Final Prediction

My final prediction for the black and white colorblock trend is that it will sort of stay in the mass acceptance phase and become accepted as a classic. I think the color combination of black and white is classy in itself, so colorblocking with the two colors doesn't change that. As far as black and white colorblocking goes on the runway, I think that this is on its way out and will cycle back in a few years from now. As for now, it's sort of been overdone and there isn't anything new that anyone has been able to come up with. Maybe someone will be able to come up with a new creative way to juxtapose the two colors together.

The Online Revolution

There is so much online shopping that goes on nowadays, its so easy! You don't even have to get up from bed. I'm guilty of online shopping when I should be doing homework.... in fact, i oftentimes don't even buy anything, i just browse and put everything I like into my shopping cart and then look to see how much money I'm "saving" by not buying it. Anyways, black and white colorblocking can actually be found on a lot of websites. The following images were taken off of Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Gap, and Macys. If you just type in "colorblock," these are some of the results.

Retail Revolution

When I searched local stores in Athens for this trend, I didn't find a whole lot. Heery's definitely had the most, but nothing colorblocked in the display. There were a few BCBG colorblocked garments on the back wall. This is the one colorblocked thing I found on display and it was in the Encore store window.  Other than that, most store windows in Athens boutiques are very colorful or have a lot of sparkle, especially as it gets closer to the holidays. When I was at Lenox mall over Black Friday weekend, I looked at a lot of store displays and I really didn't find many black and white colorblocked garments at all. Within the stores, I found some garments within BCBG Maxazria, Banana Republic, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Madewell, JCrew, and some other stores that carried random pieces. I think colorblocked sweaters are pretty popular right now with stores like JCrew that do appeal to the mass consumers. But I think that finding a few colorblocked sweaters in stores that sell classic garments show that black and white colorblocking is more of a classic rather than a current trend.

Color Wheel!

Because my trend is black and white colorblocking, I couldn't really create a color wheel to show what colors were popular for my trend. However, I will show some colors that I think are popular to accessorize with. Below, is a primary color wheel. I included it because I think that Red is a very popular color to put with black and white. It makes it more sexy, and less serious (also, it make it UGA colors... GO DAWGS). I think its a great way to spice up a black and white outfit and give it some Old Hollywood glam. Most of the images I looked at though, celebrities wearing black and white colorblocked dresses opted for black or black and white heels.

In the News

All of the things I could find in WWD or any sort of fashion newspaper/magazine were from 2011 or 2012, which has made it clear to me that this trend is on its way out. I've attached an article from style.com that says color blocking is on its way out. I couldn't find an article on this, but I've come up with an idea of my own as to how outside pressures influence this specific trend.  I believe that colorblocking is tied to optimism. Colorblocking in itself is a very optimistic style, especially when it's done with color. It's very bold, playful, yet still whimsical and hopeful. I think that the reason it was popular in 2011 and 2012 was because that was right before the election and people were hopeful for a change.

http://www.style.com/stylefile/2012/04/is-color-blocking-played-out/

Features and Benefits

I think colorblocking is a very flattering and beneficial trend for many people. Everyone knows that black makes you look small and white while can make you look bigger, pairing the two is a dynamic combination that can really play up your curves and hide any bumps you don't want seen. The dresses I've pictured below are a great example as to how with color blocking, anyone can have an hourglass figure. Granted, each of the models are slim, but I'm sure most of them have a slim rectangle body type but these dresses make them look much more curvy. Therefore, I think that colorblocking is a very useful trend for many women. Also, the classic color combination is sexy and bold yet in an understated way.

Are UGA Students Wearing It?

To be honest, I haven't been able to spot anyone wearing this trend! I have one colorblocked item that I purchased recently but haven't yet worn, which there is a picture of below. I think that in Athens and primarily just in the South, color is very big. People don't wear that much black and white. Most of the girls I'm friends with are the southern, sorority girl type, so they don't own things like this because I think they would feel it was too chic. Things like Show Me Your Mumu are popular right now amongst college girls, which is basically as polar opposite as you can get from a black and white color block. I haven't seen anyone downtown wearing it either, which definitely goes against my initial prediction that it was going to be very popular.

Celebrity Sighting

There are quite a few celebrities that are wearing this trend right now. Colorblocking was without a doubt at its height in 2011 when celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Kim Kardashian were wearing the Gucci color block dress. Today, celebrities like Jessica Alba, Alicia Keys, Thandle Newton, Olivia Wilde, Beyonce, Eva Longoria, Candice Swanpoel, Khloe Kardashian, Anna Lynn McCord, and Taylor Swift are wearing it. Because it is such a classic look and can be very flattering, I think its a great option for lots of celebrities.

Bloggers, Fashion Forecasters, and Stylists

As much as I have searched the web to find out where colorblocking stands for this season, I haven't been able to find many articles that discuss solely color blocking. Therefore, I don't feel as though it is that big of a focus right now and do feel as though it is slowly in the decline. The first website below is a link to a website that indicates colorblocking is a trend right now, and it shows us the different ways to colorblock. The second link is one to style.com from 2011, when colorblocking was hot on the scene and being talked about everywhere. The last article was saying that the black and white colorblock trend was in for Spring 2013, and tells us how to wear the trend to pull it off best.

http://www.fashioncincy.com/fashioncincy-weekly-trend-alert-summer-to-fall-2013-color-blocking/

http://www.style.com/trendsshopping/trendreport/011811_Trend_Reports/HyperColor/

http://www.examiner.com/article/black-and-white-color-blocking

Evolution of Colorblocking

The concept of colorblocking first started with the artist Piet Mondrian in the 1930s, who painted a geometrical painting of different colored blocks separated by black lines. In 1965, Yves Saint Laurent turned this painting into a dress. Therefore, this trend has been around for over 10 decades. The trend has moved through the fashion cycle several times, and its popularity both risen and declined. The most recent peak in popularity was for color colorblocking in 2011 and 2012, largely due to Gucci's Spring 2011 line. As for black and white colorblocking, I believe that it is currently in mass acceptance on the fashion cycle, which is why fashion designers aren't using it as much because they think that it is slowly on its way out.

Public Opinion

Upon asking a few different people about colorblocking, whether they thought it was popular right now, and whether they liked the trend, these are the responses that I got:

"Personally I don't really colorblock just because that's not my style but I could see that being flattering and definitely appealing for a lot of people I just personally don't make an effort to colorblock." - Morgan Walsh

"I tend to colorblock when a dress comes already made that way... it's safer than putting  two items together. I don't think that colorblocking is as in right now as it was a few years ago. Back like two or three years ago color blocking with color was really big and I was into it because I love lots of bright colors, but I don't wear that much black and white." - Stephanie Hegedus

"I think a lot of people wear black and white dresses to achieve a classic look. Sometimes they may not realize that they are colorblocking, they just put on the dress because it looks good."

    - Emily Higginbottom

"I love pairing black and white together, but I'm not sure that I truly know what it means to colorblock. I might buy a dress that was colorblocked but I don't think I could put anything together myself. Definitely a nice concept though."- Bethany (woman on the street in Athens)

"I don't think color blocking is big anymore, you'll find a few pieces here and there but the fact that there are so few means its not a big trend right now. As far as the black and white goes, I think a black and white colorblock dress was probably made more for the fact that its black and white than for the fact that its colorblocked."- Shawnia (salesperson at Macy's at Lenox)

"I think colorblocking is cool. We don't have anything in our store that's colorblocked right now, or I would wear it." -Dakota Hammond, store salesperson at American Threads

Designers Showcasing this Trend

There are a few designers that are showcasing the trend this fall, but not throughout their entire collection. For example, BCBG Maxazria did it, but only in one garment.

Rag and Bone and Michael Kors also used colorblocking in their collections, but not in black and white. The lack of black and white color blocking on the runway is reason for me to doubt my initial prediction that it will be so popular. I believe this is because black and white colorblocking is currently in mass acceptance, and therefore showing it on the runway wouldn't shock anyone. Essentially, that is what designers are trying to do-- to shock people, come out with something new, or do something that no one has ever seen before. Its difficult to put a new twist on a classic, so that is why I believe there isn't that much black and white colorblocking on the runway. Below are some pictures of the colorblocking seen throughout Michael Kor's and Rag and Bone's collection.

Vogue Comparison

When analyzing the various Vogue issues from August to December, I counted 2 advertisements featuring black and white colorblocking in the August issue, 13 in the September issue, 6 in the October issue, 3 in the November issue, and 5 in the December issue. Part of the reason the September issue has so many more is because it was a significantly larger issue than the rest, containing over 700 ads in total. I think that the change in the number of ads is in response to consumer purchase patterns. If things maybe aren't selling as much as designers would like, they put in more ads to try to change peoples minds. Or if people like something, maybe the designer will put in more ads of that because they want to show people what they like to see. Below are some ads found in issues from August to December.

 I think that the black and white colorblocking was used mostly in advertisements and not in editorials because advertisements appeal more to the mass consumers and editorials are something that is more whimsical and less realistic for average people to imitate.

Introduction to Colorblocking

Colorblocking is a huge fashion trend, and has been since the 1930s when it was first introduced by Piet Mondrian. Depending on who you ask or what websites you frequent, you may get a different definition of what colorblocking truly is. Does the garment have to be sewn together as colorblocked, or can you put together two separate pieces? Do stripes count as colorblocking? For the purpose of this blog, we will define colorblocking as: when a garment or outfit is composed of finite blocks of color. There are several different types of colorblocking, for this look can be achieved with bright colors, pastels, primary colors, two different shades of the same hue, or with blacks and whites. For the next few months, I will be analyzing the trend of BLACK and WHITE colorblocking as it progresses through Fall 2013. My initial prediction for the trend is that it will be prevalent in fall 2013 and will rise to mass consumer acceptance. Black and white is, and always will be, a classic combination. Please continue to check back to my blog each week for a new post on black and white colorblocking! Below, I've posted some examples of black and white colorblocking.