What Can We Learn From Fashion Week? By Scott Fresener

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Fashion week was held last week in New York City and I think for the masses it is one more boring “I could never wear that” event. But, if you are in the decorated apparel industry you need to not think of runway shows and Fashion Week as not being part of what you do. OK, so you don’t see how a model wearing a flowing gown with something awful on her head means anything to you – BUT – what you do see is lots of color, lots of flowing coverups, great design elements and and an overall trend for style – that will sooner later trickle down to the decorated apparel industry.

A recent article in Daily Finance – an online financial site was titled: From Runway to Retail: Big Chains Size Up Fashion Week Trends. This article talks about the many changes they see in fashion trends including the resurgence of NEON (a gasp from the industry). Also, they report designers were once again using bright colors and showing lots of exotic prints and prints showing an African and Asian influence.

According to the article “Neon colors (remember the ’80s?) made a comeback, turning up in some surprising places, such as Oscar de la Renta evening wear, he says. At Banana Republic, it might show up in a summer T-shirt. Bold prints, tribal patterns and sporty looks are poised to turn up in America’s malls this spring.”

Magazine Marie Claire had a great article titled: Top Spring Fashion Trends Straight from the Runway.  And the lead paragraph said “Whether it’s a stark white or an intense pop of electric neon, the looks from New York City’s Spring 2012 Fashion Week (that is the season of the items being shown) touched both ends of the spectrum, and then some.”

Like a lot of Americans, my wife, Pat, and myself are hooked on reality TV shows like Project Runway (ok, we also love the cooking and DIY shows) and even here you can learn a lot about the latest trends.

One thing I noticed on a recent trip to a Macy’s Department store was a change in the T-Shirt collections. There are certainly still a lot of distressed images and tons of discharge ink (which I love) – BUT – I noticed major brands like Affliction and a few others more to the back of the rack or in small non-prominent display areas. And, I did notice a trend for more color in the prints. Of course if you wander into the kids department (I have a five and twelve year old granddaughters) all you see is COLOR with way too much glitter. That seems to never change.

To see a LOT of videos and pictures from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week click here and enjoy. You will NOT see too many T-Shirts but you will get an idea for colors, overall trends and fashions to be in stores in the Spring of 2012.


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