Pantone has chosen blue as the colour for 2020 to rebuild, rethink, revalue and re-appropriate trust in human qualities to restore our world. We start the new year with an explosion of activities concentrated on a multi-disciplinary dialogue with the totality of the lingerie column. For a complete programme, click on the ‘Download Schedule’ button below, and for the VIP Conference invitation, please click ‘Download Invitation’.
It is hardly a new trend: but responsible consumerism is supposed to go mainstream. If that means that buying-to-possess is waning, one just has to walk down New York’s Madison Avenue to see the devastating effects of these new mindsets. Consumers are seeking brands that help them to make better, more responsible choices that offer ’experiences’ rather than stuff. The experience ‘fix’ I am personally looking for is generosity, the feeling that brands or retailers really care, and that the service, their display and the goods are engaging.
The recent Interfilière Shanghai fair showed the first signs that the global Bodyfashion trade is coming to its senses. No longer a place of hectic trade in low prices and big volumes, but a search for novelty that suits the changing world. Our Forum prototype fashion show was a sum-up of how wearable lasting comfort is the biggest focus for 2020, seen as the tipping point year for dramatic change. Most of the innovation is ‘more than the eye can see’.
The recent opening of Nordstrom’s New York flagship store, and the new Nike stores in Shanghai and New York, underline a powerful message: colour, details and activities are the best retail weapons against the invasion of e-commerce. It was Gucci that first broke away from the sterile designer mood with its regimented clothing racks, followed by middle of the road retailers investing in fanciful amusement parks.
An equilibrium between ECO consciousness and visual attraction is what everybody is looking for. The rationale of a no-nonsense eco comfort wardrobe strategy does not correspond with another sustainable urgency: that of protecting the craftsmanship and the creative heritage of the fashion industry.