What is retro?
Retro means coming from, or in the style of, a past era. In modern usage retro means dating from the 50s to the 70s, or designed to reflect the style of that era.
The term retro, with its current meaning, came about in the last thirty years. It is difficult to be precise about its origin or about the exact period it refers to.
What is the origin of the term retro?
Retro is a recent term. In the 60s the term retro, with its current meaning, did not exist.
'Retro' is listed in the 1964 Concise Oxford English Dictionary as a prefix derived from French and Latin. Retro when combined with another word, such as 'grade' to make retrograde, means 'backwards', 'back again' or 'in return'. It can also mean situated behind, for example 'retrochoir' - part of a cathedral behind the altar.
The more common words using the prefix retro are:
- retroact - act retrospectively
- retrograde - retreating, moving backwards, reverting to a previous state
- retrospect - considering previous authorities or conditions
Another term in use in 1964 was retrorocket which means a rocket used to slow down a spacecraft to aid landing or re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. More significantly retrospective described a display of an artist's work from a previous period.
La Mode Rétro
The term 'La Mode Rétro' dates from the early 70s in France. It was a literary and cinematic movement which reappraised the role of the French Resistance in World War Two following the death of former president, General Charles de Gaulle.
La Mode Rétro was a rejection of the Gaullist view of modern France and its history. De Gaulle created a resistance myth, which assumed that the majority of France actively resisted the German occupation. This myth hid the reality of a period in which only a few were active members of the French Resistance. A younger generation of French men and women wanted to discover the truth of the period they call 'les années noires' (the black years).
La Mode Rétro then was a fashion for retrospection. It was a literary movement rather than a fashion or stylistic one.
Beginnings of retro
Reappraisals by one generation of the previous generation's values and meanings are common throughout history. The reappraisal sometimes involves adopting a style from a previous era. Often the period chosen is the most recent distinct period that was different in terms of style or values from the current era.
The young of the sixties revived both the decadent 1890s' era of Aubrey Beardsley, as well as the discredited inter-war period in style and fashion. Both ran contrary to the prevailing modernist spirit which was the orthodoxy of the 50s and 60s.
My parents' generation chucked out everything from the 50s, from using what we now call classic cars for banger racing to dumping juke box style radios, calling them outmoded and dangerous. Over the last thirty years my generation has fished these items out of the bin and given them antique status. Now a new generation is doing the same for the 80s and 90s. A revival of the 2000s is probably not far off.
Sometime between the 1970s and the early 1990s 'retro' acquired its current meaning. Since there is no defining moment for retro, we have to be content with defining the term as it exists today, in full knowledge of the fluidity of its meaning.
What period does retro define?
Unlike other terms such as Art Deco (20s and 30s) or Art Nouveau (1890s to 1900s), retro has a very imprecise meaning. Art Deco was defined by Bevis Hillier in the first book on the subject (entitled Art Deco) written in 1968. It was not a term from the era itself.
Retro had no defining moment, but gradually crept into use and has many different meanings depending on what it is referring to.
Retro can be used to describe furniture, fashion, style or technology. Retro is still a very fluid term and if interest develops in a later period the 'retro' period might extend to cover it. We will only know when 'retro' really ends when a new term comes along to describe a more recent past period than 'retro'.
Within categories 'retro' can be more precise. This my best guess at the meaning of retro in these cases.
- Retro fashion - 50s to 80s
- Retro (computer or arcade) gaming - late 70s to 90s
- Retro computers - late 70s to early 90s
- Retro telephones - 50s to 80s
- Retro furniture - 50s to 70s
- Retro mobile phones - 1983 to 90s
The big exception to this list is retro car. The reason for this is that there is already a term, also fairly imprecise, which describes cars from the 50s to 80s as being classic.
Retro cars are modern cars, with modern mechanicals designed to capture the look and feel of older vehicles. Modern safety laws would outlaw true reproduction of older vehicles. There is also a larger appeal for a car that has the spirit of an older design, but all the convenience and ease of use associated with a modern vehicle.
Modern retro
A retro car is just one example of how retro can describe modern products. Back in the 70s there was a fashion for reproduction antique furniture. This furniture did not copy exact pieces from the past, but bent older styles into modern forms. So you bought reproduction unit storage furniture, for example. This is very much the precursor of modern retro furniture, which does a similar thing for the style of the 50s and 60s.
Stag Minstrel furniture, designed by Mike and Sylvia Reid in the early 60s, was the best example of moulding an older style and re-interpreting it for the modern world. Minstrel was not reproduction antique, neither was it modern. It was as functional as modern furniture, but drew styling cues from the eighteenth century era. Minstrel was a precursor to all modern retro design that is not a direct copy.
The other extreme to Minstrel is a direct copy of past designs. This has been done very successfully by Habitat in recent years. The work of designers such as Robin Day and Charles Eames has been recreated for a modern audience. In many respects these pieces are far more than replicas or reproductions, but true originals in their own right, the only difference being when they were made. The question being how would you distinguish a design that was in current production for many years from one where production was resumed after a gap of a decade or two. And does it really matter?
Retro style goes beyond furniture in all elements of home style. You can get retro lampshades, some far more spectacular than the originals, retro ash trays, retro telephones, retro wallpaper and retro kitchens.
How to recognise retro style
Whilst the precise period that retro refers to is hard to define, recognising retro style is not too difficult. What retro looks like is more important than the precise period to which it refers. Retro style is anything that was new, modern and groundbreaking in its original period, the period from the 50s to the 70s.
Retro encompasses the post-war modern style that included the Festival of Britain style and the Scandinavian modernism. It also includes the juke box style of 50s' America. Retro includes car design from the 50s to the 70s. Walnut dash boards and leather seats (Jaguar Mk2 style) as well as chrome and two-tone paint jobs.
Retro furniture includes early British pieces in light oak or tola (African mahogany), Scandinavian furniture in teak, as well as British furniture in this style, such as G-Plan. Retro includes cutting edge 60s' furniture such as cardboard or blow up chairs. Retro is not reproduction antique, no matter when it was made. A reproduction antique sideboard made in the 60s is not retro.
Retro style includes the geometric Pop and Op Art of the sixties. Look for circles and other geometric motifs. Retro is brightly coloured: look for oranges, reds, yellows, anything from the primary pallet and also pastel shades from the 60s.
Retro is lava lamps from the 60s, sunburst clocks, bright melamine tableware, Midwinter Stylecraft ceramics as well as Portmeirion from the 60s. Retro is abstract carpets and wallpaper from the 50s and 60s. Retro is cocktail cherry coat racks and magazine racks from the 50s, as well as optical fibre lamps from the 70s. Retro is black Bakelite telephones from the 50s as well as red trimphones from the 80s.
Retro fashion includes 50s Teddy Boy style, 60s Mod and 60s Hippy style. It also includes 70s flares as well as Punk Rock.
In conclusion
The origin of the term retro with its current meaning is hard to identify. However, the style is easy to recognise. Retro represents modern style originating in the post-war period ending in the 1970s. The term can be extended where technology has moved fast, such as retro computers, computer games or mobile phones, to include the 80s and early 90s. Retro may yet advance to describe other periods, but until another term comes into common use to describe the 80s, 90s or 2000s, it will be impossible to categorically say when the 'retro' period ends.
References
Retro: The Culture of Revival (FOCI)
Collaboration And Resistance Reviewed. Writers And The Mode Retro In Post-Gaullist France
Wikipedia article on retro - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro_style
Retrowow
Retro style and the mid-century era