With perspective you'll see that while collecting plush pigs in middle school was cute, at 30 it's creepy. Fifteen minutes in the make-up chair will remind you that you once had eyebrows. Divorcing yourself from the emotions that led to the splurge purchase of your lacquer bedroom set circa 1992 will undoubtedly reveal the wear on its shiny gold piping and nautical curves. And perhaps you'll find that you like your natural spiral curls after a lifetime of burning them straight with a flat iron.
Or maybe you were right all along. Maybe modernism really is your decided design sensibility and it's time to ditch your IKEA cheapies for the expensive Italian pieces that inspired them. Maybe you do look better as a bottle blonde, with beige lowlights or platinum streaks, depending on the decade. Maybe your collection of plush pigs could stand to be scrutinized, saving those with sentimental value and donating the rest to be cherished by another piggy collector.
Few trends stand the test of time. All-black ensembles and Cleopatra liner will be forever chic. Boys in tight pants and shaggy hair will always symbolize suburban rebellion. Beige interiors, like tract homes, are safe and easy to accessorize. The bigger the bling, the better. Fast and/or fancy cars are sexy. Celebrities are interesting. These are consumer truths. Everything else will change.
But will you change with it? Will you abandon your year-round tan and extra-bright white smile when the trend shifts to a more natural sensibility? What if pleated khakis come back? Lego-inspired furniture in primary colors? Valley Girl bangs? And will we know when to draw the line between testing the trends and redefining our taste? Only time will tell.
The Consumer column is ending, but Jennifer Henry will continue to offer unsolicited advice in the pages of Las Vegas Weekly, and be reachable at
[email protected].