Until recently, the Embellish Shoppe & Tea Room in St. Paul, Minn., bore the phrase “shabby chic gifts and antiques” on its window. But co-owner Lisa Voigt-Wynn scraped off the phrase in favor of “luxuries for the home.”
Shabby chic, it seems, is over.
“I scraped ‘Shabby Chic’ off our front window because it limits us,” Voigt-Wynn said. “Shabby chic is almost completely out this year.”
Shabby chic hit big in the 1990s, a phrase coined by Rachel Ashwell, a British designer-turned-Californian who has a series of “Shabby Chic” books, a chain of Shabby Chic stores and a TV series on E!
Perhaps Americans took to shabby chic so strongly because it was a thrifty look, not requiring us to spend thousands of dollars on matching furniture from expensive stores. Rummage-sale and flea-market shoppers could easily find shabby chic treasures, like old chandeliers they could paint white.
But Joan Steffend, host of the HGTV series “Decorating Cents,” disagrees that shabby chic is over. Some still adore it, and some want just a touch of shabby chic in their home for an eclectic look. “Shabby chic still has a lot of strength, especially with the economy the way it is and ecological concerns,” Steffend said. Mary Emmerling, creative director of Country Home magazine, says the shabby chic style has had a lasting impact on how Americans decorate. “Shabby chic made slip-covered furniture big, and everything very comfortable,” Emmerling said. “I think what’s over is the peeling white paint.”
The new chic?
If shabby chic is out, what’s in? Ask 10 designers, and you’ll get 10 answers. Here are some:
– Black, a grounding color for a room.
– Mahogany pieces.
– French whitewashed furniture.
– Cozy cottage look, with sturdy fabrics in colors.
– Funky eclectic, like an old wooden table with modern chairs.
