Trend Style Shopping (Paris)

06/14/2011. Nelly Rodi

06/15/2011. Trend Union.

06/17/2011. Promostyl

Among these three trend forecasting agents, Nelly Rodi was my favorite, while promostyl was the least favorite. I really appreciated the way the lady in Nelly Rodi explained the trend to us. I liked the way she explained why they chose the inspiration pictures and how they interpreted into a trend. It really helped me understand how it works. Instead of viewing a video and several forecasting books, she showed us the brainstorming process of forecasting trend. Also, she used one of French brands Celio as an example to show us how their clients took their idea and how they interpreted the trend into their new collections. It also answered the question in my mind for a long time that why so many fashion brands have similar trends, inspirations, and styles in new collections.

Compare to Nelly Rodi, Trend Union showed us a video about the trends in two years. I really liked their professional video, in which the music, the pictures, and texts were very attractive and interesting. Although no one explained to us anything from it, I enjoyed it so much since sometimes I do need some of my own space to think and understand. Sanctuary, Eco, Re-luxury, and Stream are my favorite trends, which inspired me when I viewing them from their video. I wished I could have time to sketch...

Promostyl was a little bit disappointing. I went to their lecture at FIT last year, which was my first time for a trend forecasting. Compare to that, this visit was too simple and short. Maybe it was because the way they presented. Instead of introducing trends, they explained more about Promostyl itself and how the trend forecasting works in the industry. Some students in this group were very interested in working in this kind of trend forecasting agents. However, it has never been one my options. Being a designer is the only goal so far.


Speak of French style, here are two typical french women from Lesage Embroidery and Nelly Rodi. If you ask me to use one word to describe the so-called 'French style', I will say simple. If you ask me what item is a must-have in french style, I will tell you to buy a simple but elegant trench coat or a jacket. Simple but elegant + jacket + skinny + smoking = french women = Coco Chanel?!

Lady from Lesage: Black knit top, black skinny jeans, beige and black trench coat, Chanel 2.55 bag.

Lady from Nelly Rodi: White oversized shirt, black mini skirt with decorated zipper in center front, black leggings, black wedges.

Here are some pictures I took from both Lafayette and Printemps in Paris.

Shopping tips:
1. Good shopping areas in Paris:
    Le Marais. Take metro 1 train to St. Paul.
    St- Germain des- Pres. Metro 4 to St- Germain des- Pres or 10 train to Odeon.
    Rue de Rivoli. Metro 1 to Tuileries.
    Place de la Madelaine + Place Vendome. Metro 1 to Concorde and walk around.
    Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Metro 9 to St- Philippe du- Roule.
2. Good shops:
    Department store: Galeries Lafayette. Metro 9 to Chaussee d' Antin Lafayette.
                      Printemps. Walking distance from Lafayette.
                      Le Bon Marche. Metro 10 to Sevres- Babylone.
    Local shops: Chercheminippes. 102 rue du cherche-midi.
                 Colette. 213 rue saint-honore
                 Zadig & Voltaire
                 Ted Baker
                 Carven
                 American Retro