FASHION FUTURE
This brief guides you in exploring two areas of interest for your Third Year Self-Devised Project and future career goals. It focuses on identifying innovative research topics, applying research skills, and analyzing trends, consumer behavior, and market changes. You'll also reflect on your strengths and feedback, and consider how the Fashion Communication and Promotion (FCP) landscape connects to your career aspirations.
1. Korea’s Visual Merchandising in Beauty
The left half of the poster explores the innovative visual merchandising strategies employed by Korean beauty brands such as Tamburins and Gentle Monster. Through a carefully curated display of images, the poster demonstrates how these brands create immersive environments that prioritize experience over products, reshaping consumer interactions with beauty retail.
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Key Highlights:
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Immersive Retail Experiences: Brands like Tamburins and Gentle Monster transform retail spaces into experiential environments that emphasize atmosphere and sensory engagement, moving beyond just selling products. This reflects a larger trend where experience takes precedence over simple product offerings.
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Visual Aesthetics: The images showcase modern, minimalistic, and nature-inspired designs, reinforcing the importance of aesthetics and mood in enhancing the overall brand experience.
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Consumer Connection: By creating a calming, art-like environment, these brands aim to create emotional connections with consumers, setting themselves apart in the competitive beauty market.
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2. Anti-Aspirational Beauty
The right half of the poster delves into the critique of traditional beauty standards, highlighting the emerging anti-aspirational beauty movement. It contrasts the outdated ideals of beauty with the growing demand for inclusivity, body positivity, and diversity.
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Key Highlights:
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Critique of Traditional Standards: The imagery critiques the continued dominance of unrealistic beauty ideals, particularly those centered on Western, Eurocentric beauty norms. This includes representations of overly idealized body types in fashion shows, such as those of Victoria’s Secret models.
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Rise of Anti-Aspirational Movements: On the opposite side, the poster features visual elements from campaigns and models who embrace a more inclusive and diverse representation of beauty. These images reflect body positivity and challenge the restrictive definitions of beauty.
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Cultural Shift: The analysis of this trend acknowledges how brands and consumers are rejecting rigid beauty standards in favor of genderless, inclusive, and democratic beauty ideals. This cultural shift is changing how beauty is marketed and consumed, advocating for a broader acceptance of various body types, skin tones, and individual expressions.
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Color Palette and Design Choices
The poster uses a distinct color palette that reflects the themes being discussed. In the Korean visual merchandisingsection, earthy tones and muted greens are used to evoke a sense of naturalism and calm, which complements the nature-inspired retail environments of brands like Tamburins. Meanwhile, the anti-aspirational beauty section incorporates more neutral and skin-tone colors, symbolizing diversity and inclusivity in modern beauty standards.
Overall Impact
The "Fashion Future" poster effectively juxtaposes the innovative approaches in Korean beauty retail with the global critique of restrictive beauty ideals. It highlights both the shift towards experience-based consumer engagement and the growing demand for inclusivity in beauty standards, making it a relevant commentary on the future of fashion and beauty.
This project demonstrates your ability to analyze and present complex industry trends through visual storytelling, reinforcing your expertise in trend analysis, visual communication, and content creation.
The "Fashion Future" poster is a visual representation of two key themes in the beauty and fashion industries: Korea’s use of visual merchandising to enhance the beauty experience and the critique of strict beauty standards through the lens of anti-aspirational beauty. The poster draws connections between the evolving consumer experience in beauty retail spaces and the shifting standards of beauty in global fashion.
Anti-Aspirational Beauty: Outcome Draft
This outcome visually critiques the rigid beauty standards perpetuated by the fashion and beauty industries. The image, styled as a Vogue cover, exaggerates traditional beauty procedures with surreal effects, such as oversized lips and facial alterations, questioning the pursuit of "perfection." The tagline "How do I look? #BeautyStandard" highlights the pressure placed on individuals to conform to these unrealistic ideals.
By distorting familiar beauty practices, this work emphasizes the absurdity of narrow definitions of beauty and promotes the Anti-Aspirational Beauty movement, which advocates for inclusivity, diversity, and authenticity over artificial ideals.
Korean Visual Merchandising: Space Design Concept
This outcome represents a conceptual retail space designed for a Korean beauty brand, emphasizing immersive visual merchandising to enhance the consumer experience. The layout incorporates natural elements, minimalistic design, and open spaces to create a calm, welcoming environment for customers.
Design Focus: The space is designed to engage consumers emotionally, offering more than just a place to purchase products. Natural plants and soft architectural curves invite customers to explore the space leisurely, creating a relaxing atmosphere.
I utilize Miro-board to actively analyze and visualize global trends, enabling a comprehensive understanding of shifts in consumer behavior, emerging market dynamics, and cultural influences. This interactive tool allows me to collaborate effectively, track evolving patterns, and map out strategic insights for future-focused projects.