Could Art Deco Be Set For A Big 20s Retro Revival?

Amid all the discussion about what styles will be in fashion in the year ahead, some contain a ‘retro’ appeal that always retains an element of popularity. Art Deco is just such a style.

It may be because of its association with the ‘roaring 20s’, the era of the Great Gatsby and flappers, fashions that are still great for a Gatsby party today. Or it may be that the style, whether in interiors, sculpture, or architecture, has something about it that looks compelling at any time.

There may be a special reason that you would ask an interior designer to bring some Art Deco style into your home now: Next month will see the start of a major celebration in Paris to mark the centenary of the official birth of the style.

It was in the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris that Art Deco was formally born, although the style had been developed gradually over the previous dozen years.

This year’s event, advertised as ‘an exhibition of contemporary scenography’, is one way of celebrating the style, but the sheer fact that, 100 years on, there is still so much interest in Art Deco highlights its lasting appeal.

Among the kinds of features you could fit in your home are lots of furnishings with geometric shapes, symmetry, arches, glam lighting, a lot of brass and the integration of wallpaper into monochrome colour schemes. Everything should be done with a hint of glamour and luxury, worthy of the Great Gatsby himself.

Crucially, this can have the wonderful effect of helping your home to look stunning and modern in the 2020s, even as it adopts the design style of the 1920s.

Art Deco may not be everyone’s idea of the ideal style for the mid-2020s, but while many will try something new, you could put your trust in a style that is still going strong a century after its formal introduction to the world.