Prints Key in Fields' Forecast
Fashion is known to be fickle, but Barbara Fields of the Barbara Fields Buying Office forecasted a big change for denim at her “Spring 2011 Fashion Trend Presentation.” The series of seminars was held the week of Oct. 4 during the Los Angeles Majors Market at the California Market Center.
For the first time in recent memory, denim did not dominate her seminars. “There’s been a slowdown in denim,” Fields said. “Only basic [jeans styles] are selling now.”
Last April, Fields advised retailers to rely heavily on jeans. “The rent payer of the season is denim,” she said during her seminar for Fall 2010 juniors styles.
One buyer attending the forecast said Fields’ assessment of denim was right. Megan O’Toole, juniors buyer for Gabriel Brothers Inc. of Morgantown, W. Va., said consumers bought every new style of denim in the past 10 years. “But there’s no newness now. There’s no reason to buy,” she said.
But don’t count denim out, Fields said. “It’s not so much about washes now; it’s about leg openings,” she said, adding that skinny fits, boot cuts, flares and super flares would sell well in Spring 2011.
The big star of the next season will be prints, Fields said. Expect to see floral prints, paisley prints and animal prints. “The controversial print is animal,” Fields said. “People ask if it is still relevant, and the answer is yes. I saw it in Berlin.”
Fields frequently flies to fashion capitals across the world to scout trends. She produces forecast seminars every majors market. More than 400 executives and buyers from retailers such as CitiTrends, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Burlington Coat Factory and Sears took in the seminars to get a first look at Spring 2011.
Other important looks for Spring 2011 will be lace and crochet styles as well as military looks and activewear.—Andrew Asch
