Retro Curious Rebellious: The Revival

Check one off for whichever you think should win the title of our new profile photo!

The Aesthetic

The Picnic

The people of the mid 1900s were absolutely fascinated with the idea of all things foreign and futuristic. Many of the motifs for decor, accents, and conversation pieces really reflected this. Simplified designs and sketches of motifs like pineapples, flamingoes, Chinese cultural symbols, and French-inspired accessories were highly prized by these households for their fanciful uniqueness. In the summer months (which are nearly among us now), there was a particular interest in the idea of tropical paradise that captivated the minds of most everyone of the infamous Midcentury.

There was reciprocal influence between society and the media: In postwar America, people pawned over the artifacts and pictures of places that the armed forces toured. They craved unique conversation pieces like Buddha statues and palm trees. The exotic interests were self-evident in media, too. Songs like “Come Fly with Me”, “Faraway Places”, and “Stranger in Paradise” (Harpie’s favorite), were radio-famous from crooners like Bing Crosby, Ol’ Blue Eyes, and others. All of them had the element of fantasy and vacation close to heart.

Still not enough? Let’s take care to check out the history of the lawn flamingo. Those blasted plastic creations of modernized art have been a staple of Landscape Americana since 1957. You can thank Donald Featherstone for the charming little birdies! As a sculpture at first, this guy was on quite a roll with this assignment of his. Read the full articles here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/28099/brief-history-plastic-pink-flamingo, http://savetheflamingos.org/lawn-flamingo-history… Feel free to strut your feathers and grab one while they’re hot (pink, that is). This is probably the most iconic of the motifs used in the middle of the century, and can arguably be the most recognizeable symbol of suburban Americana.

Want more? We can go as far as subdivide the fascination with the faraway places into two more distinct categories. There were two broad localities that drew the eyes of America: Island paradises in the Pacific and Asia. The palm trees and pineapples are pretty self-explanatory: they come from the love of tropical adventure fantasies. But, the exotic kimonos, Japanese maples, and ornate tea sets speak volumes of more oriental tongues. Our only theory of what fueled this renewed interest in the Far East has to be, yup- you guessed it: World War 2. There are so many things that this world-altering war (pun intended) triggered.

Consider this: your sweetheart leaves for war and is coming home safe per your latest letter exchange. He brings back souvenirs from his travels. Japan’s tea and photographs of pagodas and China’s fine silk kimonos and cheongsams leave you breathless. You simply must show them off at bridge club next week! Suddenly, the dry goods from Asia become coveted and adored by the entire nation.

Some other motifs from the mid century come from design elements in guitar shops,

This is an Eastman airlines guitar, this embodies the bold styling from the mid century for me. It has the look of a classic car, bold accents,hard curves, and they sound like classic guitars because of their unique build style, and are unmistakably a motif of mid century design elements.

The other end of the spectrum in guitar designs is my favourite guitar designs of all time, the telecaster;

While simple and not as bold a design, its a symbol of classic rock and roll, and embodies the simple yet effective style of engineering that brought us to today, I still like it classic myself tho ;).

In March, one of my closest friends decided it was time for him to go to boot camp to become a member of the United States Navy. It’s anxious and hopeful news for all his family and friends. The ambition and drive it takes to embark on a journey like this is quite outstanding, to say the very least.

His enrollment in boot camp has my gears turning for all the unity and patriotism that has been documented and centralized around the servicemembers of the USA over the years. Primarily the two World Wars sparked a massive movement for American culture, unity, teamwork, and a spirit of being ‘all in this together’. One thing that young women would do for these men (gender segregation was still quite prevalent back in that age) while they served abroad is write letters back and forth to bridge the gap of thousands of miles traveled from home. Naturally, I decided to do the same for P. since boot camp is noted for its extreme physical demands and mental discipline.

In general, before the 1960s, there was an association between contributing to war efforts and benevolence in America. Of course, wherever you come from, there is a sense of pride attached, so this isn’t all that uncommon. What none of these predominantly young women (and the servicemembers’ families) didn’t realize was that these letters would profoundly affect the future of giving to American troops abroad. Today, we observe things that go above and beyond the call of need-based care packages overseas. Operation Shoebox, for example, takes the idea of packing supplies and letters to a whole new level and truly personalizes the experience of gift receiving for the armed forces. It is an excellent and simple notion of patriotism and pride to support just one person.

So P. and I, although he doesn’t yet know I’ve been writing about his recent pen pal history, have been in the same circumstance. His boot camp sure isn’t overseas, but it still took him many miles from home. Check out some of these letters back and forth from the two World Wars! For security purposes, I can’t disclose the letters I’ve sent back and forth with P., but I can say that there was a twang of homesickness at first. I think that the support and motivation from us civilians back home gave him a great sense of determination and drive throughout his experiences. For all that you do- thank you so much for serving our country! Cheers and congratulations on graduating boot camp, P.!

I don’t often watch TV. What I do, however, participate in often is flipping channels vigorously before shutting off the set. A few months ago, I found a few good pieces to share with my readers. The Astronaut Wives Club (AWC) went strong through its season, receiving high praise for its accuracy and overall throwback appeal. With a little more dry humor and historical reference, Another Period seeks to mock modern-day reality shows with its satirical, Victorian style. Buzzfeed has published an article about vintage lingerie, see here. But actually it would be treason to say just one article of theirs focuses on the epics of yesteryear: The top of the page suggests an entire section that falls under ‘Rewind”! I decided to do some exploring of course, and for those who are interested, this section has some real throwbacks in it, but its focus is on media and ’90s and ’80s funzies.

Some advertisements, like this one from Progressive Insurance, leave behind the romanticized versions of mid-century America for tones of reform. Flo is here seen arguing against the male figure that she too can handle the work a man can. Classically 1950s gender roles have been removed over the years, and this is a perfect opportunity to remind my readers that revivalism is about restoring the positive aspects of yesteryears: discrimination of any kind is not endorsed by authentic revivalists, especially the writers here at RR. Sometimes the past can be overwhelming, and so it is important to keep it in perspective. No year is without its flaws. The romanticism of a given decade is what appeals to us, but we must understand that no time was perfect. Of course, on the same strain, don’t let the mass media big cheeses dissuade you from bringing back the simplicity and can-do attitude of the 1950s.

What strikes me the most is The pro-retro propaganda! Check out this Kohler faucet commercial, for starters. The decade-by-decade snippets give us emphasis on the appeal of ‘timeless’ household features. The greatest ad this semester for the vintage lover in us all was the Pledge/Johnson & Johnson commercial for Thanksgiving. This heartwarming sentiment bridges the generation gap in as little as one minute. It shows the kind of timeless love that anyone can hope for. Another fascinating discovery I’ve made this year is the viciously overpriced store, Anthropologie. I’d never visited until this year prior to Black Friday, and from the moment I set foot inside, I was transported to a world of revivalist fantasy. Unfortunately, this is a very high-end store, and their prices reflect it, to the dismay of the graduate-student-budget writers like myself.

http://9gag.com/gag/aOVoKWE?ref=fbp 9GAG, another popular boredom-relief site, also picked up on the craving for vintage things. Check out their amazing pics!

Craving more media? These guys are inspired by the vintage movement too! Find another we missed? Post it to our facebook page! Stay Curious!

Hello darlings! The Retro Revival Blog has experienced some serious growth in readers and in outreach since this time last year. We wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much to each of our readers for making us one of the most revered resources for vintage and retro culture. Thank you!! We have some interesting updates for all of you out there, so here it goes!

First thing is we now have email capabilities set up. For suggestions or comments (or really any feedback), both of us authors have addresses right here. We will likely respond within 24 hours of your message. We encourage everyone to reach us anytime at Harpie@retrorevivalblog.com and MannyDylan@retrorevivalblog.com Cheers!

Another neat tidbit is that we have a better set schedule for our posts so we don’t overwhelm your inboxes. Once a month we will publish unless something comes up. In addition to our publication piece, we will alternate months with a second post that talks music or style to keep things lively. Clicks’ Pics will be available as they come. Turns out, I will be delayed in producing those because my poor camera doesn’t like the spools I fed it before. Lesson harshly learned.

Also, as we are able to schedule, we will try to work on a few “Retro Reviews” which will be included in an article format as well as a video format from someplace in the field.

Finally, as some of you are aware, The Retro Revival Blog is on Facebook and Twitter in addition to our custom domain. We post the most frequent extras and bonuses at Facebook.com/retrorevivalblog Our Twitter name @RetroRevivalist is also rather active.

Thank you one and all for your incredible support and reading! We will continue diligently finding our retro niche in this modern world and reporting to you. Cheers to the start of a picnic season~ Stay Curious!