You know Autumn is arriving when all the newstands get stacked thick with magazines crammed with Fashion Ads. Even Vanity Fair, one of my favourite escape ‘zines, is brimming with the latest and greatest (or not) in Fashion. Above is a page from the spread for Tommy Hilfiger, and below is an exquisite Hermes ad. LOVE!

Above is a pic from Banana Republic. BR was a fashion staple of mine back when I wasn’t quite ready to develop my own style, and I could rely on their Garanimal guidance to steer me right without my ever having to give it a thought. Now I pay more attention… at least enough to call Banana Republic boring! Golly, if they’re reading this they’re going to roll their eyes, but then they never saw me in my red jeans, hip sneakers, blue chambray shirt and bespoke cream linen French jacket this summer, did they? Ha!

Plus there’s FanFair in Vanity Fair which spells out the trends in Men’s attire. The instant themes that you’ll see this Autumn from multiple purveyors of taste and style are the arrival of the jaunty cap, and an abundance of burgundy, tweedish textures and dark charcoals. The fashion blogs are all raving about the pairing of black with midnight blue, and touting burgundy as the new black. Phew! Looks like I can dig out those circa80s burgundy suede shoes I used to pair with a matching burgundy blazer and thin grey leather tie (accompanied by my Flock Of Seagull’s hair with distinct blue-dyed stripe!). Yes, as you’ve read here in the past, fashion is cycling round to the 80s again, albeit in a newly interpreted way.

I’m wondering if that means Glass Block will explode back onto the residential renovation market like it did in the 1980s? My early renovations used it sparingly, in part due to the expense. I once used glass block to create a ‘backsplash window’ between a kitchen and dining room in a South Riverdale house I renovated in 1986. Argh! I thought I was all that in my style file. And perhaps I was, last century!

And yet the memory makes me shudder, wince and wonder. As a huge fan of glass, I suppose if it was reinterpreted with a 2012 twist you might sell me on it.

However, please don’t make it look like this! I will have to shoot myself.

I’ve long touted a correlation between Fashion and Housing. And I hear it every day. Today’s Buyers often contemplate ripping out a fully-serviceable ten-year-old kitchen because it’s deemed way too ‘2000s’. No one seems to like the shaker natural maple cabinets that were all the rage ten years ago (quick and inexpensive solution –> spray paint them lacquer), and Buyers scoff if a washroom lacks a body spray or a rainshower head. We’re fashion fickle when it comes to housing these days.

So what does Fall Fashion forecast for residential housing? According to the photos here we’re hiking straight into Rustic Chic, where we can begin to cocoon from all the bad news (Euro crisis, food shortages, the Kardashians), and hibernate in comfortable luxe surroundings drinking scotch next to a roaring fire, slumbering under cashmere blankets, ensconced in furnishings infused with a warmer colour palette, amidst barn plank flooring. And a pop of white of course. We’ll call it Modern Hunting Lodge.

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Am I right?

~ Steven

*Photos are from the ad campaigns of Tommy Hilfiger, Hermes, Banana Republic and the Fanfair Section of September’s 2012 Vanity Fair. Thanks for letting me post!

** Paper Mache Animal Sculptures produced in Haiti in collaboration with Aid to Artisans – from West Elm Retailer

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