O U T L O O K O N V I S U A L T R E N D S

INTRODUCTION

This report focuses on visual trends for the upcoming season as well as exploring what
visuality means in general for fashion. We live in the age of images. A successful retailer
needs to be able to manipulate their meanings to create an atmosphere of a desired
experience. Interactivity of the visual iconography of fashion offers new ways of
interpreting trend forecasting that will not rely on simple decisions such as "yes" or
"no". Instead, a retailer needs to enrich those answers with meanings that will answer
"why yes" or "why not", and thus use forecast data accordingly.

METHODOLOGY

This report has both theoretical and practical background. Theoretically-wise, it is
important to note major tendencies of visual and fashion studies, to see how their
findings can be used in a business context. For this part, I am citing well-known French
contemporary art philosopher Yves Michaud, as well as few others that will be cited
separately. On a practical side, I have gathered data from WGSN.com, Abecita
konstmuseum in Bors, Nordiska Kompaniet in Gothenburg, sustainability trends
webbinar as well as Klovievi dvori gallery in Zagreb, Croatia.

RESULTS

1. Fashion as visual experience: introduction

Fashion is, first and foremost, a visual experience. Nobody, especially in today's age, could
argue that. However, for the future retailer it is worth noting how visual experience of
fashion and art has changed from past decades. Although retailer had to always be aware
of the world and trends around him/her, today's age of accentuated aesthetic experience
provides both extraordinary possibilities and requirements for formal and informal
insight into business trade. In order to back-up this argument, my theoretical framework
will rely on Yves Michaud's essay on contemporary art, called "Art in Gaseous State: an
essay on triumph of aesthetics"
1
. Michaud is a French art philosopher who very clearly
puts the connection of contemporary art and business into following words:

" Contemporary art and advertising share the common factor of an interactive
entanglement, both relational and transactional, as well as their proximity, collusion, even
confusion of contemporary art and advertising." (Michaud, 2004:32)

This entanglement, collusion, even confusion, is a result of a "gaseous state of art",
meaning that we as an audience now have to rely on contextual clues in order to
understand the artwork, as opposed to symbolism that was prevalent before. For example,
hundreds of years ago no one had to "interpret" a painting of Christ, since Christ is a
powerful and symbolic image present in the collective consciousness of people, and art in
general relied on such symbolism. Contemporary art, however, needs to have a semiotic
theoretical framework, because what has once been a symbol, today is a sign deprived of

1
This book was originally written in French and has no English translation yet, so all English
translations of quotes that will appear in this text are my own work. I will also be using a
Croatian version of the book for the references.
symbolic meaning - but not any meaning. The power of art today relies on providing
aesthetical experience of visual signs, fashion being one of these signs. That is what
Michaud calles "the gaseous state of art", meaning that aesthetical quality has not only
taken precendence over traditional artwork, but it is "gaseous" in a way that it draws us to
experience it, literally, with all our senses. That is why instead of traditional, two-
dimensional paintings, we prefer to see mobile art installations; and instead of boring,
unmoving store windows, we prefer to see mobile manequinns on display. One of the
examples is this winter's window display of Nordiska Kompaniet in Gothenburg, which
provided audience with life-like experience of moving toys in the windows, that attracted
not only children, but adults as well; even if they didn't intend to buy anything, people
were standing almost lined-up in front of the store window to appreciate the scene.
Nordiska Kompaniet thus managed to succeed in providing almost gallery-like experience
that captured people's attention, even admiration, in a way classical painters once did.

What Michaud is saying next is especially relevant to previous examples:

"Content-wise, it would be pointless today to raise a question on the direction of influences:
does art imitate commercials, or do commercials imitate art? The fact is that contemporary
art endlessly takes over commercial themes, motives and images (...). Our culture is culture of
emulation: media is message, message is media." (Michaud, 2004: 33)

That is the reason why artists today are more linked to fashion designers than poets:
design offers "a framework for aesthetical living conditions" (Michaud: 34), while
linkedness to fashion design offers an immersion with the constant streaming of time by
"offering illusion of present time as never-ending presence that does not end thanks to the
constant regeneration" (Michaud, 2004: 34). Not only did art turn into visual experience,
the paradygm of an epoche that we live in has switched from text as a coherent whole
() to a pure, abstract visual message (data). In fashion we see numerous examples
where text turns into decorative element; in order to provoke an action and a reaction,
even text needs to able to provide aesthetical experience. On 16th October 2013, WGSN
reported on retrospective of Mira Schendel's work that deals with cultural, geographical
and linguistic displacement. In fashion, printed text refers to urban style of youth cultures,
and bold, graphic typography is forecasted by WGSN to be one of the major trends for
SS2014 (England, 2013). There has also been an increase of 45% for typographic prints
during SS2014 catwalk, and 100% for the hand-drawn. (Muston, 2013). However,
statistics without interpretation mean little to a retailer. The next question is: what
method is to be used to interpred visual trend forecasting data and does retailer really
need to be as statistically accurate as possible or he/she can let him/herself fall into a void
of interpretation, only to rise back again?



2. Fashion dialectics: mix-matching style with meaning

Is fashion meaningful? Where does it derive from? These may seem like rhetorical
questions, but actually, the main task of retailers is to play with various style meanings to
create desirable image that will attract the right customer. However, it is not as easy and
straightforwards as it seems. Y. Michaud points out to two processes that shaped
contemporary visual arts, that can be translated to fashion as well: the first one is the
shifting accent from an artist as an art creator to an artist as an experience creator, and
such shifting occured already in 1920s with the rise of modern art styles that wanted to
break aesthetical rules of traditional philosophy of art. The second process corelates with
contemporary world, in which triumph of aesthetics leads to the general inflation of
images. (Michaud, 2004: 10). To cut it short: retailer today faces the challenge of an
already saturated market; it is saturated with styles, images, various visual codes in
general. That is why successful retailers want to create a perceived scarcity of product,
because we all still want to own a special, unique garment. However, it is becoming
increasingly difficult, as there is not any particular fashion rule or aesthetic canon that we
can oppose to. Everything is allowed and that easily leads to boredom. Can fashion,
paradoxically, be a way to escape such boredom?

The exhibition of Sandra Freij tries to answer this question by creating an airy, dream-like
feeling of fashion photography that brings out escapist quality of fashion. What is fashion,
after all, if not a project of our desire to escape our mundane existence? She projects an
image of fashion model as muse; whether this model is a child, teenager or adult;
regardless of her being portrayed in a way of erotic playfulness or innocent youthfullness,
the model or "fashionista" is depicted in a way that reveals playful, dreamy element of
fashion. Even if there are two or more models photographed together, in their eyes there
is a look of a solitary enjoyment of fashion imagery, which takes us back into the self-
reflective and introspective stage of life. This brings out an interesting opposition of
fashion: it is, after all, a business with a straight-defined goal of rising profit, but still it
differs from other business fields by its ability to take us back into that dreamy,
introspective stage. The fashion dialectics is something all retailers need to master, in
order to understand full capacity of fashion, which is pointed out in S. Freij exhibition.

Sandra Freij

The task to mix-match style with meaning within fashion dialectics that evolves through
dualities of life, is also pointed out by WGSN in the report on new macro trends for
2015/2016. They note the "hyper-focused attention to detail" which is a result of "a desire
to elevate the banal and detritus of everyday life into a new form of art" (Tsuyuki, 2013).
Mix-matching in contemporary art refers to the layered surface textures, mixed media
usage and non-traditional canvases that give out "dynamic and otherworldly feeling"
(ibid). Apparel also becomes art appropriated as material or canvas, while natural fibres
(wool, alpaca and cotton) dominate textiles (ibid). This kind of trend creates an "everyday
utopias" where "design feels peaceful, clean and unobtrusive in a soft, washed-out palette"
(ibid). Just like in S. Freij's exhibition, pastel, light colors dominate the color palette,
whereas manipulation with light creates introspective mood, either very light (resembling
open, free spaces) or very dark (resembling privacy of secluded spaces where we feel at
home, or even the inner spaces if our being).



3. (Re)quest for sustainability

The Curve Sustainability Visual Trends Webinar says it all: ownership of products/goods
for showing social status is going out of vouge (Curve Sustainability Visual Trends
Webinar, 2013). Instead, a rising quest for sustainability encourages us to purchase less
and return or share more, to create a better environment for future generations. Trends
such as transparency, collaboration, swapping, sharing, cooperation are visible in today's
commercial images. It is interesting to note that this rising search for sustainability is
appearing at the same time as romantic, dreamy imagery of fashion, or, on the other hand,
contemporary art that serves as commentary of everyday life. How should we connect and
make sense of these separate tendencies?

In Klovievi dvori gallery in Zagreb, an interesting photo exhibition has been opened in
December 2013 by the title of "Apathy"
2
. The visual presentation is completely different
to that of fashion photography of Freij, or fashion photography in general. Justifying the
name of exhibition, dark photos and closed spaces prevail, as well as gloomy, bleak spaces
such as hospitals, barely-furnished apartments of the poor, or simply spaces that constrain
people's movements and actions in physical or psychological way. Lightning is usually
dark with only few traces of light and photos are either mono-chromatic or with limited
ranges of neutral colors (black, grey, dark green, white, beige). Despite the gloomy
atmosphere, the author notes that his exhibition wants to provide hope in art and art's
possibility to reunite people and enable them to overcome obstacles through mutual
cooperation and understanding (ibid).


2
Klovievi dvori gallery. 2013. Apathy. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://galerijaklovic.hr/izlozba/apatija. [Accessed 07 January 14].



Mladen Lui, Apathy

Whether we deal with fashion or contemporary art in general, there seems to be a wide-
spread need for opening new spaces for communication, which explains requests for
transparency and ensuring legacy through sustainable practices. However, exhibitions
like "Apathy" also raise a question about their meaning: apathy, actually, referst to a
state of impassivenes, lack of emotion, feeling and concern. It originates from the Greek
word (apatheia), meaning "pathless", or meaningless state. It is indirectly
connected with the postmodern state of inflation of meaning, where everything is
meaningful in its own, semiotic, fragmentary way, yet nothing provides us with a sense
of completedness anymore. That is why fashion becomes almost like a fetishized
practice, through which we try to recreate our sense of self that is projected on fashion
object.

Sustainability issue is thus not only a time- and space-limited trend, but a sign of
something more deep and profound than simple money-making tactic like too many
people still presume. By touching on this subject, a successful retailer needs to re-think
its genesis and form a precise message that costumers will unconciously recognize as
their own goal.


REFERENCES

Abecita Konstmuseum. 2013. SANDRA FREIJ MUSOR, DRMMARE OCH FASHIONISTAS.
[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abecitakonst.se/musor-drommare-och-fashionistas/.
[Accessed 28 November 13].

Curve. 2013. Curve Sustainability Visual Trends Webinar. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://curve.gettyimages.com/article/sustainability-visual-trends-webinar. [Accessed 06
January 14].

Chris Tsuyuki. 2013. Art Basel Miami 2013: trended analysis. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.wgsn.com. [Accessed 18 December 13].

Francesca Muston. 2013. S/S 14 Catwalk Analytics. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.wgsn.com. [Accessed 18 December 13].

Josie England. 2013. Actionable Art: Mira Schendel, graphic typography inspiration.
[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wgsn.com. [Accessed 18 December 13].

Klovievi dvori gallery. 2013. Apathy. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://galerijaklovic.hr/izlozba/apatija. [Accessed 07 January 14].

Michaud, Y, 2004. Umjetnost u plinovitu stanju. 1st ed. Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak.