Currently in the middle of:
Alton Locke, by Charles Kingsley
10 Philosophical Mistakes, by Mortimer J. Adler (I'm only up to the third mistake so far)
Plutarch's Coriolanus
Shakespeare's Coriolanus
The July/August issue of House Beautiful, which Ponytails and I amused ourselves with one evening by comparing it with a flyer from a local bed-and-bath store. (House Beautiful itself isn't all that expensive, which surprises me. Some of the vintagey decorating magazines cost twice as much, which is why I hardly ever buy them new.) It's surprising how many of the same colours and patterns trickle down from the Billy-Baldwin-quoting decorators to...er...the rest of us.
One example: this rug. It's between $50 and $400, depending on size, which isn't yard-sale price but isn't exactly designer either, right? About average for new stuff. Anyway, take a good look at the colours, the pattern, the size of the pattern. Then flip through a current decorating magazine or fashion magazine, or a sale catalogue, and see where the same colours and patterns pop up again. Might be a dress, a shower curtain, wallpaper. I'm wondering what that does to our minds, having certain images (that most of us don't even notice) thrust at us from so many directions. Do we eventually start dreaming in "splashes of red against a deep black and rich browns?"
2 comments:
My daughter has her BA in Interior Design. She said there are a couple famous design companies who decide "what color to go with" each year.
You are right, it is seen throughout all of fashion, furniture, housewares, etc.
I had asked her after hearing on a TV show that the color for the year was to be an aquamarine-teal. I also wonder how many people follow those trends?
Hi Brenda! I don't know how many people consciously pay attention to the trends. I wonder if some of it is just inevitable--if the big store only has three colours of shower curtains this year, and that's where you're shopping, you're going to end up with one of the three.
I've been frustrated by that sometimes when what I wanted had nothing to do with decorator colours. I remember looking for pink and purple candles to use for Advent, and all the store had was trendy-coloured candles.
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