TRENDS: THEY KEEP RETURNING

Dec 23, 2006 -


 

Story available at http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/12/23/features/life/35-trends.txt

Published on Saturday, December 23, 2006.
Last modified on 12/23/2006 at 1:46 am

By MARY PICKETT
Of The Gazette Staff

Christmas decorating runs in cycles, so don't ever throw ornaments away, advises Jim Gainan of Gainan's.

What is out of style this year is bound to return.

In the 1990s, the country-woodsy style and painted ornaments were in.

During the last couple of years, a shiny look has become popular. That includes ornaments that take a cue from decades and even centuries past.

The lavish Christopher Radko ornaments, which Gainan's has sold since 1994, are patterned after 19th-century Polish designs. Radko even took over Shiny Brite, an American brand popular in the 1950s, to remake bubble lights and flocked Christmas balls.

Turquoise, a color big in the 1960s and '70s, was major news in holiday decorating this year and is expected to return for Christmas 2007, Gainan said.

Although holiday styles change, there's no need to completely overhaul your tree every year. You can update a tree by spiraling wide turquoise ribbon up the branches and adding favorite ornaments collected over the years.

Mixing styles is fine as long as there's an overall unifying theme, Gainan said. That can be as simple as placing red Christmas balls all over tree and filling in with family ornaments.

It may seem late in the season to think about decorating a tree, but the best time to buy ornaments will be Tuesday, the day after Christmas.

"It makes sense to hit those 50-percent-off sales," Gainan said.


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