When taking on the dicey business of forecasting fashion trends, you have to take the good with the bad. Let’s start with the bad.

You heard it here first, folks. But in actuality, you always hear it first from Helen, who has taken a lifetime of interest in fashion and pop culture and parlayed it into a solid career as a fashion forecaster, with an emphasis on youth. 

British-born but currently based in New York, Helen circles the groovy globe, trend spotting and tracking the fabulous and the faddish.

Of her organization, she says, “We’re an information service for the style industry. So we have a huge website. We’re the biggest in the world. It’s over three million pages. It’s subscription only. Our subscribers are every retailer you can think of. Every fashion designer. Also, automotive designers, aeronautical designers, interior designers, food companies, anybody who needs to know what the trends are.”

Helen herself scans the landscape for the next big thing, and then reports back to her loyal following, who are eager to take Helen’s lead and then lead the way.

“I specialize in the youth markets,” she says, “so that’s streetwear, denim, and graphics. I will go out and see who are the hottest bands everyone’s talking about.  I will take hundreds of pictures of kids on the street all around the world, from Scandinavia to Tokyo to the US. I discover the street trends that are happening, or what’s happening on the catwalks or at trade shows. I do showroom visits; new lines that are launching. I find the hottest new restaurants.”

Nice work if you can get it, and Helen definitely gets it, molding it into a tangible explanation. Her take on things, eaten up by CEO and sales rep alike, can convert to big bucks as the latest makes its way from the street to the penthouse, and then out to suburbia.

The world pays attention when Helen’s spidey senses are tingling, but with such intense fabulousness also comes enormous responsibility.

“It’s challenging in a number of ways,” Helen says of her chosen profession. “There definitely is a sense of responsibility. What we are saying is going to influence business decisions at huge companies. We can’t get it wrong. We never get it wrong. Our subscribers range from a mass-market US retailer to a very directional European brand, and everyone is reading the same information.

“I have to make sure that when I am publishing my trends, I have to make them applicable to all these people. I have to make sure that the information is relevant to them. I give them different options on how to use the information. I always describe it as looking for directional signposts. When I am looking at the big concept ideas, I am reading up on the articles and I start to pull something together.

“We could talk to a big US retailer and they could say, ‘that trend is far too directional and European for us.’ But then I would say, ‘let me show you how it could work for you.’ You do that extra stage with them.

“The other challenge with forecasting is making them at the right time, because being too early on a trend is almost worse than being too late. If you recommend bright colored denim and it’s not right for your market, there could be huge losses.”

Besides the drudgery of international travel, hanging with the hip and attending the hottest concerts and restaurants, what does it take to be a fashion forecaster?

“You have to have an instinct for it,” Helen says. “Basically, you have to have an interest in everything that is going on. And not just about the fashion industry, but you need to be interested in what’s happening in science and food and technology and all of these things.”

Some of Helen’s personal interests include music, which helps her when chasing the latest. 

“Music is such a major influential part of it,” she says. “There is an artist named Santogold, who is hip-hop, like MIA. An amazing fashion sense. Also, there is a performer from Stockholm, Sweden called Lykke Li. Her fashion sense has influenced a whole generation of girls who are dressing like her. The music industry is just so powerful.”

Her own youthful influences include designer Vivien Westwood (“I think that what she did in the seventies with the punk look to what she does now is just incredible!”) and singer Bjork. So Helen has been there too. She understands what The Kids are thinking when she spots the outrageousness.

“I see where it’s coming from,” she says. “A lot of trends now are about costume. You have kids almost wearing clown-like makeup in the fashionable end of London. I’ve also seen gangs in New York, in the Lower East Side, where I see guys wearing almost like gowns. I actually really enjoy it. I like to see people make that effort. What I actually hate are people who dress down and don’t make an effort. If you’re a teenager and you’re not rebelling, I don’t understand. You should be doing that.”

We’ve heard bad (the return of acid-washed jeans). Now for the good:

It’s [no longer just about the American] street, she says. “It’s about the streets of Scandinavia and the streets of Tokyo. Street fashion is such a powerful part of the industry.

“It’s all part of this world globalization. It’s very multicultural. It’s almost schizophrenic that you can take from lots of different cultures. You can maybe wear the Palestinian scarf, a kimono-style top and then an Indian-style trouser. You can pull from all these different cultures and make your own fashion.

“It shows that you’re a world citizen, that you’re a part of this global movement and at the same time, you can make it your own. I think it’s interesting to see that happening. It’s a global melting pot style, which I think is exciting.”

Yet Helen is still mesmerized by The Big Apple, although this trend-setting capital may be running against some more delectable competition. 

“I always wanted to move here since I was younger,” she says of New York City. “When I first moved here, it seemed like they were so behind London in terms of fashion. I found it very, very slow. Things that people thought were fresh here I had seen a long, long time ago in London. But now, with the internet and with trends moving much more quickly around the world, you can take a picture in New York and one in London and one in Stockholm and you have kids wearing the same outfit. We all seem to be working on the same timeline now.

“As a city, I think New York is amazing. You have so many different cultures. You have so many different types of food and fashion. And I think in New York you can be anybody you want to be.”

So attention, K-Mart shoppers and other trendsetters from street to split-level: whoever you are, Helen will be spotting you and reporting back to those who want to get to know you better. So look sharp!

For more information on Helen, go to

www.helenjob.com and www.wgsn.com. 

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