Color Post: Navy, But Not Conservative

Is the color navy trending right now? Because I’m liking navy. And whenever I like a color I’ve never liked before, it makes me wonder about the big marketing machine out there. Maybe it works better than we ever thought.

Does that happen to you too? Anyway, here’s some navy that caught my eye lately …

A bathroom and a living room designed by Anne Hepfer that use navy in an outside the box way:

The “mix-matched” chairs including choice of white plastic, the fun print on the chair cushions, the flokati rug and the rustic table tone down the conservative in this navy-painted dining room from Rue:

This is borderline conservative but that *fun* octopus print keeps this space on edge.  I guess you can now see my biased thinking, that conservative isn’t fun (?). By Phoebe Howard:

Are these Panton chairs navy or black? If they really are black, let’s pretend they are navy. Desire to Inspire says they’re navy, and I would follow Desire to Inspire’s style sense off a cliff, so …  This beautiful room via homelife in Australia:

It takes some looking to find navy used outside of its stereotypes of:

• nautical stripes
• military precision
• blazer-with-khakis prep

Speaking of navy blazers with khakis, I found many pictures of rooms with navy-painted walls and white trim, paired with tailored khaki-colored sofas. I suppose the colors go naturally together, but is there some subconscious thing going on there? They feel like the homes of former frat boys who wore navy and khaki to dress up for parent’s day at college. And that’s an example of putting on a show for people, not being yourself. I bypassed those rooms and tried to find the less conventional. Often this shakes out to be ikat …

Navy ikat curtains with Greek key trim. And those bronze vessels. Loving the combo! This is from a former home of Amy Meier Design:

She had the curtains for the above room custom made. Now the contrasting trim and fabric are giving me an idea for curtains in our living room!

Here’s a DKNY navy ikat print dress. Worn by Kristen Stewart. Definitely not a conservative fashion endorsement there:

If you don’t have the legs to carry off this dress, can you see the fabric as a pillow? Or chair upholstery? Man, have times changed since my 20s. I would have been all over that dress. Or, well, in it …

How about these navy bedding prints from Skona Hem?

This carpet by Morgan Ashard was inspired by a wall painting in Bundi, India. I love this faded, old remnant look:

Finally, this needs no words to explain how not conservative it is. This is from a 2005 Kenzo line:

So what about you? Is navy getting your attention now? Does it have more personality and flexibility than you thought? Check out more unconservative navy at my Pinterest board, of course named “Navy But Not Conservative.”