Fashion Futures: March 2009

Predicting Trends:

Front Cover Of My Trend Dossier

New Rebel

The New Rebels are just out to break all the rules and believes that people shouldn’t have so many restrictions in life, especially after the government put out rules that people couldn’t smoke in public places and couldn’t drink alcohol on the underground. They might have a criminal record however this is for petty crimes because they wouldn’t have the bottle to commit a big crime. These people sit in parks on a Saturday night and drink alcohol and smoke marijuana or will purposely make lots of noise on a bus because it has a ‘be quiet’ poster near by. They are just basically considered naughty and childish and strive for attention. Followers of this trend could be any age but is normally young adults and teenagers who have maybe had a strict upbringing and just want to be a bit mischievous. They will socialise in anyway possible but it is normally face to face or over the phone. The followers of this trend are normally very well educated and were probably always considered the ‘good’ person when it comes to decision making ext. They decide to rebel because they feel some need of release from always pleasing everybody else. The clothing of this trend is sports and casual wear. There are always lots of logo’s, patterns and prints in an outfit of a New Rebel follower and they will normally have some kind of piercing and tattoo.

Re-Youth

Re-Youth is a trend that hits many adults in their late 20’s and early 30’s. It’s a simple case of wanting to feel younger and not have so many worries in life. These people will have lived a pretty partying lifestyle when they were younger and miss the thrills and excitement they had that they probably don’t have anymore. They want to be considered as cool and spontaneous again and they will try their best to start looking younger, dressing younger and maybe even talking like a teenager again. They will almost defiantly have a Facebook and normally will have found and added all of the friends that they used to know at school or university eventhough they wouldn’t really talk to them. They will have defiantly moved on a lot in life, probably have a good job and maybe even be starting a family but they just feel that there is something missing and maybe even that life is getting a bit repetitive. These people will normally have a few hobbies and a great social life and are idolised by others. They feel that life has passed them by too quickly and they want to grip hold of every second and not take things for granted.

Funkin Ugly

This trend is based around the teenage to mid 20’s girls and guys who have never really felt that socially excepted as they are not considered as ‘beautiful people’. These people believe that as they can’t pretty, they will flaunt the ugly side of themselves instead. Everything about them has to be vile or discussing, their language is despicable and they are very bad mannered. They aspire to be the best, worst person ever. These people don’t go around committing horrible crimes but they will be known to throw up all over themselves after a night on the alcohol. They will normally stand out from the crowd and gain inspiration from rock and roll bands or rap music. They mainly socialise at clubs and gigs as they are complete party animals. When at home they are normally idol and will wallow in self pity about not being the most popular person at college or not being able to get a date because they aren’t pretty enough. Of course in front of the few friends they have they will portray a lot of confidence, as if they have no cares in the world.

Followers of the Funkin’ Ugly trend communicate a lot on social networking websites and normally will have at least 3 accounts on various sites and add people that they don’t know just to look a bit more popular. This trend would probably be recognised more by the clothes a follower is wearing. They will normally be worn with a not a lot of care attitude and might be seen as shocking to others. The will wear an over the top amount of makeup (girl or boy) and normally have some part of their body hanging out. These people will probably be drug users and defiantly smokers. Most of them won’t work and get an allowance of some kind either off of their parents or from the doll office.

Upgraded / Downgraded

This trend focuses on the individuals who strive to have the latest piece of technology and the other individuals the believe that too much technology is not good for a person and they need to switch off. There are many upgraded people who will sit on the train and read a book whilst listening to an MP3 player and messing about with their mobile phones, however the downgraded people would rather just sit and enjoy the train journey and not be constantly be doing something. The downgraded people will not be bothered about having the newest mobile phone or having an audio book on their MP3 player, they are more content with what they do have and will only upgrade when necessary.

Too Much / Not Enough

Too much / Not enough is a trend that many people will fall into at whatever age. These people want it all but never get it all, put on too much make up or not put enough make up on, or maybe talk to much or don’t talk enough. This trend is about the over do-ers and under do-ers that will never get a satisfactory result.

Future Groups & Dominant Hubs

The Strict Groupies

The strict groupies have grown from the teen trend of private groups and societies online. These groups have been heavily based on image and status, which have involved people who may have felt rejected in the social world they belonged to in real life. Acceptance plays a big role in the strict groupies. These people decide their own way of communicating, dressing and presenting themselves in the group then keep their information secret from others. These people are organisations who get together to prove to others that they are acceptable people in today’s society, however because everything is in secrecy, other people don't realise.

Key Words:
Acceptance
Secret Society
Private
Membership
Gossip
Closed In
Leaders & Followers
Key Image
Rules & Regulations
Uncomfortable
Reliability
Self Concious
Connected
Strong Communication
Inner Fears / Issues
Networking

The New Individual

The new individual comes about after the up and coming rise in social groups and activities (mainly online) such as second life and other networking websites like http://www.mokkito.com/ and also the twinning trend. With the amount of people joining these sites and interacting with people behind a screen rather then face to face, this could suggest that people feel more socially accepted when they can become someone that their not. A small number of individuals feel that people have lost their way in life because of new technology and social acceptance and feel that the human being should be shown for what they are really about, not what they could be or pretending to be.

Key Words:

Identity
New Spaces
Technology
Research
Inspiration
Memories
Customising
Independence
Mark Makers
Aspiring
Unique
Innovators

The Mish Mash Society

The mish/mash society has developed over the past couple of years to be seen as an obvious group of people who don't know weather they're coming or going. These people accept that technology is constantly updating and the way that we communicate is changing, however they don’t know how to keep up with it.

In differentiation to the new individual, these people aren’t really bothered weather they’re considered to be new and unique, instead they are more concerned about what’s changing around them. After the boom of social homes becoming more and more popular to the lower class, the mish/mash society live to live rather then live to prove themselves to be something special.

Key Words:

Confused
Mixed Colours
Mixed Textiles
No Expectations
Working Together
Popular
Clumsy
Convienience
Collaborations
New & Old Trends
Easy Going
Open Society
Oen Minded
Laggards