Fashioning Data: A 2015 Update

Chapter 2. Trends in Fashion Data

In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.

Elsa Schiaparelli

Part of the challenge in fashion is something that every industry faces: “fitting the world into rectangles,” a phrase Columbia University professor Chris Wiggins once used to describe the process of translating everyday experiences into spreadsheets.

However, fashion’s rectangles are the kinds that change color, shape, and size every season—and even much more frequently these days. That rapidly shifting landscape offers big opportunities, but also comes with a unique set of challenges.

We’ll start by looking at some of what makes fashion’s relationship to big data unique: the emotional and unpredictable aspects of the industry; the lifecycle of the industry and how data is playing into every part of that cycle; the entire crop of new startups addressing big data in myriad ways; and the unique kinds of inputs and outputs that are making the relationship work.

Irrational Fashion

Fashion is instant language.

Miuccia Prada

As we mentioned, fashion is not just about clothing; it’s also about identity and expression. Even the most rational among us make decisions about how to clothe and accessorize ourselves based on irrational factors. We don’t “need” a new pair of pants because the old ones don’t function as pants anymore; we “need” them because we don’t like what the old pair is saying about us (that we’re dirty, or careless, or behind the times).

Still, it’s possible—and necessary—to ...