Executive Summary

This report is doing a research on the latest fashion trend analysis and provides the fashion name, designs, so on and so forth. Meanwhile, it brings us to look closer on how the young would like to dress themselves. Basically, this report is meant to explain on how the parents would like to dress their children and how the teenagers dress when they hit their puberty time.

The population of multi-culture is no longer being regional. The arrival of cable television, multi-national language radio programs. Yet, the internet has created a world where a fashion statement in Malaysia will be on the streets in a small town nowa days. The rapidity of our telecommunication system has greater than before that young customers' expectations and demands for products such as clothes, shoes, slippers and many more that characterize their own cultural statement.

The target audiences for this report is mainly the latest generation, Generation Z, who starts their beginning of life from gadgets, such as iPad and iPhone, listens to alternative music, participates youth sports. Last, but not least, looks toward alternative clothing trends in large urban areas for inspiration. 

1.0 Introduction

According to Craik (2009), fashion is a style to be practiced. Because of the generations’ preferences are kept on changing year-by year, that is why fashion is needed to be experienced. Especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, make up, body piercing, tattoo and furniture. Fashion is a characteristic and often ordinary trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the existing styles in attitude and the newest creations of textile designers. Because the more technical term costume is frequently linked to the term ‘fashion’, the use of the former has been relegated to special senses like masquerade wear or fancy dress, while ‘fashion’ generally means clothing, we also have to include the study of it. Although aspects of fashion can be male or female, some trends are genderless too. Study fashion is not easy either, there are 6 main criteria we have to consider off:-

              1.       Personality

              2.       Passion

              3.       Talent

              4.       The school’s reputation

              5.       Finances

              6.       The backup plan

These 6 main criteria are why fashion is not easy to study. 

2.0 Social Networking

According to Alfred and Benjamin (2008), social networking is a concept that has been around much longer than the Internet or even mass communication. People have always been social creatures; our ability to work together in groups, creating value that is greater than the sum of its parts, is one of our greatest assets.

At its bare essentials, a social network consists of three or more entities communicating and sharing information. This could take the form of a research coalition, a Girl Scout troop, a church, a university, or any number of other socially constructed relationships. Since the explosion of the Internet age, more than 1 billion people have become connected to the World Wide Web, creating seemingly limitless opportunities for communication and collaboration. (Alfred and Benjamin, 2008)

In the context of today’s electronic media, social networking has come to mean individuals using the Internet and Web applications to communicate in previously impossible ways. This is largely the result of a culture-wide paradigm shift in the uses and possibilities of the Internet itself. The current Web is a much different entity than the Web of a decade ago. (Alfred and Benjamin, 2008)

According to Alfred and Benjamin (2008), this new focus creates a riper breeding ground for social networking and collaboration. In an abstract sense, social networking is about everyone. The model has changed from topdown to bottom-up creation of information and interaction, made possible by new Web applications that give power to users.

While in the past there was a top-down paradigm of a few large media corporations creating content for the consumers to access, the production model has shifted so that individual users now create content that everyone can share. The social-networking trend is causing a major shift in the Internet’s function and design. While we previously thought of the Internet as an information repository, the advent of social networks is turning it into a tool for connecting people. The mass adoption of social-networking websites of all shapes and sizes points to a larger movement, an evolution in human social interaction. (Alfred and Benjamin, 2008)

2.1 Power of Social Network

According to Karen (2011), a large or speedily growing user population characterizes a successful social network. The most popular social networks grow their membership through viral marketing. The natural human behaviors that causes people to tell others about products or services that are particularly good or bad. The value proposition is that the user must see enough return on investment of some measure of involvement. the examples will time, energy, or money, which is to continue using the service over a long time. Table 1 has listed some currently popular social networking websites. The service provider must see sufficient return on its investment such as staff, equipment, advertising, and website maintenance to continue to provide a stable service to its users. ‘Successful’ is not necessarily synonymous with ‘profitable’. While many social-network sites are (or at least hope to be) profitable, others, such as Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, are socially motivated, not-for-profit ventures. Wikipedia, funded entirely by donations, seeks to serve society by making the vast store of human knowledge available to everyone, for free, in the world’s most common languages. So, the power of social networking is really cannot be under estimated because the network is linked widely.

3.0 kids' Fashion

Lately, gender-specific children's clothing has become a controversial issue. According to some female thinkers, children's clothing has become more and more segregated, with young girls especially being expected to wear pink. Peggy (2011) has determined her daughter was highly influenced by Cinderella, with the pink-coloured and princess-themed of clothes are almost everywhere for young girls in shops across the world. Nonetheless, Peggy (2011) has also seen this as problematic because it limits girls to not only one colour but also to one range of experience and knowledge as well, as well as it firmly fuses girls’ identity to appearance. According to Jo Barraclough (2012), pink and blue only become linked with girls and boys correspondingly from after 1940s.

Most of the influence countries to affect Malaysia is Western countries, or maybe Korea too because of the artists or maybe the affect by the famous cartoons or movies. these may encourage the parents buy their children awesome looking outfits. 

3.1 The stages of the children

3.1.1 0 month to 2 years old

At the very beginning stage of an infant, the parents will buy a lot of nice clothes for them to wear because the infants in this category is a baby, that just get start to eat, walk, jump, run and talk. Babies are not apparently to choose their clothes, but their parents will help them to choose which outfits shall they wear every day. Hence, during this stage, the parents will buy pair of shoes in cute designed as well when their son or daughter begin to learn how to walk. Nevertheless, a particular character of a cartoon series such as Pikachu, the infants’ parents will also buy a set of costume for their babies to wear because it looks so adorable when it is dressed on babies.

3.1.2 3 years old to 6 years old

The children in this stage are getting mature; they can clearly identify their favourite colour. Not even colour, they are able to choose what their favourite food is too. As now the technology is getting more developed, the parents are able to play their children favourite videos or songs on Youtube. Nonetheless, the parents will also let their children to learn some education materials on tablets too.

These years, the boys’ favourite will be Power Rangers, Ben 10, Avengers or any other superheroes. However, the girls’ favourite will be Barbie Dolls, My Little Pony, so on and so forth. In this stage, the parents will ask their children which design of the clothes will be their favourite, or somehow their favourite characters on the shirts too. Hence, the children will also ask for their favourite toys too.

In this stage, the children have begun to attend nursery class because the education in this era is highly competed. They will get influenced by other children and so that it makes them want to admire a thing more often.

3.1.3 7 years old to 9 years old

At this stage, the children have started their primary school. They will be getting more friends over there. Hence, friends influence friends. Here is how the fashion started to come in; the dressing or outlook is getting more knowledgeable. They will share their thought with their friends that what colour of the clothes is their favourite. Nevertheless, they will also share their favourite cartoons along too.

3.1.4 10 years old to 12 years old

This is the years where females hit their puberty time; they will start to learn make up and good looking dress for themselves. Hence, they will begin to scare getting fat during this time. The parents will also getting concern their children during this time because they scare their children will learn the bad things.

On the other hand, during this time, they might be participating school’s events such as Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival. During these events, the females can dress in cheongsam or playing the role as Chang Er, the Chinese Goddess of the Moon. Or maybe the concerts that happen in school too, the teachers will help them to choose fancy dressing to coop the entire concert.

3.1.5 13 years old to 16 years old

This is the stage where the males start to hit their puberty time. The voice goes change and so the mass of the body. This stage is highly dangerous where the parents think of because during this time, the children change into teenagers, where they will think that their thinking is mature and start to oppose their parents.

The parents will still buy the good looking clothes for their children. However, this time, the children will bring up more independence thinking and share with their parents what kind of clothes they actually want to hear.

During this time, the teenagers will also start to follow branded brands, such as Birkenstock, a slipper which cost RM200 above. 

4.0 References

1. Craik J. (2009) Fashion. Berg. Oxford.

2. Alfred C. & Benjamin B. (2008) Social Networking. University of Virginia.

3. Karen K. (2011) Online and Social Networking Communities: A Best Practice Guide for Educators. Taylor & Francis.

4. Fashion Kids. (2015) http://www.fashionkids.nu OR www.facebook.com/fashionkidss

5. Peggy O. (2011) Cinderella Ate My Daughter.

6. Jo Barraclough P. (2012) Pink and Blue: Telling the boys from Girls. America Indiana University Press.