What Fall Fashion Is Telling Us About Upcoming Directions In Home Decor
By Bill Indursky, Co-Founder of VandM
Bill’s Inspiration Board in the VandM office for this month.
It is FALL FASHION once again and a good time to reflect stylistically on where we are. What should we expect on the runway and how does this reflect in the HOME DÉCOR market?
I have previously outlined my 2009 predictions for the HOME DÉCOR industry at the end of 2008. If you remember, I kept mentioning the 1980s as the most dominant theme for the year. This so far, seems to have rung true. What I would not know in DEC 2008 was how exactly these trends would fully take form. I suggested that it might be in bright bold patterns, a relook at Italian Memphis furniture, large colored glass items, and sculptural furniture with an eco twist.
Nine months into 2009 the picture is more clear of what was only able to be hinted at back in 2008.
We had been in a 1950s Era, 60s, and Hollywood 1940s glamour mode for almost 20 years – 10 to 15 of those in the main stream. It is obvious that such a connection to the then PROSPERITY would mirror other prosperous eras like the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Boom times would equal BOOM time looks. That is why my prediction of 1980s, another era bent on money, made clear sense for our moment. With the economic crash, more conservative, less luxurious, and a less decadent mood was starting to hit the air – but no one willing to give up their just lost luxury completely. And what makes sense for the transition is still the 1980s.
In the 1980s (c.1985-87) it was all the rage to re-work 1920s culture like the gangster ZOOT SUITS with large shoulder pads and cropped jackets, slim peg leg pants and high paper bag waists. Fabrics went TARTAN crazy and bold stripes and plaids could never be enough, even the paisley print exploded. Some of the same 1980s obsessions are back today. If we look what has been dominating the catwalk for the last few seasons and what I expect to see this on the runway this month, it is the continuing trends of the 1980s do the 1920s, Gangster/Pimp, Goth Rock Star, The WPA/Depression Era, Russian Tsar, and German Military.
What I think this might mean to the home décor market is several fold:
-Prepare to see WPA DECO come back
-Less leather – more tone on tone with tailoring fabrics mixed with some unusual futuristic textiles (vinyls and metallics)
-Less overt money and more “Old Money” classic good taste looks – possibly going toward Tsarist Russia or even Vienna.
-Industrial farm (similar to WPA) and Depression Era but souped up with 80s industrial Goth
-Mostly Moderne (30s-40s) and Deco Bronzes and sculpture making its way into the room (the more abstract figurative)
-Alabaster and other STONE sconces where light is hidden behind the stone and projected through
