The Internship Files: Day 7

I was running late this morning trying to beat that LA traffic. Not a great start to the day and then on top of it I spilled my coffee on my way in. But luckily nobody noticed how late I was and I was able to get straight to work finding Pantone chips for Design Options latest color book. The office was buzzing as we tried to fill all the orders from the LA textile show. I also worked on finding color matches for the new color palettes for next Fall. In our office thinking ahead means thinking a year or more in advance. I have definitely developed my forward looking skills here. I ran downstairs to bring back lunch and picked up a pastry for myself from the delicious Fashion Bistro run by two french women from Paris. Needless to say the pastry was delicious. I started working on updating the social media pages for DO when the owner Fran called a company meeting and invited me to the table. I was surprised to be asked to sit in on a meeting; I must be doing something right I guess. I took notes while they talked about sales and implementing a new shipping method. It was interesting to hear the business side of  trend forecasting and I definitely learned a lot. I'll be paying more attention in my Econ class from now on!

The internship files Day 5

My bags in the fashion show at Factory Direct

Today was a crazy day at FBI. This morning I helped prepare for the back to back seminars they had going for LA textile week. As I walked int he building this morning the place was already buzzing and people were browsing the textile displays in the lobby. When I tried to go up the escalator a guard stopped me and asked me for a badge. During LA textile week the building adds extra  security. Well being an intern, I didn't have a badge so, I had to explain at the front desk where I work. Ahh, the life of an intern. Next I had to head over to the factory direct tradeshow across the street at the NewMart building. I was in charge of manning the FBI booth at the tradeshow as well as helping with the fashion show they were sponsoring at 4;30. I quickly rushed over to get the booth all set up since FBI was short staffed and, I was the only one there. It was really fun to introduce the company to people and I ended up getting a few people to sign up on the email list as well! I also helped out with planning the fashion show and, got to show my original line of Sierra Clair accessories at the end of the show. I also got to mingle with the attendees of the show including the tradeshow organizer David. He also plays beach volleyball and it turns out we know some of the same people. While getting ready for the fashion show Parris the show coordinator did a photo shoot of my totes and t shirts on the models. I also helped time the show and directed the models when they should walk which was a great experience for me because I learned about the timing of a fashion show and the rhythm of the catwalk. Then at the end I had a few models show my bags and I even got to walk out on the runway at the end as a professional designer. I stayed for the after party to network and the showroom owner I met through FBI a few months ago got to see my bags on the runway and he really liked them. So all my hard work really paid off. Today was a long but great day! Check back to see what I'm up to tomorrow at the booth for Design Options at the LA textile show in the California Market Center.

The Internship Files: Day 4

Finding thread to make skanes

This week has been crazy for everyone as we prepare for the LA textile show in the Calmart next week. We are also busy preparing our next color forecast! Today at Design options I helped find the colors that are going in the next book and make skanes (sample spools of thread). I also helped find names for the new reports. Brainstorming names to go with the cover photo can be challenging but I love being creative. Next week the owner Fran  Sude is giving a seminar on color at LA textile week. I'll be helping out at the seminar all day. Check back next week to see how it goes!

MAGIC Seminar WGSN Consumer Trend Forecasting

Today I went to a Seminar at Sourcing in MAGIC put on by WGSN. WGSN is a trend forecasting company that provides trend and color services to designers and other companies in the fashion industry. This seminar was about WGSN's consumer trends forecast for Fall/Winter 2016. They have categorized the consumers into 4 categories.

The first category was called the 

Timetrader.
The mindset of this type of consumer includes a strong desire for everyday opulence as well as questions about the meaning of time. The Timetraders believe that we are living the future and many are disappointed with it. Studies show 1/3 of consumers are abandoning technology and some people want to redesign the future based on previous sci fi predictions because they think it will be better. They are also interested in the concept of time traveling which many experts believe will be possible in the next 50-100 years. She referenced a NASA experiment where a man traveled 2.2 seconds into the future. The Guggenheim museum recently did an exposition on time that included a million year date book and a project by artist Evan Roth titled "Since You Were Born." Some tribes in Africa practice time trading by wearing traditional clothing and celebrating traditional rituals while also pioneering opportunities for tribal people to get jobs and earn money for a living. They also promote healthy lifestyles to protect tribal people from the dangers of the industrialized world such as drugs that they have never previously been exposed to. These consumers also desire a real community that has been replaced by online communities. There has been a rise of Urban tribes like the Swedish Run Club and the Temp Tribe in NYC which is a neighborhood collective. The Kings Tribe in Sacramento promotes positive attitudes through eco friendly mediums and although it is only 6 months old it is already extremely popular. Many consumers also look to tech to make a positive impact and want to be surprised by technology. New trends such as tech warrior are on the rise especially in places like Japan. 3D printing technology is also having a huge impact on consumer attitudes. Anther trend with these consumers is that opulent spending is back. Items such as a $400,000 iphone case and a $2,000 gold water bottle are popular to ways to show off big spending. Luxury active wear and healthy lifestyle trends is also a global priority.  People are spending more on workout wear and accessories.  Another way that the global priority on health is influencing consumers is the idea that the food industry is the new luxury market.  This frontier is being driven by the fashion industry with designers such as Dolce and Gabana, Ralph Lauren, and Armani opening opulent cafes and restaurants.  Many people believe designers should focus on healthy living and make it a priority in their work. Examples of luxurious food options include a $300 peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a 23k gold sundae and Serendipity.

Time exhibits at the Guggenheim

Tech warrior trends 

The next category is the New Eccentrics.
The new eccentrics are interested in the concept of digital detox.  We are living in the most connected time in history with over 3 billion people connected online  and mobile connectivity has increased to become 18 times the size of the internet in the year 2000.  The idea of digital detox can be anything from a complete blackout, turning off all electronics, to playful pauses that can be enabled by technology. Jessica Tolley invented a cellphone sleeping bag to keep the light from her cell phone from waking her up at night.  A digital detox box by Popcase  is another product invented to aid consumers in disconnecting.  Other products include digital detox bath products with calming scents.  New eccentrics are interested in the changing attitudes towards art that have gone from serious to fun.  New mediums for presenting and sharing art have encouraged this movement.  One example is the sleepwalkers route in San Francisco and recreating Parisian landscapes with wood.
Another trend is getting outside and off electronics.  One app called Kookalu is an interactive game for travelers that allows you to go on a virtual scavenger hunt.  Other users can vote on your pictures.  An app call Derive is the idea of having a scavenger hunt in your city.  As you gain more points you can become the mayor of the city and create the scavenger hunt.  Geo catching has become increasingly popular with several million treasures found last year.  There are also apps that center around geo catching. 

Big heads movement 

The new eccentric consumers are obsessed with brands and logos.  At one museum in San Francisco, Versace eggs and Tiffany yogurt were sold at the next bar and quickly sold out.  A case study called wheat is wheat is wheat showed that consumers are increasingly interested in brand image.  Consumers are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on everyday items if they are branded.
Another trend with eccentrics is their obsession with selfies.  The big head movement among people age 15 - 26 years old, where they wear computer screens on their head has become increasingly popular across the United States.  Dan Rosenthal created an artpiece making social commentary on how much we look at our screens during the day where he walked around all day wearing a giant screen.  His work demonstrated the ridiculous level of importance placed on the "holy" screen.  Eccentrics are also interested in the concepts of augmented reality...they want to be surprised by technology again.  Some neighborhoods like the small town outside London are trying a neighborhood immersive experience, where the whole neighborhood participates in group entertainment.
They also participate in playful immersive art such as the Pay-For-Laughs campaign sponsered by Apple in Barcelona.  People who can't afford to go to the theater can pay 30 cents for every time they laugh during a performance; once you hit 24 Euros you are maxed out and can laugh for free.
Music festivals have also become increasingly popular Coachella made of $64 million dollars in revenue last year.  Many cities are catching that wave and starting to hold their own music festivals.
Another idea that appeals to the new eccentrics is the idea of challenging traditional beauty standards.  Photo shop allows us to achieve our unattainable ideas of perfection but during this process we have forgotten how realistic people look. One effect is a rise in plastic surgery. One in three people get plastic surgery as a result of comparing their real appearance to their photo shopped image.  The Make-Me-Beautiful Art movement, where the artist sent a picture of herself to 46 countries and asked the public to "make her beautiful" showed that we will never be able to attain one standard of perfection.  Every country had a different image of beauty.  Another emerging movement is the died armpit hair movement, which encourages women to embrace their natural beauty.

Fashion is also changing with these ideas.  Bass Costers runway show was a commentary about how serious fashion had become.  He said, "In fashion we can a balance and fun and serious ideas."
Consumers are interested in vivid visuals and re-imagining their world.  New eccentrics want to make the banal bizarre. Dance has become a popular medium for combining the digital world with the emotional world because code and dance are so synergistic.  Fashion has also followed this movement by creating digital garments that express the wearer's current mood; the garment is technology designed to read the brainwaves and change color to match mood. Fashion has become a platform for emotional expression.  MIT media lab has created social textiles designed to an ice breaker.  The clothing signals electronically when a fellow social media user is in the vicinity.  The consumer's relationship with nature are also defined in new ways.

The third category is The Beliefists.
Beliefists have conjured up their own belief system within the context of technology.  Consumers of technology are divided.   Half of tech consumers are exhausted by the idea of learning a new technology or system while the other half are obsessed  with new innovations and download every new update the hits the market.  Overall church attendance and conviction has been dropping which is a new phenomena for Americans.  People have become wary of traditional church rituals.  Start-up religions like those of the 1960's have become popular but with social media these new religions are able to reach a wider audience.  The I Believe in Yeezus religion, based on Kanye West's rap song, has been cited as the first virtual religion.  It took off with users posting instagram selfies with signs saying "I Believe in Yeezus."  Beyism is also on the rise and followers worship Beyonce as a goddess.   You can get your Beyble now online. New places for worship have also become popular.  Multicultural spaces for religion are on the rise.  The Joshua Tree resident Tabernacle is one example that houses every type of ritual, including pews.  Creative and interactive works of art are on the rise.  One example is the giant sculpture created that resembles another worldly experience...when you walk in you can match the rhythm of your breath with the rhythm of the sculpture.  One artist believes that we must learn to gain back our time lost to technology.  She does this by counting grains of rice.  Many people were drawn to participate in her exhibit at an art festival, showing that others believe in lost time to technology.  Another artist titled her work "Bubbles in the Snow" to help herself connect with the real world again.  She did this by connecting with her child, planning blow bubbles together each morning that it snowed.  Another growing art movement is the idea  of self reflection designs and exhibitions.  Consumers are exhibiting more vulnerable mindsets and often self-reflect.  One design included a giant multi-faceted mirrored space where the viewer could go in and stare at their reflection.  These viewers are encourage to look inward, as opposed to the selfie eccentrics.
As we all know, many of us struggle with work life balance.  Studies show that work place stress causes many annual deaths in the U.S.  Companies are trying to combat this in new and interesting ways.  Ferrari has implemented a new policy where they disable group emails.  If you need to send an email to more than one person you have to call a meeting to talk to them face to face. People also believe that there needs to be a rise in focus at work to combat workplace stress. Many places have designed calm spaces, focus rooms, and pods to allow their employees to relax and focus.  Another trend popular with the Beliefists is the idea of reconnecting with nature.  The Tree Tent project is a giant pod that comes with everything you would need to survive in nature and you can set it up anywhere.
Beliefists are questioning what it means to make a memory.  The app mindful cataloging sends your personal experiences to a private cloud.  At the end of the day you can review all your memories. The app Herd records everything you hear throughout the day and catalogs it. People are also interested in the idea of tangible memories.  One artist sewed portraits of his friends onto his body. He wanted their lives to be interwoven with his.

I believe in Yeezus campaign 

Lastly there are The Co-Creators.
Co-creators want to bring craftsman and artesians back to the community. As the government cuts funding for art programs, we see increased private funding of the arts throughout the nation.  The once popular educational acronym, STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math, is now becoming STEAM, science, technology, engineering, art, and math.  This movement believes in order attract the best talent we need to include art in education.  The Blue School in New York City, serving kids age 5-14 allows kids to create cookbooks, bio labs, design a recycling project and finally to create a documentary in order to integrate creativity with traditional education. DIY movements have become increasingly popular.. many DIYers focus on making their items with or for others.  The idea of "I start, you finish" co-ops is an emerging trend.  The Dresses for Africa and Traveling postcard movements are a good example.  Johnson and Johnson has started the "Donate a Photo" campaign as a charity movement. Art as a collective movement is also going to become popular in the fashion industry.  Share Economy 2.0 is a peer to peer utility sharing program.  Be My Eyes is a global campaign to help blind people within a neighborhood.  Sustainable clothing is also on the rise.  Web Canvas .com has over 20,000 artists adding to the digital canvas in real time and you can watch it change.

Self reflection art exhibits

The Internship Files day 1

Today was my first day at Fashion Business Incorporated in downtown LA. FBI as it's called is a non profit company that helps start up designers and provides education to the industry. Right now they are planning a trip to MAGIC tradeshow in Las Vegas. I will be accompanying them next week to help out at their booth in the sourcing department! If you are going to MAGIC please stop by and check out our booth! Today I worked on editing a PowerPoint for a presentation at MAGIC. I also helped out with answering phones and helping new customers. If you are interested in doing an internship make sure and pay attention to how the company answers the phone when you call. Write it down so you know what to say on your first day. Fashion Business Incorporated is also planning a fashion show at the New Mart in March. Today we worked on show production details such as finding models and a DJ. There is a lot that goes into planning a fashion show. I also update all the social media for the company so check out the FBI Facebook page here! I'll be adding more updates soon! Check back to learn more about the life of a fashion intern!