This autumn’s trend theme, Vintage Travel, is presented as a fashionable journey back to yesteryear. It wants to take visitors back to a more glamorous Europe, more specifically by means of a respectably-furnished train carriage with plush-covered seats, an elegant lamp in the window, own compartment and a glorious, old-fashioned restaurant car with white linens and waiters. A lot like taking the train in an old Hitchcock movie, they say (!).

Anyway, the train has a destination and or at least some kind of a route. Quite a few directions are given: It will go back to places comme il faut in the 1940s and 50s: like Venice, Rimini, the French Riviera, or ski resorts such as Wengen and St. Moritz and we will escape into literature appropriate to the era. Maps and globes are essentials. The colour scale is green (olive green tones) with orange, tomato red and rust as contrasts along with a muted yellow. Those coulours go well with the former mentioned Pantone AW2009 palette, don’t they?

On the fashion side, they want us to picture the fashions of the 1940s and 50s with hats, gloves, boas and fur collars and inspiration is derived from remakes of classics such as “Brideshead Revisited” and “Changeling“. Uniforms, not only military, but also those of the chauffeur, station master, and coach driver provide inspiration. The style is dressed and strict and medals, sashes, emblems and embroidery are important.

In interior decorating, surroundings are cosy, with upholstered furniture, rugs and lots of textiles. A great deal of intricate detail can be found, as well as a mixture of vintage and contemporary. People read books, according to the Formex autumn trend theme! We jot notes in elegant notebooks and on small correspondence cards, and from time to time we may even write a letter by hand.

To close the report, Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins in Changeling, and Matthew Goode as Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revistited. Photos from imdb.com. Now who doesn’t want to jump on this good-old fashion train?