BackTrend Report Fall/Winter 2017: Unearthed
For decades, we’ve relied on the outdoors for inspiration in décor, dining, fashion, and fragrance. Classic fragrances like lavender have been used to perfume both bodies and environments for hundreds, if not thousands of years. But everything evolves.
Fragrance fashion has meandered through phases that prized created aromas – championing technological advances rather than natural smells. Other periods have favored old-fashioned natural inspiration for nostalgic appeal.
And Fall/Winter 2017 trends shift in a delightful, thoroughly modern direction, looking to an earthy fusion of technology and the outdoors, finding unexpected ways to bring the outdoors inside.
Outdoors Reimagined
In both fashion and home décor, we see ample evidence of the Unearthed trend. When it comes to gemstone jewelry, raw, uncut stones are hot. Boulder, Colorado-based Todd Reed is making waves with his handmade jewelry that fuses luxurious settings with uncut gems and faceted stones alike. Reed’s creations combine unexpected angles and materials, conjuring images of unexpected natural beauty in each piece of wearable art.
Likewise in home design and décor, we discover a focus on sustainability both in structure and in choice of materials. A green space on the roof isn’t just found in a metro area anymore. And homes with clean, modern lines may be brimming with earthy planters dedicated to microgreens for salads or plants that filter natural light and reduce electricity consumption.
LAFCO’s chic fragrance diffuser filled with the scent Meditation Room is a wonderful combination of bright, clean citrus and mint, grounded with earthy notes of basil, star anise, and ginger root. The elegant lines of the reed diffuser are the perfect vessel for the fragrance that helps reimagine the outdoors.
Dining Al Fresco
The local and farm-to-table trend in food continues to evolve as we explore the Unearthed trend. The Click and Grow Smart Garden is the perfect example. Consumers order all-in-one gardening kits that bring the outdoors inside. Complete with integrated LED lighting, the kits let even those who can’t boast about their green thumbs benefit from growing their own food.
We also find a focus on wild ingredients rather than cultivated ones. Whether it’s tender lettuce from a community field, wild strawberries, or foraged herbs, the Unearthed trend is both an experience and an attempt to enhance a meal with ingredients that are less predictable. In addition, we see flavors and techniques from traditional outdoor cooking begin to infiltrate indoor spaces. From s’mores to indoor grills, we’re looking for ways to conjure the outdoors, even if we’re inside a modern space.
The Smell of the Wild
While woodsy, earthy aromas have infused fragrances for generations, the Unearthed trend goes even a step further. While we can still uncover wood, herbs, and musk, we also find unexpected notes of mud, smoky ash, moss, and ozone. Even if they’re packaged in sleek, modern bottles, Unearthed fragrances are unabashedly outdoorsy.
Kat Von D’s Sinner is an Unearthed classic. Though there are polished, fruity notes of plum and mandarin, undergirding the fragrance is the rootsy foundation of cinnamon, wood, and patchouli. The fragrance is part raw natural energy and part polished seduction.
For gentlemen, Amouage launched Figment Man, a heady blend of sandalwood, vetiver, animalic accord, and guaiac wood. The result is a bold, unapologetic acknowledgment of our primal roots.
The Raw Ethos
One of the delightful aspects of the Unearthed trend is the ability to recognize beauty in untamed, unadulterated natural forms. Gems don’t have to be polished and faceted to be lovely. Greenery needn’t be contained and trained. Something functional can be lovely simply because it has a function. Unearthed is a fragrance trend that doesn’t require us to gild a perfectly lovely lily.
