Color Trends for Fall/Winter 2009

While the Chanel jade tone took the world by storm with its hopeful connotations, the overall color trends for Fall/Winter 2009 were more dismal, reflecting tough economic times. We saw less statement colors, and the move away from these tones "will help the clothes age at a slower rate and will help provide a safer purchase to allow a little more wear from your wardrobe during these times of economic instability." Gill Hart summarized these sophisticated and timeless hues presented by Pantone:

• American Beauty — this flattering true red is neither harsh nor over-the-top. Designed to suit all skintones, this warm but robust hue can be blended with almost any shade.
• Rapture Rose — represents all that is new and fresh about this fall’s designs. With nurturing and feminine tones, this color plays upon the vibrancy of last season’s fuschia but is toned down a little with soft pink. This key shade transcends clothing into cosmetics and accessories.
• Burnt Sienna — more a pinkish, earthy orange, reminiscent of Mediterranean terracotta roof tiles. Warm and comforting, probably the most-fall like of all the Panetone shades.
• Majolica Blue — adding an exotic feel to the color group this cross between teal blue and navy complements oranges and purple hues perfectly.
• Purple Heart — sitting somewhere between true purple and lilac, this refined tone is soft and sensual.
• Warm Olive — a rich yellowy green, reminiscent of an olive in a martini, which, according to Pantone's Fall 2009 report “makes all other colors come alive.”
• Honey Yellow — a warm and welcoming yellow with a hint of honeyed beige. A perfect partner to Burnt Sienna for a wintry feel.
• Crème Brûlée — needs no explanation for those who love its namesake, the delicious French desert. Providing one of fall’s classic neutrals, this paired down mix of gray and ivory beige looks good enough to eat!
• Nomad — another timeless neutral which falls between light gray and beige serves as an anchor for more robust colors
• Iron — represents the “new black” of the season. Neither a true gray nor brown it falls more in the category of a cross between slate and gunmetal. This serves as a grounding color for all other tones.

Sources: Pantone, Fashionising, Top 10 Fashion Colors for Fall Winter 2009/2010

The Masculine Trend

Above: Destructed boyfriend jeans from Gap

A strong trend we identified for this year for women was the masculine trend, with stores like Gap introducing "boyfriend" collections and the fall runway shows featuring masculine touches in the form of tweed fabrics, leather jackets, blazers, and studs. This trend includes slouchy cardigans, oversized T-shirts, blazers, military jackets, and cuffed jeans that could've been stolen from your boyfriend's closet. The look is comfortable and casual, but feminine details keep it from being frumpy. The following are examples seen on the fall 2009 runways and in mainstream retail store lookbooks:

Philip Lim

Vivienne Westwood

Lanvin

Forever 21 Fall 2009 lookbook

Urban Outfitters 2009 lookbook

Source: Tough Fashion Trends for Fall Winter 2009
Photo Source: Style.com, Gap.com, Forever21.com, Urbanoutfitters.com

The Jade Movement

There are many trends we wish to explore in the industry, but before giving a complete color trend report we would like to single out a certain shade that is omnipresent for this year’s fashions. Jade is one of fall’s most enviable shades and stones for the fall season, and everyone is racing to get their hands on everything this color (whether it be nail polish, jewelry, shoes, wallpaper, etc.).

Jade hues popped up in Chanel’s Ready-to-Wear Fall 2009-2010 collection in Paris both subtly (nail polish, rings, bag clasps, etc.) and boldly (see picture above), and the frenzy for green hues slowly began. A pale pink color dubbed “jade rose” also appeared in the collection, though it did not make quite as large of an impact as its sister color. Almost immediately after the fall show everyone was abuzz about getting their hands on the jade nail polish featured on the models (which is now in stores).

Chanel’s head designer and creative director Karl Lagerfeld stated that “Green is the color of hope.” Could the jade trend be a response to other patterns we’ve seen?

To see the complete Chanel Fall collection click here

Source: "The Green Movement," Vogue October 2009.

Picture source: Coutorture

Context Mosaic

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In Summary: Dominating and Hidden Factors--SOCIAL

In terms of social movements in the present, some DOMINATING FACTORS are:

-Public Education in the US is under scrutiny for allegedly falling behind the rest of the developed world academically, particularly in the important subject areas of math and science.

-Despite a slight drop in interest during the peak of the economic crisis, consumers are steadily returning to ideals of living in an environmentally responsible way.

-The great health care debate of 2009! The legislation that passes in relation to health care could dramatically change the American Landscape.

-The continued quest for marriage equality. 2009 brought us the trials and tribulations of Proposition 8 in California, the Miss California/Perez Hilton incident, and a handful of states passing equal marriage laws or bills that give more equal rights to same-sex couples involved in domestic partnerships. On a more personal level, there is a continually increasing rate of acceptance/tolerance of homosexuality/LGBT individuals by society at large.


...and some HIDDEN FACTORS are:

-Higher Education is less accessible with the recession going on; fewer can afford the cost of a four-year university. Many are opting to begin at community colleges (is it possible that the new TV show "Community" on NBC was born partially out of this trend? Perhaps!)

-Health care controversy and Obama's big spending/big government expansion have sparked something in many Americans who question the President's motives and actions. First, there were "tea parties" protesting overall tax increases, then we saw animated town hall meetings nationwide when congress came home for their August recess. On all sides of the issue, Americans haven't been as involved in the democratic process as they are right now in years. People are uncertain about a number of things, and they're waking up and asking questions; seeking reassurance.

-Many foreigners are returning to their homelands, where there are excellent job opportunities waiting for them. Known as"reverse immigration", and it will not only affect demographics, it could worsen the current economic issues.

Social and Cultural Factors Collide at HRC Dinner

Outspoken gay rights supporter Lady Gaga, one of 2008-2009's biggest and brightest pop musicians, performed a cover of John Lennon's classic ballad "Imagine" at this year's Human Rights Campaign Dinner. There has already been a post about the HRC Dinner and President Obama's encouraging speech, but we felt compelled to note Gaga's appearance/performance as an excellent example of meshing social and cultural trends.

In the post containing our large scale graph, we talk about increased celebrity involvement in the gay rights movement as a potential cause of charted trends. American fame culture and the kind of publicity that a figure like Lady Gaga garners are undoubtedly influential in shaping opinions of consumers, particularly in the younger demographics where the public has a more flexible world view.

Just some food for thought!

Cultural Context Thoughts

Perhaps the most difficult context to assess and keep up with, cultural trends can be dramatic changes that happen in a minuscule amount of time (that you have to be quick to notice), or subtle changes that happen gradually and can be easily overlooked. The following depicts what we feel are the top cultural trends and influences in the present that will continue to have an effect on the future. This information is not conclusive, but rather trends our research have led us to that we would like to follow more closely.

Dominating Factors:

* Celebrity style (i.e. Alexa Chung, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Nicole Richie, etc.)
* Changes in the music industry (i.e. who has the power--consumers over record companies)
* Movie trends (i.e. more hopeful outlook)
* Fashion week
* Immigration/globalization/blending of cultures
* Desire for instant gratification and convenience
* Rock overpowering R&B
* "Digitalization"

Hidden Factors:

* Changes in art
* TV style (i.e. Mad Men, Gossip Girl, etc.)
* First Lady style
* Celebrities over models on magazine covers and as face of clothing companies
* Growing celebrity involvement in social movements
* Charity clothing companies (i.e. RED, To Write Love on Her Arms, etc.)
* Fashion bloggers
* Rise of DIY and updating/re-constructing clothing
* Growing popularity of vintage clothing and thrift stores
*Gender blurring (i.e. Women might be let into Navy, songs like "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry, etc.)

At the end of 2008 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer predicted the top cultural trends to expect in 2009. Professional trendspotters forecasted many trends, here are a few we felt were the most important and in alignment with our research:

Trend: Detoxing
Spotters: Anna D'Agrosa and Paige Newman, the Zandl Group
Newman and D'Agrosa see an aversion to "toxic spending" -- living above one's means and buying things one doesn't really need or want.

"Lately, several people have even mentioned that the recession almost seems like a blessing because they are now forced to readjust their values and make different choices," said Newman.

Even those who are OK financially are choosing to place more value on substantive things and focus on personal relationships that are not based on buying.

Trend: Credit crunch couture/DIY and upcycling
Spotters: Jeremy Gutsche, chief trend hunter, TrendHunter.com; Rita Nakouzi, director, Promostyl, North America
Inexpensive designs are getting a lot more attention, says Gutsche.

Designers such as Vivienne Westwood, who made a splash in her spring/summer 2009 collection by emphasizing fashion statements that work on a limited budget, including necklaces made out of safety pins and shawls from tablecloths, are going in that direction.

The credit crunch also is also adding fuel to more folks doing it themselves, said Gutsche. A troubled job market and the need for extra cash will motivate hobbyists to transition their love for their craft into a cottage industry.

That dovetails with "upcycling," reusing an item so that it doesn't become waste. The term comes from "Cradle to Cradle" authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

"There would be no waste if we upcycle everything that we've used," Nakouzi said.

Last year, Etsy.com, a site where people buy and sell handmade things, challenged users to create an upcycled object to sell on the site, she said.

Nakouzi said to look for things like a chair cushion made out of old neckties, and more restaurants and hotels using reclaimed materials.

Trend: Distraction as entertainment
Spotter: Ann Mack, director of trendspotting, JWT
Content creators are layering a multitude of media into entertainment for simultaneous consumption and engagement, Mack said.

For example, "LittleBigPlanet" users are gamers, social networkers and content creators, "The Hills' " "Backchannel" social networking site is where fans can gather to talk about the show as its happening on TV, and author Stephenie Meyer has a playlist that readers can listen to while they're reading the "Twilight" series, she said.

"People are almost in an entertainment bubble of sorts," said Mack.

Trend: The Dowdy Look
Spotter: David Wolfe, trend forecaster, The Doneger Group
It's going to be trendy to dress dowdy, Wolfe said, with faded colors and melancholy looks providing almost a backlash to the flashy, celebrity driven, sexy style that has been dominant for the past decade, he said.

"In a funny way, I think it is a successor to grunge," he said. "I think it's going to be much more sophisticated and really kind of poetic and pretty."

That's not to say people are going to shop at Goodwill and thrift shops. People will go to high-priced designers to look like they're not spending a lot of money, he said.

But looking lavish will seem emotionally wrong, he said.

Trend: Let the Good Times Roll
Spotter: The Trends Research Institute's Top Trends of 2009
During the Great Depression, arts and entertainment flourished, according to founder and director Gerald Celente.

When times are down, people want to lift their spirits, said Celente, adding that Americans have been working more and playing less.

He predicts that while angry music will be part of the new tunes, there will be a reincarnation of upbeat and swinging sounds. There also will be more dance halls, particularly for the young, single, under-40, cabin-feverish crowd.

"The last thing they are going to do is cocooning," he said. "They're going to want to go out and play and laugh it up and dance like they did during the Great Depression."

Source: New trends spotted on the horizon

Trend Hunter posted an interesting video at the end of 2008 on what their research showed as the top 20 cultural trends to watch in 2009:

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

Source: Trend Hunter

President Obama Shows Support For Equal Rights

Last Night, President Barack Obama spoke at the 13th annual Human Rights Campaign dinner. The HRC is the United States' largest and most well-known LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) advocacy group. The campaign was founded in 1980, and it seeks to achieve equality for and diminish discrimination against the LGBT community in America. In response to Obama's speech, HRC President Joe Solmonese had this to say:

“Tonight, President Obama told LGBT Americans that his commitment to ending discrimination in the military, in the workplace and for loving couples and their families is ‘unwavering.’ He made it crystal clear that he is our strongest ally in this fight, that he understands and, in fact, encourages our activism and our voice even when we’re impatient with the pace of change. But these remarks weren’t just for us, they were directed to all Americans who share his dream and ours of a country where “no one is denied their basic rights, in which all of us are free to live and love as we see fit.”

“And we heard unequivocally about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: ‘I am working with the Pentagon, its leadership and members of the House and Senate to end this policy. I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That is my commitment to you.’

“Finally, we heard something quite remarkable from the President: ‘You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.’

“This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States. It’s simply unprecedented.”

In recent months, gay rights and the issue of marriage equality have taken a back seat to solving the global economic crisis. While this is understandable, the LGBT community has recently been questioning the solvency of Obama's commitment to create a more equal and tolerant America. Their frustrations are mapped out in this article from Advocate magazine. However, Obama's speech seems to have inspired some hope for greater change in the near future. You can watch the full speech below:

Michelle Obama - Trendsetter

Not since Jackie Kennedy has there been so much buzz about the style of the First Lady. Michelle Obama has become a major trendsetter, influencing design trends and spurring much curiosity and discussion before major events about what she will be wearing. Designers strive to outfit her, people of all ages want to be like her, and we believe her influence will continue to be felt in the remaining months of 2009 and beyond. Here's some snippets of recent articles on the First Lady's iconic style:

• When it comes to spring fashion, First Lady Michelle Obama is all the stimulus necessary to sell the classic looks of pleated skirts, bold prints and belted waistlines.

• "Her fashion mantra is one that reflects the economic times and the everyday woman: "First and foremost, I wear what I love," she said in the March issue of Vogue. "That's what women have to focus on: what makes them happy and what makes them feel comfortable and beautiful. If I can have any impact, I want women to feel good about themselves and have fun with fashion."

• Color offers a moment of release from the doom and gloom of the economy. "Spring fashion is all about having fun with your personal style," said T.J. Maxx's style expert Sonya Cosentini. And that's something Michelle Obama would consider a primary plank of her fashion platform.
  

• With fashion blogs dedicated to who and what she wears, whether she's planting the White House vegetable garden or meeting Queen Elizabeth, Obama definitely wears the clothes and not the other way around.

• And now, young girls and women alike have the positive fashion influence of our present First Lady, Michelle Obama. Wherever she goes, her fashion style is in the news. US News & World Report posted an article about her simple and elegant style of wearing a J. Crew cardigan and pencil skirt. Don’t forget the fashion influence she has had by wearing simple, classic sleeveless dresses, too. Now many of us are diligently toning our upper arms!

• In spite of the recession, as stated in Time Magazine, Michelle Obama has had a huge influence on the retail fashion industry. If she wears it, it becomes a fashion trend ”must have”.

Article sources:
Michelle Obama's Influence felt in Spring Style '09
Michelle Obama, Fashion Trend Setter

Photo sources: MTV

TV Style Influence

TV shows have really been stepping up in terms of styling, with shows such as Gossip Girl, Sex and the City, and Mad Men featuring flawless style that is being imitated by designers and consumers alike. Here's some key points from recent article in USA Today that assessed the success of Mad Men in today's culture:

• Its audience is considered modest even by cable's lesser standards (averaging 1.5 million viewers). But the story of the turmoil behind the work and family lives at a New York ad agency is extending its influence over fashion, design and even libations, with leading man Don Draper (Jon Hamm) raising the status of the Old Fashioned. (That's bourbon, bitters, sugar and soda water, with a twist, on the rocks.)

• "I do think that culturally, if not ratings-wise, our show has a pretty significant footprint," says Hamm, whose sharply dressed Draper has become iconic in his own right.

• Promotional tie-ins include one with Clorox for the Season 2 DVD and another for Season 3 that features Mad Men at more than 400 Banana Republic stores (Mad About Style!). Heavy response to a contest that offered a walk-on cameo jammed the network website's servers this week..
  

• "It has such a specific style, that it's easy to do this parody and that parody," says Elisabeth Moss, who plays young copywriter Peggy Olson. "I think at first people were fascinated by the style and the '60s and the costumes and the smoking and drinking. If it were only that, it would have failed very quickly. There's so much more underneath. That's why it survived."

• Media and fashion tastemakers have been drawn to the style and themes of the show, says Robert Morse (Bert Cooper), who won a Tony in 1962 portraying a young ad man in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. "A television show with this reach to people who are in creative work for all the magazines, they are astute enough to say, 'We've got to bring back the fashions of Mad Men,' " Morse says. Designer Michael Kors says on his website that his 2008 collection was partly inspired by the series.

• "It's more a cultural than a commercial hit, yet it clearly outperforms a standard movie AMC would put in its time slot," says John Rash, senior vice president at the Campbell Mithun advertising agency.

• "It's a story about the American Dream."

The prestigious New York Times even recognized the power of Gossip Girl on what consumers are buying:

• It has presented a cavalcade of fashion, its primary viewership of teenagers and young women tuning in not only for the plots, but also to render judgment on the clothes. The extravagant wardrobes of the stars — a clash of piped blazers, tiny kilts, dueling plaids and festoons of jewelry — have inspired countless posts on fan Web sites, and magazine features about the female leads.

• Now the show’s sense of style is having a broader impact, in the retail marketplace. Merchants, designers and trend consultants say that “Gossip Girl,” which is in summer reruns on the CW network before returning Sept. 1, just in time for back-to-school shopping, is one of the biggest influences on how young women spend.

• “The show has had a profound influence on retail,” said Stephanie Solomon, the fashion director for Bloomingdale’s, adding that it appeals not just to teenagers but also to women in their 20s, the daughters and the younger sisters of the generation that made “Sex and the City” requisite viewing for aspiring glamoristas.

• ...in stylistic terms it “may well be the biggest influence in the youth culture market,” said Stephanie Meyerson, a trend spotter for Stylesight, a trend forecasting company. The show has given an unexpected mass appeal to patrician staples like crested blazers, layered polo shirts and kilts. When cooler days approach this fall, some retailers are predicting a run on argyle sweaters, knee socks and high boots.

• Now some fall designer collections will also bear a “Gossip Girl” influence, a trend first seen in February on the New York runways, when the series ignited “a pretty huge resurgence of ritzy, preppy and collegiate looks,” said Amy Astley, the editor of Teen Vogue, citing punky school-girl styles from Marc by Marc Jacobs and Henry Holland, and crested blazers at Ruffian, among others.
  

Article Sources: Distinctive 'Mad Men' reaches out to today's style, culture

Forget Gossip, Girl; the Buzz Is About the Clothes

Photo Sources: Tango Diva
Boston.com

The Power of Fashion Bloggers

Ceri Heathcote assessed the influence of fashion bloggers on industry trends in an article for Helium, and we have developed our own conclusions from reading well-known fashion blogs with large followings. Heathcote's thoughts on blogging:

The influence of fashion blogs on trends and fashion by Ceri Heathcote

Fashion Blogging is rapidly increasing in popularity, with new fashion blogs springing up everywhere and the number of people turning to fashion blogs as a source of information or inspiration for style and trends growing. But how much influence does fashion blogging have on trends and fashions and why is blogging becoming the latest media for fashion?

Fashion blogs are about fashion, clothing and accessories and also include runway trends, celebrity fashion and street style. Fashion blogs have been reported in the US as early as 2002 (Sinclair, Jenny. Fashion blogs, "The Age", October 17, 2002.) and have been increasing in numbers since, In 2003 The Wall Street Journal reported of 40 bloggers being given invites to New York fashion week (Dodes, Rachel. "Bloggers get under the tent", The Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2006). Today blogging has become a very significant media for the fashion press with independent fashion bloggers and funded fashion blog networks competing for dominance in the blogosphere.

The significance of fashion blogging in influencing trends and fashions is evident in the increasing number of companies looking to promote their clothing through fashion blogs and fashion blogging and the money associated with fashion blogs. Fashion Bloggers report increasing profits with Manolo's shoe blog reportedly making a six figure sum and the bag snob generating a five figure sum. The emergence of fashion blog networks such as Coutorture Media and Sugar Publishing Inc have attracted large amounts of investment into the fashion blogosphere. The significance of fashion blogs is also evident in the number of commercial organisations chosing to set up their own fashion blogs such as the Telegraph. In December 2006 , fashion blogs were recognised by Vogue in an article about their significance . In Jan 07, the Daily Mail published an article on the fashion blog stars advising readers to "Forget waiting for the monthly glossies, the sharpest fashion advice is now online".

Perhaps the popularity of fashion blogs is because they are written or perceived to be written by a real person and not a marketing professional. They give individuals honest opinions of trends and fashions and in most cases are not influenced or paid directly for endorsing products although most generate revenue from advertising. This gives fashion blogs a very realistic approach to fashion, more so than many of those working in fashion and fashion marketing. Fashion blogs are often scathing about a new designers collection and so can diffuse much of the hype created around fashions and trends by marketing professionals. They can also popularise and create crazes for products, which have little or no marketing budgets. Probably the most important factor in attracting so many readers to fashion blogs is the enthusiasm and love of the bloggers for the subject on which they are blogging. Most fashion blogs are started as a hobby and an outlet for individuals with a love of fashion and clothes. The individual styles of writing often make the blogs an interesting and sometimes very funny read. Blogs do not have to conform to a particular style of writing and so are usually much more informal in tone making it easier for the reader to relate to them.

The nature of blogging means that they are a quicker and more interactive form of communication than traditional glossy magazines, reviews of collections and runway shows can be instantly posted giving readers instant previews for the next seasons trends.

So what about the future of blogging? As Designerhighstreet prepares to launch its very own blog, fashion blogs are fast becoming the preferred source of information and inspiration for fashion consumers in the know.

Source: http://www.helium.com/items/678939-the-influence-of-fashion-blogs-on-trends-and-fashion

We would like to take this research a step further into the influence fashion blogs have on what consumers are buying. In a time where most customers have to be choosy with their disposable income, fashion blogs are bringing back the trend of perusing thrift stores and wearing vintage pieces in updated ways. Kelly of The Glamourai often mixes high end pieces with re-constructed thrift store finds with effortless style, making her iconic to fashion blog readers across the globe. Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes has reached celebrity status through her quirky, high fashion style. The 17-year old Texan has been invited to the Crillon Ball (thanks to a referral from the iconic Vogue magazine) in Paris in November, having been recently fitted by Chanel Haute Couture for the event. Her influence was recently recognized by Urban Outfitters, who invited Jane to design a small collection of shoes for their stores. The shoes were an enormous success thanks to her large global readership of her blog. Our research shows us the trust readers have in their favorite fashion bloggers. Many online companies are cashing in on this by sponsoring popular blogs. Jessica Schroeder of What I Wore features clothing from one of her biggest sponsors, ModCloth, on a very regular basis. Nearly every time she features a specific item (whether it be a dress, a pair of shoes, a necklace, etc.) it sells out within a few days from Modcloth.com. Blogs such as Kansas Couture and Painfully Hip focus on the style possibilities found in thrift stores, featuring surprising items like $1 Salvation Army blazers meant for little boy's worn in updated, trendy ways. Street style and fashion blogs are revolutionizing the fashion industry, and the companies that are having the most success in our current economy are the ones that recognize this influence.

Sources: http://theglamourai.blogspot.com/, seaofshoes.com, http://whatiwore.tumblr.com/, modcloth.com, http://www.kansascouture.com/, http://www.painfullyhip.com

Movie Trends for 2009

At the beginning of this year Khara House explored the expected movie trends for 2009 and it appears as though her predictions have been coming true thus far. As the year comes to a close we are continuing to see the accuracy in her predictions, with remakes such as Fame and cartoon and comic based movies that had been hyped for a long time in advance of their release (i.e. Watchmen and G.I. Joe). House listed 6 specific trends expected for Hollywood blockbusters, click the link at the bottom of this post for her full account of each trend.

1. More sequels

2. More cartoon, comic, and literary works brought to life in film

3. Less Present-Day Films--more period films and futuristic films

4. More remakes

5. Hope--less bleak representations of societies and relationships, films featuring brighter outlooks on life, etc.

6. Less war movies

Article source: A Look at Top Trends for Hollywood Blockbusters
Photo Source: Pjlighthouse.com

A New Take on Art Experience

In this article from Frieze magazine Ronald Jones explores new trends in art and the growing value of experience over commodities.

Are You Experienced? : How designers are adopting the strategies of Conceptual art by Ronald Jones

In 1981 the art critic Robert Pincus-Witten differentiated for the first time between two kinds of conceptual art: between what he called ontological Conceptualism and epistemological Conceptualism. Acknowledging the distinction between these two fundamental methodologies alters what one sees in the rear-view mirror, but it also opens up the opportunity to look forward, towards the emergence of a new discipline called ‘experience design.’

‘Being an artist now means to question the nature of art’, Joseph Kosuth wrote in 1968, before declaring: ‘If you make paintings, you are already accepting (not questioning) the nature of art.’ Ontological Conceptualism, advanced by Kosuth and a few others, was the frontal assault that utterly changed how art could be said to exist. Today, when you eat Thai curry (Rirkrit Tiravanija) or walk through a garden of black flowers (Jenny Holzer), you understand that the identity of artists has become inseparable from questioning their practice; ontological Conceptualism has become so totally invasive that it is no longer possible to speak about it in terms of influence.

The competing methodology epistemological Conceptualism, Pincus-Witten characterized as making or doing ‘things for the kinds of information, knowledge or data which things or activities reveal’, and with this distinction he laid emphasis on the experience of knowledge production rather than its ontological end. Its masterpiece is Lawrence Weiner’s Declaration of Intent (1968), the systemic account of the terms for experiencing Conceptual art. Weiner and artists such as Hans Haacke (Rhinewater Purification Plant, 1972) created systems of experience, as Jack Burnham believed, for what they revealed about art, sustainability, politics and a myriad of other interrelated themes. Simon Starling and Mark Dion are among their heirs and more recently, epistemological Conceptualism has been adapted to educational collectives such as Anton Vidokle’s unitednationsplaza. Nevertheless, the potential of this methodology to design experiences in order to project power and influence has been consistently underappreciated by artists, especially when compared with contemporary designers who co-opted epistemological Conceptualism as a platform for designing the experiences of knowledge production, reception and comprehension across disciplines—often furthers from their own—affording them an expanding sphere of influence.

Prioritizing the value of experience is hardly exclusive to art and design. In 1998 B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore forecast that the emerging value of experiences over commodities would progressively undermine the goods and services economy. In their Harvard Business Review article ‘Welcome to the Experience Economy’ Pine and Gilmore used the simple birthday cake by way of an explanation. In the agrarian economy cakes were made from scratch, using milk, eggs, flour and sugar (farm commodities). With the emergence of the goods economy, cake mixes, although more expensive, became popular, and as time itself became an increasingly valuable commodity within the services economy, bakeries flourished. ‘Now, in the time-starved 1990s,’ they wrote, ‘parents neither make the birthday cake nor even throw the party. Instead, they spend $100 or more to “outsource” the entire event to Chuck E. Cheese’s […] or some other business that stages a memorable event for the kids—and often throws in the cake for free.’ Pine and Gilmore describe how experiences are being commercialized in the entertainment, airline and sports industries, where business had gone beyond a ‘commodity-mind-set’ in order, as former British Airways chairman Sir Colin Marshall remarked, to ‘compete on the basis of providing an experience’. With confidence they describe a future for experience design where it will become ‘as much a business art as product design and process design are today’. That’s not quite true yet, but it’s becoming so; its emergence will quicken as China and India begin acting on the obvious, giving design away for free because their economic advantage is with mass-manufacturing, not designing prototypes for mobile phones. China and India’s efficiency at mass-producing physical commodities frees up small but growing sectors of the Western design community to create and distribute intangible commodities, including experiences.

Designers such as Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram understand the potential for prioritizing the design of experience over things. Kram describes a research strategy reliant on modular, highly co-ordinated and interdisciplinary systems for knowledge production that trigger fabrication only if that’s the objective. ‘In China they use a Fordian system of manufacturing: mass production, chain-line, costs reduction,’ he said. ‘The only way for Europe to compete with this is to control, manipulate and re-invent processes based on networks of flexible partners and the latest technologies. Each work necessitates the design of a new logic.’ In effect Weisshaar and Kram produce systems for experiencing design, just as Weiner produced the system for experiencing Conceptual art; either can be physically realized or remain as an idea, but in both instances the intangible experience is always primary. When it becomes applied epistemology, it creates subtle psychological relationships between people and objects that evolve over time as experience. The customization of epistemological Conceptualism represents the most significant paradigm shift in living memory, as design professions migrate from myopic design assignments—design me a toaster—towards conceiving the intangible commodities that feed the experience economy—design me a system. Ways to describe this nascent paradigm vary—Banny Banerjee at Stanford Institute of Design talks about ‘design thinking’; at the Experience Design Group in Stockholm, Rolf Hughes and I consider it as a trans-disciplinary form of ‘disruptive innovation’—but held in common is the belief that designers should be critical thinkers and strategists first, capable of addressing cross-disciplinary problems by designing the social, political, economic and educational ‘systems’ that give them greater reach, responsibility, influence and relevance. It is reasonable to conclude that the Conceptual artists whose work first embodied ontological and epistemological methodologies were engaged in the rarest research of all, known as fundamental research. Perhaps this is an accolade deserved by the designers who carried over those methods into an ‘economy of borrowed ideas’, without regard to whether or not the knowledge discovered would be of direct practical use.

Source: Frieze magazine. Issue 120, January-February 2009.