Session 8: The Future of Fashion

In this session of IFS, we took a look at trend forecasting, as well as fibres and fabrics and learnt how to create trend boards that depict the direction of future trends in fashion. I find the idea of trend forecasting to be really interesting, as it delves away from only looking at fashion, but rather focuses on what the future holds globally, socially and culturally to predict what will come into fashion and design next.

I learnt the importance of this, as designers use these forecasted trends to create collections that are suitable and most importantly, are more likely to commercially sell. I also enjoyed learning about different kinds of fibres and fabrics, as I have been trying to make more of a conscious effort to avoid synthetic materials this year, as well as materials that are proven to be bad for the environment, in favour of materials like cotton and wool. It also occurred to me how much COVID would have affected trend forecasting – sweatpants became such a HUGE trend in 2020 because of the pandemic, as lockdowns came into effect and the idea of going out was demolished for most of the globe.

Our activity for this session involved creating a mood/ trend board using the information provided from a few different sources (we could choose one that we liked). I chose the WGSN one, as I like the trend forecast of sustainability and organic textures and the idea of innovation. It shows how fashion is heading towards a more eco-friendly direction and people are constantly evolving to find new ways to source materials that not only benefit the environment but visually reflect it as well. I also like the creativity this task allowed for us in terms of layout and presentation.

Notes I took from the forecast we were given – helped me condense ideas down into key points to then find images for my board
Final board

I feel like my strength in this session was understanding the direction of my mood board and focusing on the trends surrounding organic fabrics, texture and sustainable outcomes within design. To further develop, I would like to aim to provide more connectivity within the images on my mood board and use a more concise and recognisable colour palette. I want to intentionally choose images that work cohesively to represent one main idea, which I wasn’t necessarily able to do in this practice task due to time constraints. I would also like to work on my layouts and make sure I have a coherent mood board plan that connects nicely with my range plan, as sometimes I tend to be all over the place with my ideas, which can often reflect visually in my work.

Overall, this class was quite overwhelming in terms of the amount of business work we were given this week. I need to get started on all the SDS tasks we’ve been given and would like to have most of it completed (or at least drafted enough for feedback) by the time I have my group tutorial with Sarah for my pathway choice.

It is currently the 21st of January and my tutorial is on the 26th, and ideally I plan to have my customer profile, brand research, range plan and mood board ready by then or at least underway by then. This will also help me have all my work done by the 4th of February, when our formative assessment is due.

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