Trend Forecast from SXSW

Does anyone really go to SXSW in this day and age to spot the trends? Nah, gone is the era when a Twitter emerges as the new kid on the blog at this festival. In 2015, some folks tried to make Meerkat the “it girl” of SXSW, and where is Meerkat today? SXSW is mostly fun, great connections, awesome panels and a place to see the cool kids. With that caveat, here’s my personal SXSW Trend forecast:

Pink Hair is the new “Rachel” (as in hair style). Ten years ago, it was geeky glasses. Last year, was the year of the beard. This year, it’s pink hair – like, really pink. I’m talking fluorescent, flamingo, and bold. A few pink hair aficionados opt for the dusty look, but when queried, turns out this was just purple hair gone wrong. My gallery above is just a sampling of the many shades of pink at SXSW.

VR is our new reality, for sure. I practically tripped over half a dozen VR-wearing attendees doing the lurch/walk thing you do when you can’t see where you are going. I personally took a tour of Belgium – all of Belgium in five minutes – courtesy of a VR tour and a Stella Artois offered to me at 9 am in the Belgium house. I got seriously wowed at the Sony Wow Factory where I played a game of tag with my fellow festival goers that ended with a Styrofoam sword being thrust into my armpit. By the looks of SXSW, virtual reality is no longer a thing of the future, it’s just a new pair of three-dimensional sunglasses that removes you from your present circumstance and any desire to converse with another human being.

Snapchat, oh dear, Snapchat. Our iPhones are now just an extension of our arms. Everyone be snappin’. Experiences at SXSW were ripe for the occasion, and I saw many doing the Snapchat swirl. You know the dance right? Hold out iPhone, circle in place, and do so in 10 seconds or less. Followed by furious swiping on your phone to find just the right filter. How do I know they weren’t doing Instagram stories? Really? You have to ask? Ahem, this was SXSW not some Grateful Dead revival show. I even got to see my favorite snapper of all time, Danny Berk, and meet his three besties. Here I am in the middle, looking like the Snapchat den mother I so want to be.

Paper is not dead. Remember paper? That stuff you used to write on before you had an iPhone? Paper is alive and well, and trees are still growing and producing the stuff. In fact, good old fashioned paper had a major presence on the trade show floor at the #PoweredByPaper booth, and I actually spent a fair amount of time there fondling the stuff and having flashbacks to when I actually used
to use it. No seriously, it was this cool booth with all this cool stuff you can do with paper, like make a virtual reality headset that is 100% recyclable. Bring paper back I say!

Wearables are hot, hot, hot. A few years ago, they were all hype at SXSW, but wearables have grown up and have all types of majorly cool functionality. I was totally creeped out by the “wearable skin” just thinking what they’d do with that? Wearable skin looks like a glittery tattoo, and I’ve come to learn that you can program it to monitor hydration or even detect when you’ve had too much to drink. I imagine the medical uses of this could be fascinating.

The most pawsome wearable I saw? Hands down the lovely, leather Link wearable for dogs made by American Kennel Club. It helps you speak dog, divine your dog’s needs (Hungry? What dog isn’t?), and find him if he goes a wandering.

So there you have it, my trend report from SXSW. Next year, I predict we’ll all stay home and watch SXSW on our virtual reality headsets with a pooch by our side.

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