WHAT IS TREND?

Rousso and Kaplan Ostroff (2018) describe ‘’trend’’ as ‘the first signal of change in general direction or movement.  People who foreseen the trends are called trend forecasters, as their job is to combine knowledge of fashion, history, consumer research, industry data and intuition to guide product manufacturers and business professionals into the future (Rousso and Kaplan Ostroff 2018: 239).

Fashion forecast companies publish trend reports that indicate what styles, colors, fabrics, trims, and embellishments will be fashionable for a particular season and product category (Springsteel 2013). Trendsetters are those people known for their ability to attract a fan following that desires to emulate them in dress and/or lifestyle. Historically speaking, famous fashion trendsetters have been aristocrats, who set the standards of dress for nobility, the social elite, the demimonde, and society at large. 

Today’s trendsetters would include actors, musicians, models, sports celebrities, and celebrity designers (Sterlacci and Arbuckle 2009). From the consumer’s perspective, a trend can be something that provides direction, dictates or points to a possibility, serving as a source of inspiration(Lantz 2016).

• Lantz, J. (2016) The Trendmakers : Behind the Scenes of the Global Fashion Industry. London: Bloomsbury Academic (Dress, Body, Culture). Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=nlebk&AN=1166079&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 2 December 2019).
• Rousso, C. and Kaplan Ostroff, N. (2018). Fashion Forward, A guide to Fashion Forecasting. 2nd ed. [ebook] Bloomsbury, p.239. Available at: https://bibliu.com [Accessed 28 Oct. 2019].
• Springsteel, Lisa. Becoming a Fashion Designer, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/detail.action?docID=1132561. [Accessed 02 Dec 2019]
• Sterlacci, Francesca, and Joanne Arbuckle. The A to Z of the Fashion Industry, Scarecrow Press, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/detail.action?docID=1040739 [Accessed 02 Dec 2019]