1. On the Spot:
The best way to learn about the world around us is to observe our surroundings. With out opening our eyes to our fast-paced culture, we would never advance in technology, fashion, and human interaction. For this assignment, I spent the week at different locations observing human behavior and trends.
I began by spending time at the Irvine Spectrum on Wednesday evening. The shopping district was slow, but still had consistent foot traffic. I sat for 30 minutes at the outside patio of the Corner Bakery Cafe watching passersby for consistency in behavior. As I sat across from Tony and Guy Hair Salon, I noticed that customers carried one to two shopping bags and paid in the shop with primarily credit cards. Men strolled alone or hand and hand with their significant other. Women shopped alone, or in groups of twos or threes. As for appearances, women who were out with men were wearing high heels, while others wore boots because of the cold weather. Most trendy females were wearing military inspired coats and tall boots.
My next destination was on my lunch break at the Mission Viejo Mall. I sat the the Nordstrom E-Bar watching shoppers make their way in and out of the store. Almost everyone exiting the store was carrying a shopping bag. Because this was during my lunch hour, I saw a lot of mothers with their children in strollers. I noticed that the majority of females wore cross-body bags. The sign of small bags and few shopping expenditures reflects the recession that is affecting the retail industry.
As I studied interactions and appearances, I came to a conclusion that I did not expect. Today's consumer is all over the place! People have become more independent. Teenagers and adults strolled the shopping centers interacting with non other than their iPhone. Girls had their own individual sense of style and appearance.
I began by spending time at the Irvine Spectrum on Wednesday evening. The shopping district was slow, but still had consistent foot traffic. I sat for 30 minutes at the outside patio of the Corner Bakery Cafe watching passersby for consistency in behavior. As I sat across from Tony and Guy Hair Salon, I noticed that customers carried one to two shopping bags and paid in the shop with primarily credit cards. Men strolled alone or hand and hand with their significant other. Women shopped alone, or in groups of twos or threes. As for appearances, women who were out with men were wearing high heels, while others wore boots because of the cold weather. Most trendy females were wearing military inspired coats and tall boots.
My next destination was on my lunch break at the Mission Viejo Mall. I sat the the Nordstrom E-Bar watching shoppers make their way in and out of the store. Almost everyone exiting the store was carrying a shopping bag. Because this was during my lunch hour, I saw a lot of mothers with their children in strollers. I noticed that the majority of females wore cross-body bags. The sign of small bags and few shopping expenditures reflects the recession that is affecting the retail industry.
As I studied interactions and appearances, I came to a conclusion that I did not expect. Today's consumer is all over the place! People have become more independent. Teenagers and adults strolled the shopping centers interacting with non other than their iPhone. Girls had their own individual sense of style and appearance.
2. Style Tribes: The Art Institute Campus
As I begin the path to Trends and Forecasting, I have unfortunately realized that I am not very advanced at picking up on trends that have not previously been pointed out to me. I can watch and note behavior for hours and it is hard for me to categorize people into style tribes. I recognize obvious stereotypes, but I had trouble at school. As I roamed the campus this week, I am able to recognize the fashion students, marketing versus design, and culinary. Game art students, industrial design, and graphic design are a bit harder to differentiate from one another. Mostly males dominate this category, all of witch dressing in darker colors. Fashion students dress "artsy," yet stylized. Marketing and advertising students dress more professional. Culinary students are dressed in uniform and travel as a pack. Over the course of the quarter, I plan to pick up on details and open my eye to human behavior and trends.
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