Fashion

GLOBAL INVESTOR 1.16 — 33
PERSPECTIVES ON
FASHION TRENDS
4 /6
E . L . L . E . N
S . I . D . E . R . I
is founder and CEO of ESP Trendlab, a division of Ellen Sideri Partnership,
a trend research and consulting agency located in New York City
that detects and analyzes cutting-edge design trends for over 1,000 leadership
brands worldwide.
What do you see as the global
trends (e.g. digitalization)
influencing today’s fashions and
the fashion market?
The free flow of information and
technology-at-large are changing
everything, including the fashion
marketplace worldwide, and the
dynamics of the world are causing
changes in established systems
created in the past. There is a true
anti-establishment movement
taking place, not just in politics but
also challenging publications,
press/media in general, workstyles,
marriage, childbearing, sexuality,
medicine, health, exercise, food
trends and so much more. This is
a new moment, similar to the 1960s
and 1970s, where the past is being
disrupted. Periods like these have
such an intense impact; they
change our lives forever. You do not
have to be a soothsayer to know
that change is upon us! We all feel it.
How are these trends changing
fashion and the fashion market?
All of these challenges to the
past are bringing new methods and
thinking, new lifestyles and
therefore new possibilities for apparel
and fashion-forward design. The
tech boom, 3D design, function built
in to fashion, new fabric and
material options, seasonless design
and shopping online only begin
to touch on what we perceive as real
change emerging in the fashion
business now, and even more so in
the future.
Where do you get inspiration
for your designs and collections?
As a forecaster, we look at many
things for inspiration, like the
runways, retail trends, color and
design, art, media, pop culture
as well as design movements outside
of fashion, like technology trends,
science, architecture and religious
currents. All can provide signs
of change to a keen observer. But we
also need to look beyond all of
that to the bigger picture to define
consumer trends, cultural trends,
political movements, lifestyles and
other currents that are shaping
the world at a much higher level.
The search for freedom across the
planet, global warming, fair
trade and the emerging countries all
have an effect on the inhabitants
of our global community. We factor
all of this into our thinking and use
it for inspiration.
✖ ESPTRENDLAB.COM