JUNE TRENDS

Hi and welcome to the trends article.

This month’s Vox Pop delves into the life of our young philosopher Dan Cinna.

Despite it being the business end of the academic year, the Birmingham University student found time to reveal the secrets of saving money, playing squash whilst outlining his intentions to work in the media.

Plus... as normal we’ll ask our panel to cast their opinion on some notable trends that have caught our eye this month!! We have 12 no nonsense 14-24 year olds, that aren’t scared of voicing their opinion... no matter how critical it may be!!

They’ll also be asked to mark each individual contender out of 10... giving us a ‘top tip’ to look out for.

Feature Blog

For this month’s feature blog we’ll be introducing you to another one of our very own trends panel members! This month we meet Dan, a budding radio presenter.

The Philosophy student gives us a quirky presentation on his double life as a student and media personality around campus.

Take a look at the link below to check out this creative clip...

Next month we’ll reveal the secret life of yet another panel member.

If you’ve got any questions you’d like us to ask, get in touch!! In the mean time, it’s time to see what Dan and our eager panel posy have to say on the newest set of trends...

CHEEKY FASHION TRENDS...

Unsure of what fashion trend to follow this autumn... well why not take inspiration from the local builders yard...

That’s right, Hussein Chalayan certainly turned a few heads with her “ass crack” inspired design.

The short dress features a skin toned fabric layer with an ass crack imprint on the rear... appropriate for all occasions.

But this concept isn’t really anything new. Model Heidi Klum was seen wearing crack revealing designs earlier this year.

A tongue in cheek design that surely won’t be seen on the high street... will it?!

RATING; 2/10

COMMENTS;

• 1/10 I don’t understand why anyone would wear this! It’s not exactly sophisticated, and not the sort of thing you’d wear out... but equally not what I’d call a couture piece! Also what about people with different skin tones?
• 3/10 Why would you? Just show your own crack and save the money!
• 3/10 Quite funny, but seriously who’s going to wear them!!!

WHATEVER IT TAKES...

Can’t get enough of your favourite bands and celebs? Then Whateverittakes.org might be right up your street.

Simply put, the site is a charitable organization that collects art by celebrities before turning it into carefully priced merchandise for avid fans.

High profile stars to have jumped on the band wagon include Gary Lineker, Samuel L Jackson, the Rolling Stones, Gwen Stefani and even chart toppers McFly... ok, I may have ended on a rather low point there.

All money raised from the site goes towards projects in developing countries and environmental causes... meaning you can look stylish and feel good about yourself at the same time.

It’s a win, win scenario.

RATING; 6/10

COMMENTS;

• 7/10 I like the fact it’s for charity, but I think that a lot of people would rather buy celebrity merchandise than their artwork, especially when they’re not known for being an artist. I do like the idea though.
• 8/10 Great idea! Fans will love it while raising money for a good cause.
• 6/10 I would probably buy a product if the art was by a celebrity I liked. A good concept. I love the fact that the money raised goes to people who really need it.

STORM DRAIN ART

Ever felt that man-hole covers and road gutters just weren’t exciting enough? No... thought not.

But that was one of the first things on the agenda for the 6emeia project to brighten up the streets of São Paulo.

Forget countering the cities polluted airs, or entering a city in bloom contest, Anderson Augusto and Leonardo Delafuente felt this distinctive street art was far more appealing to the aspiring young people of Brazil.

A novel idea, however one can’t quite think that the old establishment might not be as quite as excepting to the idea as our South America counterparts.

RATING; 9/10

COMMENTS;

• 8/10 It probably brightens up the streets a bit, but they’ll probably end up getting vandalised at some point. Anything that makes the streets a bit more attractive is a good idea in my opinion though!
• 10/10 Fantastic – can’t wait to see it in England
• 10/10 I love this! As I’m an arty kind of girl I love how this is such an original idea!

ECO-FRIENDLY PILONS (metropolismag)

As the world seems to be slowly turning against each other, developments in eco friendly power may have taken a step in the right direction thanks to three green designers.

Faced with the issue of how to make wind power a more practical form of energy, Nicola Delon, Julien Choppin and Raphael Menard set about designing a new concept called Wind-it.

Winner of the Next Generation design competition, the electrical tower/wind turbine hybrid removes the debate of where to locate wind farms.

Whether or not these designs – that have been around since 2007 – will actually come to fruition, or remain a head-in-the-cloud idea remains to be seen. But it has to be an aesthetically better option than a wind farm?!

RATING; 7/10

COMMENTS;

• 10/10 This is a brilliant idea, and it’d be great if this sort of thing became widespread.
• 7/10 Clearly a great idea but why aren’t we seeing any if it is really that good?
• 8/10 Great idea, reduces the commonly hated sight of them and the space issues.

UNUSUAL AND CREATIVE BUS STOPS

Yet again São Paulo are leading the way in initiative ways to brighten up the streets. In a bid to unite the country, football nets replaced traditional bus stops to raise expectations amongst an already over confident nation.

The US on the other hand preferred to recycle disused school buses to turn the streets of Georgia into a work of art.

However London wasn’t to be out done, as Bruno Taylor’s design gave commuters a little light relief in their wait for their ride home.

Perhaps the 2018 committee can take inspiration from Brazil’s effort and turn our bus stops into a hammer throw net or diving arena?!

Perhaps not!!

RATING; 7/10

COMMENTS;

• 8/10 Love the school bus one but some of them could look a bit out of place if they’re not placed carefully.
• 10/10 That is so cool – it would make waiting for a bus a bit of a novelty!
• 8/10 This is again similar to the drain art. A nice idea that jazzes up the streets and brings them a little more to life. Not sure if they are totally practical but they look fun and are definitely something different.

Round Up

A month packed with some rather different ideas saw São Paulo’s innovative Drain Art come out on top.

Whilst it was the ‘ass crack’ inspired design that was shown the back door by every single member of the panel. Ludicrous, absurd and ridiculous are words that were all branded around as our panel just couldn’t see the appeal to the controversial design.

The world just isn’t quite ready for cheeky fashion trends... just yet anyway!!

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