Pantone’s Top 10 Colors for Spring 2011

Color is my high.

While others surf in search of love, sex and money, I troll the Interwebs in search of my daily color fix. Not surprisingly, three of my favorite hang-outs are Colourlovers, Colorwarepc and uber-trendcaster Pantone.

I also love New York’s Fashion Week, with its tease at what’s runway-worthy for 2011. This morning’s guilty pleasure: Pantone’s Top 10 Colors for Women’s Fashion chosen by New York designers for Spring 2011.

I’m thinking Beeswax is lusciously close to my Guru of New Gold. I’m already salivating over the promise of a Spring shopping spree . . .

Trend 3: The Return of Girly Glam.

Last year I noticed that women were once again proudly displaying their breasts.

No, I’m not gay and no, I’m not some kind of pervert. My world has simply been so permeated by the ‘business casual’ of faded jeans, indy-band T-shirt and scruffy runners or the Dockeresque chic of Mommalution uniforms that the mere sight of curve-hugging fabric and plunging necklines was a smidgen of a shocker. Yet second-skin tops and stilettos were suddenly everywhere, along with the enthusiastic return of fishnets.  Photographer Monica Michelle is swamped with bookings for Boudoir sessions while ‘Bliss Pleasure Party’ entrepreneur Chrystal Bougon can barely keep up with demand for lacy lingerie and sexy toys.

At a Girls in Tech event in San Francisco, my fellow panelist the bodacious author Sarah Lacy, was mobbed afterwards by fans who were as likely to have questions about her fab boots as her fab book.

In May, Sex and the City smashed all box office estimates. We saw it at a theater in Santa Monica that was sold out from the first showing straight through midnight. Glam girls lined up in their Jimmy Choos, giggling with their own Samanthas, Charlottes, Mirandas and Carries. It was full court femme power, and I realized that girly glam was not just a budding trend but was in full lush bloom.

Several recent ethnography projects have yielded an emerging Persona — the Girly Green or the Glam Green, if not quite the Sexy Sustainable. This intriguing psychographic is as apt to be interested in Day to Night Barbie as she is a non-toxic ingredient. Can we have sparkle and shimmer and wrap it all up in natural green tea and shaved ginger? Can we have a Girls Night In, with organic spa smoothers and fragrant Lush balls melting in the tub? Can we forever lose the image of Berkeley granola ‘crunchies’ in Birkenstocks and replace it with the ‘sexy, smart green living’ of new site EcoStiletto?

Fashionista sites like Style Hive, the 44-million-unique viewers per month strong Glam Media, and runner-up, the Sugar Network,continue to morph into Internet power players. Even newcomer BettyConfidential, initially positioned as a forum for women across many life stages, has reinvented itself with uber-girly stories about lipstick, sex and harem pants.

And then there’s Project Runway, the hit reality show that made sewing machines and tape measures sexy. “Fashion is the new food” declared one publication. Icon Tim Gunn chimed in with ‘It’s crack. It’s addictive.” Ratings continue to rise with each successive season.

So does all this girly glam mean that voila! women have finally achieved so much equality that we can now afford to literally let it all hang out? That women no longer need to dress or behave like men? That we have choices — every permutation of chic from chictini to Hillary’s custom pantsuits to Sarah Palin’s much ballyhooed booty from Saks?

Some thoughts:

For Marketers:

• Make no assumptions.Just when you thought that those 82 million Moms with their 85% of US purchasing power are marching into stores lugging their big green eco-purses, you may discover they’re actually clutching Kate Spade’s shiny new thing and tottering on their Naughty Monkeys, thanks to Zappos’ 400 employees’ persuasive customer service tweets. 
• In the early days of the Internet, we could get away with creating one persona –e.g. ‘Abby’ aka Mrs. P&G. No more. Women are schizo, splintered and trying to have it all, if only for as long as they can get a babysitter.
• If you had a solid Social Media Research program in place, along with an evolving Social Media strategy, you wouldn’t be wondering what this trend means. You’d know.

For The Rest of You:

The generations that grew up on the Marlo Thomas mantra Free to be you and me are doing just that.

Guru’s Note: If you’ve enjoyed this excerpt, stay tuned for my upcoming book, the trend guide: Rock Your Future.

The New Potluck Economy: What Will You Bring to the Table?

The old-fashioned, Leave It To Beaver, church-basement concept of the Potluck Supper is back in style.

For those of you who missed this very 50′s ‘harvest gold, Kraft Recipe way of life: a Potluck supper is one in which everybody brings a ‘covered dish’ to the table. Usually this is a family favorite, a specialty of each particular cook. One woman may bring her Sunday best chicken casserole; another brings his homemade wheatberry muffins; yet another bakes up a sumptuous Red Devil’s food cake. And so on and so forth, until the table is rich with the imaginative recipes of each of the chefs.

A potluck gives everyone a chance to shine in their own special way. No one dish is the star; no one cook dons the apron. Which is why, even if you haven’t potlucked in eons, you ought to think about the enduring idea behind it.

In life, we all bring something to the table. Some of us are talented artists, others excel at sports, others are savvy in business. No one quality is necessarily greater than another– no one talent whups another. Sometimes we meet someone and say ‘Wow, look at the way she aced that serve. I can’t do that!’ Or ‘gee, he’s really great at closing a deal. Sure wish I was that good.’ We tunk ourselves because we feel we don’t stack up. Sometimes we let this stop us from trying, from going further, from expressing our own abilities — whatever they are, wherever they may be on the path to excellence.

That’s when we need to remember the concept of Potluck. Each of us, every single human being, brings something unique to the table. Each of us brings something worth sharing. Whether it’s boundless ideas and energy (Adryenn), an eye for making everyone look their photographic best (Monica), the gift of loving support (Allie), creative business savvy (Claire) or style to die for (Corinne) . . . all are making an important contribution. It takes everyone, every flavor, every taste and texture, every dish to make a Potluck.

Today, more and more people are RSVP-ing a resounding YES to the new Potluck Economy. We’re bartering, trading, link-exchanging, Freecycling, donating, giving of ourselves and our stuff in a myriad of imaginative ways. New technology is letting us collaborate, communicate, co-work and co-create. We’re couch surfing, ooffoo-ing and crowdsourcing.  We’re innovating breakthrough ways of working, living and being. It’s definitely not business as usual. Thank God.

This then, is the new Potluck Economy. Welcome to the table. What will you bring?

Guru’s Note:  This is an excerpt from my upcoming book:  Rock Your Future. The New Trends, Tips & Tricks.

Guru’s Update: Here’s a good article on bartering from the Monterey Herald.

Update: WWGD? What Would Grandma Do?

This updated post first appeared on November 11, 2008. The concept is even more relevant today.

It was no surprise President-Elect Obama gave so much credit for his success in life to his beloved late Grandmother ‘Toot.’ Grandmothers have long been the rockbed of solid values, common sense and abiding love. Some 2.5 million children in our country are being raised by their Grandmas, ensuring that new generations are growing up with daily nudges about thrift, frugality, common sense and substance, along with hefty helpings of broccoli and roast chicken with too much limp parsley.

If Grandmothers had been in charge, Wall Street would never have imploded, gas would never have hit $4.99 a gallon, little Johnny would never max out his (Kardashian) Visa and no one would have heard of IndyMac or AIG. No one would be subsisting on high fructose corn syrup, partly hydrogenated fats and maltodextrin. No one would be suffering from an extended case of Affluenza, feverishly fed by what Grandma would call “stuff and nonsense.”

This is why so many savvy folks on the brink of life and business decisions are asking themselves one key question: WWGD? What Would Grandma Do?

Here’s a snapshot of Grandma’s Financial Policies:

• Grandma would applaud KMart and Sears for their return to the Layaway Plan. (She’d also applaud eLayaway, the pioneering layaway technology company, which recently launched Spanish version eApartado.com for this 50-million strong segment.)
• Grandma would mourn the Sarah Palin who shopped at Saks while applauding her for (formerly) bringing the whole family in to buy at Anchorage’s Out of The Closet secondhand store.
• Grandma would applaud the rise in trust of local banks — 66% of consumers in a recent study said they had confidence in local banks, versus fewer than 25% trust US (big) banks. She’d nod sagely when learning (via Edelman’s 2011 Trust Barometer) about the dramatic three-year drop in trust in banks in the West that keeps this industry stuck at the bottom in global industry rankings
• Grandma would applaud signing up for the local bank’s Christmas Club. Remember, Grandma put $5 in her Christmas Club account every week or month –frugally setting aside her ‘egg money’ (okay, sorry that was Aunt Bea) so by Christmas she would have a nestegg to spend. She’d likely invest in the smart daily deals on classic childhood toys and goodies (think footies & tricycles with streamers) at the newly re-launched Hopscout.
• Grandma would be suspicious of gift cards.
• Grandma gave you US Savings Bonds on your birthday. (Okay, not so fun) (Grandma would likely recommend EFTs –and she surely would have bought Apple early because of that nice boy Woz who looks like his Nana cooks for him.)
• No credit cards, no interest rates, no late fees. Cash is king, especially when saved painlessly week by week. (Grandma would like Bundle’s list of the Top Spending Cities and suggest you get the heck out of Austin and relocate to Toledo.)
• Grandma knew no one in Nigeria, much less a Prince who left her money.

If things get really tough, Grandma would find herself a part-time job, probably by social networking with her Facebook canasta group or selling her tea cozies on etsy. She could always take up knitting, like these famous Swiss Net Grannies, who will personally knit you a pair of socks. Just pick your Granny!

What would YOUR Grandma do?

From Balsamic Vinegar to Brett: The 2008 Beloit College Mindset List

Jsonline reports: Beloit College released today this year’s version of its Mindset List, a collection of 60 cultural waypoints originally designed to help the college’s professors understand where the incoming students are coming from.  

Guru’s Note:  My guess is that 99% of Berkeley’s professors do not need this list, as they’re already mind-melded with college freshmen.

Multiculturalism and environmentalism have always been a large part of life for those born in 1990 and later, said Ron Nief, the school’s public affairs director and one of the people who assemble the annual list.

Also, items many older folks consider high-tech are commonplace for these teens. A decade ago, Nief notes, some college students were just giving up pay phones. Colleges were installing phone lines in individual dorm rooms for the first time.

Now students who enter school don’t even know why the phone lines are there, Nief said. Many haven’t used a landline in years. 

Guru’s Note:  My daughter’s dorm room at Berkeley has a landline but she never hooked it up and has no idea what the number is.  It’s all about her iPhone.

“Technology is such a part of their lives, they don’t even recognize it,” Nief said.

If you’re a Mad Men addict, it’s a trip to look at Beloit’s list against the context of that show.  Some of my Gen Y friends have been aghast at the portrayed treatment of women, Jews, and blacks — and astounded at the mind-numbing presence of alcohol and Luckys.  It’s safe to say that none of these entering college freshmen females have ever had to wait for the men to finish dinner before they got served!

Posted: Aug. 19, 2008

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.

4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.

6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.

7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.

8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”

9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.

10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.

11. All have had a relative – or known about a friend’s relative – who died comfortably at home with hospice.

12. As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”

13. Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.

14. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.

15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.

16. Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.

17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.

18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.

19. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.

20. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.

21. Students have always been “Rocking the Vote.”

22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.

24. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

25. There have always been gay rabbis.

26. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.

27. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.

28. IBM has never made typewriters.

29. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.

30. McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.

31. They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.

32. There has always been Pearl Jam.

33. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.

34. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.

35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.

36. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.

37. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.

38. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.

39. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.

40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.

41. Macaulay Culkin has always been “Home Alone.”

42. Their parents may have watched “The American Gladiators” on TV the day they were born.

43. Personal privacy has always been threatened.

44. Caller ID has always been available on phones.

45. Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.

46. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.

47. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”

48. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.

49. Soft drink refills have always been free.

50. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”

51. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

52. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.

53. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.

54. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.

55. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.

56. Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.

57. Offshore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.

58. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.

59. There have always been charter schools.

60. Students always had Goosebumps.

The list’s authors also note for these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.