Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Soaring 60's Styles are starting to emerge!

This will be our High Point wrap up. Gray scale showrooms still dominate the labyrinth of halls. Flour Sack pillows and upholstery, destination signs and calligraphy patterns saturate the city. Accessories I might have gravitated towards in shops, now fatigue me. I remember one market where it seemed like every showroom had identical majolica fish pitchers. I loved the first one I saw, yet after the 1,000th, I had to turn away.


Don't get me wrong. I have enjoyed this trend and think its useful in small doses, but after you've followed the herd for a couple of hours, you feel like the sled dog at the end of the pack. We felt like the lost Dorothy in the black and white world,  when we wandered towards color.


Hail Britannia, is a theme I'm still enjoying. I love to mix a bit of tongue in cheek throughout the house. 


We followed this candy strewn path. And found ourselves back in the devil may care 60's, on the other side of the rainbow. 


Hello Lilly Pulitzer! HF Brands and Lee Jofa brought us a soaring 60's visual break from recession griege. 


I was looking for this guy!


Over 200 pieces comprise this retro collection of mid-century lacquer and painted furniture. Granted, I don't want a house, or even an entire room in Lilly Pulitzer, but there are wonderful pieces that would work anywhere.


This shade of blue is all over town. 


We are seeing inlay and marquetry in bright 60's shades. If you think its just me, look at this chic new space in London. 


This is the new 5th Floor bar at Harvey Nichols flagship store in London. It was inspired by  Emile Gallé's iconic 1902 anemone design for the Cuvée Belle Époque Champagne bottle. 


I see the motif on the ceiling, but the pink and green is pure Palm Beach.


Paul Smith Rug


There's that shade of blue again. Bold swirly graphics are every where. 


Bold ethnic prints have been the mainstay at Quadrille. 


Vintage ethnic clothing was a fantastic new addition within the new antiques center.  This is a traditional Afghan woman's tunic, representing centuries of textile work that is sadly becoming a thing of the past, now that the Taliban has mandated the Burka!


These fabulous traditional costumes could have come from the pages of a Look Magazine trend report. I hope we are in for a light hearted, revival of all things creative, rather than a faint stab at a trend prediction. Speaking of trend predictions, I'll leave you with a humorous quote: 

"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out." - Decca executive, 1962, after turning down the Beatles.


Robert Indiana
Sending Love to all our wonderful readers, followers and commenters. We love each and every visit!

22 comments:

  1. Liv!!! You are singing my song. I have a post started about lack of color in our designs in the USA! I am so glad to see this post. I hope you don't mind but I am going to refer my readers to this when I do my post, I will let you know when it is up!! Thankyou, thankyou for all this cheery wonderfulness!!! Kathysue

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  2. Um. Union Jack dresser? TO DIE FOR!

    Thanks for letting me enjoy the market vicariously through you Liz.

    Leigha

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  3. OK...we're all on the same page. I never tread too deeply in the sadness of gray and bleached wood...have always gravitated to color. I'm not surprised that you and Kathy Sue agree with me....we're sisters separated at birth anyway!

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  4. I have a feeling color, brightness and interestingly happy design is most definitely in our future! It's to bad that beautiful trends are so over done...but I suppose that's what makes them trends. I hope that the old and the new will be able to happily coexist together and be able to share. Wonderful post!

    And dear Liz, thank you for your truly beautiful and heartfelt comment...I got a little teary. xo J~

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  5. Liz, love the colors, the blue, the corals, the inlay!!

    Xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  6. Liz - what fun!!! I adore the Britannia chest and surprisingly LOVE the Lily Pulitzer things - you're right - go anywhere pieces. After a few too many seasons of the greige Restoration Hardware tonality, the color was a welcome relief. Looks great!

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  7. Liz - we at oomph are thrilled you have recognized color as the new trend to pull us out of the recession grays! Thank you for highlighting this happy path. We look forward to seeing more of it because as everyone knows - you can always use a little oomph in your life!

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  8. Wow. I could use some of those pretty bright colors. Great post!

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  9. Yes, I'm pretty tired of grain sacks and grayness--but still love gray when it's not fad-based. Hopefully "industrial" will be waning soon. Beautiful saturated colors and non-bruising furniture make me happy.

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  10. You're saying what so many of us are thinking. While the whole gray thing is lovely, I think I'd be depressed living in it full-time.

    Thanks for the insights and the tour...love the union jack dresser.

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  11. Great post... loving all the color!!

    E+J

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  12. What a great wrap-up! So happy that color is back in a big way - even if I would only do pops of Lily here and there... Next time, we'll join you!

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  13. I never considered that those
    of you in the design business
    get to experience the trends
    loooong before the rest of us
    and might also grow weary of them
    loooong before the rest of us!
    This is probably a good testament
    to the adage of sticking with
    what you love, not what trends
    dictate! I just ordered some
    fabric to recover my ottoman and
    make a pillow and I'm relieved
    to see that they contain colors
    that are "coming up" in the
    showroom. I used to avoid the
    60's and 70's but everything old
    is new again...That's my story
    and I'm sticking to it : ) Fun
    post....Happy Friday, Liz!
    xx Suzanne

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  14. Thank you....Thank You...COLOR!!!! FINALLY!!! and being the anglophile that I am..I can never resist a bit o' brit......This is the best post of the week...Thanks..K

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  15. Great, great read! I'm such a color girl, so it all pops off the page and translates nicely for me. I love a wildly painted dresser and these are all great testimonies as to why :) I always love your recaps and rundowns. Looks like it was a total score! XOXO

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  16. I love your slant on colour, it's exactly where it's going, your photos are fabulous!!
    x
    Maria

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  17. OMILORD!

    TREND ALERT!

    AVOID ALL TRENDS! MY MANTRA FOR 40 years!

    So glad to discover you on Velvet and Linen......I was lucky enough to be a subject! YIKES!!!!

    Now you are on my radar!

    Penelope

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  18. I really love pops of color and these photos are full of them! I really love the vine embellished dresser. gorgeous!

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  19. those stuffs are nice..keep it up and keep on posting..

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  20. Agreed. even this gray lover says our eyes need a little change up every so often. and I so agree that a little of what we love, whether it's gray or color, goes a long way.

    great post. I especially enjoyed the look at the vintage ethnic costumes. lovely...

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  21. What fun! How did I miss this post? Loving all the color...of course here on the border of Fairfield, Ct. pinks and greens and copious amounts of color have never really left the scene! :)

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