It's the 40th anniversary of the summer of love and that's triggered a nostalgic interest in the printed patterns from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.

Trend watchers see colors ranging from lilac mauve to cool olive in 2009, with purple most prevalent, and patterns varying from groovy psychedelic to crisp country. Metallics and neutrals are still in, but soft contemporary is out, and "Love That Pink" is a new banner color.

During her Trendwatch Live! seminar at Winter 2008 Las Vegas Market, Michelle Lamb examined emerging trends in the fashion and furniture worlds. Lamb, co-founder and chairman of Marketing Directions, Inc., senior editor of The Trend Curve and contributor to Accessory Merchandising, incorporated many colorful images into her presentation—some were up-to-the minute photographs from the Winter 2008 Las Vegas Market—which showed both runway fashions and home décor.

"Our palette in 2009 represents a turning point for color," said Lamb. "It makes a bold statement and says, ‘Look at me!'"

Color

Lamb highlighted six color palettes and noted the returning importance of the color purple.

Porcelain Pales: "Even though these are the palest of the 2009 forecast, they are still much more saturated than any pastels we've seen in five years," said Lamb, adding that one of the most significant pale colors will be lemon mist.

"Lemon mist is influenced deeply by grey and green, so it's a little bit edgy and a little bit complex at the same time. That's an unusual combination that's going to make this color one of the most popular in the 2009 forecast."

Natural Mid-values "prove that complex colors are not necessarily sleepy ones," said Lamb. These colors include washed denim that will have "undertones of red" as well as lilac mauve.

"Lilac mauve is opening the door for us to country themes. If you and I are together and talk six months from now, 12 months from now, I can assure you that the word ‘country' will come up more than once."

Mythological Mid-values are lavish and richly saturated. "Each one of these looks like it could be an historic version of some centuries old color," said Lamb.

Tranquil Deeps are the most saturated range of colors in the 2009 forecast. "Cool olive leans towards country green," said Lamb of one of these deep colors. "This is a tone that allows it to partner with navy and crimson red in a nod to retro-80's combinations that does not necessarily mean that we will repeat 1980s patterns."

Primary School, provides "contrasting energy." One of these colors, laser lime, has a variety of uses. "Regardless of the hue, the value or the saturation, there are few colors that cannot be paired with this tangy green," said Lamb. "Think about using it anytime you need to give color a lift."

"Glossy Brights are the most flamboyant palette," said Lamb. "A palette that suggests neons without the extreme intensity." The pink in this palette, Love That Pink, is "as clear and specific a color as you can get." Lamb calls it the standard-bearer of the color group.

"There is plenty of variety in the six palettes that we forecast for 2009," she said. "All of them will be required because of the diversity of trends in the forecast." The most important color of the upcoming season: purple. "We've seen purple before: in 1999 anything purple was hot," she said. "A decade later, purple is coming back again. This time on the red side rather than on the blue side, and with much more appeal."

Lamb expects red and blue to be important colors in the next 30 months, but throughout that time, purple will reign supreme. "Purple stands at the convergences of these blue and red families," she said. "It's going to act first as a bridge between blue and red and ultimately will replace both of them."

Lamb expects purple to be seen in all hues, from pale to saturated; and in all walks of life. The color will range from casual and relaxed to the most luxurious of shades.

Metals

"Metals have been part of the fabric of mankind's history since time began," said Lamb. "They are now being translated into modern metallic finishes and textures with high energy and lots of visual excitement."

Metallics will be especially important in 2009, since neutrals will be so dominant. "As neutrals take on a broader role than they have in years, touching them with any sort of metallic makes them feel modern and fresh," said Lamb.

The newest metal trends include:
• Platinum: providing a cool alternative as basic silver declines.
• Dark silver: the newest trend—think pewter.
• Gold: not going away; focus on rose golds and copper.
• Colorful Metallics: allowing for unexpected, spontaneous, high-tech hues.

Pattern

While patterns have been back in vogue since 2004, they are constantly being updated and reinvented. "Now one way in which newness is achieved is in layering slender silhouettes in contrasting values and uneven positions as though they're out of register," said Lamb. "So that it feels like one design is advancing before the other."

Other ways to update patterns include using:
• Two styles, especially classic and contemporary, in one piece.
• Distinctive materials, such as foil, and tactile components to make the layer feel interlaced.
• Tiny, country patterns that include patchwork and calico.
• Optic patterns that are very contemporary and make it difficult for the eye to hold still.
• Embellishments that are beginning to cluster and layer upon each other.

"This is just the beginning of the new face of innovation and a new approach to pattern achieved through smaller scale and complicated embellishment," said Lamb.

Styles

The revival of the traditional style, which is fresh again because of "updates like intense color, unexpected materials, metallic highlights and simplified silhouettes," has led to the updating of the contemporary style.

"Soft contemporary feels dated now," said Lamb. "What feels new is crisper and more angular. A style we call Graphic Arts."

The trend has a feeling of linearity and tends to use lots of hard-edges, angles and facets. "There are lines, squares, rectangles and concentric circles, again with clean lines," said Lamb. "Color blocking is a key aspect of the style. You get bright colors playing off of black very often."

The fabrics in this Graphic Arts style "look simple even though they may not be," and the style frequently utilizes large fields of a single color.

"We think Graphic Arts' minimally decorative style will be embedded in the psyche of décor well into 2011," said Lamb.

The other style Lamb talked about is a psychedelic throwback which she called Feelin' Groovy.

"It's the 40th anniversary of the summer of love and that's triggered a nostalgic interest in the printed patterns from the late 1960s to the early 1970s," she said. "Some of the colors are so bright as to suggest a return to the neon accents of the Glossy Brights palette we talked about earlier."

This groovy style will also include psychedelic patterns, which "form the leading edge of Feelin' Groovy designs" and are already being seen in dinnerware and jewelry. "They're bold yet organic; they're fluid designs that crowd in upon themselves," said Lamb.

This style will also include:
• Paisleys in swirling spirals.
• Posy inspired flowers.
• Mini-print florals.
• Pop art and robots.

"We're seeing a lot of collages and blocky robots harkening back to a mid-century feel of the future," said Lamb. "What makes them compelling is the unexpected circumstances in which they often appear."

Connecting the fashion and the furniture industry together, Lamb said, "While Feelin' Groovy is in the earliest stages of emerging, it's important to know that the same trend is coming to light for apparel targeted to men, women and children," she said. "So when it does come into its own for home décor, it will already have a substantial foundation laid for it."