Do you Subscribe to the Antiques Fashion Resurgence?

Fashion trends have a tendency to come in waves, and the rise and fall of various trends is something most of us simply take for granted.  This is true of just about any market you care to imagine from 1980’s and 1990’s fashion making a comeback in recent years, to the resurgence of interest in retro video gaming leading to the release of a myriad of “mini” reproduction consoles that offer a mixed experience at best.  

When it comes to home decoration, the fashion trend of owning and displaying antiques did seem to peek in the 1990’s before the market effectively crashed due to constantly escalating prices in the early 2000’s.  After a decade and a half, the market has started to bounce back and with it a new wave of younger people who are interested in antique items and furniture.

Fashion on show

The attraction comes from our collective societorial fascination with two key factors, the past and the unusual.  The past is a warm and comfortable place, at least in a lot of people’s minds; this is why retro and classic items as well as antiques are coming back into fashion of late.  There is a real trend of those born after the 1980’s to seem to feel increasingly nostalgic for their childhood and for many this evolves into a desire for antiques.  

The unusual almost speaks for itself, having something unexpected and striking in your home can provide a focal point to any room.  If guests walk in and see a Georgian bookcase or a Victorian sideboard in an otherwise modern looking room, then it will not fail to grab the eye and attention.  Combining these two social trends neatly leads us back to antiques.

Original is not always best

Whereas genuine antiques are definitely a huge draw of the market, they are often considerably expensive and can be hard to obtain.  The nature of antiques freely implies that they are old and as such not mass produced, meaning that they cannot be easily picked up on the high street.  

There is an alternative however, there are a number of companies that made reproductions of antiques, especially antique furniture, which are almost indistinguishable from the originals to the untrained eye.  These companies provide a suitable alternative to hunting down hard to find original antiques.  

Hunting down genuine antiques can be a genuine passion for some people, but it is a difficult past time to get into as the market is largely controlled by highly experienced traders and dealers.  Buying modern reproductions of antiques from quality manufacturers, can give anyone access to unique and special items that have all the appearances of beautiful antiques without the price tag and with modern quality control and construction standards being applied to them.  

The current trend for antiques is showing no sign of calming down any time soon, so if you are considering starting to bring antiques into your home, why not start with a reproduction and see if it fits with your overall design aesthetic before really splashing the cash.