I would love to help since answering these questions is also very interesting to me. Trends to me are so interesting too.
Here are the questions:
1. Who creates trends?
2. Are there clear patterns that trends follow, or do they follow more of a random trajectory?
3. How do trend-forecasters predict future trends?
4. How do designers consistently appeal to the fashion-informed public? (How do they stay relevant and successful?)
5. Are trends accessible to all socioeconomic levels today?
6. What role does social media (Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) play in showing trends?
7. Do trends tend to solely be creative decisions by designers, or do designers pay attention to what their customers like and don't like when creating garments?
(And finally, the big kahuna) 8. Is a person's decision to wear a particular outfit dictated by what is available to them in terms of trends? Is fashion a way for people to stand out from the crowd and show their own personal identity, or is it a way to conform with other people when following trends?
1. Trends emerge from different places, they can trickle down from designers to the street or up from the streets to designers. The world is like Pandoras Box, some stuff we haven't seen in a while laying at the bottom of the box and when we pull it out to see again we feel its new again. Trends are created when that idea in a color or silhouette or textile or whatever is brought to light again by one and then a few it submerges. THERE are big trends and micro trends so many trends happening in the way we dress to the way we consume to the way we even think etc. It acts like a movement. Stylists help designers when they have a fashion show add on-trend items bc the mass is inspired by whats new and fresh or an innovative way of dressing. Its like having a 6th sense, I believe stylists and designers and artists many times have this job that tries to find that feeling, what does the customer want? what excites them? they want to find this so discovering something "new" (or from the past & at the right time) is an incentive to buy. Its also like rebellion. THERE isn't one source for who creates trends. It's like the effect of that story where THERE were these monkeys on one island and they did something new and then on another island it started happening too with out each other knowing about it. Would be interesting for you to find this type of example.
2. I do see Patterns in trends, part of keeping things fresh in fashion is for the pattern to jump to the least expected thing bc thats what keeps it like the Pandoras Box effect. So we may do pink hair is on trend and then we see blue hair on trend that jump from one extreme to the other in color but we also see young people doing a gray hair to look bc coloring your hair in colors is something young and the opposite of young is old so we also have that extreme, like a choice of what ppl rather say. "respect me" vs "I'm so wild and fun". The patterns aren't clear though, No... that has everything to do with everything. Sometimes I have seen trends be pushed onto the market and people don't respond well to them and they aren't seen worn on the streets. I can't remember an example of this in my head now but it has happened bc the consumers themselves many times don't want to be treated like sheep, they each have their choice and they can reject trends as much as consume them.
3. I haven't worked for a big trend forecasting company but have studied it in school and have a special gift that I can feel what drives trends and it's like art. It's like seeing patterns of repetition and when you see something trend worthy it could be innovation or what consumers need or a way to please a customer that was ignored even. I think of the skinny jeans, the leggings and then we want to branch out of that and you see more people wearing a looser pant... like we got tired of the monotonous silhouette. or making the Birkenstock sample chic again it would have never been something I could predict before it happened but once I saw it there, I saw how THERE was almost a sense of humor to the way I could look at it differently this time. It's a feeling! It's a necessity! It is like a magnetic force haha! Colors have an energy to them, like everything else in fashion speaks volumes like a painting would, a line! It can be subtle or massive! I read lots of magazines, study the shows, look at street style, go out to places, trade shows, festivals, concerts, shopping, flea markets, where people who like fashion go... I absorb it all and then feel like since I'm right there with it I can call out who is going to be on the next cover of Vogue wearing what designer and in what color or with whatever trend on. It's being at the forefront and cusp of the youth... the youth follows more trends and appreciates and experiments with them more. Older people are more conformed. I find trends by doing a lot of research.
4. Designers DO get more exposure when they create that on-trend item or collection. Designers also have to stay true to themselves and please their customer/market so they have to choose trends that would be worn by their customer. Designers incorporate trends into their collection... I have a line of bags, I am a stylist turned designer who has also worked styling and branding companies and trend forecasting is a part of what I offer. Fashion Forecasting and styling go hand in hand... for my line of bags I used glitter and metallics and chain, to create my product bc I know that it appeals to a market bc it involves a trend, its an exciting product. @TAMBONITAbags I also created my line of bags to be Made in LA, by an artist collective... this references a trend in how people purchase, giving them the incentive of supporting artists and supporting our community. Trends are everywhere.
5. Trends are not for everyone but they affect everyone I would say. Trends are copied, taken from designers and brought to the masses, to fill that demand.
6. Social Media plays an important role in spreading that information and receiving information faster than ever before. Now trends are copied even faster too. Social media is playing a huge role in seeing a unity in what is worn by fashion lovers. Bloggers are almost as important as designers themselves, they are so influential that they are steering the wheel of the fashion industry like a muse might. I use social media a lot to find trends easily in this day and age. It's all there without me having to go anywhere I can see the fashion shows, celebrities, events, street style, bloggers, all of it saturating us with image and ideas to consume. When people keep seeing all the cool people wearing such they make the choice to want it for themselves and when they do they may be conforming but they are also filling a gap within them. psychologically its many things and depends on what exactly... It's just something that works and is timely.
7. Designers do pay attention to what worked in a previous collection and stay true to that demand. They use that information to tweak and re fresh garments for customers to purchase again. People have to fill the gaps that exist in their closets! If they keep seeing things that they already own their isn't anything they need to buy! Thats why what works is also easily merged with a trend like done in a new color or with a change or adding a detail to make new again. Designers are just trying to survive, hit their marks by filling a demand while doing their art. A good designer knows how to do this successfully and get it to market is the other half of the equation.
8. I think that wearing ON TREND outfits are a reflection in itself of what type of person you are... to me it says fashionable more than conformed. It is a way to conform but depending on what trend u choose... If you wana look Rock n Roll you know to wear a t-shirt and a leather jacket, thats you expressing yourself too, just bc it has been done a million times doesn't only say "follower". Being well put together.... let us say you have one girl who is put together w a super trendy look and another very well dressed in a not trendy look... the non trendy girl therefore looks more classic, that is also looking conformed! so what would somebody need to wear to look pulled together but not conformed and still acceptable? THAT would be original and that might be starting a new trend ;) In the end we want to be liked, we want to be accepted, we want to be comfortable, we want the same things... but we also want to be different, unique and admired,,, so thats the magnetic pull we constantly go through in fashion and style, to find our own place but the goal really should be to look your best. Now, looking your best is both in a french twist AND how you look right when you roll out of bed. Depending on where you are going, the weather, the people your seeing, and what you will be doing... all affect your choice in how you dress. Trends make me happy, and can also suck the life out of me, that's why I'd rather start them than follow them on their coat tails. Back to the question... people might be pushed towards trends but they still have the freedom to make the choice for them. Everything is available to us these days so you can find stores like Zara H&M and Forever 21 be trendy but also carry staple items that are not trendy. Fashion is what you make of it, its a reflection of you.
I hope this helps!! Would love to read your finished thesis too! If you are asking more fashion forecasters these questions I wonder if we could share these answers amongst each other. I would love to hear how other fashion forecaster types answered these questions. Is it possible to share that information? Let me know! THERE is so much to discuss. Also, if you are going in this direction and hear about any forecasting conventions and things pls share as I will too! Great questions, feel free to ask me anything else.
Tamara Aida Diaz
305-804-2012
www.TrackinTrends.com
www.TAMBONITA.com
