Lidewij de Gerarda Hillegonda Edelkoort, often called Li, (born 29 August 1950) is a Dutch trend forecaster, someone who anticipates future

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

and design trends.Euronews August 2008 She has been the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Trend Union since 1986.

Early life

Edelkoort was born on 29 August 1950 in

Wageningen Wageningen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Her parents are Jan Edelkoort and Hillegonda van der Spek. She attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Arnhem, receiving a bachelors degree in Fashion in 1972.

Career

Edelkoort began her career as a fashion coordinator at the Amsterdam department store

De Bijenkorf (; literally, "the beehive") is a chain of high-end department stores in the Netherlands, with its flagship store on Dam Square in Amsterdam. The chain is owned by Selfridges Group, owner also of Britain's Selfridges and Ireland's Bro ...

.Brief biography at Fashionmission, June 2006 After finishing her degree at

ArtEZ ArtEZ University of Arts () is an art academy in Netherlands. ArtEZ combines several art institutes and art disciplines with branches in Arnhem, Enschede, and Zwolle. In its name the A stands for Arnhem, the E for Enschede, and Z for Zwolle. Aca ...

, in 1975 she relocated to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where she set up as an independent trend consultancy. She soon created the consultancy 'Trend Union', a trend forecasting service based in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Trend Union provides bi-annual trend forecasting books for the fashion and design community with colour and lifestyle information. She then founded Studio Edelkoort, a consultancy bureau, and opened two offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

(Edelkoort Inc) and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

(Edelkoort East). In September 2015 she was hired to oversee a new

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

design program at

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

, where she currently serves as Dean of Hybrid Studies. She has helped to shape products for international brands, advising on product identity and development strategy, and her clients have included

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

, Camper,

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

, Moooi, and Douwe Egberts. In the beauty industry, Studio Edelkoort's has developed concepts and beauty products for Estée Lauder,

Lancôme Lancôme () is a French perfume and cosmetics house that distributes products internationally. A subsidiary of L'Oréal, Lancôme offers skin care, fragrances, and makeup. History Founded in 1935 by Guillaume d'Ornano and his business partn ...

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris

Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world an ...

, Dim, and

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

. She is the art director and co-publisher of the magazine ''View on Colour''.in ''one piece'' Kim DeMarco's blog, 15 May 2007 This looks at trends in colour taste with a view to their influence on fashion, graphics, industrial design, packaging, cosmetics and many other areas. She is also publisher of ''Interior View'' magazine.Li Edelkoort brief biography
at Design Indaba Magazine, 2002. Accessed August 2008 She launched the photo-magazine ''Bloom'' in 1998, which she describes as "horti-cultural", because it charts the changing trends in flowers and the way their images are used.Suzy Menkes, ''International Herald Tribune'', June 2001 She is involved in the non-profit humanitarian organization ''Heartwear'' which helps third world producers market their goods in the west through a mail order catalogue. The profits return to the producers' communities. In 1999 she was elected Chairwoman of the Design Academy,

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

, Netherlands, where she served until 2008.Designboom April 2000 In 2011, Edelkoort launched the website and social media platform calle
TrendTablet
She described the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as an opportunity in that the global disruption of travel and of the supply chain from China might trigger new forms of local sourcing and production.

Awards and honors

The British design magazine

i-D ''i-D'' is a British biannual magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art, film and youth culture. The magazine was launched in 1980 by Terry Jones, originally as a hand-stapled fanzine it has since evolved into a glossy publication. In 2023 the ...

listed her among the world's 40 most important designers and

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

named her one of the 25 most influential fashion experts of our day.The Business World's Trend Prophet, Symrise. 2008. On 22 February 2008, on behalf of the French Minister of Culture Didier Grumbach, President of the French Fédération de la Couture, Edelkoort was invested with the

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

in recognition of her artistic and literary creative contribution to France and international culture.Lidewij Edelkoort receives French honour
Design.nl. Editor Design.nl 22-02-2008 Edelkoort also received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Art from the United Kingdom's

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

, at the university's awards ceremony on 15 July 2008.Arts Review 11 July 2008 On 26 November 2012, she received an award for her oeuvre of work from the Dutch foundation Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. She lives in Paris.

Publications (selected)

* ''The pop-up generation. Design between dimension''. by Lidewij Edelkoort, Amsterdam, BIS Publishers, 2012. * ''Fetishism in fashion'', compiled by Lidewij Edelkoort & edited by Philip Fimmano. Amsterdam, Frame Publishers, 2013. * ''A Labour of Love'' by Lidewij Edelkoort & Philip Fimmano. Eindhoven, Lecturis, 2020. * ''Proud South'' curated by Lidewij Edelkoort with Lili Tedde & Mariola Lopez Mariño. Eindhoven, Lecturis , 2022. * See All This Art Magazine#34 ''The Wardrobe as Art Collection,'' 2024

References

Meet trend prophet Li Edelkoort
Euronews, Accessed August 2008.

at Designboom on 14.04.2000. Accessed August 2008

By Maura Egan, New York Times, Style Magazine, November 7, 2004. Accessed August 2008.

Symrise. 2008.
Flower!
By Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune, Published June 19, 2001
The Forecaster
in ''one piece'' Kim DeMarco's blog, 15 May 2007
Brief biography at Fashionmission.nl
1 June 2006 . Accessed August 2008.
Li Edelkoort to receive honorary degree from Nottingham Trent University
Arts Review 11 July 2008.

External links

Lidewij Edelkoort
website
Edelkoort Inc

TrendTablet
website and social media platform * http://www.heartwear.eu/
Design talent curated by Li Edelkoort

Latest interview with C.B.Liddell, Metropolis magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelkoort, Lidewij 1950 births Living people Dutch designers Dutch people in fashion Futurologists People from Wageningen Compasso d'Oro Award recipients Royal Designers for Industry