Stickers, they’re not just for skateboards anymore! In a world increasingly dominated by the visual language of emojis and gifs, stickers are fast becoming a way to communicate elements of who you are without saying a word. Cool stickers can share where you’ve been and what you’re into, like bright, shiny little semaphore codes winking from your laptop or carry on. Hot luggage brands like Rimowa are even designing their own sticker line to let their well-heeled users customize their cases. We expect to see cool sticker collabs from all the ‘it’ designers take off in 2020!

Home and hearth are continuing to dominate the world of design as anxious humans increasingly race across their metaphysical moats everyday, away from the increasing madness of real life. Not surprisingly many of the trends for 2020 have to do with sustainability and earth-awareness (even Lego has introduced plant based bricks!) One we are particularly besotted with is the home goods line made by Dust London. This unique company, founded in 2016, utilizes tea waste to create beautifully designed vases and vessels, with rich, organic patinas like matcha and roiboos. (Doesn’t that even just sound soothing?) Read on for other trends to keep you chic and cozy at home this year.

The beauty business has been moving towards clean and green for some time now. However, it is still a huge abuser of what is fast becoming THE luxury item of the future: water. Water makes up close to 90% of many beauty products. Now, a number of companies are looking to change that in the face of increasingly shrinking water supplies. Waterless products are projected to come in hot this year, with increasing growth trends for the entire decade. Much like the dry shampoo market, the focus is on both conservation and superior skin health. Gives a whole new meaning to ‘go wash your face’!

London Fashion Week is just a few short weeks away, and critics are excited about a crop of fresh new designers poised to make a splash. Feng Chen Wang is one that we are particularly enchanted by, with her oversized silhouettes and unique color stories. Her palette reflects the colors of the morning sun against the mountains of her hometown in China, with all of her dyes made from tea (yes – we are sensing a theme here). The frisson of her artistry against the severity of her tailoring signals a major talent alert. Definitely one to watch!!

 

Smart technology and fashion isn’t a new pairing. Brands have been hard at work for the past decade to harness tech to help us perform better at the gym and in the boardroom. But what about helping us look better?? Well have no fear, Scandinavian clothier, Carlings has got you covered (literally!) Capitalizing on the success of their sold out digital launch last year, the retailer is now utilizing an Instagram update to bring digital clothing to the social media platform. Their “Last Statement” phygital T-shirt comes with a logo that can trigger various designs when viewed through the Instagram camera. This allows the customer to digitally wear and share new designs without buying a new T-shirt. No doubt this is just the start – now that’s what we call a wardrobe update!

Every year seems to bring a new cuisine for the world to focus on, and 2020 looks to be no different. Food from West Africa is predicted as the newcomer this year, with ingredients that dovetail nicely with paleo and gluten-free eating trends. Replete with rich, earthy superfood grains such as fonio, teff and millet as well as exotic spices like morninga and tamarind, expect to see restaurants and grocery stores offering up these pungent delicacies sometime soon.

Sometimes, we forget to see the beauty right in front of us. We simply lose perspective. Well, artist Terri Lowenthalis is giving us a fresh new point of view. Her startlingly gorgeous and almost eerie psychscapes pulse with a color and point of view that dares you to look away. Based in San Jose, her recent work, Psychscapes, examines the intersection of landscape and psyche. (And what is a psychscape, you ask? Psychscapes are single-exposure, in-camera compositions that utilize special optics developed by Loewenthal to compress vast spaces into complex, evocative environments. These photographs combine straightforward landscape photography with explorations into the psychology of perception.) Beautiful and thoughtful, just like you!

Maybe the best thing we can do this year is to take ourselves a little less seriously. If this is one of your 2020 goals, head on over to the garment district in NYC. There, a new public arts installation has placed a dozen giant, illuminated seesaws right in the middle the road. Reviews so far are universally positive, proving that maybe we all can enjoy the ups and downs of life a little more this year! 😊

And we leave you with the queen of instagram digital reinvention, Ines alpha. Firmly at the forefront of the three-dimensional digital make-up revolution, this Parisian artist and former advertising art director creates bewitching 3D face make-up which blooms, quivers and sprouts upon the screen. After pursuing her fascination with 3D tech, Alpha felt lost in the stereotypical sci-fi world of cars, architecture and explosions. Now, she collaborates with artists, musicians and models on Instagram to create “The kind of thing a robot might wear to the Met Gala in the year 3052.” Now there’s a timeline we can get behind!