Review: Anatomy of Trends

Just finished reading "Anatomy of a Trend" by Henrik Vejlgard. (find it here at Amazon). The cover was promising:"In Anatomy of a Trend, pioneering trend sociologist Henrik Vejlgaard reveals this startling truth: there are actually predictable patterns behind every trend." I was not startled at all, but I was immediately hooked.

However, Vejlgard's interest in trends is narrower then could have been guessed from the book's title and cover. His main focus is on changes in style and taste, i.e. things that would be described as "trendy". Something like mobile microblogging, playgrounds for seniors or "staycations" - developments that could also be called trends - do not occur in Vejlgard's Anatomy.

Vejlgard entertains with a wide array of interesting examples - ranging from the history of specific haircuts to the rise and fall of fashion labels. Even when he ventures into more mundane fields like microbrewing, Vejlgard fails to connect the emerging trend pattern to the existing needs and desires in a society that this trend is thriving on.
In his model, trends spread from trend creators to trend setters and trend followers and - in some cases - to mainstream. He identifies the usual suspects among the trend setters and the trend setting cities and other pre-condititions for turning a fad into a trend.
In Vejlgard's view trends come about mainly as a reaction to mainstream or simply because trendsetters have a need for perpetual change. Although "megatrends" are mentioned, Vejlgard refrains from connecting them to his trends. He claims that megatrends are hard to predict and would fill a number of books to analyse. Well. I would not subscribe to that notion. His exclusion of megatrends is a strange inaccuracy, given that he is establishing a list of cues that help to determine whether something new will likely turn into a trend or not.

Vejlgard is also not at ease with the effects of web2.0 and social media. Only at the very end does he ponder whether the internet will change or speed up the trend process described in his model. He concludes that no, there will be no changes.

"As the world becomes more individualized, with media to suit individual needs, fewer people will read the same media, and this means that a less-varied group of people will get the same information at the same time. And this will make it more difficult for a trend to gain momentum." Others have described this trend towards individualization of trends (yes, it is a trend too - a megatrend, in V.'s veiw) as an effect of the "long tail" and called it "microtrends". As Vejlgard eliminates megatrends, he once again cannot see how the trend process is influenced by these bigger currents.

On the whole:

• Some good points that can be transferred to a more general or more analytic model for describing how trends come into being. Probably perfect reading for aspiring fashion trend spotters.
• Some disappointment that "Anatomy of a Trend" does not put a trend or new behavioral pattern into its socio-economic context and is focussing only on the trendy trends.