Beware of the "fashion virus"

Did it ever happen to you that you absolutely hated a trend when it first appeared and found yourself following it a couple of months later? Swearing that you did not like a certain colour and then buying a jumper of this exact shade and loving it?

 

It really intrigues me how flexible our tastes seem to be when it comes to fashion and trends. One season we all like purples and teals and only a few months later everybody wears mustards and navy. One winter all fabrics are velvets with big abstract florals and in the summer all homes seem to be decorated in fuchsia and turquoise with white sheer voiles. It does not matter if it is clothes, interiors or even packaging of cosmetics... trends take over all areas of the 'visual world' and are extremely contagious!

Advertising is a powerful tool and knows how to play with our tastes. It seems that if something is omnipresent everywhere you go, from shop windows, to movies, to 5star hotels we start getting used to new looks easily and eventually are convinced to love them!

Of course everyone has some elements that are deeply engrained in our repertoire of taste and seem unshakable. I personally think this has a lot to do with what defines us as a generation. For example I was definitely born too early to feel comfortable in the skinny-jeans and UGG Boots look. In the same way no future generation will probably appreciate a traditional solid oak stairs and balustrade in the same way as my parents and their peers.

The other strange thing is how literally every trend goes out of fashion but is re-invented after 10, 20 or more years. Victorian wallpapers had a comeback in the early 2000s and were updated with metallic finishes or velvets in deep purple and black. Baroque mirrors seemed to go perfectly with this look in the same way as some black and white features that reminded of the 80's. Some resurgences are quite surprising and unforeseeable. For example, who would have thought that the brown and orange cord fabric or circular patterned wallpaper from the 70's would ever look right in an interior again? I for my part truly believed the 80's hairstyles would have gone forever when they made a comeback sometime around 2005. This makes me wonder with some apprehension if we are going to see coloured sanitary ware again sometime soon?

What I think we can learn from this is that we should not judge an interior too fast and consider that it may have been really stylish at the time it was put together. It is probably also a good idea to halt for a minute before throwing out that dated lampshade we got from an older family member as it might actually become en-vogue soon enough.

The fashion industry and every industry related to our consumerist world needs trends to keep us shopping and re-decorating. We as consumers accept this and enjoy updating our wardrobes and homes once in a while. Isn't it refreshing to buy a new vase and some napkins in a trendy colour and enjoy a new dining experience? We should probably pause for a minute before buying the high gloss orange kitchen which looks so funky at the moment and ask ourselves how long we will love it before it looks dated. It is surely more reasonable to choose items that can be easily replaced when following trends, like cushions, lamp shades, tea towels, rugs or bed linen. Of course we need to make big decisions at some stage, particularly when moving into a new home. Unless we go for a classic or traditional look we will have to make a statement in some way. I for my part would probably buy the big yellow sofa and paint my walls a deep teal if buying a house right now.

And if it is done right someone might visit me in the future and will hopefully think: this is a real 2010s interior!

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Written by: Olga Revollo-Schmidt (Senior Tutor)

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