6/5 Trend Union & BBH

I am almost embarrassed by the amount of notes I took on this speech, but I guess with it being the third day of the trip I was feeling really motivated. Basically Trend Union is the company started by a woman named Li Edelkoort and their sole purpose is to predict what will be the fashion years ahead of time. By the time a certain style hits the market it has already been circulating for over 2 years. There is a fabric fair in Europe where designers pick their textiles, then they make their collections and they go to fashions shows, then to stores, then to the public to wear.

According to the Trend Union Representative:
-Iceland, Scandinavia, Sweden and Finland are all immersed in the idea of the interior (think IKEA, Swiss design)
-Brooklyn is becoming more interesting than Manhattan (Speak for yourself!)
-South Africa- has a young look
- “Graphic Design is a trendsetter for fashion trends; we are both influenced by contemporary art”
- “Sometimes there is no explanation for a trend, it just takes intuition.”
-There is a revival of Arts & Crafts despite the digital world. A movement to be unplugged.

I could go on and on but basically what I learned is that in Winter ’08-’09 we will all be wearing lots of hats going for an Amish look, that masks will become popular, and that will all be walking around wearing plastic. Oh, and that bunnies will be everywhere.

That afternoon we made it over to BBH for a talk with one of the art director/copywriter teams. Some of the accounts they have there are Levis, Audi, The Robinsons, Vodafone, and Axe. The Axe commercials were very funny but overall I could see a big difference in British humor compared to American humor. I liked how the Robinson’s ads were really simple and very handmade. They appealed to children and that was the target audience as well as their parents. I think the team gave us great advice which was that if we get stuck, we should go watch a film to clear your head.

In the afternoon Rachel, Rosie & I walked over to the Mac store to book our trip to Barcelona! 5 Days in the sun..I can't wait! Then I headed over to see GEMMA my counselor from camp who I haven't seen in years but I adore her and was psyched that I would be seeing her in London. I took the tube up to Bellsize Park where she lives and we went out in her neighborhood which is so trendy and fun. The pubs are adorable and we had a great dinner and got to catch up. It's really nice being so far from home but having someone there who makes you feel so at home, and I know if I needed anything Gemma would be the first person I'd call!