Pumped Up Kicks

Number one on the pop charts, "Pumped Up Kicks" is a slang term for cool sneakers.  This hit song by the group Foster the People is causing controversy these days.  Listen to the song.  What do you think it means?  I see the isolation of a kid who is in essence ostracized.  He has developed a hatred for those who diminish and shun him.  He is not able to lash out directly at his non-present parent.  Perhaps he is bullied at school. Who are the kids he wants to harm?  The ones with "Pumped Up Kicks".  What does the Foster the People band say about it?  The lead singer and songwriter Mark Foster states in an exclusive interview with KROQ,  "When a 13 or 14-year-old kid brings a gun to school and does something, sure, you blame them for making that choice….. But at the end of the day, he or she is still just a kid and there’s a lot of other things that led up that moment that should have changed."  Now I'll go see what everyone else is saying. Meanwhile see a one one one interview with Mark Foster.

Create a Personal Makeup Palette at Inglot

How does a company not only survive but thrive in the fashion industry during an economic crisis?  Take a hint from Inglot Cosmetics:  intensive customer service and personalization. At the suggestion of one of Petit Poix's teenage readers, Alexandra, we discovered the Inglot Cosmetics Freedom System.  Inglot is a Polish company which has been in business for 25 years but only recently has caught on in the rest of the world.  Wojtek Inglot is the chemist turned entrepreneur who continues to develop new products, working with make up artists and color consultants to keep up with the latests trends.  Just launched is the world's only breathable nail enamel. At Inglot the customer can freely experiment with mix and match bases, eyeshadows, blushes, mascaras, nail enamels, liners, lipsticks and more to develop her own personal makeup palette, placing her choices in unique magnetic trays.  There is even a fake eyelash wall with dozens of different style eyelashes!  With 280 retail locations worldwide - more than 160 of them in Inglot's native Poland - only five retail stores are located in the U.S.A., four in Canada and 17 in Australia. Others are sparsely scattered throughout Europe and the Middle East and one location in Capetown, South Africa. What is Inglot's secret marketing plan?  Give the customer exactly what she wants.

Cool Hunting. Teens Decide Today's Trends

Trends "trickle-up" from the street.

Teens play a very big role in developing what will appear on next season's runways. "You really shouldn't talk down to teenagers. You should first educate yourself on what they like." This advice from Sharon Lee, professional  "Cool Hunter".  Field correspondents for the company she started with her partner Dee Dee Gordon communicate through the website and Facebook page with pictures, observations and opinions on what they are seeing every day. Teens also participate in surveys conducted by company and are at the forefront of developing new fashion trends each season as well as in the development of the new products for other companies.  "We look for kids who are ahead of the pack, because they'll influence what all the other kids do. We look for the 20 percent, the trendsetters, who are going to influence the other 80 percent." The apparel design companies who use their services are in a never-ending race to be the first to launch the next new craze in fashion.  On PBS Frontline: Hunting for Cool, Lee continues, explaining how trends spread:,  "...it's a triangle. At the top of the triangle there's the innovator, which is like two to three percent of the population. Underneath them is the trend-setter, which we would say is about 17 percent. What they do is they pick up on ideas that the innovators are doing and they kind of claim them as their own. Underneath them is an early adopter, which is questionable exactly what their percentage is, but they kind of are the layer above mainstream, which is about 80 percent. And what they do is they take what the trend-setter is doing and they make it palatable for mass consumption. They take it, they tweak it, they make it more acceptable, and that's when the mass consumer picks up on it and runs with it and then it actually kills it."  These days, by the time you get around to buying the "latest style", it's already on it's way out!
        View yourself in various casual hairstyles at TheHairStyler.com!