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SIXTIES PALETTE

Colors

22 July 2022


In partnership with Samsung

Although feminism has (almost) overcome the shackles of the housewife’s kitchen imagery, the aesthetic codes of that era persist. The kitschy pastel shades from American magazine advertisements of the fifties and sixties are now paraded in highly contemporary designs, leaving behind the stereotypes of mass consumption.

 

After its peak in the 1960s, the palette of watered-down monochromes gained in modernity and became the guiding thread of collections by Hay, Montana Furniture, Reform and Samsung… Representations abound under the sign of a purity at the frontiers of vintage, modern, pop and the sublime.

 

  • Era

    1950-1960

  • Cradle

    United States

  • Room

    Kitchen

  • Material

    Formica

Formica Revival

Once out of fashion, American laminate kitchens are back in fashion and in line with today’s clean, minimalist style.

 

Contemporary brands such as Hay and Reform have taken up the visual codes of post-war kitchenettes (plastic crates, lockers, XXL toasters) with the same palette as in the past, but with a renewed, more sustainable range of materials: 100% recycled polypropylene, ceramics…

Hay

La Consigne by Goodmoods

ELLE décoration © James Stokes

Sunny Harnett

Reform

Bespoke refrigerator by Samsung

Bespoke refrigerator by Samsung

A retro aesthetic that extends to the fronts of the refrigerators. Samsung’s BESPOKE line also invokes the sixties with panels in sweetened colours that can be customised and interchangeable. A concept that allows the kitchen to juggle with moods, and to go from exotic vanilla to maritime lexicon to the Formica years in no time.

Bespoke refrigerator by Samsung

Vintage-pop interiors

Montana furniture

Montana

Furniture is no exception. The return of vintage is playing into the hands of desaturated tones. Interior architects and object designers have understood this and are orchestrating a symphony of refined sherbets applied to synthetic-looking materials, reminiscent of the plastic utopia of the Americans of the time.

Emma Leth house

@llovemeright

Montana

Helene Rebelo © Maria Teresa Furnari

Grannies bathroom

Project by ARQUITECTURA-G © José Hevia

© Benjamin Guedj

The cliché of the « granny bathroom » is also being hailed by decorators, set designers and 3D designers. Small tiles, traditional ceramic toilets and washbasins and acidic colours are regaining their old-fashioned charm. Anna Broeng, Colin King and Dorothée Delaye all agree.

Set design by Colin King for Hay

Hôtel Mercedes par Dorothée Delaye à Paris

Hotel Mercedes

Anna Broeng x Teklan

© Ex.t

© Stellan Herner

Set design by Colin King for Hay

Old school palette

GQ Magazine

The pop years and the old school palette are also hovering over fashion in a hyper couture version. The pink Prada suit worn by Austin Butler in the latest Elvis Presley biopic is already iconic. So are the argyle tunics from Casablanca, inspired by the popular wardrobe of the golden age of rock’n’roll.

 

With the same palette, the young generation of designers is reclaiming the watered-down hues of this very special era.

SS22 Moschino

Courrèges

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