And in the Beginning

Of all the exhibitions that presented the Art Deco style to the world, it was the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris during 1925 that brought it to preminence.The exposition was a homage to of French taste and luxury goods, with a special emphasis on modernity.

Lalique fountain at the 1925 Art Deco exposition in Paris France.

But it was European desginers, directors, producers and artists arriving in Hollywod that established the style that made Art Deco synonymous with Hollywood during its golden age. Hollywood spun tales,set against luxurious backgrounds, peopled with glamourous artists dressed in the highest of fashions. Movie themes reflected the times racy women and tall dark handsome men, always upwardly mobile, sexually liberal, young and beautiful. Hollywood was selling the American dream to the world, and introducing it to the rampant consumermism that we are addicted to still.

The city of Napier in New Zealand was destroyed by the Hawkes Bay eathquake on the 3rd of Febuary 1931, it was the subsequent rebuilding process that sees it today being regarded as one of the premier Art Deco sites in the world today. It is the opinon of the World heritage that no other Art Deco site in the world, surpasses Napiers "style and coherence", as the epitome of Art Deco style.
Art Deco style is expitomised as smooth sleek lines, the use of, and repetition of symmetrical patterns. Designs were streamlined and areodynamic, and there was emphasis on the use of man made materials. Doing away with the cluttered look of previous eras, the Art Deco look was pared down  but lavish, it embraced modernism while paying respects to the past with a heavy dose of orientalism.
Embracing Modernism meant letting go of the strict morals and mores of the Victorian era. The Art Deco era ushered in loose moral and looser women, these were known as flappers. and they belonged to those know as the Bright Young Things.
After the horrors of WW1 ended and until the beginning of the Great Depression, the Bright Young Things reigned supreme.Grandparents and parents raised during the staid Victorian and Edwardian eras looked on in horror as thier children races about in a never ending series of mad cap adventures.It was the age of jazz, the charlerston, the Golden era of Hollywood and of course the age of gangesters molls and prohibition.
My own interest in this era,stems from the fact if one lives in Napier, one cant but be imbued with the excitement of the era, as twice yearly it is celebrated in  the winter and summer in festivals lasting days.And in this blog I hope to share my ever growing love of all things Art Deco.

                
                                                                     Putting on the Ritz
                                                          Written by Irving Berlin in 1929
                                     Have you seen the well-to-do, up and down Park Avenue
                                    On that famous thoroughfare, with their noses in the air
                                    High hats and Arrowed collars, white spats and lots of dollars
                                    Spending every dime, for a wonderful time
                                    If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
                                    Why don't you go where fashion sits,
                                    Puttin' on the ritz.
                                    Different types who wear a daycoat, pants with stripes
                                   And cut away coat, perfect fits,
                                   Puttin' on the ritz.
                                   Dressed up like a million dollar trouper
                                   Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (super duper)
                                   Come let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks
                                   Or umbrellas in their mitts
                                   Puttin' on the Ritz

                                  Tips his hat just like an English chappie
                                  To a lady with a wealthy pappy (very snappy)
                                  You'll declare it's simply topping to be there
                                   And hear them swapping smart titbits
                                   Puttin' on the ritz!