Hello Yellow!

Spring has sprung, the sun is shining and summer is just a hop, skip, and a jump away!  With this, we are seeing all the fabulous bright colors blooming in flowers, fashion, décor, and wedding/event design.  One of these hot colors, yellow, is being paired with anything from black and white to mint greens and peony pinks. In fact, Lemon Zest was recently announced as one of the top 10 Spring/Summer 2013 color trends by Pantone!

“How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun,” (Vincent van Gogh)

The color psychology of yellow brings hope, happiness and fun into our lives. It is an uplifting color that illuminates, stimulating our mental faculties ~ it is the color of new ideas. Yellow is optimistic, cheerful, and enthusiastic and can awaken confidence and creativity. It is welcoming, warm, and cheerful…a dynamic color that is perfect to highlight and accessorize, whether it is fashion, home décor, or a wedding or special event. However, ‘highlight’ is the key word! Yellow vibrates and is fast moving so using too much yellow in a design palette can potentially cause agitation or stress so keep your target audience in mind when planning an upcoming event utilizing the color yellow.

Yellow is a color that is highly visible and eye-catching. Think about it…fast food chain signs, caution signs, yellow street lights, taxi cabs, school buses, heavy construction equipment, pedestrian crosswalk signs, and retail sales signs are bright yellow.

It stimulates mental activity and grabs our attention! So, no matter where you decide to incorporate this color keep this in mind when planning your wardrobe, home décor or next event or wedding.

When planning a wedding, opt to accessorize with the color yellow. It is such a hot trend but make sure not to overindulge! Brides are incorporating this color into their floral arrangements, invitations, and wedding cakes. “When choosing table coverings, use a base color like white, silver, or grey and coordinate with yellow runners, napkins, and/or sashes in a solid or geometric print like Chevron,” says Kate Patay, Creative Coverings’ Executive Director of Sales & Marketing. Other colors that are being paired with yellow are black, mint green, shades of pink and bright royal blue! Colorful shoes are on-trend as well, so brides and bridesmaids can pop the color yellow into their shoes and bouquets.

From light canary yellow to bright yellow and mustard, this is a fabulous color to highlight any event! Not only will it brighten the ambience, but uplift the spirits of all guests in attendance.

Click here to watch our latest video about this hot color, as well as current fabric and decor trends!

Go Green!

As most of you may already know, Emerald green was recently announced as Pantone’s 2013 Color of the Year.  This color is trending in fashion, home décor and event design! Not only are we seeing this color in linens, florals, cakes, and invitations, but the connotation of the word ‘green’ is being used in the overall theme and execution of weddings and special events too!

The color green is associated with nature, the environment, health, growth and prosperity. It is also an eco-chic term used today to represent sustainability or environmentally-friendly practices. Whether you are an event planner, a bride, or personally eco-conscious, there are several trends moving forward to Go Green!

A healthy lifestyle seems to be one of the biggest trends these days. After a few tough economical years there seems to be a rise in gym memberships, new types of fitness clubs and competitions, and overall health and wellness! More and more people are interested in “clean” eating, removing Gluten from their diets, and opting for more “natural” ingredients in their daily menus. With this shift, caterers, restaurants and venues are becoming more aware of this need and providing healthier options for their clientele. And, it is “cool” to buy-local so seasonal fruits and vegetables are being sourced through local farmers or food coops. Some local farmers are even available to the public! To find farmers, farmer’s markets and food coops visit www.localharvest.org.

Brides are going green by opting for natural products, like bamboo for their invites, and printed cotton fabrics, burlap, or lace for their table coverings. They are using stylishly recyclable and compostable dinnerware too, such as VerTerra! "VerTerra is proud to be among a new wave of products being developed that are not only eco-authentic, but beautiful and functional as well," says C.O.O. Joshua Parker! Brides are choosing potpourri, seeds or teas as favors, or even charitable contributions; and, opting to donate leftover food to local homeless shelters or senior care centers. We are also seeing a rise in “green” building design so many event venues have been LEED certified, meaning they follow strict environmental laws and regulations, are energy-efficient and maintain overall “green” operations and maintenance solutions. There are blogs dedicated to creating “green” weddings and events as well. Check out www.greenbrideguide.com and www.bebrilliantlygreen.com (launching on April 22 - just in time for Earth Day)!

Creative Coverings knows the importance of sustainability and has implemented several “green” practices to help reduce its carbon footprint ‘one table cloth at a time'!  "We are thrilled to help reduce our impact on the environment," says Kate Patay, Executive Director of Sales & Marketing, "and pleased we can give our clients the comfort of knowing they are renting from a company who believes in sustainable business practices." Click here to read about our various eco-chic business solutions!

Runway to Table Top

Why Fashion & Color Trends are Important to the Event Professional

What will you do when your next client asks you to design their wedding or special event around the “Pantone color of the year,” or how will you respond when they ask you to plan their theme around the 2013 spring fashion trends? Will you be prepared for these questions and have the tools in place to mix and match color palettes; and, will you know what prints, textures and fabrics are trending to design amazing tablescapes?  If you are an event professional it is not only important to follow trends in fashion for your personal wardrobe but to understand what is trending forward months in advance so that you can dress your next event in style, and impress! There are a LOT of fashionistas out there who are looking to you to create an event that is entertaining and fashion-forward!

Pantone

Knowing was Pantone is and how to follow the seasonal color trends will prepare you months in advance, especially if you have clients contacting you a year before their event.  Pantone is the leading authority on color for design industries, best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS).  Fashion and interior designers, graphic designers, and florists, for example, follow the Pantone color system to match color swatches, as well as, use Pantone to check-in on what is trending from season to season.  Event professionals should be utilizing this tool as well so that they can inform their clients and potentially incorporate one or more of these color trends into their overall design theme.

Every year, Pantone declares a “Color of the Year.” This particular color is actually thought out over a year in advance by representatives from various nations who meet twice a year to present and debate on what this color is going to be. The color ultimately connects to the spirit of the time, or “Zeitgeist”, so-to-say. It truly represents what is going on culturally and economically in the world. When Pantone announced the 2012 color of the year, Tangerine Tango, the reasoning was that this color “provided the energy boost we needed to recharge and move forward.” This year’s color of the year, Emerald, was chosen because its “vivid, verdant green, enhances our sense of well-being further by inspiring insight, as well as promoting balance and harmony.” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute says, “green is the most abundant hue in nature and symbolically, Emerald brings a sense of clarity, renewal and rejuvenation, which is so important in today’s complex world.”

The color of the year is announced annually in early December; however, Pantone also announces several seasonal color trends for Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer about six months prior to the actual seasons. These colors, along with a full fashion report can be found on www.pantone.com and generally announced at the same time as New York Fashion Week (early September for Spring trends; early February for Fall trends).

Fashion

Simply stated, fashion dictates the trends that will follow in home décor and ultimately event and wedding décor!  And, you as event professionals can start monitoring these trends early on, way before they hit the event world.  Not only can you watch the runway shows six months prior to the actual season, but if you want to find out, for example, what is trending in textiles and colors for 2014, www.lenzing.com is a great tool.

Generally though, following runway shows and color trends six months before the season hits will actually give you almost a year’s advance notice if you have a bride, for example, who is getting married that following summer.  “Knowing how to compliment the color of the year or any of the various trending colors into their overall color palette can really help an event planner excel in their business,” says Kate Kovalick Patay, Creative Coverings Executive Director of Sales & Marketing.

Also, following the runway shows through websites like www.style.com or consistently perusing magazines like InStyle or Vogue will give you insight into the color, textile, and print trends forthcoming, as well as how they will all coordinate together. In 2013 we are going to see anything from eclectic to glam…bold contemporary prints, knitted textures, polished raw materials, printed denim and lots of layering! Knowing these trends will get you ready for the year ahead and moving into the following.

Creating Color Palettes

Finally, how do you take the color and fashion trends and marry them into a dynamic design that is aesthetically and psychologically pleasing for your client and their guests?  Knowing the psychology of colors is important when creating color palettes.  “The chief function of color should be to serve expression,” said Henri Matisse, the famed French painter.  Individual colors can evoke certain emotions, especially with regards to cultural traditions.  Considering who is giving the event, the type of event and the guest profile is important when creating color-scapes into your design theme.

This year’s color of the year, Emerald, is green, meaning life. This color is abundant in nature and is symbolic of health and tranquility. It creates balance, harmony and stability. When mixed with blues it can create a sense of nature, new beginnings and growth. If it is mixed with browns it makes for a more organic feeling. At the opposite spectrum combining green and purple can transform a mood into a more lively feeling.

You can really impress your client by knowing the hot color trends but also creating various color palettes depending on their interests. Some of the resources available to you are www.theperfectpaletteblog.com where you can click one color to find several color combinations that work; www.stylemepretty.com, www.mypersonalartist.com/blog and www.pinterest.com are also great tools for researching color and trend ideas.

Knowing the color and textile trends will help you educate your clients so that they can impress their guests with fashion-forward style. When your next bride says she wants to use her favorite color, purple, in her wedding décor, don’t be shy - impress her with your trendsetting knowledge of this coming season’s hot color and fabric combinations! Give her ideas to coordinate her favorite color with complimentary trending colors.

Spring 2013 Color Trends

Spring 2013 will be a time for re-energizing, and with that the color theme is calling for a balancing act!

Brilliant brights will be mixed with neutrals to create harmonious color palettes moving into the next season!