Vintage Colour
Cultural and emotional colours of times past directly impact colour choices today and define our retro-modernist era.
’40s into the ’50s
The ’40s saw a time of depth, drama and scarcity, which shifted to a time of rebirth and reclamation. The industrious ’50s experienced a lighter time of abundance and industrial brilliance, with a play on the false and the real. The noirish film and vintage furniture love of our times takes us back to seemingly simpler, straightforward times and provide a harbour against complexity.
’60s into the ’70s
The ’60s brought earthy restitution and a back-to-the-land naturalism or mother earth vibe. The rebellious, joyful and edgy psychedelic colours expressed mind expansion. Today we see a play of both eco-chic and boho influences welling upwards, seeping into business and fashion via culture vs. politics.
The ’80s saw acid colours celebrating the belief of man as master of the universe. Technology was the driver and colours were those not found in nature: punky greens, yellows, reds and purples, harsh blacks intending to offend. Today we see a turn toward the authentic and some of this requires a rebellious statement or stance. Retro punk expressions bring a clearing effect.
The ’90s found us humbled. With the crash of the stock market, neutral, plain and subdued colours expressed safety. Metallic golds and silver were the only exception — our reconstruct of financial comfort. Too close to this era to co-op, we are overlapping older eras and are looking further and further back. The millennial statement is that of inclusion.
In this millennium it’s Mid-Century Modern expressing industrial simple lifestyles; it’s cravings for curvilinear craft, warmth and richness of Baroque and Victorian, and it includes the deeper, crafted colours of nature and mother earth. It is paradoxical in embracing opposites and juxtaposing styles yet all express a resonance with authenticity and a desire to mix the tactile and the real in a familiar yet surprising new way. All express the experiences and concerns of the last fifty years leading us to this moment in time.
