What Makes a Trend?
I raised this question yesterday on Twitter because I don’t have the answer. Whether that’s because I’m clueless when it comes to defining fashion or because it can’t be defined is unknown to me. No one else seemed to know either.
At 4.5 million people New Zealand doesn’t have a big enough market to give shoppers a lot of choice. Unless you know how to make or customise your clothes you’re mostly at the mercy of the chain stores. In New Zealand we’re also in the wrong hemisphere to get fashions first hand.
Six months after new season fashion heads into shops in America -already watered down versions of catwalk fashions, created in every conceivable colour and quality- we finally get the left overs. I’ve never worked in retail so I don’t know how the buying process works. But I imagine that after a few months of celebrities and high school kids picking what’s hot for the season that’s what we get stuck with. We don’t get the multitude of variations here. Consumers don’t get to decide what suits them, they don’t get to choose the shirt with one ruffle over the shirt with two. We usually get one choice. A choice that is sold in one, sometimes two colours, and then the buttons are changed and the same top is sold in the shop next door.
The point of this rant is this: This seasons clothing trends are determined by the people buying for shops. Most people can only afford chain store clothing, and therefore whatever is in the chain store is what they’ll wear.
What about trends that are so simple you don’t need to go anywhere near a mall to participate.
Apparently a simple ribbon tied around a wrist is going to be the next trend. It’s trickling along and could go either way. What most of you should know is that people have been doing this for years! It’s so simple, wrap yourself up like a gift to the world and you’ve got jewellery for less than 20cents. So why is it the next trend?
Does a picture of Dakota Fanning wearing a ribbon launch a thousand girls into their grandmothers haberdashery drawers? Does it take two celebrities? Does it take a fashion blogger or two sporting the look for women to see how pretty a ribbon is? I’d like to believe that people don’t follow just because something’s announced as the next big thing, but ugly It bags and 80s comebacks are trying to prove me wrong.
Maybe you’ve got the answer. What do you think starts a trend?
12 Responses to “What Makes a Trend?”
Hype and publicity will make the most unfashionable thing in the world a trend.
I’ve never been one to buy just for the sake of going with the trend…because no amount of hype is going to get me into a pair of ill-fitting pants, sheer nipple showing tops or a potato sack. I think it just takes the “right’ person to wear something (and be seen of cours) to catapult it into the mass market. Pretty sure if there was no media, buyers at stores would have no clue what to purchase for next season…
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trends baffle me… i blame fashion mags, but how they decide whats IN = beyond me. i never got the point of wearing something just because someone else does, or a lot of other people do…i wanna look like me, not someone else. long live quirky vintage shops, thrift stores, and etsy!
the ribbon thing is funny, i have been buying 1 yard lengths to wear around my neck as an easy choker for years.
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awesome post!
most designers get their inspirations from people on the street and/or vintage styles. it’s sorta funny if you think about it.
but yes, hype and publicity. times three. especially if it is targeted towards insecure girls who want to emulate their favourite celebrity
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If I hear about something from two separate people, or sources, if they’re respected, then my curiosity will usually be roused. Not sure if that means it’s a trend though. I’m not very trendy :)
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I wore a ribbon around my write for years, then my mom made me cut it off for senior pictures. I had a pretty sweet tan line.
I find trends to be utterly ridiculous. Sometimes really tacky/ugly things become trends, and I don’t understand why or how someone would find that piece appealing. Things become trendy because Designer A or Celebrity A says it’s trendy. The media also has a hand in shoving these ideas down consumer throats. Trends seem to eventually become unavoidable.
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Hmm, so as I suspected. It seems it’s the respected street styles and celebs who are looked to by the buyers. And the people on the street/celebs look to designers. And then it’s just a circle.
Someone changes an aspect of the style, someone else copies, and so on until it morphs. Still baffling!
It’s great to see you ladies aren’t ones for following trends just for the sake of it. There is always one or two trends each year that seem to get picked up by almost everyone even though I find it completely ugly!
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[...] What Makes a Trend? from Cupcakes and Mace is an interesting topic with no clear answer, it seems. [...]
Trends baffle me. I think sometimes there’s something in the air that makes everyone think of doing the same thing – like last year my Mum suddenly got an obsession with stars and was searching high and low for stuff with stars on..then a few months later they were in every shop here! the same happened to me with butterflies.
Trends are fun though! Like when on Icing the ribbon thing was mentioned it was a lightbulb moment for me – I was like wow I’ve got loads of ribbon and it looks cute = perfect! I think a lot of the time it’s a case of a good idea that you haven’t yet thought of and you want to join in the fun..
Trend whores are a whole seperate thing. I cannot fathom why the neon thing took off here…bleugh! And people who diss leggings cos they’re so last year or whatever can sod off cos they’re sooo comfy and useful and just brilliant that I’m keeping mine on for as long as they keep making them! /rant
I get most of my clothes from thrifty places anyway but I still like to join in with trends (which a lot of the time means getting the scizzors out ). If too many people are doing the same thing in my area it just looks embarrassing though.
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Great points Drummbellina!
Sometimes it takes someone to point out or show us what’s right in front of us for us to realise the greatness.
And then there are the other times where media and movie stars shove something ugly down our throats and the clueless latch on anyway.
The legging trend has been a lifesaver for me. Before the blow up you couldn’t get them anywhere, I had to wear wool tights instead. But wool is itchy and too hot for summer.
With the trend there were so many options that I eventually found a pair that were long enough for my legs! Yay. I’m not a fan of showing my legs but I love dresses and skirts. Leggings are awesome.
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working in the field, i’d tell you something: it’s even worse than you think. the people who dictate trends – at least colour and fabric trends – are the fabric companies! usually there are some fairs for fabrics where you see which “new” colours they have developed and new fabrics as well. and they “suggest” some old (already known) fabrics to buyers. those buyers are big companies, mainly.
but of course, lately, this celeb trend has sparked some new ways of selling stuff. if one or two of them start using something, those companies follow suit very quickly. there are some shops specialised in that, like zara or H&M, who pick up the trends REALLY quickly.
and don’t feel bad because you’re on the other side of the equator and 4.5 million people don’t make “enough” of a market. i’m brazillian, we’re 190 million now, and H&M or other shops like those aren’t interested in us. furthermore, we also get the “leftovers”. :)
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Ooo some interesting insights there Carol! Thanks for that. 190 million and you still can’t dictate your own market, wow. Something is wrong in the world of fashion!
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I sort of understand how trends work – Meryl Streep’s character in Devil Wears Prada gives a fairly straightforward explanation of the trickle-down effect from designer to chain store. But in terms of being able to relate to trends, I have no idea.
I go through phases and have weirdly inexplicable objections and attractions to certain things and styles. Sometimes I will get completely enamoured with a particular idea, shape, colour or motif and it will become like a ‘personal trend’ – for example, I almost never wear pants except skinny black jeans or yoga pants, I have a penchant for red shoes over any other color, and no outfit is complete without an oversized flower.
Global (or even regional) fachion trends don’t really seem to sway me; usually I will only actually notice a trend if it’s particularly hideous, rather than adopting it. I remember the trends that swept through high school – like having to have jeans with red stitching, or everybody buying those lip glosses that flipped open like a cigarette lighter. At first, it seemed to be a matter of life and death whether I had these ‘necessary’ items – I was never allowed to get them, because I guess my parents could see how transient and ridiculous these high school trends were. That hurt, but being outside the trend let me see how quickly they came and went. Ultimately, I got to see that style is something that transcends trends – a fairly valuable lesson, and in the end, I think maybe that is what helped shape my particularly ‘me’ sense of fashion!
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