Folklore is the big trend for summer 2009.  So said Philip Fimanno of Trend Union, one of the world’s most sought-after trend forecasters.  He spoke at the Paris American Academy Tuesday, July 8.

Fimanno works with TU founder Li Edelkoort as a member of a 23-person team predicting long-term changes in society.

“Design itself is driving change,” he said.  “If anything is leading, it is industrial design, not fashion.”

He said, “Fashion is old-fashioned.  Instead of leading, it is influenced by lifestyle design.”

2009’s trends are grouped into 16 forms of expression.  “A decade ago, it may have been six,” he said.  “All have a common theme, but the greater number shows our yearning for diversity.”

The focus on folklore comes from fear of loss:  Loss of ethnicity and what made each group distinctive. Loss of handmade skills and craftsmanship. Loss of the rural and the earth itself.

Songs for the most part express the 16 groups:

1.Nordic Song – Lace and unpolished textiles in juvenile floral prints or cool, washed-out geometric Scandinavian colorwovens.

2.Garden Song – Green hovering between blue and gold, eccentric and elvish garden colorwovens and vintage arts and crafts.

3.Russia Song – Beet-, radish and forest-berry red with cross-stitch influenced by Rumania, Poiret, Matisse and Saint Laurent.

4.Travel Song – Blue, navy, indigo, cerulean and ocean with white coordinated accessories with influences from Asian and Delft paintings.

5.Trance – Saffron, nutmeg, dove, earth, blood, roots, minerals in sack dresses.  Animal prints on mudcloth.  Boubou with ornate patterns.  Elaborate ethnic jewelry.

6.American Dream Needs Repair – Buffalo brown and sand, deep red and tarnish influenced by rural west, Native American and gaucho.

7.Incantation – Easy care, uncluttered tapestry patterns from the Bedouin caravan ancestral cultures:  Tunics, Zouave sourels, jellabas, caftans.

8.Island Song – Cut out, phosphorescent luscious fabrics in madras, stylized florals and two-tone botanicals.

9.Love Song – Pinks, violets, coquettish white gossamer fabrics with surface yarns with images of roses, petite florals and romantic antique textiles.

10.Picasso Song – Yellow, narcissus, mimosa, mustard, sunflower with white in linen, cotton, silk floral colorwovens influenced by southern Europe, Spain, the Moors and India.

11.Work Song – Dust, dough, grey, bread with splattered white on hardworking, heavier robust, sustainable fabrics such as haversack.

12.India Song – White, off-white and sustainable grey in diaphanous naturals and rustic silks.

13.Gospel – White, the color of peace, as baptizing lace and embroideries, tailored Spencers and Sunday best bride with handmade details.

14.Psalm – Comes clean in rustic plain wovens in fundamentalist colors of Puritan prudishness:  dark, off black and off-white.

15.Protest – An alternate, altruistic, long-time-no-see, live-local look in radical green and alternative patterns in bamboo, algae and hemp.

16.Hymn – Embellished greens and perfect white in lightweight, psychedelic prints and exotic jungle jewelry.

“I see myself as an archeologist for future trends,” said TU founder Edelkoort in a video.”  “I collect the bones in my brain until it forms a skeleton.”

A native of Denmark, she was first in the 1980s to predict two major movements of today.  She called one “skin” when she noticed artists using a variety of skin tones in their works.  That led to ethnic colors of “flesh” tones in makeup, hosiery, even crayons.

In turn, skin became the beige and muted tones pioneered by Armani, then architects.  They used the same colors as they sought more natural, breathable buildings.

Edelkoort also notice an explosive growth in the 1980s of the lifestyle trend of gardening.

She predicted both trends merging into the rebirth of the environmental movement in 1993. 

TU forecasted that, after the millennium, society would create a green movement:  A pursuit of more earth-friendly actions including clothing fibers.

Breaking long-term trends into fashion forecasts is a two-year process.  Edelkoort’s team discusses items and issues:  how people react to what is available, what leaves them yearning.  Over six months, they coalesce ideas.

Ideas are first revealed in September and February at Premier Vision, the Paris fairs for textile designers.  Textile makers show their interpretation six months later at the trade shows for fashion designers.  Designers then use these ideas to create garments for their fashion shows six months later.  Buyers come, orders are taken and six months later, the garments arrive in stores.

By then, the team is deep into creating subsequent forecasts.

TU’s trend books typically sell for 2,000 euro ($3,300 US) per category and season.  See more at www.trendunion.com.

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