Trend Forecasting for Spring 2012: Simple Lines and Lots of Color

While you might just be getting around to thinking about adding some fresh pieces to your wardrobe for spring, trend forecasters are already trying to figure out what you will want to wear over a year from now come spring 2012.

David Wolfe, Creative Director of the Doneger Group, presented his thoughts to a room full of retailers in midtown Manhattan this week, proclaiming that spring 2012 would usher in a “clean-up campaign and an era of bold simple clothes.” Say goodbye to overworked punk looks from the likes of Balmain and hello to a time when Phoebe Philo for Celine's brand of minimalism fully dominates the fashion scene.
 
As to what this cleanse will look like? “People will stop wearing black, and wear white,” Wolfe said. “Learn to embrace color. There was a color comeback on certain spring 2011 runways but most retailers weren’t brave enough to buy it,” he said. “And think about clothes with cleans lines, no design details and shapes that ease away from the body.” 
 
Wolfe also attests that 2012 will be the year that fashion learns to embrace technology and science. “We are living in a different world and fashion has been slow to adjust,” he said. “Fashion has just been moseying along season after season. It's just not as exciting as whatever new electronic device is being produced.” He pointed to projects like fragrance infused fashions, spray on clothing created by Manuel Torres for his company Fabrican and Orange Power Wellies (rubber boots which convert heat into current and can charge your cell phone while you walk) as noteworthy influencers of the new wave.
 
Wolfe’s last piece of advice to the crowd: “There are seven billion people now, and not many of these people are walking around naked. They just need to be excited to shop.” As to what clothes people will actually embrace a year from now, only time will tell. 
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