That’s according to the New York Times, and since nostalgia seems to work in 20-year cycles, I guess anyone could have seen it coming. If, as the article says, the 90s were the sci fi thing and the Breeders, then excellent, but … what is that orange outfit! Do I not remember the 90s correctly? No matter what they were, though, anything is better than the 80s, the decade that just makes me go Reagan Thatcher Reagan Thatcher Reagan Thatcher Shoulderpads in a loop. I realize this view is unpopular. Sorry. From the NYT’s blog The Moment :

Show after show this week in London, the Y.B.D.’s were designing like it was 1995. Topshop’s Unique collection, in the hands of the stylist Katie Grand, mined the junkyard-rave aesthetic of the cult classic “Tank Girl” to mixed results. Charles Anastase’s “autobiographical” collection paid homage to the unsung icons of grunge — think the D.I.Y. style of Kelly and Kim Deal, of the alt-rock band the Breeders, and Rayanne Graff, the too-cool-for-school character played by A.J. Langer on the teen drama “My So-Called Life.” Chances are that only the hipsters who crash his shows will be savvy enough to appreciate this.

See also Aeon Flux and read this review on gawker.

This graph shows the occurrence of the terms “decor” (blue) and “interior design” (red) in The New York Times between 1984 and 2009. What happened to the word “decor”? It fell out of usage in approximately February, 2001, maybe a result of a change in editorial style policy? When we first saw this we wondered if it had to do with some sort of anti-French sentiment, decor being French in origin, but then we realized that its drop in usage came about seven months before 9-11. This was one of many surprising discoveries we made when we asked Jer Thorp to make some graphs for us. Jer, a digital artist and also man about our studio, recently wrote some software for graphing the occurrence of certain words in the newly-opened NYT text database. The NYT only recently made its entire text archive searchable online, beginning with the year 1981. Jer had made some beautiful graphs of various word occurrences, and we asked him to build some for us based on a few design-related keywords. Choosing design-related search terms is hard just because so many design terms have such broad usage, and are common to so many different fields, that a search for them doesn’t tell us much – “design,” for example, or “modern.” So we decided on some slightly more specific search terms: midcentury modern, modernism, Eames, Corbusier, retro, vintage, interior design and decor. We were just curious to see whether there would be a noticeable rise in interest in modern and modernist design, as we thought there might be, and if so, we wanted to see if it was a slow or a steep rise. Of course, the NYT is a very specific publication speaking to a relatively specific audience, and those things have to be taken into consideration when looking at these results. Note: The NYT database isn’t yet fully complete between 1981 and 1984, so we just searched 1984 onward. Tip: each bar is one month. Click on each graph to find a larger version in our Flickr. We may ask Jer to make a few more of these – any suggestions?

Above is the instance of “vintage” (the jade green) vs. “retro” (yellow-green). The near-absence of the word “retro” in the 1980s was surprising. Even more surprising, and it’s a little hard to see here, but over the past year and a half the word “retro” has all but disappeared, while “vintage” maintains its steady rise.

This graph shows the slow, steady increase in interest in “modernism” (red) and “midcentury modern” (orange), with the two almost perfectly mirroring each other. Mentions of the word “Eames” (yellow) and “Corbusier” (pink) were similar. I’m not sure what we were expecting – we thought that perhaps an American designer would be mentioned more often than a European? – but the latter two are about the same. Many more of Jer’s graphs, on a variety of topics, are here.

Supposedly raw blonde is a trend for 2009. That’s great because we think one of us might be a raw blonde, based on this definition. Warm, but austere, and at this point pretty pale. This room somehow manages to be both sensual and monastic at the same time, so perhaps it represents the perfect refuge for a recession. It almost reads as anti-consumerist, even though it undoubtedly isn’t, and that makes it somehow comforting. See the whole Scandinavian trend forecast at emmas designblogg. All white is still going strong, maybe for the same reasons?

The “What’s In and What’s Out in 2009″ lists are starting to appear. Not to be too protestant about it, since environmentalism in its more puritanical moment can make you want to stab yourself in the eye with a fork – a plastic fork – but these lists can get anxiety-provoking. Where is all our old stuff supposed to go? Do they seriously think we’re going to repaint the whole place again? If decor is just like fashion, which the shelter magazines would like to suggest, then interior design styles are going to have a 3-year lifespan, max, much shorter if you’re trying for cool. The words “cash grab” come to mind, esp. on the part of the paint companies. But actually, no doubt thanks to the economic downturn and signs of ecological collapse, quite a few of the trend lists have gone sort of lo-fi. Apartment Therapy’s list is as usual relatively DIY, low footprint, re-use and recycle, and pro-vintage. Other lists here and here and here. One blogger said “I always dread these lists, because without fail, they make me feel like the girl in the back of the classroom who eats her hair.” Her facetious list is here. Photo of one trend, the midcentury modern Eames lounge recovered in bright fabric (an Afghani suzani), from AT.  Below, AT’s feature on making your own DIY wallpaper using photocopies, featuring artist Jenny Holzer’s hallway at left and a papered file cabinet at right.

What’s in, in short? DIY, crafts, buying from Etsy, repair, refurbishing and repurposing, and thrifting.