Retro: The Culture of Revival (Focus on Contemporary Issues

by Elizabeth Guffey

Bell-bottoms are in. Bell-bottoms are out. Bell-bottoms are back in again. Fads constantly cycle and recycle through popular culture, each time in a slightly new incarnation. The term “retro” has become the buzzword for describing such trends, but what does it mean? Elizabeth Guffey explores here the ambiguous cultural meanings of the term and reveals why some trends just never seem to stay dead. 

Drawing upon a wealth of original research and entertaining anecdotal material, Guffey unearths the roots of the term “retro” and chronicles its evolving manifestations in culture and art throughout the last century. Whether in art, design, fashion, or music, the idea of retro has often meant a reemergence of styles and sensibilities that evoke touchstones of memory from the not-so-distant past, ranging from the drug-induced surrealism of psychedelic art to the political expression of 1970s afros.

Guffey examines how and why the past keeps coming back to haunt us in a variety of forms, from the campy comeback of art nouveau nearly fifty years after its original decline, to the infusion of art deco into the kitschy glamor of pop art, to the recent popularity of 1980s vogue. She also considers how advertisers and the media have employed the power of such cultural nostalgia, using recycled television jingles, familiar old advertising slogans, and famous art to sell a surprising range of products.

An engrossing, unprecedented study, Retro reveals the surprising extent to which the past is embedded in the future.

Genres: Art, Academic, Theory, Fashion, Cultural, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was required reading for my After the Bauhaus: Design from the Interwar Period to the Age of Climate Crisis class at uni. I learnt a lot about Art Nouveau its legacy in the 1960-70s.

[Gerard Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am all about looking at how we went form jetpacks to reenactment - how the forward-looking world of Modernism turned back on itself and embraced the past it was trying to run from - so I was pretty excited to get a copy of this. And for the most part, I enjoyed it...the most part however really is the Introduction and the first chapter. During those segments, the book entertainingly teases out ideas about what nostalgia is and how it works. It also engages in a scholarly game of this-whole-thing-started-a-hell-of-a-lot-earlier-than-you-think (and it's largely persuasive about this endeavor...and that's mildly depressing). Later chapters seem unable to match the excitement of the book's early observations, and the reader might be forgiven for saying, "mm.mm... yeah, I read that earlier' as the story unfolds.

Still, if you want to understand why the 21st century is all littered with 19th century crap, this is good place to start. It may not explain everything, but it will get you on the path and you'll have a better understanding of how the future didn't turn out how the past had planned...

[Tyrannosaurus regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love being surprised by a book! I picked this up because of my interest in retro-futurism, and how it is found more in style than in technology, and thought I might learn a thing or two. I did not expect it to be nearly this engrossing. I have just enough grounding in art history to know what and who she was talking about, most of the time, and what really riveted me were the discussions of cultural context (and lack thereof, and changes in) and trends that I hadn't known or understood, and the very clear throughline she displays both of style resurrections from the nineteenth century forward (long before retro emerged as a concept) and of countercultural trends leading inevitably into commercialism.

[B. Zedan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only problem with this book is that it totally needs more pictures, especially colour plates and maybe like, side-by-side images of the original movement and the retro revival version. I mean, I would go to a multi-part lecture series based on the ideas of this book if it had slides. Also maybe a timeline, because this shit overlaps, yo.

Even so, I really liked the theory and dang is it fascinating how style revolves. She defines her terms nice and early in the intro, so my brain wasn't all naggy about the Gothic revival or anything. There's revival, there's nostalgia, and there is Retro.

I am probably going to re-read this and take notes, holy cow I am a geek.

[Tim Lapetino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent dissection of the history and evolution of our cultural interest in retro. Whether it's graphic design, technology or futurism, the author pulls together great research and insights into the cultural moments that have spawned interest in times before our own present. Highly recommended, and it's approachable yet scholarly.

Would have loved more photography and color reproductions of works mentioned.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

writing is a little repetitive, but a very well researched book