Forecasting Blogs

1.   

  The modern day bride almost always dreams of wearing a white dress on her big day. It is the tradition in America and many other countries such as England, Russia, and Australia. How did this fashion item get assimilated into the mainstream?

During medieval times brides wore expensive gowns made of fur, silk and other textiles. Extremel...

1.      Ravelry is an online social networking site exclusively for knitters and crocheters. Recently the site has gotten flack because of one site members’ idea. Kimberli Smith was the first to think of the Ravelympics – a sort of competition for the sites members to complete tough projects while watching the Olympics. Everything was fine for 2008 and 2010, but for the London games in 2012, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USCO) stepped in asking them to stop.  The USCO said it was disrespe...

Ok, all I knew about Russia can be summed up in three things: nesting dolls, Faberge eggs, and the animated movie Anastasia. Limited knowledge, I know. So my goal with this post was to educate myself (and you) on the traditional costumes of Russia, and how they have impacted fashion all over the world today.

            Traditional Russian clothing was largely influenced by the Byzantine Empire in the early beginnings of the country. This included rich color, pattern, and cl...

“The Man in Black”, a nickname that is almost synonymous with Johnny Cash. He was a little bit country and a little bit rock n’ roll. His gravelly, soulful voice resonated with so many people and still does today. In the same way, his well tailored style is still classic and relevant 50 years later.

Johnny Cash was born and raised in Arkansas, and started writing songs at the age of 12. Cash garnered popularity in the 1950’s, at the start of his career with many sing...

Find them at vintage car shows, drive in movies, or burlesque clubs. Who is this interesting subculture with an abnormal interest in the 1950’s? Rockabilly. Urban Dictionary says that “Rockabilly is not a style it's a way of life.” This is a subculture comprised of men in women ranging in all ages that strive to remember and recreate the 1950’s, including music, dress, and cars.

            Rockabilly has its roots much deeper than just modern day. The word itself is...

Hey trend followers, how cool are you? If you were really cool, you would already know what I was going to be talking about and you would be wearing it right now. Since you probably aren’t, I’ll play nice and let you in on my little secret. Spotted on the streets of Austin, off Guadalupe and South Congress, on a mild weathered UT game day Saturday, I saw…galactic t-shirts. That’s right, planets! All the shirts spotted had a black background with a cosmic image printed on the front. ...

As we all know from watching The Devil Wears Prada, color and textile trends do not reach saturation overnight. As the sharp tongued Miranda Priestly pointed out, color trends such as cerulean start out in designer collections then eventually trickle down to the bargain bin at the Gap. This careful planning is why forecasters have to work years in advance to plan trends. Designers must have time to incorporate the new “it” colors and textiles into their collections. When you see one col...

Maybe you know someone who’s going through a midlife crisis; your dad just bought a corvette, your next door neighbor bought a boat, and your friend’s divorced mom bought herself a right hand diamond ring. Baby boomers across the country, born 1945-1964, are at the ripe age to experience this strange phenomenon. That would in 2012 put them between 48 and 66. This is a group that has with time reshaped America – more divorces, less retirement, and they’re still spending. Let’s take...

The ‘Roaring Twenties’; what comes to mind when you hear that term? Jazz, liquor, and rolled stockings are just a few of the things I immediately think of. That’s surface level thinking; if you really want to understand the zeitgeist of the era, you have to dig deeper and take a look at events, ideas, social groups, attitudes, and technology of the time. I’m taking a closer look at the 1920’s to really understand the spirit of the times.

            To set the stage for the 1920...