In today's New York Times Thursday Styles section, Eric Wilson wrote on of the most succinct stories I've ever read on how trends are created. If you've ever seen The Devil Wears Prada, you might remember Miranda Priestly's lecture directed at Andy Sach's ignorance in regards to the fashion industry:

"This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet, and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."

But Eric Wilson broke it down even further, tracing the current trend for round glasses to three events that happened in 2007—an exhibition of Malick Sidibé's photographs at the Venice Biennale, the Broadway revival of Hair, and an auction of John Lennon's famous circular frames.

As a person who studies trend for a living, it is always interesting to see what designers pick up on—television shows, art exhibits, a newly published coffee-table book, or the celebrity du jour. In the past years, I’ve seen designers referencing TV’s Mad Men, interior and jewelry designer Tony Duquette, and even going as far as to look at the way people dressed the last time the economy was in the dumps (hello, shoulder pads!). And it doesn’t stop at fashion. I watch certain trends trickle into interior design (also seeing a mid-century resurgence, a la Mad Men), jewelry design (could today’s massive statement pieces be a byproduct of Duquette’s book finally being published) and bridal design (Michelle Obama’s one-shoulder inauguration dress was re-imagined by almost every bridal designer for spring 2010).

It all makes me very excited as I start pulling together our fall fashion coverage, thinking, once again, about the references that are defining this particular time.