Recurring Fashion Trends Allow Me to Shop My Closet
Red is the new black, stripes are in, romanticism is out, double denim is back… For decades, style trends – determined by what designers put out on the catwalk besides as what's worn by celebrities, and more recently, street stylers and influencers – have been primal when it comes to deciding which clothes we buy each flavour. The idea of seasonal trends, notwithstanding – and those fleeting, of-the-moment must-haves – has been rightly questioned in recent years, with the fashion industry attempting to rework itself onto a more sustainable path as the climate crunch becomes an unavoidable result.
The pandemic has helped to highlight this even further equally luxury consumer buying habits shift sharply away from flash-in-the-pan, trend-led items and onto investment pieces and more practical purchases. But, could this movement away from trends be seen only every bit a trend in itself? Will a post-pandemic celebratory world really atomic number 82 to more than trend-led dressing than ever? And, can we ever solve the trouble nosotros seem to have with newness?
1 thing is for certain, consumer behaviour is shifting. That is something that almost luxury retailers concur on – and is why many are adapting their business organisation models to adjust for this transition. Facing the reality of climate change has become impossible to ignore and many luxury consumers are altering how they shop and what they are willing to spend their money on. This behavioural tendency has been emerging in recent years – and has undoubtedly been heightened by the impact of the pandemic.
"Customers are actually making more considered and thoughtful purchases as a result of the global pandemic, and are making abrupt changes to their lifestyle," Holly Tenser, the gear up-to-wear buying manager at Browns tells me. "They are definitely seeing the value in investing in good quality, timeless pieces that make up your archetype and sustainable wardrobe base."
At Cyberspace-a-Porter likewise, the shift has been significant, senior market editor Libby Page says.
"Customer habits over the course of last year have inverse dramatically," she explains. "Nosotros noticed a shift away from trend-driven items and a move into more than timeless production. Our customers are shopping with a purpose and showing their involvement in brands and projects which are more inclusive and diverse, sustainable and charitable."
"We are banking on seasonless fashion, pieces that will stand up the examination of time, regardless of the conditions, including luxury numberless and fine jewellery," she adds. "Shopping with a conscience seems to be the new arroyo, and sustainability is at the forefront of this."
At Matches Mode, Farfetch and Flannels too, buyers accept seen similar shifts in customer behaviour – and all are responding appropriately past setting upward sustainable-mode sections on their sites, investing in planet-friendly and timeless designs, while some are fifty-fifty making an entrance into the resale market.
"We have noticed over the past yr that our customers are making more considered purchases of investment items that they will cherish and vesture for years to come, whether that is a slice of fine jewellery, a heritage handbag or a primal piece of outerwear," Natalie Kingham, global fashion officeholder at Matches tells me. "The idea of building the forever wardrobe was a key factor in the launch of our Wardrobe Foundations Edit, a curation of these timeless investment items that will never become out of way."
Stocking pieces designed with longevity in listen is a recurring theme amongst retailers, with shoppers favouring styles that aren't immediately identifiable equally being from a specific collection or season.
"People are more mindful of the planet and their bear upon on information technology – we accept definitely seen a real surge in our pre-owned and conscious categories," Harriet Hawksworth, editor-in-main of Farfetch, adds. "Seasonless fashion has become very pop; these are timeless and well-made, beautiful pieces that won't engagement and can be worn flawlessly from season to season."
It is difficult to deny and then that the changes that were already in motion regarding luxury consumer attitudes to trends have been exaggerated by the pandemic – but, bated from having no desire to buy something nosotros cannot wear right now, what else is behind it?
"The pandemic has been a not bad unifier in a sense; information technology has made us more socially aware and has increased people's desire to contribute to the greater practiced, whether that'due south for primal workers, people who are suffering, or being more than mindful of the environmental impact of the appurtenances we buy," Francesca Muston, VP of fashion content at trend-forecasting company WGSN says, explaining that she expects these developments to continue.
In this sense, we tin can await that weight will proceed to exist added to the practicality, usefulness and longevity of a mode detail – and that consumers will proceed to turn away from something considered 'tendency-led'. However, many buying experts are really, ironically, describing this shift towards trend-less purchasing as just another trend in itself – implying that the motility is simply a temporary one, and one which ultimately won't finish consumers existence tempted by something new and shiny.
"Customers always want newness, inspiration and fresh ideas so I don't call up that trends volition be going away anytime shortly," Natalie Dickson, head of women's luxury ownership for Flannels says, adding that she really thinks that now is the time when brands need to be more than innovative than ever in order to interact with their customers through trends, collections and storytelling.
Tenser describes the shift in spending habits and desired items as "a trend in itself" and Hawksworth agrees: "Equally long as luxury fashion exists, there will be trends. Moving abroad from trends is, in itself, a tendency. It just means buying really chic, simple and seasonless clothes in muted colours. If anything, Instagram and our reliance on it has increased our appetite for trends – something can take hold of like wildfire, like the cult of a N Face puffer."
They, like many others, also believe that a post-pandemic world will lead to a more than joyful, celebratory manner of dressing than most of usa have always lived through. Will we mimic what we saw in the 1920s, where a post-war, postal service-pandemic generation dressed up more than than ever?
"Later the year nosotros've had, we volition all want to treat ourselves and go dressed up in bright and colourful dress once again," Dickinson says, pointing to the notable 'dopamine dressing' we have seen in the most recent designer collections. "This ties into the bold prints, feathers and color-blocking trends we have bought into for the coming season. People will exist dressing upwards for themselves and for their own happiness – they won't need a reason to apparel up."
Flannels is not alone in banking on this. Page says that Net-a-Porter has invested in more than three,000 "bold, blithesome dresses" for leap/summer 2021, while Matches is expecting customers to add "blithesome pieces" into their wardrobes this leap equally a "welcome escape" from what we've lived through. Just, Kingham does believe that the two ideas can alive in harmony.
"There is still an appetite for newness and I practise believe trends will continue to emerge, withal this will be countered with a desire for beautiful and versatile investment pieces that can exist worn and kept for years to come."
Muston, on the other hand, says that WGSN is predicting a permanent change in consumer priorities – and a futurity that retailers need to be smart virtually approaching.
"On the road to recovery, brands and retailers will need to expect at their assortment in a completely unlike manner equally new priorities will drive spend. How sustainable is it? Tin you offer complete transparency well-nigh how it was fabricated? What are the options for keeping it in a round system post purchase? How innovative and effective is it in terms of fabric properties and blueprint elements? How relevant and adjustable is it for consumers' lifestyles? Is it multi-purpose and flexible? Additional time spent on answering these questions will pay off."
Muston explains that there will be a focus on "hero products that can hold their total price value" and that some of the 'trends' nosotros have seen in the pandemic are not but fleeting ones.
"Loungewear volition non exist temporary. It will take a bigger share of the market place because we will continue to spend more time in our homes," she says. "Fundamentally, every style business concern should at present be challenging their business organisation model, questioning the product approach and tracking how client lifestyles and values are shifting."
She adds: "The biggest mistake any brand or retailer can make is to assume that they know what client product priorities volition be when they come out of this flow."
Ultimately, Muston believes that things will alter considering they take to.
"2021 does not just represent the path out of the pandemic, it is also a critical footstep towards the looming and sinister deadlines of the climate emergency, which is why it cannot be a return to annihilation: it must be a road forward which involves wholesale restructuring and rethinking in guild to minimise waste and affect."
She believes that consumers will re-evaluate their decision-making when information technology comes to way and that their priorities volition change for good – only this doesn't mean that nosotros won't be investing in beautiful, joyful, mood-boosting mode. Rather, the focus will exist on appreciating the inventiveness, the time and the work that has gone into a design. It volition be about moving by those curt-lived, i-vesture buys and having more appreciation for designers, for fashion and for our wardrobes than ever before.
"It should lead to a deeper engagement and appreciation of our clothes," Muston says. "For many, it'due south well-nigh rediscovering what it really means to have favourite pieces and go-to outfits rather than a transient relationship with our clothes which is led by novelty."
Ultimately, she predicts that consumers will be ever more invested in how and where their clothes are made, the credentials of the designer and the story backside the manner. They'll desire to spend their money with brands that reflect their values and support designers whose piece of work they admire. In this sense, storytelling – both creative and literal – has never been more important.
"A deeper relationship means truly understanding where our clothes come up from, the cotton, the garment workers, the pattern details and arts and crafts," Muston continues. "If we know our wearing apparel better and so we will appreciate them more than. At that place should exist no shame in repeating looks, but there will be increasing shame in wearing looks which accept a negative bear upon on people or the planet."
So, while we could see passing, transient 'trends' as nosotros once know them have less of an impact every bit we move forward, this won't take away from the beauty or fun to be institute in luxury way, nor a consumer's desire to indulge in a little newness (after all, don't we all deserve a care for right now?) Instead, it should just serve to raise our understanding and appreciation for the clothes we cull to spend our money on, with a renewed emphasis on ownership for the long term, rather than the short. No longer will shoppers be quite so concerned with ownership a piece simply because anybody else is wearing it, or because it'south the latest 'it-particular', or in a vague try to look and seem cool, but instead find themselves investing in a piece because of its story, its adroitness, and the special place it will concord in their wardrobes – and that certainly feels similar something to celebrate.
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