Trend Report

The 2012 Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week came and went as quickly as the summer months. Floral prints, pattern pops, 1920’s inspirations, and exposed skin served as a welcoming party to chillier mornings and shorter nights. It all came in the knick of time, allowing for longer parties to creep into the early morning hours as the island of Manhattan rumbled in celebration of all things fashion. The Stylish City kept up on the up and up by taking notes and keeping tabs on runway trends and societal improvements, in the eye of the blogger that is.

One major trend that has made a comfortable home in Spring Fashion is floral prints. Reinventing the standard, this year many designers strayed away from normalcy and put their own twist on the reappearing trend, such as Elie Tahari, who wow-ed with tropical flowers and palm leaves, while Nicole Miller muted her rocker glam with a touch of floral print, and Tracy Reese pleased audiences with an orange and turquoise floral jacquard clutch coat.

TRACY REESE S/S 2013

Intriguing patterns also made a loud statement at the 2012 New York Fashion Week. Designers gave their pieces personality with the appearance of, for example, Thakoon Panichgul’s lively birds, the Zack Morris-like cell phones, which dotted Suno’s pieces, and Jason Wu’s X-Ray-esque designs. Marc Jacobs took patterns to a new level, by mix and matching plaid, stripes, and neon splashes, keeping it young and hip.

THAKOON S/S 2013

MARC BY MARC JACOBS S/S 2013

JASON WU S/S 2013

Exposed skin by way of unusual cuts also made an appearance during various shows. Marc Jacobs brought back midriff exposing crop tops, while Rag & Bone utilized strategic cut outs, and Victoria Beckham featured bra-style tops. On a more conservative note, the 1920’s were brought back by Dennis Basso’s use of fringe and Phillip Lim’s proclamation that his line was inspired by the “altered views” of the 20’s Dadaists.

MARC JACOBS S/S 2013

VICTORIA BECKHAM S/S 2013

The definition of celebrity has been expanded upon, thanks to this year’s Fashion Week. Top athletes such as Ryan Lochte, Kris Humphries, Maria Sharapova, Dwayne Wade, and David Beckham took over the front rows of various fashion shows, keeping the seats warm perhaps for those celebs who took designing upon themselves this year. Katie Holmes, a front row-sitting veteran, unveiled her new line Holmes & Yang – opening to great reviews — while other fashion loving celebs Victoria Beckham, Gwen Stefanie, Whitney Port, the Olsen Twins, Nicole Richie, and Rachel Zoe, showed off their spring lines during separate showings.

Apart from the athletes, another new celebrity of sort has taken its claim on Fashion Week. The fashion blogger, or “digital publishers” as they (we) like to be referred to as has been paid extra attention to this year, claiming their seat at various shows and events. Said fashion bloggers provide their audience with a constant stream of updates on what’s going on in the tents and on the streets, in addition to constant reports on the hottest trends straight from the runway as they live Tweet from their seats. Rather than waiting to read Sunday Styles section, fashion lovers stay loyal to their favorite fashion blogs and agree with the “hot and not’s” bloggers provide them with. The Internet community has their own direct line to New York Fashion Week through these popular websites. In turn, the blogger’s audience becomes the designer’s consumer, which brands have caught on to this year. Popular fashion bloggers — excuse me “digital publishers” — are now invited to shows and receive VIP treatment, free gifts, and front row seats, in hopes they will post a good review later that evening (or right there and then). With all the attention now on the digital publisher, they even steal the spotlight on street style blogs, as they show off their fierce outfits. Watch out Wintour.

While we’ll have to wait a few more months to get our hands on the new spring trends, we’ll still have the inundation of photo snaps and reports on Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week to sift through in the interim, providing us plenty of time to see if the floral trends, exposing cut outs, and pattern pops are right for us. All thanks to the digital publisher that is.

By Caitlin Colford

Every runway season is punctuated with a synopsis of the season’s hottest trends. These “trend forecasts,” of course, come courtesy of myriad fashion bloggers, stylists and glossy magazines whose job is to tell you what to wear and how to wear it.

As fashion-forward femmes, we try our very best to follow these trends. Naturally, we want to make sure everyone knows that we know what’s hip and, conversely, what’s no longer all the rage. After all, donning an aquatic print when everyone’s sporting tribal-inspired duds is a recipe for fashion suicide. And heaven forbid you stomp around in a kitten heel when all your female cohorts are wearing sky high wedges.

Anyway, you’d think that the Internet, fashion applications such as Polyvore, countless bloggers and celebs-turned-fashion-spokespeople would make following trends easier. Unfortunately — and you may have already noticed — that’s simply not the case.

Trends are constantly changing. And, because there are so many opinions as to what’s vogue today, all those trends start to conflict with one another. For example, some gurus insist that color blocked apparel is a fashion must for spring 2012 while others contend it’s the worse thing you could don this season. Some big time bloggers tout the peplum skirt while others with just as much influence say the silhouette is horrendously unflattering. Even each city’s respective fashion week showcase conflicting trends. Sometimes it seems as though New York, Milan and Paris are a year or two apart from each other.

It goes without saying that all these mixed fashion messages makes following trends a tricky endeavor. So, don’t feel bad when you’ve watched all the must-see runway shows, read the post-show blogs and then can’t find said trends in stores.

Even well-regarded magazines such as Elle have a difficult time finding the best trends du jour to highlight every season. For example, their recent “Top 10 Trends from Spring 2012” seem to even conflict with each other. Does flashy abstract art really compliment pale pastels? Does the drop waist dress, which hides the midsection, really mesh well with exposed midriffs, Elle’s chosen body part to highlight this year?

What’s your take on Elle’s, and other magazines or blogs, fashion predictions? And how do you decide what trends to follow, if any? We’d love to hear about your thought process.

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Image credit: Elle.com