Gianfranco Zani and Designers of High Fashion, Enter Information Online for Their Ideas
Gianfranco Zani, browsed through photos, articles, color swatches, fabric samples and sketches and concluded that next year’s shoppers would probably favor a “moody” color palette of gray-greens and purples with a shot of pink, the return of the hourglass silhouette and fabrics printed with faux textures. White House Black Market, owned by Chico’s FAS, started designing the fall line based on these trends.
After dragging their stilettos for years, fashion designers are starting to embrace online tools. Fashion cycles are faster, and designers want help scoping out competitors’ designs, discovering trends, experimenting with colors and fabrics and mocking up designs. Trend forecasting publications, which designers have relied on for four decades to scout new trends, are trying to bolster their own businesses by offering Web sites with real-time video and photos, downloadable sketches and prints, and collaboration and design tools.
“The Internet has made that, to some extent, futile,” Mr. Zani said. Designers can get faster — and more — information online. “The entire globe becomes your backyard,” he said.
Ilene Nachbar, a designer for a private label lingerie manufacturer, Vandale Industries, said she uses the new Web services all the time. For example, she scoured Mudpie and Fashion Snoops for ideas for a recent presentation to clients on trends for fall 2009. Her company is considering using Stylesight, where she would be able to upload her own designs and incorporate runway photos, flat sketches and color swatches from the site.