Trend Forecasters Scout for New Fashion Destinations

Trend forecaster Barbara Fields said she is looking for new fashion cities after 25 years of reporting juniorwear trends to America’s top retailers such as The Wet Seal, Saks and JC Penney.

Since December, Fields has expanded her research trips beyond traditional fashion destinations such as London, Paris and Tokyo. She’ll travel to Seoul, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Antwerp to scout new trends. While the Los Angeles–based Barbara Fields Buying Office will continue to visit London, Paris and Tokyo, scouting other cities has become crucial, she said.

Tokyo has consistently been on the mark for inspiring juniorwear trends that have recently proven to be popular in the United States, Fields said. That has not been the case, however, in London and Paris.

She said that no global juniorwear trends blossomed from London in the last year. Paris stumbled, too, because Parisians championed the prairie skirt and embellished sequins, which did not sell well in America in 2005. It was one of the few times that Paris has been wrong for juniorwear fashions, Fields said.

Other trend forecasters also have been widening their view.

New York–based The Doneger Group created a full-time European fashion analyst position in August. The analyst will scout Barcelona, Amsterdam, Italy and other European locales in addition to such time-tested fashion spots as London and Paris, said Janine Blain, Doneger’s West Coast director.

But she warned not to count out the French capital.

“We’re hearing a lot of buzz with young designers coming out of Paris,” Blain said.

Influential fashion designers should sprout from China, considering the country’s burgeoning economy is creating a demand for luxury, she added.

Meanwhile, Asian cities, particularly Osaka and Tokyo, have been highly influential with juniorwear fashions, according to Fields. Miniskirts, shirtdresses and trench coats have dominated the looks on the streets of Tokyo, Osaka and Seoul.

While American trend forecasters scour overseas for new looks, their foreign counterparts are scouting the United States for upcoming styles.

The California look is reportedly raising eyebrows in Paris. In the past year, influential Paris retailer Galeries Lafayette has debuted temporary mini-boutiques for California retailers such as Kitson. —Andrew Asch