Hello Terry,,

Every season, I am asked about trends. What are the new trends? What styles should I buy to be on-trend? What do I need to toss from last season?

Speaking about trends always gives me pause. Yes, I have worked in the fashion industry for a long time, and I understand the concept of fashion trend forecasting. But all of that has changed as the internet has evolved. With that evolution, I myself have taken another look at how I approach trends and how I style my clients.

As many of you may remember, trends were prominent and decisive. "Pink is in this year!" "Boyfriend blazers are all the rage." "Shoulder pads and pinstripe suits are a must." These trends were forecasted by the fashion industry, led by creative designers. Clothing was designed for ready-to-wear, and then stores presented collections that showcased the trends.

You read about these same trends in magazines like Vogue, Bazaar, and InStyle. You saw stars and fashion icons wear them, dressed by stylists who were in the know. It was all very cohesive.

That has now changed.

The internet has given a voice to a new generation of celebrities, fashion bloggers, and young fashionistas who are outside of the fashion insider bubble that sets the trends. Which is great; we love a new creative idea and a new artist… but it also created a moving target when it comes to trends.

The fashion industry setting a trend and the consumer accepting it has become difficult with new voices in the game. Celebrities, popular bloggers with hundreds of thousands of viewers in many cases are the voices consumers are now listening to.

This causes confusion - for example.

Let's say designers and the fashion industry make blue, it's all about BLUE! Retailers buy blue. But the blogger who has 500 thousand followers says GREEN! So you go to the store looking for green… it's not there.

That may sound simplistic and exaggerated, but it is happening. So much confusion.

Another great example - you may have heard of the recent trend “mob wife aesthetic” it was big trend that was all over social media early January. It was dark, moody, bold, and dripping in fur and leopard print - exactly what you thought of when you read those words — Mob Wife. This wasn’t a trend in a magazine, or a fashion insider.

That entire trend was made up by one woman who said it so confidently on the internet, that it caught fire “Clean girl is out; mob wife era is in”. She was over the beige looks and wanted to make a fuss on the internet, and did she ever. One woman hijacked the industry for about a month, so much that Francis Ford Coppola even signed on, obviously a nod to his film The Godfather. 

Here's what I tell my clients.

Let’s talk about the trends designers are showing and not take the trends the influencers are wearing too seriously! If you love one, yes, let's play with it and have fun.

But also... remember, you are a grown adult; you have choices. You have seen the trends come and go, and you don’t have to be a slave to the IT bag, the must-have color, and especially not to the 20-somethings on TikTok who decided side parts in your hair are SO OVER & think they discovered skorts and shoulder pads. Really? Skorts and shoulder pads?

This is not saying the younger generation of fashion girls are wrong or the enemy (although if they come at me again for my side-parted hair I may change my mind).

I am saying this is a different era where fashion trends on the internet (our main source of information) are being set by a group that has little experience with fashion history. They haven't worked under a mentor "in the know," taken notes backstage, studied Mary Quant in school, and absorbed decades' worth of fashion knowledge like the fashion insiders that came before them.

And that’s ok; let's let them make their own mistakes, like low-rise bell-bottom jeans. Let them learn about old styles in new ways, and we are going to take a gentle view upon them and our own approach to incorporating trends.

Like I said, let’s talk about the trends designers are showing and influencers are influencing, but we will incorporate the ones you love, and more importantly, the ones that FIT, flatter, and work for your personal style!