Trend Watch
Faux-idermy
Long a staple of natural history museums, country estates and private sporting clubs, animal trophies are reimagined for the new millennium. New colors and textures make these traditional—and sometimes stuffy—pieces into dazzling highlights for any room

Style editors are hunters and gatherers by nature. This season, an unlikely obsession turned our shopping exploits into an urban safari. It started with a painted wooden moose head. Next was a recycled aluminum antelope. Soon, the search was on for more animals in new materials. Finding several stunning specimens, we chose pretty pink Osborne & Little wallpaper as the backdrop for our elegant prizes. A clipping from an 1860s ladies’ magazine inspired our dressing room too—though the story line made us laugh: Shell work, magic lanterns and do-it-yourself taxidermy were the suggested artistic re-creations of the day. Like the Victorians, we’re mesmerized by the natural world. The difference is our sense that we can tame it.

Aren’t mounted heads a bit too macho? We thought so, until contemporary trophy designs changed our minds. Crafted in cardboard, metal, wood and resin, these ravishing beasts live large in our decorative imaginations.




Rhino cardboard, $54.95 at Galactic Boutique, 1213 Pine St., (206) 749-9167.

Antelope aluminum, $175 at Retrofit Home, 1419 12th Ave.,  (206) 568-4663.

Steer horns aluminum, $48 at Retrofit Home, 1419 12th Ave.,  (206) 568-4663.

Horse plaster, $32.95 at Galactic Boutique, 1213 Pine St., (206) 749-9167.

Moose painted wood, $1,895 at Area 51, 401 E. Pine St., (206) 568-4782.

Stag black resin, $55 at Revival Home & Garden, 5515 Airport Way S., (206) 763-3886.

Wallpaper Florimund by Designers Guild through Osborne & Little, available to the trade through Joan Lockwood Collections,Seattle Design Center, A-Ste. 203, (206) 763-1912  

Table gold bamboo, $590 for set of three, and chair, upholstered in light linen, $1,298, at Liberty 123, 123 Park Lane, Kirkland, (425) 822-1232

Shell vintage nautilus on brass stand, $75 at Revival Home & Garden, 5515 Airport Way, S., (206) 763-3886.

Shoes, bag and scarf peep-toes, $279, embossed alligator bag, $225, and Saldarini scarf, $115 at Maggie’s Shoes, 1927 First Ave., (206) 728-5837

Rug Flokati, $79.99 at IKEA, 601 S.W. 41st St, Renton, (425) 656-2980