A Curmudgeon’s Look at Retro
By QuatzuOctober 24th, 2007
By Ken Blaznek
“I tell you one thing I don’t get. This whole nostalgia for the late 60’s, early 70’s that’s happening right now. The Black Crows wearing bellbottoms again? I don’t think so, ok? I wore them once, they sucked, I didn’t get laid, I’m not wearing them again!”
-Denis Leary
The above quote is from Denis Leary, one of the great comedians of my generation turned network tv darling. It’s from about 1994, when my generation was embracing 70’s cool. Bellbottoms. I wore them, in 1994 they were available for two dollars at Value Village and they were “sweet.”
When I was in high school in the mid 90’s, and for a little while after that when I spent time with the hippies of the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area, our music, our look, and our um, “recreational activities” were straight out of the 60’s and 70’s. Jam bands. Think Rusted Root and Blues Traveller. Ugh.
I was born in 1976, which means I lived through Pretty in Pink on beta, Flock of Seagulls, and multicolored “jams” (look it up). Imagine my horror when I first saw high-waisted pants on women in the past year. They’re called Mom Jeans, nothing else. I recently heard someone poorly imitating my Talking Heads on the radio and felt, well, just dirty.
I programmed my TRS-80 Home Computer to flash random colors and sounds using Basic, and I nearly passed out blowing into my game cartridges when Duck Hunt would not mount on my original Nintendo system. I remember what that looked like, and now I see this aesthetic emerging in some recent design.
We are all guilty of Retro, but we do not realize how much Retro actually dates us. I believe there is a very distinct Retro Ratio. It seems popular culture works on about a 25 year cycle, and we seem to want to imitate the styles of about 5 years before our birth. Think about it, do the math, and mark my words: 8 Ball jackets will be seen in our own halls of CCS within a few years.
If this Retro Ratio is applied, the age and influence of a designer, musician, or otherwise purveyor of culture can easily be figured out, and what one may think of as a tricky attempt to cop and apply an older style only reveals the imitation of a current trend.
Going Retro is not a way around blindly following a trend. Be original, let the process guide the design, and please get rid of the puffy high-tops.
If I ever see this again, I quit.
i plan on wearing an 8 ball jacket to graduation, end of story
So when I’m 30, ninja turtles will be awesome again? Thank God!
The most interesting part of this post was the fact that based on history you could predict these trends, and I am not sure about how valid that fact is, but it’s completely absurd that our society is so predictable.
i would much rather see an 8 ball jacket than some of the other clothes people are wearing these days. at least this gives us something to laugh about though. i say leave it to theme parties and halloween to dress up like the “good old days.” same thing with design. don’t use the old unless it’s necassary. the 80’s rock!!!
What’s wrong with Mistral? Is it too Xtreme for you?
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I think it’s funny because we bitch about these kids immitating retro, however they really don’t get much of a choice because the fashion industry refuses to stop immitating the past. I’ve seen sewing patterns dated 1969 for the exact same style shirts that kids are wearing today in high school. Until we finally move on to those hideous silver space suits, we’re gonna have to put up with repeated trend after repeated (awful) trend year after year. We’re lucky, I guess, because we actually know the historical context of the 8 ball jacket, but one day that will be lost, and the glorious 8 ball jacket will be worn for new without the full appreciation of it’s tackiness!