INTRODUCTION.

Often times if one trend exists, its direct opposite does as well.

We would love to believe there is one right answer to every question and one right solution to every problem. We are human, after all. However, we know full well that the world isn’t so tidy. Rather than shy away from this messy reality, we do our best to embrace the challenge. Often times, that means accepting two opposing ideas to both be true. This is exactly what we are doing as we write this blog, which so blatantly contradicts last quarter’s theme. Partnership is replaced with self reliance, order is replaced with chaos, and the list goes on. Goodbye “Seeing Double,” hello “Renewed Romantics.”

RENEWED ROMANTICS.

Some say romance is dead, but we say it has never been so alive. At its core, romanticism is a movement of idealistic individualism. It is about pursuing your most honest, expressive path. In other words, romance is about self love more than familial, partner, or platonic love.

We’ve seen self love lauded by publications and brands alike for some time now. Whether in the form of a wellness routine or quiet quitting, people have been urged to put their needs first.

Recently though, a melange of health crises, natural disasters and threats to personal freedoms are breathing new life into the concept. What was once a lighthearted indulgence is given a macabre twist as people come face to face with their own mortality. Rather than career coaches people seek death doulas and in place of skin care routines we seek nursing routines.

In the face of mass uncertainty, people turn their attention to the one thing they can control: themselves. The self becomes the focal point as we usher in a new wave of unbridled individualism, one epitomized by the extremes of control and chaos, life and death, bloom and decay.

IN THE WORLD.

It seems that every facet of culture is digging into the beauty in life, death, and the personal stories cultivated in between. Most literal is the massive return of flowers. From rosettes on the runways to Lego’s dried floral centerpiece, the fascination with blossoms and rot is ubiquitous. Beyond visuals, the revival of poetry seen in Pattinson’s Dior recitation and the Poets in Vogue exhibition celebrates the immortal nature of linguistic expression. Lastly, we have the rising birth rate. Jokingly cited as the biggest accessory at fashion week, the current baby boom places new attention on the power of motherhood and the hope of legacy.

The leap from romanticism in culture to design is a direct line to two key eras: the 80s and the 1800s.

The most recent renaissance of romanticism in design was the 1980s, an era of dandy flamboyance. Though distinctly unique in its interpretation, this moment pays direct homage to its European predecessor. The original movement embraced a twisted reference to the past through untamed decoration. The unifying thread is a rejection of rationality in favor of subjectivity and originality at any cost.

At a moment of turmoil, it checks out that people are once again drawn to the past. The romantic ideal of simpler times, particularly ones of total release, is deeply appealing. Even so, just recreating these times is unrealistic in our contemporary time. Taking into account today’s cultural pragmatism, materials innovation, and new visualization tools, we imagine how these periods could be revived through our fresh lens.

Consider 80s dandyism to start. In reaction to stripped down punk aesthetics, New Romantics celebrated brilliant colors, ornate silhouettes, and a gender bending approach to self expression. This moment in time also ushered in the classic rosette in brooches, headpieces and decor too. Taking this to the extreme, we can imagine a world in which this simple object is cast in metal as hardware, sprouted from cakes as decoration, captured in decay as arrangements and woven into rugs as silken centerpieces to create a 360 degree world of rosiness.

Which leads us 1800s romanticism, a movement built on pushing layered colors, dramatic forms, and historical references to the extreme. This era questioned an individual’s ability to reign supreme over themselves and their environments, leading to an interesting push and pull of tamed and uncontrolled nature in every aspect of design. With our lockdown-inspire return to nature, we see that tension boil up once again as people bring the outdoors, or at least references to it, inside the home. To imagine romanticism’s exaggerated approach in today’s context, we can take a traditional idea like landscape murals. Using a combination of classical techniques and new tech, a painterly mural becomes a nude-toned wall to wall laser cut tiled mosaic disrupted by off kilter arches gilded in liquid metal, turning every aspect of the home into a wild homage to natural history.

So what would this new take on romanticism look like to GG? See below and let us know what you think.