Is retro a recent 'invention'?

corblimey

I was just wondering if it's the current generation with their internets and their disposable income that has made retro the thing it is? I vaguely remember a sorta 60s revival in the 80s but it was mostly limited to music and probably had more to do with Levis than any sort of hankering over the good old days. Did young people in the 60s collect war time ration books? Did the rose tinted spectacle wearers of the 1900's look back with fondness at bubonic plague?

WindSock

Good question. But I guess it's not really new as I immediately thought of the Neo-Classical period in the 18th Century. I am sure there are plenty of other nods to the past throughout history, which I can't think of at the moment.

Blisterman

I was reading an architectural journal from the 70's recently, and it was talking about the new fad for loving 30's buildings, so it's been around as long as then anyway.
Retro Architecture runs on a 40 year gap, rather than the pop culture 20 year one.
But retro been going since at least the 60's
It's hard to be nostalgic for the 30's or 40's, I suppose, what with the great depression and WW2.

I wonder if people in the 40's were nostalgic for the 20's.

stovelid

It's probably been here as long as we have had the ability to mediate other eras.

The retro taste makers in each era are the 30s -40s age group. When they end up in media, fashion and business jobs, the tastes that shaped their youth come to the fore and filter into ads, nostalgia business, culture and fashion: think of the 60s undertones in the 80s, the 80s in the 00s.

That said, the global communication advances of the last 10-15 years mean that the turnover (and appropriation styles/eras) is far quicker and mixed than before. That's why you have your arch retro proponents much more these days: they have access to a far wider reach and knowledge of previous eras than ever before. For example, in the 80's, you "retroized" on the basis of what you could glean from a small number of sources: magazines, mail order or clued-in shops. These days, you have instant access to the music and images of the era, hence the easy way in which people can now cerate eerie facsimiles of particular eras, or mishmashes of multiple eras.

Ponster

The Victorian era had a huge dose of 'retro' in their society. It was a generally peaceful period where people had the time to look back and reflect on earlier times. Gothic architecture made a come back and Christmas as we know it today is due to their mixing of old customs with newer ones that they invented.

il gatto

It's always been around. Neo Classical, Neo Gothic, Romans buliding Greek style temples, Hitler copying Romans for Nuremberg rallies, follies built by Georgianns to resemble medieval ruins.
Clothes wise, womens fashions have often featured elements of older styles, whereas men's fashions meant variations of how a suit is cut.
I think the nostalgia industry has resulted in retro meaning anything much over a decade old. In another few years expect a full blown 90's revival.

Blisterman

I was in Liverpool recently, and there is a 90's themed bar.
Didn't get a chance to go inside, but it looks like the 90's revival is starting already.

First we'll get the early 90's, grunge/house music/brightly coloured clothes revival.

Then in about 5 years, the late 90's Friends/Early Internet/Boy Band revival.