Fashion Forecasting...What the Fashion Crystal Ball Has to Say

School is beyond crazy right now with projects piling on, one on top of another (which explains my lack of  posting here recently), but I got the opportunity to listen to a very interesting speaker today and I thought I would share what I learned from him.

The Doneger Group is considered to be the "fashion industry's leading source of global trend intelligence, focused merchandising direction, expert analysis of the retail business and comprehensive market information." So basically they are the ones who tell the designers what they should be designing based on the direction they see the trends going in, which then tells us, the consumers, what we should be buying to be considered "on trend". David Wolfe is the Creative Director for the Doneger Group and basically came up with the concept of trend forecasting.  It was pretty incredible to listen to him speak because he has been in the industry for such a long time and really impacts what people are going to wear.  His lecture was on the trends for Spring/Summer 2012 and I decided to let y'all in on the trends so that you can be in the know before everyone else! These are the three major trends for S/S 2012 along with my "must-have" picks:

"Calm Chic"
- tunics
- cigarette pants
- drape dresses
- shift dresses
- jumpsuits (must-have!)

"Retrocentric"
- romantic white
- ruffles
- soft rose shades
- lace (must-have!)
- silky satin
- fitted flares (must-have!)

"Establishment"
- structured silk
- tiny floral prints
- navy blue pieces
- social suit
- little white dress
- white shirt dress (must-have!)

Here is an image for Spring/Summer 2011 trends...enjoy!