Spring / Summer 2025 Fashion, Colour & Textiles
presented live online by Lidewij Edelkoort
Thursday, November 2, 2023
9:30 — 11:30 AM (New time - West Coast)
12:30 PM — 2:30 PM (New Time - New York)
17:30 — 19:30 (Paris)
Program
times are New York EST
12:30 PM CANDY CULTURE — S/S 2025 Audiovisual
12:45 PM CANDY CULTURE — S/S 2025 Colour
1:30 PM INSOUCIANCE: THE CHILD IN US — S/S 2025 Fashion, Textiles & Colour
2:15 PM Q&A discussion & brainstorming with Li
2:30 PM Approximate end
Tickets
$320 General Admission
$220 Current Trend Union subscribers
Purchased tickets receive a miniature trend booklet, please enter your postal address at check-out
INSOUCIANCE: THE CHILD IN US
Spring / Summer 2025 Fashion, Textiles & Colour
Recently, details from children’s clothes have slowly penetrated the fashion sphere, introducing ballooning sleeves, baby doll dresses, baby boy shorts and bobby socks, with baby Mary Janes to boot. This search for the naïve and the childish marks the beginning of a much broader quest for innocence, happiness and joy. Threatened by the extinction of our species (through the climate crisis and / or bots taking control) people are faced with doom and decide to sidestep our depressing times by lifting their spirits, travelling back to their childhood to recall the insouciance of being a kid. The child in us can become a powerful psychological tool; for example, when we write or draw with our wrong hand, we can become a toddler again and mentally incarnate childhood. Such liberating exercises help us reassess who we truly are and bring back a certain feeling of lightness; we feel content to be alive, curious about tomorrow. Healing major trauma and solving mysterious issues that lay dormant in our psyche and body. Brightening our days. — L.E.
CANDY CULTURE
Sweet Spring / Sweet Summer 2025 Colour
In an unexpected mood that transports us back to insouciant days to get in touch with our inner child, we suddenly crave candy for a sweet spring and an even sweeter summer. Moments of oomph in a world of anguish, fencing off the fear we have of war, climate abuse and the encroaching loss of self, when the bots take over. Design and fashion turn to fantasy and narration in order to cope, and scenarios from our infancy seem to strike a powerful chord. The need for the naïve and the mawkish quest for the colourful suggest a range of myriad hues from the palest gooey pastels to sugared florals via the tang of hard candy, while gummy bears are proud of their transparent gloopy character. The tints work together in squeaky harmonies just as all-sorts play the game and perfectly associate themselves with graphic black and white. Only some candy has the gift for providing essential neutrals, as found in liquorice and nougat, both responsible for elegant summer clothes that celebrate the comeback of formal fashion. Even more chic and stylish are the darkest ranges of réglisse black and chocolate brown, chosen for their presence in immense renderings of the spring suit and the summer dress. Adorable shoes are part of this candy craze and continue a discourse of blown-up proportions and viscous materials, giving the silhouettes a distinct Minnie Mouse allure. — L.E.
Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she founded the World Hope Forum as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. She is also on the Creative Council for all of Gap Inc.’s fashion brands, advising the group on creative innovation and sustainable practice. In 2022, Edelkoort collaborated with Polimoda in Florence to establish an innovative new textile masters called From Farm to Fabric to Fashion.
@lidewijedelkoort @worldhopeforum @newyorktextilemonth @edelkoort.editions