70s Style & Design
CHAPTER 3: SUPERNATURE
chapters:
Equally influential in shaping 70s style was the back-to-nature movement, which sprang from both the hippie reaction against plastic consumer boomer America and the environmental crisis that the boom had helped to create. In 1970 the first national Earth Day brought issues such as pollution and diminishing resources into the global consciousness, and shortages stared consumers in the face after the 1973 oil crisis, inspiring experimentation with alternative energy sources and eco architecture – an early example being Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti in the Arizona desert. Victor Papanek's Design for the Real World emphasised the importance of social and ecological issues over aesthetics and expendability, and the exhibition Italy: the New Domestic Landscape at MoMA in New York showcased flexible, space-saving designs like sofa beds and modular furniture, which responded to issues such as the population explosion and the erosion of the family unit. The eco idea of reutilizing existing things rather than producing new ones was echoed in the High-tech movement in architecture and the adoption of utility clothing as day wear. The back-to-nature movement also inspired the Victoriana craze in interiors and fashion, as popularised by Laura Ashley and Habitat.
Also includes: Alessandro Becchi, Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell, Chloé, Deluxe magazine, Hans Feurer, Frank Gehry, Jean-Paul Goude, Michael Hopkins, Hoofer, Howie, David Inshaw, Michael Jantzen, Ben Kelly, Kenzo, Lyn le Grice, Michael Leonard, John Makepeace, Carol McNicoll, David Mellor, Mulberry, Native Funk and Flash, Pompidou Centre, PX, Radical architecture, Rags magazine, Anita Roddick, Yves Saint Laurent, Oliviero Toscani, Chantal Thomass, Yak