Charles & Marie is a new trend spotting network, err, lifestyle navigator as they like to be known. Charles & Marie offer a nice mix of graphic design, product design, architecture and fashion trends. One thing they are lacking is a few nice stories on designer wrapping paper...

This is the latest in an online trend consulting explosion that started with Josh Spear, The Cool Hunter and Cool Hunting.

One unique thing about Charles & Marie is exclusivity. Not all of their content is available to users of the website. Somewhere out in cyberspace are invitation codes that allow you access to private Charles & Marie content. While this is not a new concept, if.psfk.com, it is a growing trend in the search for cool.

One more intriguing thing about the Charles & Marie site is Soupe du Jour:

delicious, inspired, and out of the ordinary products from our international menu; however, as its culinary namesake suggests, we must warn you that we'll be serving a new soup with each new day because we know there's a different "soup" for every taste

On sale for only 24 hours, Soupe du Jour items are announced two days in advance, so you can break out your credit cards ahead of time. This reminds us so much of the Vacant Online Store, which offers 1 product for a limited number of days.

We are thinking about starting our own trend researching firm. Since all of the "Cool" metaphor names are gone, we are going with "The Hot Hunter". Although for some reason this name invokes images of a studly guy in camo, toting a rifle. We might need to work on that name some more.

tags: catalyst studios, trend