How To Get The Most Out of Fashion Week: Part 3

Comprehension (but not the kind on standardized tests)

you can follow all my fashion week boards at pinterest.com/madelinejean

Once you’ve pulled the images from shows that you’ve liked, now is the fun part: digging into what you’re seeing. This is where you’ve seen everything and now you can really look and see what the trends will be for spring.

1. Color- are there stand out colors? New color combinations that seem new and interesting? Take note of the model’s coloring juxtaposed with the clothing she’s in. This should be a good indicator of what colors will work for you in spring.
2. Silhouette- what shapes are you seeing over and over? this should be just as obvious as color. Is it  a shorts season? Is it a maxi-dress season? I’m not giving any clues, just some general ideas of how to determine the silhouettes of the season.
3. Prints and Materials- Is it a print season? Is everything made of shirting? Are designers arguing suede for spring?
4. Design References- Is everyone referencing the 60s? The future? This makes for really open ended and fun forecasting. Most fashion reporters will write what the designer said their inspiration was. It’s always interesting so see how designers incorporate their inspiration into more abstracted concepts.

Repeat City by City. Fashion in New York is totally different from Paris, from Milan, from Rio. It’s important to first look at trends separated, before compiling and comparing across all the major fashion weeks. Each city has it’s own speciality in the fashion world, and each deserves equal attention. Once you dig into each city, it makes it really rewarding to compare all the trends from each city to each other to create a great big trend recap that you can reference all through Spring and Summer.

*also, don’t forget to look at street style surrounding the shows. this is often a good way to see how wearable (and unwearable) trends are.