04 Track 4

Unit 2

Fashion

Chapter 1

The Color of Fashion

Page 27

The Color of Fashion

How do fashion trends begin? Some people assume fashion ideas come straight from designers or from large companies like LVMH (owner of luxury brands like Louis Vuitton).

Others believe trends are born on the streets in the form of fashionable individuals. In fact, these designers and well-dressed people, whether they know it or not, are partly influenced by an association that is little-known outside the fashion industry − the Color Marketing Group (CMG).

The sole responsibility of CMG is to decide the “hot” colors for the future. This global association is made up of more than 1,100 contributors who research and predict color trends.

The data developed by CMG is so influential that it affects not only fashion. Industries like design and architecture or car manufacturers are also involved, as they need to know what the “in” colors are for their products, like wall paint and new cars.

Stylist and color expert Kate Smith says that she thinks of CMG as “an invaluable resource when it comes to understanding the direction for design and color for years to come”.

CMG’s members are always collecting data, information and samples that will help inform them about future trends. Participating designers consider many aspects of culture when surveying color trends such as movies, music, travel, politics, and the economy.

Members of CMG then meet for conferences to compile their findings into a report that designers can use as a guide for future seasons’ fashion. These reports are used by textile manufacturers, where designers and artists create fabrics and materials that feature the predicted tones.

Fashion designers that attend fabric conventions to consider the direction they will take with their designs in the upcoming seasons. CMG is not the only group of its kind, however, and other color analysts have come to different conclusions about which colors will be popular in coming years.

In 2012, CMG declared Boyz-N-Berry, a bold purple, to be its “Color of the Year”. In contrast, CMG’s main competitor Pantone selected Tangerine Tango as its top color for 2012.

A strong red-orange color, Tangerine Tango was chosen for its energy and strength at a time when the economy was down, and many people wanted to cheer up and feel more optimistic.

“There’s the element of encouragement with orange,” said Leatric Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “It’s building on the ideas of courage and action, that we want to move on to better things”.

Of course, color forecasts are not always perfect. As the great difference between Boyz-N-Berry and Tangerine Tango suggests, predicting color and fashion trends may be more of an art than a science.

Designers may have advice and direction from organizations that study color, but they still need to use their own intuition when deciding which advice to follow.

In the end, consumer purchases dictate the trends that will stick, and it’s hard to predict how people will act two years in the future.

Fashion blogger Peter Lappin has pointed to some surveys that claim U.S. fashion retailers lose as much as $200 billion a year because of sales forecast errors.

This problem could result from a number of factors: perhaps designers focused on the wrong trends or there wasn’t enough promotion of the trend. Maybe retailers made bad decisions with regard to the trends and styles they were presented with.

As Lappin admits, “nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen tomorrow, whether it’s in economics, politics, or fashion. “But next time you notice an abundance of a certain color on the catwalk or on the streets, you’ll know it’s down to decisions made years in advance by organizations like CMG.