I’ve just returned from my holiday in Italy. I spent most of my time hiding from the 37 degree heat under the dappled shade of a grape vine, while looking across the valley to Poppi Castle…
There was little to do but eat, drink, chat, read, cook, look and think. My
friends, who live part of the time in Italy, know my passion for magazines and
a vast quantity of The World of Interiors
going back to the 1980s was put at my disposal.
I became fascinated looking back over 3 decades of the publication. It was an
encapsulation of design history. What it revealed is just how we all get
seduced by fashion and style. Much of it, looking back now, was ridiculous...
The uniform of the 80's. The shoulder-padded baggy look, promoted by Hugo Boss and adored by City traders.
One style that stood out was Post Modernism from the 80s. The Milan based collective Memphis was probably the most influential in the genre...
Their work infected interior, product, graphic and fashion designers alike.
In the hands of Jean Paul Goude, Grace Jones became a Memphis inspired human sculpture.
With Boy George following suit. Below an array of over styled pieces, both impractical to use and the furniture uncomfortable to sit on.
Karl Largerfeld, prior to his vampire look, in his 80s Memphis clad apartment.
And then there were the architects who went slightly nutty and produced a whole mass of buildings, most of which now look horrid. Unlike the former group of creatives, whose work is relatively disposable, we are firmly stuck with their architecturally shoulder-padded, bombastic buildings for the next century…
Above a particularly dreadful building in High Holborn, London. Somehow the
architects they had the bright idea of shoe horning in an Eduardo Paolozzi
sculpture. Every time I pass by, the figure looks increasingly uncomfortable
set against its past sell by date backdrop...
The building has been empty for
some time. I wonder why?
Architects impose their vision (ego) on us whether we like it or not. Sometimes the quality can be sublime, but more often that not, it is just plain depressing…
After that little collection, and at the risk of agreeing with Prince Charles’ view of architecture (which I usually don't) I offer you this…
No competition I think.
And on the topic of new 'landmark' structures, here is our latest addition to add to the beauty parade...
Need I say more? Well, I will. We are all told that we are living in an age of dwindling resources, that
recycling is vital and sustainability is ‘the new black’. Not a bit of it.
That stack of The World of Interiors magazines, spanning 3 decades, and at least 4 major
recessions, demonstrates that we just carry on in the same old way, spending
and throwing away, spending and throwing away.
I can’t ever see it changing; fashion and evolving style is an integral part of our DNA. We find it impossible to give up.
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