Retro Style : Class Gender and Design in the Home

Retro interiors have come to the fore in recent years as a highly desirable and valuable branch of interior design. The emergence of a need for decorative objects and vintage furniture has resurrected retro style and placed it firmly as a key trend of contemporary design.

Retro Style: Class, Gender and Design in the Home is the first book to explore the modern position of retro by asking important questions around the emergence of the trend, its impact on production and consumption and how it manifests itself in the contemporary interior. Examining themes ranging from design, taste and the aestheticisation of everyday life to the bohemianisation of popular culture, the book provides a fascinating insight into how retro has shaped modern interior design. Using original ethnographic research from retro retailers, enthusiasts, designers and media professionals Retro Style explores the positive and negative side of the style, ultimately providing an original and thought-provoking perspective on the history and trajectory of how retro has become what it now is and its bearing on the future of designed interiors.

Contents: Illustrations Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. The Definitions and Distinctions of Retro Style 3. Retro Style and the Cultural Politics of Everyday Life 4. A History of the Retro Aesthetic 5. Retailing Retro 6. Retro Interiors and Lifestyle Media 7. Retro Homes, Taste and Cultural Distinction 8. Retro Femininities and Domestic Labour 9. Conclusion Appendix References Index

Author Biography: Sarah Baker is Lecturer in Culture and Context at the School of Design, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She has researched and published numerous articles focussed on consumption and domestic space.

Featured in the 20 January 2014 New Zealand newsletter.
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Featured in the December 2014 Creative Enterprises Newsletter.
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