# Could art Deco Be Revived? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663 "2009-11-07T01:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/1 "2009-11-07T01:13:03Z")
I wish it would! I LOVE Art Deco-streamlining is great! I really love the architecture and design of the 1920’s-30’s-to me, it just seems so modern! I find our early 21st century styles to be so retro-art deco just has that optimistic, modern feel to it! I guess I’m in the wrong decade-but art Deco rocks! Damn, why can’t my car look like a Chrysler airstream? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/2 "2009-11-07T02:23:13Z")
I’m going to move this over to Cafe Society. twickster, MPSIMS moderator and Art Deco fan ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/3 "2009-11-07T02:53:50Z")
Art Deco was very big in the seventies. It will come around again. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/4 "2009-11-07T03:40:14Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Art Deco was very big in the seventies. It will come around again. I was going to suggest the early-to-mid-'80s. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/5 "2009-11-07T03:57:41Z")
Hmm. I don’t see that. 80s was bright and cartoony; almost a play off of 60s psychedelia. Angular, candy colored. 70s was more streamlined and technology-contoured, if that makes sense. A lot of deco was fantasy futurist: the streamlining of an imaginary scifi future. All chrome and streamlines. Here’s a few 70s images that resonate deco for me: [![](https://danyka.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/paper_2.jpg) ](https://danyka.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/paper_2.jpg) [![](http://grainedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/dan-haerle-70s-design-2.jpg) ](http://grainedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/dan-haerle-70s-design-2.jpg) [http://www.leelefever.com/archives/bad%20euro%2070s.jpg](http://www.leelefever.com/archives/bad%20euro%2070s.jpg) Although Miami’s renaissance in the 80s, the cocaine culture, had some strong images of deco architecture, specifically; all those old Miami hotels in the background of Miami Vice. But I feel like that came at the tail end of it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/6 "2009-11-07T04:04:52Z")
You make good points, and the candy colours were definitely prevalent then. But another thing I remember from the '80s was an apparent resurgence in glass blocks, something I associate with deco. And along with the fuschia and turquoise, I recall a lot of black-and-white and silver. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/7 "2009-11-07T04:09:33Z")
These things never have a precise beginning or end. I think of it as a 70s thing because that’s when I first started to notice it; but yeah some aspects of it carried over into the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/8 "2009-11-07T04:24:22Z")
It would be nice. But it is never going to happen. For one thing, Deco and its more commercial counterpart, Art Moderne, relied on a kind of collaborative friction between design and commerce that was possible only for a limited time. The reasons were that the whole idea of design “for the masses” was totally new, so business thought it might pay off to give designers their heads and see what developed - and that marketing, which presumes to know what consumers want better than consumers themselves, was still primitive to nonexistent. Industry wouldn’t make the same mistake again. When a mass consumer culture really developed after WW2, the creative spirit would be under orders from the front office more than ever, and the consumer, ready to take anything offered after years of no money followed by no goods, would fall in line. Art Deco and Art Moderne are not coming back because they were art applied to daily life, and art means something different now. It is a rarefied taste, associated with decadence unless it is fully approved by the rich and powerful. Elegance is even more of a luxury, as it was probably always meant to be, and simplicity is the deadliest luxury of all - because it goes against so many of the values that keep people buying, consuming, working, and living. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/9 "2009-11-07T08:31:18Z")
It never really died, it’s just no longer prominent. There will still be new things made in art deco style, or with similar aesthetic goals, but it has joined the rest of art and fashion, in it’s balkanized palette. It will likely never be the new prominent theme, however something similar could reach prominence. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/10 "2009-11-07T10:06:43Z")
BBC TV has just broadcast a series of TV programmes both about Art Deco and the 1920s and 1930s in general. It covered such subjects as architecture, the influence of Hollywood on fashion and design, the great trans-Atlantic liners, the London Underground and even travel posters. It was a very enjoyable series. ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/11 "2009-11-07T10:26:54Z")
Friends of mine _built_ [this house](http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2+langdon+st+caulfield+&sll=-37.877004,145.021012&sspn=0.009315,0.016458&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=-37.874876,145.021427&panoid=zHBE6QR85GA_lEmeaSttjg&cbp=12,294.98,,0,5&hq=&hnear=2+Langdon+Rd,+Caulfield+North+VIC+3161&ll=-37.874955,145.02142&spn=0,359.983542&z=16&iwloc=A). Take a look down the side street at the dinky garage; it has a porthole window with an etched glass ocean liner. The interior of the house is as near to authentic as is possible with parquet floors and faithful reproductions of architraves, skirting boards, celing roses etc. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/12 "2009-11-07T10:34:40Z")
The best chance for a wide revival might honestly be a serious economic depression. I don’t think it could happen unless our current notion of consumerism took a serious hit, and the rule of the mass market gave way. Another thing Deco - in fact any 1920s-30s cultural product - would have to overcome is that it carries a strong gay connotation (at least in America, not so much in Britain). Then again, it wouldn’t be the first thing the mainstream culture has co-opted from them. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/13 "2009-11-07T10:36:11Z")
I’m a huge fan of Art Deco myself and would love to see it become more prominent- you could even combine in with Retro-Futurism for bonus points. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/14 "2009-11-07T13:47:43Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > It would be nice. But it is never going to happen. > > For one thing, Deco and its more commercial counterpart, Art Moderne, relied on a kind of collaborative friction between design and commerce that was possible only for a limited time. The reasons were that the whole idea of design “for the masses” was totally new, so business thought it might pay off to give designers their heads and see what developed - and that marketing, which presumes to know what consumers want better than consumers themselves, was still primitive to nonexistent. > > Industry wouldn’t make the same mistake again. When a mass consumer culture really developed after WW2, the creative spirit would be under orders from the front office more than ever, and the consumer, ready to take anything offered after years of no money followed by no goods, would fall in line. > > Art Deco and Art Moderne are not coming back because they were art applied to daily life, and art means something different now. It is a rarefied taste, associated with decadence unless it is fully approved by the rich and powerful. Elegance is even more of a luxury, as it was probably always meant to be, and simplicity is the deadliest luxury of all - because it goes against so many of the values that keep people buying, consuming, working, and living. I’m struggling to understand what point you’re making. Are you saying that there is some penalty to manufacturers in having stylishly designed products? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/15 "2009-11-07T13:56:07Z")
I love it. Of course, I also love Midcentury Modern/Googie. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/16 "2009-11-07T16:24:09Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > I’m struggling to understand what point you’re making. Are you saying that there is some penalty to manufacturers in having stylishly designed products? No. It’s just not part of the business model, and nothing changes the business model but marketing data. It’s a closed system. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/17 "2009-11-08T01:07:59Z")
> [@bathsheba](#): > > Friends of mine _built_ [this house](http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2+langdon+st+caulfield+&sll=-37.877004,145.021012&sspn=0.009315,0.016458&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=-37.874876,145.021427&panoid=zHBE6QR85GA_lEmeaSttjg&cbp=12,294.98,,0,5&hq=&hnear=2+Langdon+Rd,+Caulfield+North+VIC+3161&ll=-37.874955,145.02142&spn=0,359.983542&z=16&iwloc=A). Take a look down the side street at the dinky garage; it has a porthole window with an etched glass ocean liner. The interior of the house is as near to authentic as is possible with parquet floors and faithful reproductions of architraves, skirting boards, celing roses etc. What a fantastic house! I wish I could have one! Can you send me the plans?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/18 "2009-11-08T02:13:23Z")
> [@bathsheba](#): > > Friends of mine _built_ [this house](http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2+langdon+st+caulfield+&sll=-37.877004,145.021012&sspn=0.009315,0.016458&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=-37.874876,145.021427&panoid=zHBE6QR85GA_lEmeaSttjg&cbp=12,294.98,,0,5&hq=&hnear=2+Langdon+Rd,+Caulfield+North+VIC+3161&ll=-37.874955,145.02142&spn=0,359.983542&z=16&iwloc=A). Take a look down the side street at the dinky garage; it has a porthole window with an etched glass ocean liner. The interior of the house is as near to authentic as is possible with parquet floors and faithful reproductions of architraves, skirting boards, celing roses etc. All I see is a map. What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/19 "2009-11-08T02:15:36Z")
Wait for it to load. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663/20 "2009-11-08T02:47:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Wait for it to load. Huh. I let it sit there for a minute or 2 playing with the settings and I got nothing. I go back now and it loads immediately. I’ve got 10mb cable - must’ve been a backed-up server. Thanks for the help though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-art-deco-be-revived/516663.md?page=2)