When Does Retro Become Modern?
Each decade has had its own unique culture. Whether it was the fashion styles, the music, social trends, or popular entertainment. A movement, that has steadily been growing is retro. Retro can mean many different things to many different people. When it comes to style, retro has slowly become the new modern. Whether it is the clothes we wear or the music we choose to listen to, retro is here, and it is here to stay. We are currently seeing the resurgence of the 70's and 80's. The once overlooked styles like the floppy women's sun hats of the 70's to the classic bucket hats of the 80's are making a comeback in a big way.
70's Floppy Sun Hat
Nothing was more 70's than floppy straw sun hats for women. That image was plastered on pictures from that era. Whether they were worn at famous concerts like the infamous Woodstock or for long sunny days at the park. Women had taken to these hats, to the extent to which nobody had ever seen. The hat style slowly began to fizzle out around the dawn of the 1980's. Women had taken to new more compact hat style and that brought on the age of the visor. However, the floppy sun hat has quickly been making its way back into the mainstream. With skin protection and sun care becoming more important, seemingly everyday, women have looked to these hats for both style and sun protection. What does the future hold for the iconic floppy sun hat?
80's Visor
As we progressed out of the 70's and the demise of the floppy sun hat was almost complete, there was an emergence of a new style. That hat style would turn out to be the compact sun visor. These visors offered most of the protection that the floppy sun hats provided yet were compact, customizable, and inexpensive. You would have a hard time finding a company not using this new style for marketing campaign, promotions, or as part of a uniform. The popularity of the visor was catalyzed even further by tennis players, golfers, and women featured in music videos on the emerging MTV Music Television channel. But the trend that took off like a rocket, would slowly fizzle out once more. Just like the 70's the 80's has seen a resurgence in recent culture and the visor is slowly becoming as popular as it once was. The loud vibrant colors of the 80's have made their way back into the mainstream once again, thanks in part to the visor. The most popular materials these days include straw, terry cloth, cotton, and clip on PVC plastic.
Super Retro
The world of fashion has even seen a trend that I am going to call "Super Retro". This Super Retro style that was expedited by the "hipster" movement. Super Retro is moving to slowly bring back all of the popular styles of the 1920's-1950's. These classic styles like ivy caps, newsboy hats, top hats, and berets are becoming more prevalent in this "Super Retro" movement and in popular culture as well. The clothes are also reflecting this change in that classic vests, sweaters, even eyeglass styles have evolved and adapted to this new style. You could call this fashion style retro, but to the individuals that are a part of this movement it is not a just a style, but a way of life. The members of this movement have been shaping the styles of the last decade and it is showing no signs of stopping.
Retro Modern
At what point does retro become modern? You have only to walk into your nearest IKEA store to see this retro style spilling in modern styling. Even the music of today has subtle hints of the 70's and 80's prevalent in their infectious beats. It is time to finally embrace that retro is no long retro anymore. The styles of yesterday have become the styles of today. If these styles have become the basis of popular fashion or they really retro anymore? Regardless of what you call it, this style is one of my favorite styles of the last century and I for one, am happy that they are back.