Trend forecaster: Who is Li Edelkoort?

Li Edelkoort, who chases future trends, especially in the field of fashion, studied at the School of Fine Arts in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Edelkoort, who realized that she did not have as much artistic talent as other students while she was still studying, chose the job she would do after graduation, based on the fact that her other friends constantly consulted her about style. She got a job at De Bijenkorf, the leading department store in the Netherlands, and with her ability to sense future trends, she predicted what would sell best after a few seasons and contributed to the selection of collections to be purchased.

She moved to Paris in 1975 and started working as an independent trend consultant. In the 80s, she created her own dynamic network called 'Trend Union'.

Lidewij de Gerarda Hillegonda Edelkoort, often called Li, (born 29 August 1950) is a Dutch trend forecaster, someone who anticipates future fashion and design trends. She has been the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Trend Union since 1986. 

Trend Union is a company that provides color and lifestyle trend forecasting services to the design world. They also print their trend forecasts in their magazines and offer them for sale in limited numbers.

In her trend book 'The Bible of Wellbeing', she explains that society is increasingly embracing the feeling of comfort and is seeking to bring the satisfaction of 'feeling good' to every aspect of life. She also says that globalization is coming to an end, people are tired of seeing the same brands all over the world, and there will be a renaissance of local products and local cuisines.

Edelkoort has been making future predictions and analyses for almost fifty years. She was listed among the twenty-five most influential names in fashion by Time magazine. She manages programs and actively teaches at the world's most respected design schools.

There is hardly a global brand that is not among its customers; Coca-Cola, Estée Lauder, Galeries Lafayette, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Zara... But she says she has never been sought after or felt this useful. At the beginning of the quarantine period, her interview on the design and art platform Dezeen was read by almost a million people. This is a record for both the platform and itself. “I've been doing this job since I was 21, and I finally feel like the 'future' we talked about has arrived and that my job serves 'good'. “It is a very difficult period but also full of incredible opportunities,” she begins.

One of Li Edelkoort's most distinctive features is her subtle analysis of changing human psychology and society, much earlier than many of her colleagues and institutions. We can attribute this not only to her successful interpretation of data but also to her intuitiveness and creativity. She calls herself a “future archaeologist.” “Just like archaeologists, I dig, I investigate, and I try to put the pieces together and predict the zeitgeist of the future.”

He says that the coming period will be the “Amateur Age”: “I was waiting for this period to come, but the epidemic accelerated it. Creativity, handcraft, craftsmanship, and local production will gain importance. We already saw that our first reflex as soon as we went into quarantine was to create; People started cooking, producing music, and developing joint projects from their homes. Transforming our wardrobes and homes; We started to rethink and simplify. In fact, the virus forced us to do things we always wanted to do but could not do. This period will be a period in which we quarantine our consumption habits. People will not consume as much as they used to, for both practical and financial reasons. The era of spending money without thinking about average products will gradually come to an end. We will move towards more sustainable products that make sense, and stand the test of time. Fabric knowledge and where we buy our clothes will be topics that we will start to think about again and be selective about. Because when we buy a T-shirt for the price of a sandwich, we are now more aware of who pays the real price. This is an irreversible awakening of conscience. We will enter a period of great savings and restrictions, just like after the war. Maybe only the buildings will remain in place, but the whole system will have to reinvent itself. In addition, people's tendency to move away from cities will become more common. We found that we could work remotely; We no longer had to live in the city for our financial freedom. “This flexibility and enlightenment will be one of the permanent effects of the pandemic.”

Another conclusion that Edelkoort emphasizes is that people will pursue similarities instead of differences in the coming period. “We will want to be part of the community and protect our common values, just like our grandfathers and grandmothers were two generations ago. The noise on the streets that started in the 90s will calm down. The desire to individualize and be radical through our clothes will be replaced by the desire to unite and get closer. In summary, this epidemic, which locked everyone in their homes regardless of their social status, passed over our differences like an iron.” On the other hand, in Edelkoort's words; “This period acted like a magnifying glass and brought us to our senses. We repeat social injustices even though we know they are wrong; “We now see overconsumption, long working hours, and our travel habits from a different perspective.”

Of course, the subject also comes to the future of the fashion industry. Five years ago, when topics such as sustainability, slow fashion, and inclusivity were not very popular, Edelkoort shared its famous "anti-fashion manifesto" with the world. Today, we can understand how meaningful this call is at the point we have reached with the winds of change accelerated by the pandemic. However, she explains that under the conditions of that time, and with many important customers in the sector, she found it very difficult to take this step, but she felt obliged in conscience. Explaining that fashion is one of the most "outdated" industries, the manifesto explains that marketing strategies based solely around a "diva designer" should be abandoned: "You cannot see elitism and conservatism in fashion in any of the different creative sectors such as cinema, architecture, industrial design. At the end of a movie, you even see the name of the driver who contributed to the movie on the screen, but such a thing is not the case in fashion. We are still watching an ongoing parody of 20th-century values and star economy. Fashion needs to reestablish its connection with real life. In addition, the system as an industry must reinvent itself from the education process to production. We have already started to see young and talented designers and visionary fashion start-ups who have been able to protect themselves from the production frenzy. It will take time for big brands to truly adapt, but we have now come to the end of fashion as we know it. We'd better accept it.”