Balenciaga Hoodie is luxgure fashion Brand

As a fashion college student, you know better than nearly anybody else how quickly trends in the fashion industry can come and go. One accessory might be all the rage in winter, only to become the biggest laughingstock of the spring. The ins and outs of the fashion industry are so hard to keep track of in fact, that the few designers, photographers, fashion magazine editors and stylists that make it big in the business, are often considered gifted for being able to so skillfully keep their fingers on the pulse of fashion. Even the most hard-working of all students attending fashion colleges will accept the fact that they will not necessarily make it that far up the fashion totem pole… However, despite that fact, one shouldn’t let themself be fooled into thinking that fashion trend analyses are only for the industry’s elite. Just to prove that fact, here’s our short list of some of the year 2012’s best fashion design trends.

From red carpets, to run  ways, to regular old street shoes, there was no shortage of platforms in the year 2012. In the world of high fashion, Italian designer Miuccia Prada sent her models down the runway in futuristic, socked space slippers, many standing on sky-high platforms. On city sidewalks all over, fashion school students rocked 1920’s style oxfords with psychedelic platforms added for extra effect. Either way, there was surely no doubt about it; platform shoes were a defining footwear trend in 2012.

One thing’s for sure about this last year in fashion: it’s been full of flirtatious, feminine accents! For instance, peplum dresses, skirts, tops and jackets could be seen all over, paired with heels OR flats. Sheer, wide-knit sweaters and see-through lace tops were dressed up and down, and sky-high stilettos have never been more in style. Fresh-faced models have never looked so girly, and the streets proved that the trend had caught on all over the place.

The uber-feminine trend was not the only statement to magically materialize within the bounds of the fashion industry. This last year, the fashion-forward delighted in mixing it up by color-blocking, and mix-and-matching the brightest, boldest colors and prints. Leave it to the fashion industry to speed up the pace just when things look like they’re getting boring…

Contributing to the futuristic fashion themes of the year 2012, was the theme of gender ambiguity. From perfectly-tailored pant suits and tuxedo blazers, to skirts for men, professional designers of all kinds and fashion design college kids alike experimented with this boundary-pushing, playful design trend.

What was first born in the mind of a designer is manifested in the materialistic world as fashion to dress women, men, teens and children. Ideas, visions and creativity transformed with fabric, thread and skill into garments that delight, seduce and trigger the feel of identification in buyers with the item. The psychology of fashion is complex and intriguing and to answer the question: “Why do we buy what we buy?” will take a full book to answer.

Garments are next to a protection of our bodies against cold and heat, extensions of our personalities. Each person is unique, has a different taste and also responses to clothing styles in a very personal and individual way. Cultural and moral influences that colored our personality are revealed in the clothes we choose to wear. The financial background is made visible by fashion. The clothing people wear in general enables us to sort them into groups and subgroups. Remarkable is that it is even possible to identify the attitude a person has towards the society as such by the fashion they choose to wear.

Examples: fashion unites and fashion divides

Fashion divided first the rich and wealthy from the common man. It was restricted to the royal courts and families that had their say in matters of the state, the region, the city or were connected to it in one way or the other.

In the beginning of the last century fashion celebrated its entrée to the middle class and a bit later to the masses. Industrialization of the apparel industry made it possible that women of all social backgrounds could dress up with their personal choice of clothing yet within the guidelines of what was accepted and what was rejected in society and the choices they could make depended, just as today, on their budget.

Evolving fast and mirroring the moral standards, circumstances and lifestyles of the society as a whole, fashion broke free and went wild after World War Two.

Teenage fashion in Europe was heavily influenced by trends coming from America, which got it’s foothold in the market. Young men started to dress up rebellious. Leather jackets and jeans created the “Marlon Brando Look”, accompanied by a girl in high heels and slim fit pants, or a body-hugging, narrow skirt combined with a top that revealed a seducing cleavage was the top. The so called “Elizabeth Taylor” style caused for many girls a lot of trouble at home. This group was opposed by traditional dressed young men in suits, white shirts and ties. Their girls were dressed in pretty dresses, blouses and petticoats under the circular cut, full skirts. The two groups could not find much of a common ground. For the first time, fashion made visible, who is conservative and traditional and who is exploring new terrain, equipped with a restless, adventurous spirit and the desire for change.