Splatter attack!

Desigual Store, Hearld Square/ NYC, Photography: Marcus Hay, Dries Van Noten, 2010 Fall Show

Anthropolgie Product, Photography: Marcus Hay, Pillow from CB2

Jackson Pollack Book, Artists Easel, both from Anthropologie, Nickelodeon logo

Apple logo, Mall of America, Photography: Marcus Hay

Brushstroke fabric, Alexander McQueen Shoes

New York City T-Shirt

Part of my job as a Stylist/ Style Director is to notice trends, sometimes you can predict them in advance, and sometimes you see one medium such as Fashion influencing Homewares a few seasons later, sometimes the other way around. Sometimes you create your own trends but many times it's a Stylist's job to announce already existing trends to the world with your own stamp or interpretation.

One that I have been noticing for a couple of months now is the splatter/ splash/ stoke trend. Maybe it's one of those things, everybody has that experience of getting a new puppy and thinking you are the only one in the world who has the cutest breed, then all of a sudden you see them everywhere, same could be said about owning a particular model of car. Like that experience, as a Stylist, you see something/ one thing and then all of a sudden it pops up anywhere and everywhere.

Like a huge brushstroke across Manhattan, my eyes have been peeled. In Herald Square, at the Spanish clothing chain, Desigual Store www.desigual.com the whole store is covered in watercolor strokes. Other corporations use paint splotches as part of their identity, Apple use it to enhance their take on creativity though their products, Alexander McQueen alexandermcqueen.com launched mens shoes last year that were fashioned with paint splotches, like someone had worn them while painting the house. The children's network Nickelodeon www.nick.com incorporate it into their logo and while at Mall of America in Minneapolis, I often walk through Nickelodeon Land where walls are decorated in the companies motif with giant splashes of color. New York tourists stores have had T-Shirts fashioned with splotches left over from the city's 1980's hey day when you could imagine Madonna wearing something similar to a club.

Other companies that have been doing product inspired by paint at the moment is CB2 cb2.com with a range of pillows and Anthropologie anthropologie.com with a great range of bowls, egg platters and even stocking used artists easels.

Of course the King of the Splotch was American painter Jackson Pollock, 1912- 1956, whose "Drip" Technique is his most famous, He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes as paint applicators. Pollock's technique of pouring and dripping paint is thought to be one of the origins of the term "action painting" 

I first saw this trend emerging at Dries Van Noten www.driesvannoten.be Fall 2010 range when it hit the runways last year, Many actress's wore these gown at the awards shows last year, including a favorite of mine Maggie Gyllenhaal.