Anne-Liese Prem | marc-cain.com/en

PURE PURPLE

Anne-Liese Prem works at the interface of technology and culture. The focus is also on fashion, beauty, lifestyle and sustainability.

You are a future trends expert. How does someone get that job?
Even as a child, I was interested in everything new. But there wasn’t much going on in my home town. So as a teenager, I regularly took the train into the city and bought the Wallpaper magazine or the American Vogue – there was no internet back then. Later on I studied economics and took courses in trend forecasting and future insights.

With your agency tomorrow stories, you now research trends for businesses and give presentations. What’s important here?
We are currently experiencing a transformation like never before thanks to artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Web 3.0. I help companies look beyond the hype to find out what’s really important and how they can incorporate these innovations into their strategies.

And how do you identify key trends?
I’ve built up a wide network of sources over 20 years. I work with global partners and have a good sense of what has future potential. Trend scouting is like surfing: at some point, you know exactly when a good wave is coming and when and how it will break.

You lived in Africa for seven years and headed up a women’s magazine, among other things. What developments did you observe?
It was exciting to see how global trends are absorbed and passed on in another culture. Many of them even originated in Africa. For example, Rwanda was the first country to ban plastic bags in supermarkets. I discovered interesting sustainability initiatives, as well as trends in telecommunications, community building and healthcare.

How do you see the future of fashion?
It will be mainly shaped by the increased merging of real and digital life. In the future, products will be connected to virtual worlds and we will spend an increasing amount of time putting on our digital avatars. Fashion production will be optimised with AI and will therefore be more individual and sustainable.

What big change can we prepare for?
We trend researchers already call the 2020s the “Transformation 20s”. AI and robotics will set the pace. Entire industries are changing, jobs are disappearing and new ones are being created. It’s important to stay on the ball and keep on developing.

CREDITS
Photography: Sima Dehgani, Production: Vanessa Zeeh, Production assistance: Emma Gültzow, Hair & Make-up: Liset Garza/NinaKlein Artist Management, Photo assistance: Priscillia Grubo