Think again if you think professional forecasters rely on a wetted finger in fashion’s wind to predict coming trends. Award-winning expert Patti Carpenter, principal of carpenter + company, has factored everything from global warming to the technology takeover into the 2017 trends forecasts she’ll be sharing at The SURTEX Trend Theatre next week.
Patti reports that the global warming affecting our planet is also changing the palette for Autumn-Winter 2017.
Warm yellows, ochre, warm reds and browns will move in as the color gray becomes a standard,” she says.
Meanwhile, the technology overload will create a hunger for vigorous textures:
“After spending so much time on their devices, people will be tired of slick, flat surfaces,” Patti believes. Eager for textural experiences, consumers will be open to hands-on shopping again. “Texture is one of the ways brick-and-mortar retailing will save itself. Retailers can call us back into the stores…to become engaged with materials, to lose our fingers in textures like big, chunky stitches, jacquards, and laces.”
The return to tactile sensations will also create a craving for what Patti calls “true craftsmanship. We will move from DIY to intricate, complex treatments that require real skill, like marquetry, stained glass, and stone carvings,” she predicts.
A well-regarded creative director, Patti has developed private label collections for such boldface fashion leaders as Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, and Ralph Lauren. She is currently a Global Trend Ambassador for the Americas Mart in Atlanta, and the face of Color + Trend for Maison&Objet in America. Her forecast is one of nine, 30-minute presentations that will offered free of charge on the SURTEX show floor.