social power of dress and the political impact of seeing many people dressed in an agreed-upon mode. During the counter-demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., last summer, antifa protesters opposing white supremacists wore “black bloc” — an all-black uniform of sorts, meant to show a unified hard stance against anti-Black racist discourse.

Political dressing is a concerted effort by a group of individuals to call attention to a social issue. They do so by dressing in a codified style. The recipe of political dressing has

More concerning, though, is that fashion scholars are contributing to the public confusion about political dress as fashion. They are interchangeably using the terms dress, style and fashion without regards for their fundamental semantic difference. There is a cultural explanation for this too. Fashion is an emerging scholarly discipline, which makes it very fashionable right now. Slap the word fashion to the title of an academic article or book and readership is likely to follow.

There would be nothing wrong with making money this way, except that the aftermath of co-option by the fashion industry is cultural irrelevance. Just like other goods, fashion must be consumed before its expiration date.

Fashion’s potential to influence politics and culture Henry Navarro Delgado January 22, 2018 http://theconversation.com/fashions-potential-to-influence-politics-and-culture-90077

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