The Adnostic

A friend invited me to help out at a TrendUnion presentation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown LA last week. All I had to do was watch their merchandise in between the presentations and I could listen and take notes for free. Not a bad deal.

Even though the presentation was primarily fashion oriented, I was able to walk away with a few interesting notes on cultural trends in general:

- We've had 20 years of fear and now its time for 20 years of optimism.
-- Times may be tough, but we have our heads and our hands and we're going to be okay.
-- Even through all the doom and gloom fashion is showing intense creativity and bold colors.

- Spring/Summer 2008 - We were tired of black and white and it was time for shades of gray. Same held true for politics. We were tired of the polarization and ready for the middle of the road.
- Fall/Winter 2009 - Fear came back with the recession. We started to cover more and wear more layers. We started to reconsider bartering as opposed to credit.
- Spring/Summer 2009 - We'll be getting back to basics. Unplugging, folklore, country music. We're going to see a lot more home manufacturing and craft. Let's sacrifice, get back to work and do it ourselves.
- Fall/Winter 2009 - We will find ourselves rejecting reality and indulging fantasy.
- Spring/Summer 2010 - Will be all about the imagination. We will be confused and needing to focus back in on ourselves and be creative. There will be less focus on our identities, how the world sees us.

The presentation was very interesting and very well executed. It still seems odd to me that statements can be so definitive and vague at the same time.

Thanks Wendy!