It was just last Monday that I gave the keynote trend report at the Intl Textile Expo in Las Vegas, but it seems like a couple weeks ago! Going to Vegas twice in a month was a bit surreal, I must admit.

On the flight home, I made sure to get a window seat on the right side. The only thing I could have done better was book a flight for early morning or late afternoon, as I flew over the Grand Canyon. (Better shadows with the sun lower in the sky) Wearing a solid black shirt would have helped too I suppose.

I was snapping photos pretty much the whole flight – delightedly so – but the midday sun and the reflection of my lavender shirt made it difficult to capture all the detail of what I saw down below. Well there's always the NEXT trip to Vegas! Live and learn.

During my trend report for Spring 2011, I ended up talking a lot about Black and White. Solid Black and Solid White are huge trends in Fashion now and going forward into 2011, but also there are a lot of Black and White prints and yarn-dyes.

If you've ever studied or considered the mass psychology aspect of color forecasting, it might be obvious why we as a society (and the designers as our group-psyche prognosticators) are craving the simplicity and purity of Black and White. Life is just so complex these days, that it is refreshing for the eye to light on solid Black or solid White. We are also looking to escape from reality, so designers seem to be taking us back to the Seventies for our latest form of Retro-Escapism.

… and the product of all this?

Solid White-on-White pantsuits, ala 1970's, and loads of Little Black Dresses.

It's all very Audrey Hepburn…and Goldie Hawn. Not necessarily in that order!

I don't have any trouble resisting those sky high platform shoes, but reworked Seventies prints in many shades of purple are looking pretty tasty.

Fashion trends affect Home Dec trends, which are parallel to color and design trends in the quilting industry. It will be interesting to see what our industry's design studios do with this latest influence of "Modern Classics" and the Retro Seventies.