NY Fashion Week’s Emerging Trends - Will Home Décor Trends Follow?

NY’s Fashion Week is in full swing. During this twice annual blitz, fashion houses attempt to dazzle the elite and pen-carrying influencers of the fashion retail world. Some will use their mighty pen to write the next big order for Neimans or Nordstroms, while others will use theirs to write the next fashion forecast for Vogue or the Wall Street Journal.  While fashionistas are watching to see what will show up on a sales floor or Joan Rivers’ next fashion roast, interior design influencers are equally glued to this important fashion week.
 
Whenever there is a key fashion week anywhere in the world, design interest usually spikes for both fashion and home.  These two worlds have been joined at the hip for a few centuries.  The key difference is that fashion trends orbit at a faster rotation, while home décor spins on a larger, slower wheel.  Historically fashion pushed interior design trend movement, but with the lightning speed of information today, insiders now see interior design shows influencing fashion as well.   
 
Here are some early emerging trends spotted already from the current NY Fashion Week that interior decorating and design enthusiasts can expect to see crop up in their favorite room photos on HOUZZ, in decorating magazine and blogs, if not in their neighbor’s living room.   
 
Oxblood Red shows itself for women and men’s fashion.  According to leading design consumer advocate Donna Hoffman, founder of The Interior Design Advocate™, red has taken a sharp turn from the sweet side.  Could this mean the eventual return of burgundy?  Hoffman says it’s not unlikely. “For now, look for oxblood red to show up in home accents within the next 18-20 months.  Farrow & Ball’s Bamboo wallpaper is a great example of the color we are talking about here. From gourd lamps to upholstery, to garden stools to table top, expect red to go deeper and moodier.”
 
Lace continues and turns into chainmail    The continuing lace trend in fashion is morphing into a larger version of itself: chainmail. Hoffman expects to see more chain link inspired graphics in home fabrics and area rugs, leveraging the continued interest in graphic patterns for home.  Hoffman adds, “Interestingly, here in the interior design world we’ve been seeing the return of metal accents in furnishings for about 3 years.  Given the recent wares at the Furniture Market in Las Vegas in combination with this fashion week, we could start to see some chain link flourishes on furniture legs and light fixtures.”
 
Shearlings, leopards, furs and feathers.  From Jason Wu to BCBG Max Azria, fur handbags and shearling panels on coats splashed onto the NY Fashion Week scene.  For Hoffman, this trend is part of the continued desire for soothing textures in today’s techno world.  “For home, we expect to continue to see fur as accent pillows and throws,”  Hoffman adds, “The shearling rugs and pillows from Bowron are a great choice for the true-fluff-lover.”  Fur and animal print are less new story in interior design than they are a go-to-classic with staying power according to Hoffman.
 
Hoffman, who recently published a special report called “The Top Ten Ways Design Consumers Waste Big Money,” cautions that the dangers of design trends are twofold. “Decorating consumers get skittish as new trends emerge. The common fear is that you’ll waste tens of thousands of dollars on that just redone living room because it will be “wrong” by next week. But to be a smart design consumer it’s imperative  to understand how new a trend is, where to use it and when to let it pass.  As a general rule, keep trends on lower cost, changeable items vs. bigger ticket investment items for home.”
 
Donna Hoffman is one of the country’s leading design consumer advocates and founder of the website, www.theinteriordesignadvocate.com, a consumer advocacy website where she provides a free report “The 10 Ten Ways Design Consumers Waste Big Money”. A former QVC show host and multi-award winning interior designer today, she is on a mission to help people stop wasting money when furnishing or designing their home by offering clear strategies for finding the right furnishings, professionals, services or design tactics.

Contact Information

Alison Oxman

Marketing Director

The Interior Design Advocate

(1) 973-378-5544

alioxman@optonline.net