Cars and Clothing: Understanding Fashion Trends
William H. Reynolds
Journal of Marketing
Vol. 32, No. 3 (Jul., 1968), pp. 44-49
Published by: American Marketing Association
The Detection or Fashion Trends
Contrary to what one might think, it is extraordinarily easy to detect fashion trends. For instance. in recent years it has been obvious to everyone, even to junior high school girls no more than 13 years old, that skirts were becoming shorter. Detecting the existence of this trends required no more than an intuitive plotting of points on a line. Only a few points were neceeearv to plot a line showing the direction of the fashion trend.Sometimes, of course, difficulties can be encountered in plotting fashion trend lines. what kinds of measures, for Instance, should be used in sketching the trend toward the increasing use of pop and op (and psychedelic) nrt in advertising? One answer would he to count inches of print advertising using these vlsua! devices. trow many ads in the current issue of a populnr magazine show t.he influence of pop art? How many in the previous issue'!One reason why this works is that fashion is necessarily pubf.ie.A secret fashion is a contradiction in terms. A designer hoping to sbut a new fashion may, of course, try to keep his designs under cover until they are launched. This is a r-isky practice, however, since a new fashion usually requires some kind of. CQn certed eff'ort from a number of designers. The midiskirt-whieh reaches midway between the knee and ankle--wHl not catch on until several firms have taken up the idea. Finns in fashion in dustries thus (a) try to find out what their competltors are doing and (b) sometimes deliberately "leak" information 011 their Own plans in the hope that competitors will follow them. It is n rare fashion which is a surprise to the people in II. certain field. (Page 44)
