Trend-Spotting

While fashionistas have had a crazy month thus far in London, New York and Milan, there was another trend spotting event happening in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas furniture market is the trend spotter’s gold for future watchers in the home decor and accessories industries. This is where the buyers for your furniture chain go to find the latest styles from suppliers who receive their collections from manufacturers in china and elsewhere.

Furniture has a very long and complicated supply chain which makes it slower and slightly more conservative than its Prêt-à-Porter counter-parts. So, looking at this year’s fashions may be able to give us a peek at next year’s furniture.

First let’s see what’s going on right now.

The word of the day is texture. It is everywhere from Georgio Armani to Crate & Barrel – which is fine by me. I don’t know about you, but last year’s emphasis on pattern morphed into a headache-inducing, hallucinogenic fog of overripe paisleys and vomit colored prints. Even Vera Bradley, as she branches from handbags into every other design market, has toned down her colors in favor of texture.

I quite enjoy this movement and think that it plays well with our current eco-conscious development. That and the high-tech, super sleek designs from before speak of our overindulged, dotcom excesses, and those that had the money for such things don’t want to be as ostentatious about their spending. Not that the rest of us are fooled.

Personally, the whistling of corduroy and the scritchy-scrathy warmth of tweed give me a feeling of home. I think of my grandma’s couch and thanksgiving and a security & comfort that doesn’t exist anymore. Plus, it offers a kind of “MadMen” sophistication and need for craftsmanship that we haven’t seen with the super-sleek mass produced designs of the past ten years.

So, where are we going?

Checking out this month’s Fashion shows, it looks like the depression era design trends will continue. This time though, it looks like designers are focusing on formalism and structure. There is a theme of reinterpreting the 1940s. The focus is moving back towards affluent cuts and materials. Has the Obama influence bailed out an industry completely reliant on the whims of elite New Yorkers? One can only hope Michelle Obama’s influence can wrestle designers down. Welcome to the gun show people.

The furniture and accessories market will most likely follow suit. Look for more solid, durable pieces with late guilded-age influences. I don’t think we’ll retreat all the way to the craftsman era, but I would adore some reinvented versions of Greene & Greene or Mackintosh designs, anyway. I think for the most part mass produced austerity is here to stay. The main parts of the furniture will stay the same. (You don’t have to change up your plants in China that way.) the real movements will be in one’s accessories and treatments like lampshades and door knobs, etc..
Change will come slower than most fashion years, but I think right now we have a great chance to savor a renewed concentration on texture, materials and craftsmanship.

Tags: accessories, Design, fabric, fashion, furniture, future, trends, twill

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Art + Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.