Retro designs usually revisit the 1920s through 1940s. It picks up memories of Art Deco, Craftsman period, and the G.I. Jitterbug age.
Glamor throws luxury and texture together. Wall treatments, upholstery, pillows, rugs, and throws create visual tension in design and color. Glamor offers a creative tension among different items.
Retro glamor evokes steamship travel, martini lounges, and classic nightclubs. It revisits an era when design was at the center of everything, from train stations to skyscrapers to banks to high line hotels. Even the most ordinary locations had design at work.
Today, it is daring, dramatic, and even outrageous. Retro glamor can be “in your face” yet inviting. It’s a room you want to visit, to admire, to study, and to luxuriate in.
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Consider how these light fixtures add to your attempts at Retro Glamor:
REDFORD
REDFORD combines rich leather and satin brass finished circles of candlesticks. It’s a large chandelier at 32.67 inches across and 44 inches from the ceiling. But, the thin straps and brass make it fine and delicate.
Some sixteen 40-watt bulbs brighten reflect off the brass and deepen the leather. Redford is medieval, American west, or romantic perceptions. But, it creates Retro Glamor when it complements or contradicts other themes.
That visual tension is very much part of the designer’s plan. Retro Glamor seeks to disrupt the expected, optimize variations on color and texture, and exploit vintage impressions. Redford does all that beautifully.
Redford works well among lush environments in personal dressing rooms, “she shacks,” lush bathrooms, or dramatic lounging areas.
URSA
URSA, on the other hand, is bold and contemporary, geometric and confrontational. Abstract and daring, it is anything but textured, plush, or patterned. It recalls industrial era simplicity, but it has sculptured clarity and character.
The cantilevered arms and geometric lamps are finished in black pearl chrome. It dominates a room, hanging 54 inches from the ceiling and 49 inches across. Purely cool and slickly contemporary, Ursa still recalls utilitarian days.
Its unique and bold design completes the tension that underlies glamor. Amid draped fabrics, potted palms, and contrasting overstuffed furniture, Ursa is a fresh and outrageous addition to any room.
Retro glamor today
Glamor requires a design instinct for combining widely disparate pieces, textures, colors, and accessories. It deliberately creates a visual tension and maximizes items like lampshades, tassels, plants, and more. Retro glamor adds elements from other design eras for a distinctly bold and fortunately clashing look.