Iconic decade of design revisited

'Retro style and design' is currently the name of the game. I certainly enjoyed travelling back to yesteryear for a blast from the past with a modern day twist, when I read a this ‘fab’ new book.

Dominic Lutyens and Kirsty Hislop have really captured the Zeitgeist of the seventies in their glossy tome – 70s Style and Design. Focusing on the key trends of the era, their book is a visual demonstration of just how vitally important the period was for the creative arts.








From pop art, post modernism (so that’s what inspired those chairs?) and derivative timeless style (think la Belle Epoque, The Jazz Age and the Surrealist movement) - to the origins of eco-friendly cool: this beautifully illustrated coffee table style bible of the 70s has them all.







With curiously appropriate 1970s style pull out pages, the colourful volume is a roll call of pivotal designers – and not just of fashion, but a lifestyle. Yves St Laurent, Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Bill Gibb, Biba, Laura Ashley and Fiorucci to name but a few – many of whom, as individuals or labels, are now making a comeback.
















By the way, if you’re a lover of ‘70s style and design, check out the vintage shoes new in at ShopCurious, including the design shown left, from Biba (soon to be reborn at House of Fraser), and a highly collectable pair of de Havz by stalwart style leader of the ’70 and ‘80s scene, Terry de Havilland.




Anyway, as I was saying, if you'd like to see‘70s illustrations, magazine photos and some of the most amazing art, architecture and design of the day, this book is a must.

Of course, for all 40-60 somethings who lived through the decade, it’s essential reading and will bring back fond memories of peace symbols and liberation – both for women and men - plus platform shoes, floaty dresses, punk style piercings and uncontrollably contagious disco fever.





























The ‘70s was a decade of many incarnations all rolled into one, and was hugely influential in terms of interiors and design. I think a similarly eclectic mix of styles is something we’ve also experienced over the past decade…

Do you?

The Jazz Age

One of the best known flappers was the silent film star, Louise Brooks, whose first screen role was in a film called A Social Celebrity. Her brazen off-screen behaviour epitomized the vibrant spirit of the Jazz Age – a time when music and dancing went underground, accompanied by the illegal consumption of alcohol during the American Prohibition.












Another notorious star of the time was the flamboyant songstress Bee Palmer, whose ‘sinuous and suggestive’ dance style shocked audiences of the day and became known as ‘the shimmy’. Her unique theatrical costumes and flapper dresses were quite something, as you can see left.




We’ve got similarly show-stopping 1920s fashion at ShopCurious – take a look at this dramatic sheer and shimmering original wrap style evening gown – it’s a stunning work of art.












No reference to the Jazz Age would be complete without mentioning the literary genius F. Scott Fitzgerald (style with brains personified!) He and his wife, Zelda (left), defined all that was glamorous and excessive about the era - the lifestyle of the beautiful and damned, as immortalized through his poetic studies of the American Dream.




‘Can’t repeat the past?’ as Gatsby exclaimed ‘Why of course you can’. Well, you can certainly still buy and wear stylish vintage ‘20s clothing … and you can also enjoy the lively music that characterized the age. I was recently pleased to discover that Jazz FM is now back on the air as a digital radio station, so you can listen to it all over the world. I was so happy to hear the voice of delightfully down to earth DJ Robbie Vincent again after quite a few years – it made me smile all day long.

‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’

Are you?