For the eleventh year in a row, International Floral Distributors (I.F.D.) is preparing to release its predictions of the flowers, colors, and design ideas that will be popular for weddings, corporate events, parties, and more in the coming year. The organization, a marketing consortium of 19 floral wholesale distributors, developed the report in collaboration with Michael Skaff, a floral designer and trend forecaster who has worked on presidential inaugurations and the Academy Awards, and was vice president of design for FTD.
“When we talk about design and trends, everything works together," he says. "Consumer goods, interior design, fashion, and floral and tabletop—they all touch each other from a design perspective.” Skaff reports that he used a variety of resources, including retail watch lists, trade publications, trade shows, trend organization reports, and more to develop a list of four top trends for 2018. The overall message: in the coming year consumers will seek floral designs that are unique and showcase their individuality, while incorporating bold accents and natural elements.
Click through our slide show for a preview of the top four trends. I.F.D.'s detailed 2018 Trend Book, along with individual summaries of all four trends, a video summary, and wedding flower video summary will be available at this link on Sunday.
Skaff says people are feeling more confident in the economy, so colors are getting brighter and more vivid. The deep, rich colors of Spain, Italy, Egypt, and other Mediterranean countries will prevail, including golds, cinnabars, blues, and yellows. Consumers are also looking for finely crafted and one-of-a-kind items and interesting textures and patterns, so ceramic containers and hand-blown glassware will be popular.
“It’s a casual, haphazard formality, because it does have a form, but we use a lot of vines and citrus fruit and natural elements like jasmine vines and flowers like dahlias or sunflowers,” he says.
Skaff says people are feeling more confident in the economy, so colors are getting brighter and more vivid. The deep, rich colors of Spain, Italy, Egypt, and other Mediterranean countries will prevail, including golds, cinnabars, blues, and yellows. Consumers are also looking for finely-crafted and one-of-a-kind items and interesting textures and patterns, so ceramic containers and hand-blown glassware will be popular. “It’s a casual, haphazard formality, because it does have a form, but we use a lot of vines, citrus fruit, and natural elements like jasmine vines and flowers like dahlias or sunflowers,” he says.
This modern, simple style resonates the most with millennials, who appreciate the role of nature in their lives, according to Skaff. “From a floral perspective, it’s what we call landscape design. [It shows] how flowers really grow in nature, but in a slightly more modern way,” he says. “It’s strong groupings of materials, rather than dispersing them, like you’d see in landscape design.”
Popular floral elements will include amaranthus, liatris, celosia, and lotus pods, and containers of mixed metals.
Rather than being a new trend, this concept is a twist on the 2017 trend of “French Connection.” Says Skaff: “Positively Posh is a revisiting of the Marie-Antoinette period. It’s timeless, romantic—a voguish, chic look and feel. This involves colors that are not only muted, but a couple of shades of pink, teal, green, and what’s important is we are seeing the purples come back into vogue.”
Ruffled flowers such as hydrangeas and peonies fit this trend, along with purple calla lilies and lilac. Designs are overabundant, with accents of gold and mother of pearl and textural ribbons.
This is the most casual and whimsical style, marked by free-form design and a mix of bright colors. “There’s this whole group of consumers that love Etsy and love that hand-crafted look and feel," says Skaff. "So it’s like folk art, but in a youthful way. It’s spirited, upbeat, and quirky."
Very bright colors mark this style, including green, teal, yellow, pink, and orange. Butterfly and insect prints have also become popular in fabrics for fashion and home, and that will translate to floral design as well.
From a floral perspective, Skaff says bold choices such as alliums, Gerbera daisies, sunflowers, and even hand-dyed “rainbow roses” align with this trend.
