Color trends, the over-kill of a color
The New York Times recently published an article about Pantone's 2008 Color of the Year, and it's skepticism is quite refreshing, I have to say.
Remember the gold, olive, and orange of the 70's? It took 30 years for variations of those colors to circulate back into our palettes without people running, screaming in the other direction. Or take mauve, turquoise and grey from the 80's. I bet we'll see some of that coming back...eventually. The colors in of themselves aren't terrible, it's their over-use that seals their doom.
My take on trends is this: manufacturers like them because they help push a product by giving it a new life. You might already have 2 perfectly good carrot peelers in your kitchen. But now, you can have one in this fantastic new shade of purple! Trends add a sense of timeliness to things. With styles coming and going as quickly as they do, the fashion industry is highly suceptible to the folies of color trends.
"Because consumer tastes and values are under a variety of influences — economic, environmental, global — anointing one color isn’t all that meaningful," the article argues.
I once attended a talk given to a room full of interior designers by a color forecaster. The biggest question in the room was, "What's the hot new color?", followed closely by "Is green the new black?"
I shy away from trends, instead, preferring to take each product, interior, or brand on a case by case basis. After all, how can any one limited palette of colors solve every solution? The biggest issue I see lately is how companies will learn to define themselves as "green" in creative ways that use something other than the color green to denote their environmental consciousness. Eventually, the backlash of that over-use will kill the effectiveness of their approach.What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree or disagree? I'd love to know what you think!
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7 comments:
It always kills me when i see something like a huge mixmaster at williams sonoma in a trendy colour. how dated will it look when hunter green is not the next new thing.
Seriously! or what about a major appliance, like a dishwasher or a fridge? I know it's hot now, but if a color is too "out-there", there's a strong chance it will date itself really quickly...
It is rather funny. It's also interesting to watch how the hot colours cycle: first in advertising, then in appliances and fashion and carrot peelers, then to homes...
Some trends do a good job of re-introducing a neglected colour or tone. It's when things get overdone that it becomes laughable, then annoying. Like you, I prefer to just work on a case-by-case basis and choosing what works for me, not by what's hip at the moment. My attitude is, "if it looks beautiful, it's hip."
Of course some people are longtime fans of certain colours; for instance, I've always loved red, sage, pale lime-y greens, and turquoise. Only by chance have those colours come 'round again in popularity, so it looks like I'm with the trends now and in a few years I'm sure some well-meaning person will say, "ohhhhh, your kitchen is so outdated!" That's fine. I'll still love it, and that's the point.
i couldn't agree with you more, Jen. If it's a color i really like, then i'll scoop items up. and it might get me to take a second look at a color that has been out of the limelight for a while, but i won't purchase something specifically because it's "hot" at the moment. i dance to my own beat :-)
Lately I find that I'm not as intrigued by the "it" colors of each year. I may buy a dress or a blouse in that "it" blue shade, but nothing for my home. Instead, I find myself paying more attention to hardware and accents. Brushed nickle and stainless steel have been popular for so long that it's ubiquitous. I am now soooooo sick of stainless steel appliances! I predict a huge backlash against that look in the coming years. I'm not sure what will replace stainless steel in appliances. But when it comes to door knobs, light fixtures, and the like, I think that cast iron is growing. We shall see!
As a designer I notice that it's more difficult to find textiles that aren't trendy. I'm really getting sick of sage green and khaki.
it's like radios playing the same popular songs over and over again until you simply don't want to hear that song for about 100 years. Why not keep older songs in rotation, and give us some variety! Do marketers think we can't handle too many options?
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