S T Y L E & D E S I G N
How Retro Can You Go?
Fifties style is stalking the runways, and mid-century design is making its way into every room of the house. A look at the allure of America's favorite era
By Kate Novack & Nadia Mustafa
April 26, 2004
Most people don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about their
relationship with their toaster. But KitchenAid does. When the
company was testing its new line of retro-inspired appliances,
researchers crisscrossed the country asking consumers to describe
their kitchenware. "What we said was 'Think of this product as a
person and you're meeting him for the first time at a cocktail
party,'" says Charles Jones, vice president of global consumer
design at Whirlpool, KitchenAid's parent company. "What we kept
hearing was 'Solid, dependable, makes me smile, someone I can
trust.'"
Meet the new face of design. It's friendly, whimsical, durable
and, it turns out, looks much as it did in the 1950s. Just as
twinsets and pencil skirts ruled the recent fall runways, the
mid-century look is finding its way into every room of the house,
from the campy opulence of '60s interior designer David Hicks to
the high design of newly re-issued Dunbar furniture. Marshall
Field's has introduced interior-design guru Thomas O'Brien's
updated take on Fiestaware for the table. For the kitchen, there
are bubble-gum pink stand mixers from KitchenAid and chubby
refrigerators from Elmira Stove Works. In the driveway, there's
even a reissued Mini Cooper in a retro-perfect shade of teal.
"Most people think this is just a trend," says Marshal Cohen of
the NPD Group, a global marketing company. "It's not. It's really
about a lifestyle change. When you see it start to reach the
home, that's a longer-term commitment."
What is it about the postwar period that keeps pulling us back?
Peace and prosperity may not have been the purview of that era
alone—the '90s' bubble was good while it lasted—but the '50s hold
a special place in America's collective imagination. At what
other time in history did Hershey bars and nylon stockings—both
in short supply during World War II—wield such transformative
powers? The optimism was eventually shattered by the
disillusionment of Vietnam and Watergate, but for a brief period
America was the land of possibility.
"The things that are attractive are not particularly stylistic
but have more to do with values," says Murray Moss, who owns
Moss, a New York City design mecca. "It's a broader issue, that
for lack of a better word we say the '50s [because] the closest
we can relate to it are feelings that we haven't had since then."
The mythology of the time looms so large that even the
generations that didn't live through the era yearn for it today.
It's easy to point to Sept. 11 as the watershed moment when
America turned into a nation of nesters and began eating chicken
potpies at home while wearing pearls and sweater sets. But, says
Francoise Serralta of Peclers Paris, an international
trend-forecasting agency, the shift really started earlier, in
anticipation of the new millennium: "Sept. 11 only speeded up a
reaction to what was already happening." The ongoing terrorist
threat, sluggish economy and war in Iraq have helped fuel the
thirst for nostalgia, but there are other factors at work.
After the popularity of the more functional stainless-steel look
of the '80s and high-tech thrust of the '90s, it's only natural
that the pendulum would swing back toward products with the mark
of the human hand. A similar return to warmer, more emotional
design occurred in the 1950s in response to the cold minimalism
that dominated the preceding decades. "It's the old caveman
thing. We like reflections of ourselves," says Moss. "We can
never get too far away from the recognition in these objects of
human involvement." For example, KitchenAid's new Pro Line is
designed to reinforce the notion that it's the cook, not the
machine, that's making the difference in the kitchen. The
displays on the espresso maker are analog, and the handles are
robust and chunky. Still, it functions like high technology. This
fusion of nostalgic design and up-to-the-minute
functionality—often dubbed retro modernism—is "the strongest
trend in all of the creative industries at the moment," says
Serralta.
Retro designs are also a rejection of the 15-min. shelf life of
most trends. Fashion is decidedly not an industry that likes to
slow down. But even there, the '50s fascination has transcended
the usual season-to-season dictates. Mid-century detailing first
showed up in Marc Jacobs' spring 2003 collection, and it's still
going strong, with Pringle of Scotland and Balenciaga both
preparing to reissue '50s designs. "I think we're tired of being
marketed to, told to buy stuff we don't need," says Rob Forbes,
whose company, Design Within Reach, sells iconic modern furniture
through its website and studios across the country. "There's a
value underlying these designs which is consistent with how
people want to live their lives. What are the things that have
endurance and permanence? People want to believe the things they
are buying can make a difference."
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