Reply to Is Mid-Century Modern on Its Way Out?

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Reply to "Is Mid-Century Modern on Its Way Out?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The best way to not make your house look “dated” is to start with the house itself. What does it look like? What is the architectural style? You certainly don’t need to “match” that or make it a period home but if your house IS a mid-century modern house, that style will continue to look at home there.

Imo the most “timeless” style is Rich People Vaguely English Country which is “timeless” mostly because a lot of those English houses stay the same for many decades and because rich Americans never tire of imitating them. So it’s more about staying power than “timelessness.” And because to do it well, you’re going to have antiques and such from several periods and so things are “dated” to many periods and you have a nice mix. Whether the Chippendale is from Great-grandmother or last week at Christie’s. Southerners do the more fun version of this but I think Connecticut has the best ones.

I highly recommend NOT looking at design blogs and sites. They’re often terrible. People make fun of the haughty magazine editor stereotype but those betches were saving us from ourselves. So look at magazines, old magazines. [/quote]

Agreed on all accounts. Rich People Vaguely English Country is a much more flexible style than many think. It can age gracefully and be updated for each generation. It can be formal and informal, often in the same room.

I have respect for MCM and admire aspects of it, but it's hard to argue that it's timeless given that before, say, 2005, it was considered very ugly and dated and old fashioned. No one was talking MCM in the 1980s and 1990s. No one. I repeat, no one. However, many of its simple  pieces are almost classical in form and will have a place in the future.

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Agree that MCM was “out” for a long time, but your time line is incorrect (why is it that the people who are the most adamant are usually wrong?). I have a very design-conscious family member who was collecting MCM in the 90’s. They lived in a city in “flyover” country, though. Even at that time, there were dealers that specialized in MCM there, and prices were already going up. Interior fashion trends do not start on the East Coast. The people are too conservative.

When I moved to DC, I was struck by how homogeneous the design choices were. I remember talking to antique dealers who were thrilled to meet someone who would consider something other than Early American or Georgian furniture. They usually had more interesting things stashed in their storage rooms that they couldn’t resist buying, but that they knew wouldn’t sell. Obviously, the predominant style has changed, over time, but DC still tends to be “conservative” with regard to interior design. Go look at the real estate page. Any house that shows flashes of personality and doesn’t have the bog-standard “accepted” interior design is excoriated. So, I don’t blame OP for wanting to crowdsource to find out what the DC interior design standard is these days. 
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What individuals may have done doesn't matter. In the design world, MCM wasn't being talked about and carried little weight till about 20 years ago around the beginning of the millennium. The 1990s was dominated by the various traditional looks, whether rich people's English country, or American country, or Arts&Crafts/Mission/Craftsman, or Shaker. Contemporary was limited although there were some. [b]But the 1950s-60s MCM wasn't really being featured in design magazines.[/b]

MCM revival is too ubiquitous and identikit that it's lost its novelty. I do get the sense people are moving on from it and looking for something more distinctive. [/quote]

Well, if that’s your standard, sure. But if something is being featured in design magazines, then it is already, by definition, mainstream, and soon to be on its way out. No matter how they bill themselves, those magazines are in the business of selling advertising to high end brands, and are inherently conservative. [/quote]

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