Welcome to the Time Warp by Katie Muldoon

Welcome to the Time Warp

by Katie Muldoon

Step into an Anthropologie store or peek into its catalog and find yourself back in a simpler-and yes, even though I hate this word, cuter-time when home and clothing fashion were colorful and fun. Sure, there's a mention of the influence of "foreign cultures" in Anthropologie's company statement, but those of us of a certain age are more intrigued by Anthropologie's ability to turn back the clock to the 1950s without making the garments and décor items it offers seem dated or obsolete.

It appears that a need for psychological comfort in fashion isn't limited to baby boomers. If you take a look at this past season's runway fashions, you'll see an abundance of ankle-length dresses complete with poodle motifs and puckered bodices aimed at all age groups. More telling, dresses are in abundance; slacks are virtually invisible.

Consumers seem to want simplicity in fashion and home attire; folks are too burned-out from long work hours and the stress of daily news reports to consider yet another new design to wear or decorate with. Familiar is cozily new again, and oh-so-welcome.

George Plasketes, professor of radio, television and film at Auburn University, told the Palm Beach Post: "Objects in our cultural rear-view mirror are closer than they appear. Nothing goes away anymore."
Until we feel safe again, this need for the familiar will be a constant. It's an attitude that's worth observing in depth and, if possible, adapting to your product line. Certainly, the numbers support this approach: Anthropologie owner Urban Outfitters' sales grew by almost 30% last year and, as this issue went to press, expected to double its first quarter sales.

I popped onto mainstream cataloger Nordstrom's Web site, and lo and behold, Stepford Wives were everywhere. Cute little "fun and flirty" dresses that were "feminine, playful and party-perfect," "the dress for your moment to remember," and so on. All sweet, soft, in style and very '50s.

But somehow this was different. Anthropologie incorporated a contemporary feel that was liberating while still retro; Nordstrom's clothes just seemed dusty...and a little confining. Being old and new at the same time is trickier than you might imagine.

Going back in time is not just confined to attire.
La-Z-Boy brought fresh air to what most of us think of as a dowdy business by hiring designer Todd Oldham to create red/gold/orange stripes, turquoise/olive/green circles, plus other wild and crazy patterns right out of old-very old-but totally cool movies. Check out www.lazboy.com. It's another form of reassurance that all is just as comfy as you remembered it in the '50s-but with fresher styles, updated to provide fun, nostalgia and practicality.

And then there's FunkySofa.com...so compelling I almost dumped every piece of furniture in our family room in order to create the hot teen-scene room I never had as a kid. Funky is really not a big enough word to describe sofa designs ranging from "Eon," an out-of-this-world "Jetsons" look, to "Marilyn," a red beauty you can just see the famous Monroe reclining on. If you want to escape from reality, this site's for you.
Combine FunkySofa with the DWR (Design Within Reach) catalog, a sleek resource for all furnishing design dating back as far as the 1920s, and your escape to the sophisticated past is complete.

Next pop over to BigChill.com for this message: Get out of the box and into a Big Chill retro refrigerator...Our refrigerator is like a stylish '57 Chevy Bel Air (only the fins are missing) for those who like to express a bit of style, uniqueness and enjoy terrific color. This may look like your mama's icebox, but the Big Chill includes all of today's functionality, efficiency and dependability. The only thing we left off was the chisel; no defrosting required.

Comes in 10 colors. It was hard to choose between cherry red and apple green, neither of which ever saw daylight in my folks' kitchen, but would that they had!

Refrigerator a little too much of a retro statement? Head to Chef's Catalog for Cuisinart's '50s retro-style food processors, toasters and coffeemakers...and loads of other such goodies.

If you want real old-fashioned cozy solace, there's always the Vermont Country Store. Billed as a practical and hard-to-find resource, I think it's much more.

If you let your imagination out of its box, Vermont Country Store can be the old general store where you could take your time listening to the creaking wooden floorboards as you walked from product to product, handling each item slowly and carefully before making a choice. OK, it's only a paper or electronic catalog, but let yourself go and you can transport yourself back to an era where life was about a billion times less stressful.

What started this retro movement? Maybe a lot of the blame goes to Martha Stewart, who did her own imitation of a Stepford Wife (if you don't know what a Stepford Wife is, wait a bit. A remake of the 1975 movie is due out this fall). Or maybe it was the PT Cruiser that, for a couple of years, knocked the socks off car sales for Chrysler. Or the instant fan club that grew around the "new" Mini Cooper.

The secret to retro seems to be making things fun, yet lighter than the originals. A direct copy of an original really does give the impression that we're going backward. But tweaking allows us to rediscover a spanking-new treasure.