History and Future of Fashion Prediction: University Meets Industry

Fashion predictions have played a tremendous role in the transformation of the fashion industry worldwide since the interwar period. However, it is still a poorly known business despite the fact that it influenced dramatically the collections every season. Although Intermediaries and Mediators have been active in the consolidating process of the Fashion Industry, their role has only been discussed recently by scholars.
The aim of this one-day public conference is to explore the different forms and evolution of Fashion prediction worldwide since the interwar period. Fashion prediction was and is exercised in different ways and by different institutions: consulting companies, trade-fairs, department stores, dedicated divisions in major companies, and more recently, bloggers and internet trendsetting companies. The role and the form of Fashion predictions thus changed over time. This conference aims to find out how and why.
American and European scholars, as well as representatives of the Fashion prediction companies, from Amsterdam, London and Paris, will give presentations. Professionals from the Amsterdam Fashion world will comment on the Fashion scene in the Netherlands and the role played by efficient Fashion prediction. The Dutch experience will be compared internationally and confronted with existing theories on the Fashion ecosystem. This one-day public conference aims to bring together the scholarly world of Fashion research and professionals of the international Fashion industry, and opens the floor for debate.

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This conference is organised by Erasmus University Rotterdam on behalf of The Enterprise of Culture: international structures and connections in the fashion industry since 1945, a three year pan-European collaborative research project funded by HERA II (Humanities in the European Research Area II).