Trendspotting 2006: From food to fashion, less is more

It’s always our problem at the office everytime a new year comes around: The artist forgets to change the date on the runner from the old to the new year. It’s probably most people’s problem, like when they do their correspondence or memos at work at the beginning of the year. Beginnings can be disorienting, causing us to lose our sense of time, if not our bearings. Well, to get a head start this year, eagle-eyed trendwatchers dish out a mouthful as they look at 2006. For instance, from food to fashion, "less will be more." With the global economic crunch, people are downsizing – big (fuel-guzzling) cars, big houses, and big luxuries, which were big in the past, will be no more. From high to low tech, the "in crowd" is craving quality products that cater to their personal styles but are simple, reliable, and can be fixed – not trashed (read: precious money going down the drain) – when they get broken. Of course, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Yes, say hello to 2006 – which trendwatchers tag as the year of consumption – and say goodbye to bar codes. Within two decades, pinpoint-sized computer chips and tiny antennae will be replacing the familiar product bar codes and giving retailers and manufacturers a wealth of information about their products as well as those buying them. God is in the details – or is it the retail? To be sure, the retail scene will be all agog over this new technology called radio frequency identification. For one thing, through this, a grocery clerk will immediately know when milk on the shelf has expired so it can be replaced immediately. For another, stores can easily pull out damaged products that have been recalled. Already, some 100 retailers, including Procter & Gamble and Gillette Co. have plunked a cool $15 million down on research on the new tags.

Advertisers are saying that this year will definitely be full of "tween" tales. And Y not? We might as well say goodbye to Generations X and Y, and welcome Generation Z or those tweens (between early childhood and teenage years), who now number nearly twice as many as a decade ago and now constitute one of the most powerful consumer groups in the country and probably in the world. Fully aware of this, companies are trying harder to woo the tweens. If they’re successful, they can be assured of brand loyalty for life.

More trends to watch for, according to www.midhudson.org:

• The faces of the future. People between 18 and 80 will probably look younger than their parents did at the same age. Thanks to Retin-A, Botox, and other age-defying pharmaceuticals that erase the creases and the ravages of time minus surgery. (For instance, all this is changing the face of Hollywood so much that producers are having a hard time looking for actors to play 60-year-old roles because everybody looks 40!) One plastic surgeon makes this fearless forecast: In 50 years, "there will be ways of rejuvenating skin muscles and bone so surgery won’t be required."

The tooth is, white teeth will be as common as a toothache as tooth whitening brightens our day.

More or less, more hair and less baldness will be the look of the future, as technologies and pharmaceuticals in this area become more advanced and effective.

And to take a closer look at 2006, eye glasses will become less and less common as more and more people undergo corrective surgery. Eye, eye!

• Winning the war vs aging. Pretty soon, children will be dating their grandparents’ friends because it will be difficult to judge age simply by outward appearance. Grandparents are erasing years off their faces and adding life to their years via antiaging discoveries. This generation, says William Haseltine, CEO of Human Genome Sciences Inc. in Rockville, Maryland, is "the first to be able to map a possible route to individual mortality."

However, trendwatchers say that a world without aging is not without problems. For instance, there’s overpopulation, as people who’d normally die of old age (or normally have "expiry dates") remain agile in body and spirit. So who’s afraid of aging?

• Spa-cial place for spa-cial people. Today’s dentists won’t have a hard time asking their patients to say "Ah" as trips to the dentist become more enjoyable, eliciting oohs and ahhs. For instance, patients can enjoy a pre-drill foot massage or a neck rub while taking in a scent of lavender candles and fresh cranberry-orange bread. In a world full of truth decay, "spa dentistry" is a refreshing change. So who’s afraid of the dentist?

• Dream gym. As the demographics of gymgoers shift, businesses are making a concerted effort to tailor their messages to specific groups. Once stereotyped for twentysomething bodybuilders, health clubs are now attracting a wider spectrum of fitness buffs. And advertisers are partnering with these clubs to do on-site promos and give away free product samples.

• Teleliving. Picture a wall-mounted computer you could talk to and do things for you. Call it teleliving, which will allow a more comfortable and convenient way to shop, work, educate, and conduct social relationships. The only advance needed is in the area of artificial intelligence, which would allow computers to store information and distinguish which key words apply to certain data. It is predicted that artificial intelligence will simulate the cognitive capacity of a human brain by 2020.

• Whole wired world. Mobile phones will do more than connect people; they will support social networks. With people keeping in touch every nonasecond of the way, the idea of time is softening as people use their cell phones to make last-minute arrangements (like calling or texting if you’re running late).

Again, kids are the fastest-growing mobile phone users. It’s almost like a rite of passage for them: "You turn 16, you get a car and a cell phone," says one trendwatcher. Of course, in the Philippines, arguably the text capital of the world, kids get a cell phone as soon as they go to school.

Noting the impact of wireless communication, businesses are reaching out to people via special wireless promos or sending coupons through cell phones.

SMS or texting isn’t just a teen thing. The variety of places adopting instant messaging is growing rapidly. For instance, at the Miami International Airport, air-traffic controllers exchange messages with pilots landing and taking off via text.

• High on technology. In the rat race to be able to do more in less time, technology companies are fusing technology with fashion. Call it technology you can wear. Like the Mood Hood, an intuitive device inside a versatile hood that alerts the wearer of other people within his/her space and enables the sharing of music clips or video files via a seamless connection. Or the Hearing Hand, a wired device worn on the hand that acts as an information source, retrieving data and sending it back to the wearer via a wireless ear bud.

• Drugs from bugs. Most research with insects involves getting rid of them or fighting diseases they spread. And now, researchers are studying insects – or the chemicals derived from them – to fight diseases. In Australia, Entocosm Pty. is collaborating with other establishments to screen sample extracts from insects for potential pharmaceuticals. In case you didn’t know, insects have large reserves of biologically active compounds that kill cancer cells as well as proteins that prevent blood from clotting.

Happy trendwatching! Stay tuned for more developments.

* * *

We’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com