end of trends?

In NYC I hear a lot about the death of trends. Is it true? Are there no more styles to be pinned down which will be guaranteed to be worn by most?

Well, I think that by the way people have access to the Internet, which allows them to either offer their own ware (which adds to the variety and confusion of what will be next) or have the style world of the whole world at their fingertips, therefore forecasting a trend is definitely more challenging now. Not that it has ever been easy for a purchasing fashion professional to know what to buy that will sell next season, but these days this task has become a nightmare, as I am told by my colleagues in the industry!

So, yeah maybe in that sense we have reached the end of trends as we know it. But that is a good thing for the world. NOT for the forecasters and NOT for the buyers, but for us the creative and the educated consumers. We have tolerated long enough the degrading world wide marketing of our home grown street trends! We have been so bored by finding our looks on the ad pages of the glossy magazines, now sold for money we could not ever spend! Death to trends that's right, I love it! Let the people that never had personal style shiver, not knowing what exactly to wear right now, let them be out of the loop! Force them to be the style-less creatures that they really are! Hah! The end of the so called "stylish" mass look!

But this "stylish" mass look has not reached every corner of the world, stop gasping! I was surprised to witness that almost no American trend has reached the South of Sicily, where I spent my Summer vacation (despite the immense down slide of the US$ against the Euro). There, the most fashionable accessory for a girl is still the good old Vespa motorcycle and yes, the tight jeans have made it there... which don't make any sense as the temperatures are always way above 90 Fahrenheit and it's a mystery to me how they survive a day or even a night in skinnies.

girls on vespa motorcycles in modica, sicily.

...me acting as if italian...

But none of the 80's craze of the streets of NYC. Color? Yes, but only as a accent. Flats? Yes, but none of the American Apparel leggings. How refreshing!

soft ice machine at the mccafe in catania, sicily - not in use very often because everyone knows: italian ice cream is so much better!

I was also pleased to see that the McDonald's actually was a coffee shop (McCafe) at the entrance - a la Starbucks - heck yeah! I mean we are, after all, in Italy, the capital of the espresso and the cappuccino. Only after passing the cafe, you enter the burger hall, as we know it in the rest of the world, except that it was equipped with fake statues of Italian gods to diminish the harsh contrast of European history and American culture.

me at the mcdonalds in catania, Sicily, note the statues of gods to the left and right and above. (i did not eat there!)

mcdonalds logo in sicily.

I will tell you guys more about this very special place Sicily, but first let me tell you - tomorrow! - a bit about what I've seen on the streets of NYC, weather these are going to be worldwide trends for Spring Summer 2009? Careful! None of these styles may actually be worn next Spring or at least not in this context, but they are certainly worn on the NYC streets right now.

all photos courtesy of carl posey.