Art Deco Style

I've always loved the Art Deco style. When I worked at Parkwood Estate, my favourite rooms on the tour were those that were remodeled in the 1930s and influenced by the clean and geometric lines that characterize Art Deco.

Broadly speaking, Art Deco covers a period from 1909 to 1939 and was influenced by art movements like Cubism and Modernism. The introduction of the Ballet Russes, created by a Sergei Diaghilev in an attempt to revitalize classical ballet, to an accepting Parisian social elite in 1909 is largely considered the catalyst of the Art Deco movement. The costumes were designed by Paul Poiret, the first fashion designer to materialize the colourful elements of Art Deco. According to Suzanne Lussier, curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Poiret's influence and fashions would last well into the 1920s. Art Deco went on to inspire art, architecture, fashion, movies, and the general style of appliances and home decor.

 Check out the V&A's website and browse their Art Deco Collections. Lussier's book, Art Deco Fashion, is a great source for Art Deco fashion images and a quick history of the emerging fashion houses of Paris and England.

Poster, 1927 by  Adolphe Mouron Cassandre; Victoria and Albert Museum

Cigarette Lighter, c.1925 by Ronson; Victoria and Albert Museum

Evening dress and slip by Jean-Charles Worth, c.1927; Victoria and Albert Museum