Bottega Veneta Spring 09……………………………………………Dries VanNoten Spring 09

Many of the silhouettes for Menswear Spring 09 in Europe had that Great Gatsby era style to it, but more modern. One designer, Dries VanNoten, said, “I want him to be dapper, not dandy.” Mission accomplished.

Prada Spring 09…………………..Junya Watanabe Spring 09

At the same time, designers played with proportions in the length of the pant, the size of the jacket, additional volume mostly with the pants but also with some jackets, socks are an important accessory and up to the knees (as well as argyle), and then this year designers took a page out of women’s collections and gussied up the shoes to match the jacket, the shirt, or the sweater through all manner of technique.

John Galliano Spring 09

The sum total of it all for me was that men will, though serious as always, be letting their fun side show this spring.

Moschino Spring 09

I don’t know if this means designers are planning for the recession to be over or for men to be needing some other form of self expression because let’s face it, the world-wide economic situation will have taken its mighty toll by Spring 09. Perhaps it’s just that men will finally let their hair down, and wear their pants up, or something like that.

Whatever the case may be, it’s cool, man, real cool.

Bottega Veneta Spring 09…………Versace Spring 09

Denis Semachev Spring 09

all images Style.com except Denis Semachev, International Herald Tribute.

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I confess I am not a huge fan of Louis Vuitton, nor do I like a monotone style of an electric color for an outfit, but somehow this all together just works (including that 3 legged chair the model is leaning on). I wonder what he would look like walking down the streets of New York….hmmmmm, in my visualization it doesn’t work as well.

How about the streets of Sao Paulo Brazil? That works. Probably works in Europe too, but I’d like to see it with either a white blazer or a grey one? You think?

The great touch on this? the blue sandals.

But my final word, it explains the blue hair Marc Jacobs was donning for awhile.

Image from Surface Magazine’s “Getting Mono” by photographer Paul Cruz, styling by Bernardo Siaotong.
Chair is molded aluminum tripod by Poul Kjaerholm; part of a limited edition of 25 in blue for R20th Century and Sean Kelly Gallery.

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I’ve gone on and on about Nau over the last six months, thinking it was the best thing to come along since sliced bread. It’s my opinion their “webfronts,” Nau’s trademark term for stores where you can purchase their product at an internet kiosk instead of bring it home from the store, getting an extra 10% to do so and helping to reduce a brand’s overall carbon footprint, were or are the cutting edge of retailing.

It’s where many retailers need to take their next step, and do so responsibly. As I’ve commented before, Nau’s business model is one for the text books, so I just don’t think this is Nau’s final curtain, or maybe I’m just in denial. Maybe I have more in common with Hillary Clinton than I think. Hang in there till the bitter, bitter end.

Ian Yolles, Nau’s vp of communications, says they were not immune to this nasty economic environment and investors became jittery; that just says to me they have the wrong investors; they need some Seventh Avenue guys used to eating nails at breakfast and concrete for lunch.

You don’t go down until the fat lady sings and in Nau’s instance, we’ve only just taken our seats before we were told the theatre was going dark. How is this happening that one of the greatest ideas to hit retailing in years is shuttering its doors and windows as we speak. So Wal-Mart can have a run on recycled t-shirts? Pull-ease.

I’ll refer you to TreeHugger’s obituary for Nau, they wax much more poetic about it than I and manage to give them their proper due at the same time.

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After grappling with how to say Happy New Year to Everyone, this is what I decided on: a sneak peek to my 2009-2010 top trends, as I see it, and as a way to help wrap up 08 depending on where you are in your buying, your product launches, your presentations, or your strategy planning.

1. Color Cornucopia: Eye Candy for the Color Maven’s Soul. Image from John Galliano for Dior Haute Couture Spring 08 Collection. Seattlepi.com.

2. Mother Earth Beats Her Chest: Science Popular.

“An armada of robot submarines and marine sensors are to be deployed across the Atlantic, from Florida to the Canary Islands, to provide early warning that the Gulf Stream might be failing, an event that would trigger cataclysmic freezing in Britain for decades.” Meric Srokosz of the Southampton Oceanographic Centre, explaining the purpose of the $31 million Rapid Watch system he is heading up, does just that, citing the plotline of “The Day After Tomorrow” - specifically the collapse of the Gulf Stream - as a potential occurrence that warrants further investigation. From Treehugger.com and The Observer.

3. Finishing Touches Birth Special Effects. Photo Yohji Yamamoto, Mens FW 08, Style.com.

4. High Tech High Touch in Living Breathing Action. Image from Nau.com’s trademark “webfronts,” which is their idea of recognizing how the internet has changed consumer’s buying behavior.

5. Cross Marketing/Collaborations in Unlikely Places/Partners Creating Phenomenal Hybrids. From Designspotter and Globus by Michiel Van der Kley.

These are but a few of the macro trends I allude to during my strategy sessions or across the year in trend newsletters, reports and product development/programming strategy sessions.

Let me know if you have questions about how the above references might effect your planning for 08-2010, any initiatives that Trendbites publisher, the kimbro agency, may help you support in ‘08 and/or if you’d like to subscribe to any number of Trendbites’ sister, Trendcites (rhymes with bites!), publications.

We do trend newsletters, customized trend reports, product development strategizing and implementation, marketing consulting,
color palettes and by request only, show reports.

You can reach me by email at kim@trendcites.com.

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