Is that a self promotion or what? Well, I think it’s more of an observation.

Part of what I do is to get a view of more than one angle of society and industry as well as demographic. So it affords me the opportunity of comparing (sometimes) one set of mores/attitudes from one group vs the other….

Some of my observations which I think point to more significant data:

1) The social media guys are happy, somewhat insulated & employed. Suddenly they are the new messiah of the world.

2) The mainstream media is having a very bad moment and they aren’t happy, their news is sad and they are sad, their empires are falling.

3) The fashion industry is in some pretty dire straits. Even with sales figures, at least at the lower end, showing some resilience for holiday, they still face an entirely uncertain future. Their industry too falls into the category of empires falling….print media for them doesn’t have the sway it used to; those in control are working fast and furiously to catch up with where they think the rest of the world is. Problem is those decisions are still being made by the same minds that got them to where they are right now, so their attempts while in some cases noteworthy (Showtime and Alexander McQueen’s live streaming Womens SS 2010 video), it’s still pretty tepid. Sending school aged bloggers to sit in the front row of fashion shows? Back in the Day (that would be yesterday), people would accuse such gimmicks as a ratings scheme. And I can tell they have a lot to learn about Social Media. The best of the best on Twitter and Facebook have a personal style and interact with their followers. Fashion is still shouting about how beautiful they are, still shoving celebrity down our throats. That’s still the old way whether using it on Twitter, Facebook or your own website.

4) If it’s true what they say, you are what you eat, then the same can be applied to you are what you read and I’m feeling the need for reading some Henry David Thoreau (a whole book and not a 140 character or less quote from it).

5) I tweeted that content isn’t king, but that context is king and I find that depending upon who is doing the definition several very important verbs and nouns take on some pretty different meanings: and that would be transparency, authenticity, and engagement. Meaning I guess definition is in the mind of the teller. The efforts though, in the first part of January have been
noteworthy though in trying to understand it. That’s a good thing.

6) Design is on hold (no significant developments, not in any industry), the information mill is full of drek and that includes the ivory halls of mainstream media who supposedly do an incredible job of sussing out the “hard news and real facts,” and my theory of this period being like the wild, wild, west is sadly on par. As consumers of anything, I hope we can soon start demanding quality and not quantity and while giddy (myself included) with excitement over some of the new tech directions and developments, lets hope it doesn’t color our standards for fill in the blank subject matter at hand.

There are several reasons for my writing what some may deem a stinging blog post. One is that there is an article being tweeted in large numbers right now that lists the qualities and skills required for the next generation of journalists. While I have my criticisms of Mainstream Media, I also know some of these people have worked incredibly hard and long at their professions and just because someone understands SEO, doesn’t and won’t ever make them a good journalist. Somebody’s drinking too much Social Media Koolaid.

The other reason is that we are in a vicious cycle of supply vs demand with no real leadership taking the reigns to set the ship aright. On the one hand, the banks seem to be coming out of their freefall but are coming back to repeat the sins of the not so distant past and reaping the rewards while Joe Schmoe is still trying to dig himself/herself out of the trenches….what’s that about? I’d like to start seeing news about entertainers, sports figures, celebrity journalists, talk show hosts or anyone that Joe Schmoe collectively has made very very very rich and what they are doing to help create jobs so that said collective can continue to make them rich. I want to see who is doing what by name and actual numbers to improve the current condition our condition is in. Because I posit that those who are still making money by and large are clueless to what a significant number of people in THIS country are going through right now.

Let’s get real here, the consumer is still the one who holds the key to making things right and while I see all the social media geniuses out there right now capitalizing on this new movement (while they are making money), I see them being focused on social media specifically. They don’t know enough about any one industry except tech to help industries outside the tech industry become successful with it…ergo the insulation. More people in general, marketers specific to their industry, need to have a voice that is not cluttered with SEO, analytics, and ROI and more on strategy per se to show how it does work and can work for small businesses, personal brands, corporations not there yet, and so on. (although honorable mention has to go to the CMO’s who are tweeting in a personal style but for their companies on Twitter right now….).

Let me be clear here, social media is part of the marketing matrix, not all of it. Designers still need to design good things and know what their customer wants, CEO’s still need to lead with vision, and bankers still need to help their customers make money.

While we are getting back to basics, lets get back to some of these.

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image New York Magazine

Like Lt. Colonel Custer fatally leading his army of men in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Fashion is battling it out to the end in an attempt to save the day (in fashion speak that means maintaining its current heirarchy of power players, including luxury retailers and their executives: see documentary The September Issue, and all about Fashion’s Night Out on September 10th, 2009 during Fashion Week in New York).

Who is Fashion’s Custer?

Looks like Anna Wintour (above image right sitting next to tennis great, Roger Federer), American Vogue’s Editor and highly esteemed fashion power player: mmmm, but that’s so yesterday. We all know we are in an age of ice melt.

PSA for Fashions Night Out.

History has it that Custer’s assumptions re his charge onto the battlefield were based on inaccurate information from the field (see Wikipedia). Wowser, you think?.

So, who might tomorrow’s leader of the fashion industry be….dare I say it…..could it be???

Yes, that gorgeous creature, Heidi Klum. Supermodel, TV producer and star of emmy nominated “Project Runway,” Heidi knows her fashion. But it’s not just that, she’s loved by all and represents a new generation as well as a new method of fashion speak. She’s married to the one and only “Seal” and she’s a mother of five.

Who in the fashion world would not want to know how Heidi Klum would steer the next generation’s fashion ship? With Tim Gunn as her wingman, or in keeping with the ship’s metaphor, the ships mate, the voyage would no doubt be interesting.

Am I wrong or what?

The biggest issue with print media is that it doesn’t know how to align itself with new media and still be what it is, whatever that is. In this case it’s fashion. And the fashion industry is struggling to keep itself relevant with it’s consumer. For decades, Anna Wintour has led that march by managing the shark infested waters of the industry as being an all powerful editor in chief of American Vogue. And she’s been incredibly good at it.

But as we know, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put humpty back together again. With the industry’s numbers, especially at the higher end, being as dismal as they are and have been, and confusion, to say the least, reigning, especially on Seventh Avenue….like “Oh, where did the fashion industry go?…” (China, anyone?)

To think they may fix it with a global Fashion Night Out and a documentary about the Devil Wears Prada American Vogue editor Anna Wintour …I don’t think so. That’s just akin to sticking one’s finger in the dike–am I the only one that sees that? The deal with Project Runway is that it’s already included us, for several year’s now…so for the fashion elite to all of a sudden declare themselves at one with their market is, shall we say, a little after the fact?

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Adele.No longer just a compaign slogan, but a reality, the change we were all longing for is upon us, but in ways we haven’t expected or maybe even desired. That’s the beauty of change though isn’t? It’s different than what we had. Some, many, actually fear change. It disturbs the status quo which can only unearth a whole multitude of sins.

For instance, yesterday I listened to someone giving a short motivational talk and he said, “unless you overcome the fear you have within whatever it is you are seeking will only return even if what you get what you were looking for you succeeded in achieving.” He was quoting from a book citing research that the individuals who created this abundance of white collar crime overwhelmingly had one thing in common: a fear of failure.

So, even though they accumulated millions in personal wealth it was never enough for them. They went on to in some cases embezzle money from their company leaving their employees without jobs and without 401 k’s to keep feeding their fear of failure when all they had to do was get over their fear of failure. Think of the pain they could have spared thousands of people if only they as individuals faced their own fear which had nothing to do with anything but themselves.

It’s exciting to see some of the long sought changes in the status quo coming to fruition. Like some of these instances in financial fraud being uncovered and what and how the bulk of the middle class, in some cases whole industries have arrived at where they (we) are today.
It’s more than exciting, it’s a hoot!

So many honest hard working people left without retirement, without anything because of this fear that drove their leaders over a cliff taking the security of thousands with them. And as it turns out, these aren’t isolated instances. Frankly, Madoff is probably only the tip of the iceberg.

But that’s really only half the story isn’t it? These instances of financial fraud don’t cover the other half which are those who haven’t been swift enough to adapt to the rumblings underneath their wings that said as customers we aren’t going to support you anymore. You aren’t giving us what we want and what our lifestyle needs and demands.

I fault retailers for this as much if not more than manufacturers. The retailers these days have had manufacturers under control. They essentially tell them what they think their customers are clamoring for, that’s not across the board, however. Manufacturers enter in partnerships in some cases with retailers and there is an even exchange in communication. These can represent the most successful of outcomes…..some manufacturers….. many, have just circumvented the retailer altogether going straight to the web and their customers are finding them.

Like the story of Adele, the British singer who won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Adele circumvented the establishment, and American Idol and got her start on My Space. She is a legend on more than one level and she is only the tip of this iceberg. Adele is the flip side to Bernie Madoff and his ilk. She is the flip side to GM and those who have become too big to fail. Sorry Adele if I am putting too much on your plate, but really……Adele is one of the superpowers I wrote about a few posts ago. She took the place of Amy Winehouse, someone we all put our faith in who showed she wasn’t up to the task. Sorry, Amy, next? Arrive Adele.

It’s a cautionary tale for many of us, the point arriving in some cases too late. Wonder how the history books will define this era? Obamanomics as opposed to Reaganomics? Hardly. I remember the 80’s. The kinds of shifts we are experiencing right now are far more significant than what transpired in the 80’s. In the 80’s there was an almost coming of age thought process as the many boomers shifted from the wild ones to the drivers of commerce.

Here we are having massive global meltdowns, whole industries, jobs disapppearing and especially the American way of life threatened. Truthfully, it’s because we all became too complacent. I can almost feel the fat globules on my thighs thickening thinking about it. Perhaps in the end we will all have found this a necessary evil, a metamorphisis that will only result in better things to come. The process hasn’t been, isn’t fun but necessary for real progress and sustained growth.

I am not advocating throwing the baby out with the bath water. Some things in this country actually worked and served us well. Manufacturing, to my way of thinking, is actually one of them. I am not of the mind that we should be shifting all of our manufacturing overseas.

Is that a strategy that serves only to feed the beast of someone’s fear of failure, in the process ridding a country of the tangible forms of progress? In the Industrial Age, the wagon trains gave way to the railway and whole industries grew as a result.

In this great period of upheaval, what represents the wagon train and what represents the railway? What’s the marker? The internet vs the retailer?

The wagon train came to be obsolete as an example. Will the retailer become obsolete? In other words traveling did not become obsolete, so neither will shopping, shipping did not become obsolete, we still have to get from point A to point B so the railway made all kinds of things possible that the wagon train just wasn’t capable of: speed and safety are two things that immediately come to mind. It’s probably not too far out of the realm to consider that one day we will be able to just dissolve cellular matter to instantaneously get things where we want them to be. Star Trek for real.

We are in the midst of a great shift, we’ve had many starts and failures along these lines in our attempts to incorporate the internet and technology into our human lives.

At the heart of all change though, it is the human that drives it, not the other way around. And to that end humans are fallible. To create a God out of Google is just one more mistake this world will be making since well there’s always Microsoft…..and to create a God out of Twitter is akin to creating a God out of Juicy Couture: in other words our love affair with it will take many shapes and forms before it becomes a permanent part of the landscape.

image from chromaisa

We need to identify our permanent markers. There’s a shift alright but where to? For the sake of the retailers I hope they are giving this matter some real thought because life is no longer what it used to be. What many of us are going through right now is so significant that our minds and our habits and thought processes will be permanently altered. To think that that is not the case means that you, someone, is still in that bubble and it’s just a matter of time before it bursts. So don’t kid yourself. This time around, there isn’t a soul on this earth who won’t be impacted by the change that is upon us. It may be a matter of time before it all shakes out, but mark my words, we are in the process of an evolutionary change.

Maybe this is too sweeping of a statement to make, and yet, whoever would have thought that there would be no Lehman Brothers, possibly no General Motors? Do you really think you are safe from the changes that are taking place?

Let’s not be afraid. Just embrace it, and change accordingly. My words are as much to the current captains of industry and goverments as well as to the individual on the street.

Exciting isn’t it?

To that end, Trendbites will endeavor to chronicle those changes as they emerge anywhere and everywhere. It’s such an historical moment, and this time I’m not going to miss it.

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Analyzying the Google data on Trendbites dashboard was an interesting exercise this morning. I wanted to know what was on people’s minds not just for the month but for the whole year and then their patterns throughout the year. Of course you have to take different things into consideration but let’s use some lists to cut to the chase.

Top Searched subjects for 2008 on the Trendbites blog:

1) Tattoos
2) Eco friendly water bottles.
3) Sarah Palin’s Wardrobe, designers and where can get it
4) Suzanis
5) Fretwork

Each one of these search terms can be elaborated upon because people used various terms to find info on these subject matters plus I would say that there were related items that fell into a sidebar of those topics, such as in fretwork also came Asian ornamintation….cloisone, champleve, etc., and they searched Benjamin Crutzfeldt’s name or his porcelain which is based on 18th century Chinese porcelain techniques but modernized.

As well several of these were either spiked by the news media, i.e., Palin’s wardrobe and this summer’s newsworthy research on the chemical in plastic water bottles being unsafe for people.

The very interesting one is that the tattoo subject is pretty consistent (throughout the year) as is fretwork, and suzanis…..a more recent though I expect timely for several reasons is the new Spring pattern for Pfaltzgraff’s dinnerware, Fruit Bounty. The Macys/Rwanda Project is also a big search item for December.

The remaining five of the top ten had to do more with star power, i.e., angelina jolie (who had more searches than Brad Pitt, fyi) but most of those searches came when they were getting ready to have their twins.

Then there was Heidi Klum’s red dress by John Galliano for the American Heart Association and Coke Sweepstakes promotion during the Oscars….again news timing.

And lots of searches for different industry color trends, a few in general trends for 2009-2010, BTS/BTC Dorm info searches, and finally named designer searches i.e., Oscar del la Renta, Dior, Moschino, Ralph Lauren and Nau (menswear for 2009 and the color of orange was searched specifically). I had a few for the timourous beasties wall paper and Scott Hill furnishings, the wallpaper or even furnishings from the movie Lucky #Slevin, and a few for the artists Damien Hirst and Richard Prince.

These searches can all be qualified by #1, I write about these items, #2, these are the things on people’s minds either professionally or because the news has spiked interest (TREND), or, and this one is special just because I went through the same thing, #3, very little otherwise is written about them such as Mumenshance the mime troupe from Switzerland. So they are one of the top five consistent trends but I know that that is a very special interest topic, not a trend per se.

Those top five as I listed them above are worth your consideration. My own bottom line is that if I wanted to make this a blog just about color trends and color per se in many industry categories, I would do very well with the blog….but hey all you out there I do write trends about color in depth and that info can be gotten in a much more specific manner, i.e., I use acutal pantone numbers by industry or even can create palettes!

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It was date night for me Friday night. Me and PBS, since Bill Moyers had a great interview with 2 New York Times columnists about what happened with Wall Street’s meltdown and the author, Kevin Phillips, of a book, Bad Money, he is recommending as a must.

The bottom line after all of the I confess heavy thought processing is that who knows? But Phillips has been forecasting this for awhile and goes back as far as both the Clinton and Regan administrations to find fault with even today’s situation. His point being, mainly, that all along the way finance was something Washington found in favor and never popped the bubble to take the bitter pill.

Doesn’t much look like we will today either with a $700 billion bail out, but hey, I guess it’s better than taking the rest of the world off a cliff with us.

Needless to say when Casablanca came on I was thrilled and it found in me a total willingness to cast my fate to the Marrakesh winds for the night, along with Bogie and “Play It Again, Sam” Sam.

So much water over the bridge this season, so much from real to metaphoric I wax nostalgic for simpler days.

Since there are so many references to Morocco these days, I went in search of Casablanca still shots because I saw so much in the movie that I am seeing in production now, not the least of which was an incredible room divider seen in Rick’s Cafe Americain that had the most delicious fretwork. But it was the doors to Rick’s Cafe that really got me. Maryam Montague of MyMarrakesh blog fame has really brought to life the doors of the region: these big heavy wooden rounded doors (image by Maryam).

Sigh.

So, the stills I found from the movie (though fantastic) didn’t bring me much in the way of product relief (except Maryam’s door!) but did bring me a boatload full of good posters and trivia surrounding the movie along with some of the most famous quotes ever…..go visit. You won’t be disappointed. But better yet, get the DVD, now that you can’t afford to go to the movies.

It wasn’t a simple time in the movie, but somehow even with the corruption that existed in Casablanca (the movie’s title city), the protagonists emerge heroes and overcome their cynical and selfish motives to somehow rally around a cause greater than themselves. It’s pure poetry and a tonic for our times.

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Since it’s been the number one movie at least in America for some 3 weeks (for good reason), I am sure many of you have already seen the movie.

And since superheroes are a hot topic in fashion circles today because of the Met’s Costume Institute exhibition “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” I’ve got to talk about Paltrow’s fashion style in the movie as Ironman’s girl friday, Virginia Pepper.

She looked stunning and single handedly did more for both the corset top and ankle strapped high heels than any Victoria’s Secret model I can think of to date.

If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend it. Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect 21st century Ironman, both heroic and funnily sarcastic, and Gwyneth Paltrow takes no prisoners as his Ironman’s Girl…Friday. I’d call them the Dynamic Duo.

P.S. We also loved her handbag in the scene where she downloads the goods from Stark Industries (I won’t give the storyline away), but don’t know whose bag it is. If anybody knows, please let me know. It’ll be first on my list of things to buy after the recession!

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Other items of interest regarding shoes came to light during the opening of the Metropolitan Costume Institute’s exhibit, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” and I really must share.

Cathy Horyn, the New York Times Fashion critic and of On the Runway blog fame, wore the perfect shoes to the opening party. What she wore and how well it came off indicates or should anyway how important it is to think these details through. The shoes were the perfect compliment to her outfit, the trends, and the length of her skirt. It all came together to make her look quite leggy….something one may only expect of fashion models, but not true. We can all look like that if we put on the right shoe with our outfit. (for more on what all the style mavens wore for the gala, see style.com)

A strappy heel is what I called it. Then about the same time, Bill Cunningham, the New York Times on the street fashion photog and documentarian, photographed a lovely segment on hats and shoes and among other things also noted the strappiness of the heels but also the uniqueness of the shoes. Take a look.

But then, there were Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise perfectly captured going up the stairs to the Met’s entrance for the exhibit…she looking like the superheroe Cinderella that she is in a red sequined Armani and these daring do “Blue” shoes and he, Tom, looking like the perfect prince pulling her up the stairs (also dressed in Armani). The best shot of the evening came from Reuter’s photog, Lucas Jackson, shown alongside Eric Wilson’s funny and quippy first impression article for the New York Times of the evenings happenings, “Stars and Superheroes Sparkle at Museum Gala.”

Nonetheless, it was the blue shoes that really made the impression……hmmmm, I wondered aloud to myself, could this have more meaning than for creating a fun yet beautifully themed ensemble for the evening? Then I spied with my little eye the cornflower blue Puma First Round Hi-tops at Urban Outfitters and knew instantly, yes, that blue has life well beyond the Superheroe exhibit and Katie Holmes’ outfit for the evening.
(okay, it’s a little lighter shade, but nonetheless has superpower written all over it)

In fact, I am hoping I can score some great same color blue sandals and/or flip flops for this summer somewhere….Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight has been wearing these fantastic cobalt blue dresses and suits on the show and while interviewing (image from January 2008 SAG awards). I think she knows something too about this color of blue besides that it looks good on her.

So, KERPLOW! and, and, PLUNK! that.

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Opening May 7, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s newest show, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” is a “celebration of the body fantastic,” so says Giorgio Armani, the exhibit’s honorary chair.

Clicking through the slide show of some of the costumes reminds me of some of fashion’s better moments both on the runway and on the silver screen. For more, go here.

Image courtesy Style.com. From the Superheroes, “The Doge Knows: Philip Treacy’s futuristic Venetian mask, photographed by Irving Penn for Vogue, December 1996.”

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Amy Winehouse with tattoos is one thing, but now there’s Diablo Cody (below left), our stripper-turned-Oscar-scriptwriter for the movie Juno and now we have in American Idol’s seventh season, Carly Smithson (below right), one of the current crop of 12 who made it to the finals. But we really can’t do a photomantage of tattoos without giving a nod to one who may have helped to kick start it all, Anglelina Jolie-Pitts.

Angelina Jolie’s tattoo looks positively sublime here, or her tattoo is as tamed as she is now (or maybe that only happens when Brad Pitt stands next to you!). Regardless, the tattooed are now among us.

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