It's not often I claim to have an idol, my days of school girl crushes are well and truely over, but my admiration for trend guru Li Edelkoort comes pretty close.
Founder of the trend forecasting company Trend Union, Li spends her life travelling, shopping and gathering information from around the globe and is considered one of the worlds most respected trend forecasters. Since the 1980's her work has provided long term fashion and lifestyle trend analysis to enable the worlds brands to creatively plan the future.
She is actively involved in design education and until recently was chair of the renowned Design Academy in Eindhoven. She also created the stunning Bloom and View in Colour magazines and has curated many design and craft exhibitions around the world.
Her most recent exhibition, Archeology of the Future: 20 Years of Trend Forecasting, was the first retrospective dedicated to her work and was also the first exhibition to focus on trend forecasting as a profession. It looked at the concept that trends are not passing fads, but rather long-term phenomena that shape every aspect of our lives from the food we eat to the color of our clothes.
Li has her own unique personal style, favouring a combination of Japanese designers in neutral tones, oversize jewellery, flat masculine footwear and statement red lipstick.
I have followed Li's career with interest and now find myself doing a similar job (without the celebrity status) and am still inspired by listening to her speak. She presented her thoughts for Autumn/Winter 2010/11 this week in London and as ever I came away full of ideas and optimism. She never ever tells us what we will be wearing in two years time ( I always get asked that question at parties and hate it!) but provides inspiration to let us make our own conclusions.
So for Autumn/Winter 2010/11 she is thinking – the return of the waist, grey, cats, goats and yellow is the new pink, make of that what you will!
