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Hitler to high-tech; birth of psychedelia to the release of John McCarthy; design classics to design prostitution. Fifty years of design, innovation and world history chronicled below.
Design and innovation
in the ‘40s was dominated by World War II. ‘Make do and mend’
Britain puts up with utility furniture, clothing and household goods following
prescribed designs. Decade ends with consumer-boom beginning in USA -
new ideas and products filter through to UK.
The ‘50s sees
transformation of everyday life in Britain. Decade starts with food rationing;
scarce consumer goods; and nice girls and boys dressing like their parents.
Post-war economic boom takes hold by the end of decade; cars, fridges
and frozen food; Teddy boys and rock ‘n’ roll. The ‘Teenager’
reaches Britain.
New freedom and style
finds strident voice in the ‘60s. ‘Swinging London’ leads
way in fashion, music, films and books. Boutiques open, selling cheap,
exciting new clothes in fab and groovey shapes and colours. Young people
dictate fashion, outraging the establishment with mini skirts, heavy make-up,
psychedelia and flower power. Late ‘60s hippie movement reacts against
progress and consumerism.
Decade in crisis.
Cost of living rises dramatically, design fragments as ideas of ‘good
taste’ come under attack from all directions. Pop design gives way
to Laura Ashley and Habitat. Energy conservation contrasts with silicon
chip technology. Excitement of the space race fades, Post-Modernism emerges.
Punk makes the ultimate anti-fashion statement.
The ‘designer
decade’. Designer jeans, designer labels, designer water, even designer
stubble. Yuppie design reigns supreme in ‘matt-black ‘80s’.
Design equals desirability and status. Used to sell all types of goods
in the mid-eighties retail boom. By close of decade ‘green design’
emerges in reaction to frenzy of conspicuous consumption.
Recession shakes design
world, companies collapse. Designer decade gives way to new directions.
Virtual reality, internet, 3-D rapid prototyping and hi-tech graphic explosion
change face of design world. Designers gear up for the next millennium.
We're just over a year into the 2000's and cellular technology looks like it's going to be a big issue in the decade ahead - it's already allowing us to envisage 'smart' and intelligent products in the home, and WAP technology is letting us view the internet via our mobile phones. At the latter end of the decade, after the planned introduction of the A380 Airbus in 2006, we have yet to see whether the superjumbo airliner will alleviate the problems of overcrowded airports, limited runway space, and the growing number of aircraft in the sky, not to mention 'Economy Class Syndrome' triggered by minimal passenger legroom. Picture credits
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