8-31-2025 MY INSPO: the space age retrofuturistic aesthetic

last week's entrance i described some vintage stores from columbus, in particular boomerang vintage, with groovy midcentury and googie retro-futuristic design. i am a huge fan of the aesthetic of this era: chrome tinsel for christmas trees, fridges and kitchen appliances with colorful hues, saturated posters hoping for a space age tomorrow.

the retrofuturistic space age aesthetic is one i wanted to do a deep dive.

this aesthetic is shiny and colorful. i associate jello and martinis with this era, and lots of benzoides. speaking of such, a lot of tumultuous things were happening in the political and social time, that one could try and ignore through colorful pills, and colorful gadgets. the world was coming out of a nasty war, a woman's place was firmly in that fancy kitchen, and those picket white fences did not allow any person of color. 

it's interesting how we talk about trends return, and some of the political trends are trying so hard to come back. midcentury modern has been a pinterest fave trend for years, it was an influence during our moving into our current home, and some furniture. the iconic chairs with bright orange leather, egg shaped coffee tables were and still are the rage, as well as chrome finishes. in the fashion world, pvc came back in a very 2020 reinterpretation with fashion nova block heels and boots that are unbreathable, is this what mary quant would have wanted? more household items being "all the rage": le creuset and kitchen aid are becoming collectibles with their pops of color...

there's a different space race, with different cold wars being at play. yet, the yearning for a chrome future seems lost to us. the last time we've been space obsessed was in the tumblr 2013-16 era, with space buns, holographic lipsticks and nail art, and taking photos of gas spillage.

on the website of the consumer aesthetic research institute (cari), i found later aesthetic approaches (80s-90s) that reference the space age in some context.

30's-50s travel poster revival

happy days - 50s/60s nostalgia in the 70s and 80s

diner kitsch - overlaps frequently with googie and 50s-60s lounge

baby boomer revival of various 40s-50s cultural iconography, design and kitsch associated with diner and malt shop culture. neon, glass block, art deco motifs, diamond/checkerboard flooring, chrome accents, vinyl/leather dining banquettes/booths, jukeboxes, post-war pop culture icons (elvis, marilyn monroe, fats domino), vinyl records, 50s cars, gas station/car culture. began in the 1970s showing up in various period pieces set in the 40s-50s, and peaked in the 1980s-mid 90s in the form of 'revival diners' that sprung up around the country and influenced interior design of other spaces. 

supergraphic ultramodern

plastics, curves, plush materials, rainbows, inflatables, shiny metals, fiberglass, prefab everything, super graphics galore, pleasure furniture, helvetica, icons. this style was a huge influence on y2k aesthetic in the 1990s.

googie and lounge kitsch revival

seems like this emerged in the general '1950s revival' of the later 1970s into the 80s, but early on it was like in the 'cool' underground art scenes very influential on the pacific punk wave look, which would then itself become on the primary progenitors of that '1980s' look, along with memphis-milano. 

here's an unofficial aesthetics guide according to me, what i find space age appropriate. some is just loosely based on the aesthetic, and primarily what i love the most, or am interested in.

architecture, art and design

frank lloyd wright - there is a frank lloyd wright home not far from where we live, and i now need to visit asap! not completely space age, but the organic designs of the homes look like camouflaged space ships

bauhaus - the chairs and other furniture design

le corbusier 

populuxe - those super cool vintage cars - side note: we just had a conversation about my dad owning a 1972/73 cherry red ford gran torino. 

raygun gothic - an aesthetic style frequently used at the time, dominated with abstract shapes and sharp lettering.

roy lichtenstein - not connected directly to the era, but the popularity of comic books and lichtenstein's work overlaps with the space age

yves klein - the science behind yves klein blue

the art style of this shower curtain reminded me a bit of the google style art. what about an animated reboot of satc?

fashion

pierre cardin - my first ever "designer" item which i didn't even know, was one my mom gave me when i was a kid. thinking it might be one of those department store pieces, but still, it introduced me to high fashion. cardin's flight attendant designs are pivotal for this time, considering the importance of space age and when flying in planes was considered high luxury.

paco rabanne 

andres courreges

emmanuel ungaro

issey miyake - was from hiroshima, so lots of his work was influenced literally from the atomic age

thierry mugler - a later designer, but forget not the zendaya robot ensemble for the premiere of dune 2

movies

don't worry darling 

the stepford wives - an early 2000s retrofuturistic reinterpretation, with fashion reminiscent of the 50s. robots meet 50s? close enough for me.

james bond - the older ones, especially. with futuristic gadgets, and evil russian spies, this is truly a great representation 

star wars

austin powers series - groovy baby!

the twilight zone

a clockwork orange

films i haven't watched yet, but i sense they would fit this aesthetic;

oppenheimer 

barbarella

superman - the newest one

blum - masters of their own destiny - a documentary about a yugoslav-era businessman and the workings of his engineering company, energoinvest

charade (1963)

metropolis - a 1927 movie, but retrofuturistic

dune 1 and 2

videodrome

eyes without a face

what a way to go!

fantastic planet

earth girls are easy

blast from the past

bewitched

the little mermaid (1976) - czech version

mishima: a life in four chapters

blade runner and 2049

hidden figures - let's talk about the ladies that were considered invisible at the time, but without them space research and travel would still be a fantasy.

music

most songs are instrumental when you look for songs under retrofuturistic, atomic age and space age playlists. heavy bossa nova vibes (brazil was a champion in the mid-century modern design alongside the usa), and the theremin can be heard frequently.

the rah band - specifically clouds across the moon and messages from the stars. i was listening to clouds across the moon when i decided i wanted to write about this.

les baxter  - poor people of paris

the arctic monkeys - tranquility base hotel and casino. i am a big arctic monkeys fan, and i love their old stuff, but this album was transcendental. 

roberto cacciapaglia - my time

herb alpert and the tijuanas - vintage records every household would own at the time... ladyfingers and never on a sunday are some we may recognize now from tiktok

henry mancini - lujon. 

surf songs: apache (the shadows), miserlou (dick dale & his del-tones), last ride  (the bambi molesters)

bob fosse and quincy jones

literature

the best books for this time are usually sci-fi books. i don't really read a lot, so i will try to compose a list fitting for all genres

i am legend  (richard matheson) - not the movie with will smith, but the book, was written in 1954, and depicts a zombie apocalypse in 1976.

a clockwork orange (anthony burgess)

1984 (george orwell) - many of orwell's books are social criticism of the past, present and future.

against interpretation (and other essays) - susan sontag. could we describe all this as camp?

fahrenheit 451 (ray bradbury)- on my tbr list

finally, i want to reinterpret some space-age(ish) items from my closet, and here's 4 fits i kind of modernized, for a space age look.