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Reinventing Trends
By Jonathon Freeman-Anderson

Recent styles have brought back trends from the 1930s through the 1980s, with even the 90s considered vintage now. Current interior design harkens back to classic deco and "modern" designs. Cool cars like the Dodge Charger, Mini Cooper, and Ford Mustang return to the forefront of popularity by combining classic style with innovative technology. Music, film, toys, video games, and even candy are all returning with classic, vintage packaging over contemporary products to represent the most popular trends of decades ago as something new and exciting today.

Vintage means to represent the high quality of a bygone past time by referencing the era from which that item was in production or use. Simply meaning old-fashioned, functioning like "timeless" or "classic," vintage is associated with industrial modernism in the post-WWII years featuring an aesthetic that ranges from tailfins on a Cadillac to adobe-style ranch houses. Vintage can suggest an entire outlook on life, such as, social conservatism, or home schooling, and also applies to forms of technological obsolescence, like manual typewriters, cash registers, bulky cell phones, or old computer software and hardware. Most commonly, vintage describes objects and attitudes from the recent past that no longer seem modern. Suggesting a fundamental shift in the way society relates to the past, the recapitulation of vintage trends today is unlike any other previous, traditional form of revivalism. With an ironic, yearning desire for a piece of the recent past without becoming a sad parody of that time, vintage products feature as an unsentimental nostalgia. By taking outdated "modern" forms and combining them with contemporary styles and attitudes, this unsentimental nostalgia offers a positive, quirky, and attractive spin on products that are either no longer available or are new and need a familiar packaging to start or help sales.

Transportation on a mass scale has been revolutionized and reinvented to fall within this desire to recreate vintage style around contemporary application. The razor scooter took a classic concept and made it lightweight and portable. The same goes for modern bicycles and skateboards, which has contemporary manufacturing technology with classic designs. Long boards and banana boards have reemerged on the scene for skateboarders, who enjoy the ride more than, or as much as, the need to perform tricks. There is nothing too vintage about the California subway systems except the fact that back before GM ripped up the trolley cars and covered the southland with freeways, Los Angeles (unbelievably) had the best public transit system in the world. Now, valley-ites and Angelinos can feel comfortable knowing that an underground railway system runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault.

The one product that has embraced the concept of vintage re-invention with the fervor of a sugar-addled child is the automobile. Starting with European redesigns of classic cars like the Mini and the VW bug, American automakers followed through with their own redesigns including the Dodge Charger, Ford Mustang, and Chevy Camaro. In the '60s and '70s, the Dodge Charger appealed to those who craved the visceral feel of a two-door muscle car. Although the 2007 Charger is much different from the original 1964 Coke bottle design, it retains the spirit of the original. Notice the large 60s inspired steering wheel, large (vintage) air vents, clean and classy black on white rpm/speed dials, and supportive seats. The 2010 Chevy Camaro has strong visual cues to the '67-'69 body style. The 2005-2009 Ford Mustang fuses the late 1960s breakthrough style that made the car such a hit originally, but with a more modern feel to it. The 1992 Dodge Viper arguably started the vintage movement as an unapologetic throwback to the days of the AC Cobra. The Viper's V10 motor growled the car to the top of the bestseller list. The Chrysler PT Cruiser was the American response to the new VW Beetle. The Cruiser's performance is uninspiring, even the turbocharged GT versions offer little excitement, but the car's low pricing has kept it in Chrysler's line past 2009, when it was supposed to be discontinued.

Not all old styles come back, but the nostalgia that does make the recycled trend list is usually from whatever stereotype was the most popular look at that time. For example, the 1950s may not have actually been the way most imagine it to be, but the cool, sleek, style that the marketing companies were pushing back then has remained as the standard of that decade. Whether it was the Rat Pack, Elvis, or the look of what was going to be the future image for suburbia that did it to create this stereotype, the fact is vintage 50s nostalgia is irresistibly popular today. Clothing, home décor, kitchenware, toys, and cars styles are following vintage 50s trends. Classic chrome-legged tables, abstract-pattern dishes, kidney-shaped coffee tables, furniture upholstered in abstract fabric can add a vintage 50s vibe to home décor and kitchenware. Toys, like the classic 1950s pedal car, are as popular again as the 1950s hot rod designs. With their bright paint, chrome accessories, and sleek lines, these classic 1950s era toys are highly prized by collectors, but several reproductions of classic 50s versions have also been produced. Pedal cars have been redesigned on the inside to be safer for children to drive, while the exterior retains the classic 1950s lines.

Digital flea markets such as eBay and Craigslist are reinventions that have brought buying second-hand merchandise to an electronic standard by providing consumers access to vintage items from all over the world. Popular vintage items that always sell include classic video game platforms like Atari, or NES, classic Pez dispensers, and vintage clothes.

Fortunately for classic products, with each new generation of consumers comes the inevitable ignorance of previous trends. Grandparents may hand clothes down to their kids, and in turn, parents may hand clothes down to the next generation, but certain trends are best left for discovery in a thrift store, secondhand clothing shop, digital flea market or swap meet by the next possible Versace or Ralph Lauren. According to Vogue magazine's "Ultimate Catwalk Report Autumn /Winter 2009," the [new] looks are "best suited to those…who were too young to remember them the first time round."

This year's clothing trends drip with vintage style, from 40s-era fitted skirts to funky 80s big-shouldered power jackets or the return of Crocs, Puma, and Wayfarer sunglasses. On the fall 2009 designer runways, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana, Zac Posen, and Louis Vuitton embrace '80s fashion with big shoulders and bold animal prints, and offers sophisticated glamour with cheap, rhinestone sequined jackets. Custom-designed prints featuring vintage Ed Hardy and Sailor Jerry images on shoes to handbags to trucker hats are extremely popular. A custom "vintage" trucker hat with an Ed Hardy design costs $80. Classic brands like Reebok, Adidas, and Nike have established vintage divisions specializing in classic re-releases of sports jerseys, shoes, and sports equipment for fans looking for the original authentic feel and look of sports' bygone eras. Crocs have returned as such a comfortable product for industry that many hospital workers use them regularly to withstand long shifts on their feet.

With the new music scene has come rehashed fashion from older pop influences such as the gothic/glam/campy pseudo-punk looks popularized by Madonna and Cindi Lauper. Walk into Hot Topic sometime and see what The Cure's fashion trends (definitely not their music) are doing to the young mallrats of America. Bright-colored highlights or two-tone bangs covering part of the face, thick black eyeliner, and ratty, fishnet gloves up to the elbow are a popular look for teen girls right now.

A specific and clear example of these reinvented clothing trends is the way in which the sport garments from the 70s and 80s are used today. Featuring jackets, jerseys, and t-shirts with former team logos, designs commonly remember the old days by using lines in the sides and combinations of colors characteristic of those times. Some soccer, baseball, football, hockey, and basketball clubs also have re-edited their former garments to raise their sales. Throwback uniforms and jerseys are one-time or limited-time variations on a sports team's uniforms styled to resemble uniforms from that team's past. In Major League Baseball, teams not only wear renditions of their past styles, but also tributes to defunct minor league and Negro League baseball teams.

Today's popular music honors vintage style and sounds by sampling and remaking many songs, musical genres, and image for a new generation. By combining classic music trends with new advancements in music technology, artists have broken through outdated and redundant formats and record label practices to create a new, innovative, and revolutionary trend to create, express, and distribute music today. Generating music electronically created a completely new market for reinventing classic sounds. In 2004, DJ Danger Mouse remixed and printed 3,000 copies of his "Grey Album," combining the Beatles' White album with Jay-Z's acapella "Black album." Copyright holders, EMI Records, issued DM a cease-and-desist order, but another remix combining Metallica's Black album with Jay-Z's Black album (dubbed the Double Black album) was soon released and caused uproar over copyright infringement again. Ultimately, though, 200 music download sites offered both albums, plus over a dozen other renditions of Jay-Z's acapella work, and there was nothing EMI, or any other label, could do. Go to jayzconstructionset.com today to download Jay-Z's a cappella raps, MP3 files of "The Black Album" and do-it-yourself remix software to join in the fun and make countless more mutations.

Reinventing the trend of creating and distributing new music to the masses free has forced artists to rely on live performance as the majority of their annual profits over record sales. This idea truly forces the best musicians to prove their ability to create quality sounds over the barrage of original, new noise released everyday online at myspace.com. Recently, a rise in popularity of hard rock music that combines classic rock elements with psychedelia, heavy metal, and modern hard rock has come to prominence. Such bands as Wolfmother, Jet, and Finger Eleven have become very successful using methods and extremely similar riffs of past bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd. Jet has songs off their "Get Born" record with clear musical arrangements referencing John Lennon's "Imagine" and The Who. Finger Eleven's song, "Paralyzer" sounds similar to Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. Wolfmother harkens back to Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, and the Steve Miller Band. Fans should hope these new bands would revive a surge in interest for the vintage rock artists who deserve as much credit for their skill and work as some of these bands are by ripping off their sound, especially Jet. As iPods have mass-produced and compartmentalized digital renditions of everyone's favorite songs into players no bigger than a square inch, vintage vinyl record sales only increase in value. Today, many pay for custom products combined from across the 20th century to define the 21st century culture.

While some element of vintage has always been popular, Hipsters, who are often high on style but short on cash, are big on the vintage scene. Hipster neighborhoods are hot spots of vintage-cool restaurants, bars, and stores, intending completely to defy "chain" and "franchise" marketing. However, some retail chains are attempting to capitalize on the vintage trend. The Progressive Auto Insurance commercial features a bright, bubbly 1950s-esque spokeswoman in a clean, controlled "vintage" supermarket for auto insurance packages. The American-style restaurant chain, Red Robin, has an interior design that captures the quintessence of camp by covering every location with antique memorabilia, vintage images, and art. Thomas O'Briens' Vintage Modern clothing line is available at Target stores nationwide. For some, the unpredictable nature of the scavenger hunt and the thrill of discovery are part of the appeal of vintage. This has made "The Antiques Roadshow" PBS's most popular show.

The trend of reinventing film will go on forever, but the nature of society finding comfort and embracing the vintage on film is seen in TV shows like "That 70s Show" or the upcoming movie, "Taking Woodstock." Sometimes, cultural re-invention fails; "That 80s Show" did not make it very far before having Fox cancel it. The new live-action "G.I. Joe" movie featuring Marlon Wayans is not much better than his previous attempt at capitalizing on dork nostalgia when starring in the bomb, "Dungeons and Dragons." Look out; film is probably not very far from a live-action "Barbie" or a CGI/live action "Smurfs" movie.

Vintage video games are becoming increasingly popular where individuals play video games on vintage computers or game consoles. Video game companies have begun releasing updated classic games for their new, more interactive gaming platforms. For example, Nintendo's incredibly popular "Punch-out!!" for the NES is back for the Wii for a whole new generation to battle as little man, Joe, versus Piston Honda and the rest. Most vintage gamers are interested in Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Neo Geo, Sega Dreamcast, Super Nintendo, and the classic Game Boy. Current trends have solidified classic game characters like Mario, Sonic, and Pacman into the fabric of American culture with the most popular characters being printed on bright colored t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts.

Many vintage items produced today have a nostalgic look on the outside, but are completely modern on the inside. For example, kitchen appliances can be made to modern specifications, with an exterior that looks like they belong in a fifties, sixties, or seventies kitchen. By mixing modern technology with vintage styling, people can have the best of both worlds. Vintage styles are now quite chic and a great way to capture the past with a unique look.

Remembering the past and expressing successful trends provides one with a sense of comfort and solace in appreciating that what worked then can still work now. Knowing that the culmination of history's expression and product can not only be appreciated, but also embraced and reinvented by the next culture is the epitome of the human condition. We are the product of compounded millennia of culture, class, and conceptual design. Where is the logic in temporary, disposable history when society can relish in the trends of the past to reinvent the future in an image that both, ancestors and descendents, can potentially appreciate together. Quality trends in transportation, clothing, music, film, art, and overall cultural style have a tendency to repeat. Recapitulation of themes amalgamated into new, popular designs and invention is a literal re-interpretation of past trends into sophisticated, cool, and occasionally ironic twists on pop culture. What were once rebellious, counter-cultural expressions of attitude against authority, including authority over image, has become the mainstream standard as a reoccurring mass-marketing ploy for corporate products. If anything, reinventing trends counters the mass-produced, throwaway nature of American culture by exclaiming that nostalgic Americana is invaluable and important. Though history tends to repeat itself in negative ways, nostalgic vintage trends set the need for classic style to repeat history's most creative, positive moments.

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