What Is Art Deco and Why Is It Popular Again?

01Art Deco is an international artistic style that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

02Now, interest in the style and its qualities is growing.

03A new generation is enjoying the style's roots and turning it into something new.

04A public showing or exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York provides a look at the style that helped define the city 100 years ago.

05Famous Art Deco buildings include the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall.

06The public showing, called Art Deco City, New York postcards from the Leonard A.

07Lauder Collection, also has clothing and film clips from the time.

08In London, the Victoria and Albert Museum has a collection of day and evening clothing, jewelry, and more.

09The collection comes from Les Ballets Russes, a dance company that had a major effect on fashion.

10And in Paris, organizers of the 2024 Olympics created Art Deco posters last year to celebrate the Games and mark the 100 years since the 1924 Olympics, which Paris also hosted.

11Experts have different opinions about Art Deco.

12Design writer Arika Elin Sanson, for example, said last year in El Decor magazine, Ask three historians to define the term Art Deco, and you'll likely get three varying answers.

13Appearing after World War I, the first Art Deco era had a spirit of creativity and freedom.

14With the aim of appearing modern, the style became one of the most important forms of design in the 1920s and early 1930s.

15The Art Deco style is believed to have first appeared at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.

16The early 1930s saw the development of the style in Miami, where South Beach's Art Deco district is popular with visitors and a center for design.

17In some large cities, low-rise buildings of two or three floors turned into landscapes of high-rise skyscrapers.

18Public and private spaces showed themes involving geometrical designs and luxurious materials.

19In transportation, faster cars and better trains suggested a new age, while jazz music urged people to celebrate.

20The same energy can be found in today's fashion shows and red carpet events for stars.

21Some of today's colorful clothing suggests the jazz age, another name for the period when Art Deco was popular.

22Stars like Zendaya, Gigi Hadid, Beyonce, and Demi Lovato have used elements of the Deco era in new ways.

23The aesthetic of the 1920s is enjoying a fashionable renaissance, said Kirstie Thatcher of the Australian fashion magazine Rush.

24A renaissance represents a rebirth of something from the past.

25New York-based interior designer Vanessa de Leon told the Associated Press, The boldness and elegance of Art Deco are what appeals to me.

26Jamie Watkins and Tom Kennedy of the London design company Divine Savages include Art Deco elements in their collections of products for the home.

27Watkins suggested, Linda Klitsch is the co-organizer or curator of the exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.

28Klitsch noted that postcards were the social media of their day.

29Travelers at the time busily wrote messages to friends and family.

30New York's famous Art Deco buildings appear in over 250 postcards.

31There is also a selection of clothing from the 1920s, shoes, and other objects.

32Art Deco was the look that sold the city to the world, said co-curator Lily Tuttle.

33The exhibition in New York City runs through February 17th.

34I'm John Russell.