Dean of Hybrid Design Studies, Parsons School of Design, New York
Lidewij Edelkoort is arguably the world’s most famous fashion and consumer trend forecaster. Her company, Trend Union, creates trend forecasts and colours that are used by designers, business strategists, and market leaders at international consumer brands and weaving mills. Her clients cover a diverse range of consumer goods and services, from lifestyle and interiors, to textiles, food, and fashion. Edelkoort is also a publisher, humanitarian, educator and exhibition curator. In 2011, she launched an interactive online trend forum called Trend Tablet. Since 2015, she has been Dean of Hybrid Studies at Parsons in New York, where she established the annual Textile Month event in September, and launched a Textile Master’s Degree programme in 2018. She is also the writer and activist behind the Anti_Fashion Manifesto, and has become the spokesperson of this social movement. Edelkoort has been named by TIME Magazine as one of the Most Influential People in Fashion, and by Icon Magazine as one of the Most Influential People in Design. She has been the recipient of numerous accolades including the 2012 Prins Bernhard Cultuur Prijs, and the 2014 Honorary Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) award. In 2017, she was inducted into Interior Design’s Hall of Fame.