Eddie Cantor, There’s Nothing Too Good For My Baby

If time travel were possible, I think I would like to see what an Art Deco Christmas would have been like. Imagine it: flappers; beaded dresses that were the epitome of style and which gave new meaning to the word flounce (love that word!); elegant travel by train or by ship; bathtub gin, gentlemen who knew how to dress and how to treat a lady just right. Yup, for maybe a day or two I would like to be an Art Deco dame.

 

 

Just the term Art Deco seems to bring out the rascal in everyone. For a recent art fair, Jean Paul Gaultier was asked to design an Art Deco Christmas Tree – really, I couldn’t make this up – and he did a pretty good job at evoking the spirit of the times. (I particularly like when he says, in his charming, but very heavy French accent: “What I wanted to do was dress, to dress zee Christmas tree in zee spirit of the Charles-ton”. Ooh la la…)

During the Art Deco period (roughly 1927-1940) everything changed: architecture became much more streamlined and functional, typography began using straight lines and fuller fonts, instead of the curlicues of Art Nouveau and the Belle Epoque, and the art world began to experiment with strong colors and bold lines.

 

 

This is a great example of British Art Deco Architecture.  And if you want to learn more about UK AD buildings, you gotta watch this video. Love this guy’s hair, his accent and his totally snobbish attitude to architecture which he loves in a City for which he certainly has mixed feelings.)

 

I’m a bit of a typography nut, always have been…. There’s just something about the thought and intricacy that goes into designing letters and numerals that I find intriguing. I found a lovely portfolio of Art Deco typographic sheets that have been selling like crazy, both in the gallery as well on-line – which just shows that I am not the only one who likes these old sheets.

 

Fabulous (and fabulously HUGE) Art Deco fashions from Rene Vincent for AU Bon Marché

And finally, for those of you who like to make your own ornaments, here is a video on Art Deco origami angels – if you make an extra one, bring it in and we’ll put it in the window.