Trend-setting

**Disclaimer: This post is kind of a rant, which may not be all that interesting to anyone but me, but I gotta get it off my chest...

I read my fair share of blogs.  I enjoy reading & seeing real life people doing real life things.  (OMG, as I wrote that I realized blogs are the internet version of reality TV, which I've always been a fan of: Real World New York circa 1992, holla!!!)  And like reality TV, sometimes blog personalities can just rub you the wrong way, but you can't stop reading!  I was reading a blog today and I got super-peeved by the post.  And even more peeved that lots of folks commented on the post agreeing with the blogger!  Now I realize that's kind of a skewed reality, because most folks that take the time to comment on a "small" blog really like you and aren't going to disagree with you.  And if they do, they'll probably just politely click away instead of creating a hub-bub.  And while I did just click away,  it's literally been bugging me all day, so let me just vent for a sec, m'kay?

The gist of the post was, "what do you do when something you love goes mainstream?"   The Keep Calm and Carry On mantra was this blogger's love, and had been since back in 2007.  "No one knows I knew it [sic] about it before it was on coffee cups, magnets, cell phone cases."  The 10 year-old in me gets this, because I spent half my childhood complaining to my parents that my little sister copied everything I did.  But the adult, and the blog-reader, in me doesn't get it at all.

Everyone seems to be a decorator with a design blog these days, and with the proliferation of Pinterest, I think it's safe to say there aren't a lot of original thoughts happening in mainstream design, or at least in mainstream blogger design!  And if you're a decorator with a design blog trying to get followers on Pinterest and Instagram, how can you be mad at people for copying the ideas that you just pinned and copied from someone else?!?

For many years now my family has liked to tell the story of how I've "always been a trend-setter" (I put that in quotes because they're their words/thought, not mine).  That since back in middle school, I've been doing things that were weird, until they became popular years later.  They tell the story, and I always smile, but it always makes me feel uncomfortable.  Because I always feel like a fraud.  I know that the things I jumped on wearing or doing or liking were always things I saw somewhere else first.  I just looked up trend-setting and it's defined as: a person or thing that establishes a new trend or fashion.  That's certainly not me, I've never established anything.  Or what about this definition: someone who popularizes a new fashion.  Nope, not me either, I've never been popular!  So hmm, where does that leave me?  To paraphrase something I heard my dad say this past weekend, "I just like the things I like."

I have no idea how I'd define my style or taste, and I know that's something that drives those close to me totally bonkers.  Just when they think they've figured me out, I baffle them by declaring my love of something they just don't get!  In fact, this weekend the hubs & I were at an antique store with my folks.  I picked up a simple white handmade mug dotted with aqua-blue polka dots and showed it to the hubs, telling him how much I loved it.  "Huh?" was his response.  "I'm just a simple girl with simple taste", I explained.  "If that were true, my whole life would be a heckuva lot easier" he replied.  True story!  He then made me show the mug to my dad, who also turned his nose up at it and couldn't understand the appeal.  I just like what I like.

So what does all this have to do with that blog post I read earlier today?  I'm not even sure anymore!  But seriously, design bloggers, if you're going to follow and pin tons of people & things and want to in turn be followed and pinned, don't be upset when the things you're pinning end up EVERYWHERE!!  Hello: brass, fiddle leaf fig trees, spray-painted animals, chevron, ikat and a million other trends that design bloggers have done to death!!!

Let me leave you with a quote I ran across on an Apartment Therapy comment, in response to decorators & trends:  They would do well to never forget their humble beginnings lest they awaken from their delusions to discover they have alienated the trendy masses.  Couldn't have said it better myself!

Now, to predict the next trend, how about that silly-looking ceramic monkey above?  I can't stand how much I love it!!!  Thank goodness I probably have the only 2 left in the world!!  ;)