Researching Vintage and Retro Style

Previous studies on the emergence of retro style in clothing and household objects

have focused on the United Kingdom, and usually, 1960s London (e.g. McRobbie

1988; Samuel 1994; Gregson & Crewe 2003; Baker 2013).

According to Raphael

Samuel (1994), “retrochic” in fashion appears not long after Britain undergoes

retrospective taste shifts for the home. Architectural historic preservation and ap-

preciation of period styles arose in reaction to the stark clean lines of 1950s

-1960s

modernist home design. Samuel connects British popular taste for eclectic home

interiors

, vintage clothing and retro aesthetics with the development of “alterna-

tive consumerism” that emphasized “natural” products such as organic food and

“green” consumer goods. Alternative consumerism arose in the 1960s but gained

popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Notes Samuel (1995: 100):