Roaring 20s - What Design From 100 Years Ago Teaches Us Today
By Max Birkin for House of Henley
The 1920s, formerly so glamorous and romantic, tinged with mystery and a sense of excess that seemed exciting rather than wasteful, has been somewhat over-exposed. Raise your hand if, last November, at least six different invitations for a Great Gatsby themed New Year's Eve party dropped through your letterbox; keep your hand up if you also donned a sequinned flapper dress or double-breasted pinstripe suit and went around sipping Laurent-Perrier from a champagne saucer and calling everyone "old sport". Seduced by the brilliant Baz Luhrmann Gatsby film, we have all fallen for the 20s in a big way, encouraged by the pleasing coincidence of living in the second decade of our own century. Whilst the cocktails, curved sofas, spherical lamps and pimped-up jazz (thank you, will.i.am) have all been very enjoyable, having our very own Spanish Flu and Wall Street crash - coronavirus and the recession - has been less jolly. After all, there were only so many brass bar-carts Oliver Bonas could sell before we all got a little bored of the Roaring Twenties. This is a shame, however, as the 1920s was the decade that interior design became more involved than simply painting a wall and putting up a painting; the geometric shapes and sumptuous fabrics that characterise the period are in fact very modern, and translate easily to our homes today. So, throw out the cigarette holders, but give the twenties a final chance – a little party never killed nobody.
Keep it real
Picture Credit: Cherie Lee Interiors
Thanks again to Baz Luhrmann, high-street retailers and even DIY stores have all released cocktail chairs, chaise lounges, cocktail cabinets and geometric print wallpapers. Please avoid all of these. Homebase currently sells a particularly botched version of the velvet cocktail chair in a choice of four equally unappealing colours, upholstered in an ugly, too-shiny fabric mounted on cheap wooden legs. There is nothing glamorous or luxurious about a knock-off (although, arguably, pretending to be something you're not is very Jay Gatsby indeed). Head to auction houses to source more authentic pieces instead. Most budgets won’t stretch to original pieces made in the 1920’s and sat on by all the sirens of the silver screen, so avoid Christie’s and look up your local auction houses instead. These often have pieces “in the style of” great designers of the period, which ape the general appearance of an original but largely employ the same high standards of quality and aren’t much younger in age. Alternatively, look to eBay or Gumtree for bargains or project pieces – a sideboard that can be lacquered and made into a cocktail cabinet, say – but be prepared to spend a little more than you might otherwise be happy to pay for another man’s rubbish, as people have cottoned on to the allure of 20s style furnishings.
Jay and Frank
Picture Credit: Sigmar
The 1920s did also see more restrained and elegant designs – it wasn’t all focused on Hollywood excess and the gin palaces of the nouveu riche. If you’d like to draw on the period to decorate your home, perhaps turn away from Baz Luhrmann and Ryan Murphy for a moment or two and look at the great architects of the era, which heralded the advent of modernism. Frank Lloyd Wright is the most obvious; his clean-lined designs were daring but still welcoming, pioneering the use of cutting-edge materials whilst still ensuring that the interiors of his projects were comfortable. The twenties also saw the conception of the Bauhaus school of design, anathema to Gatsby’s Long Island Disney Palace. Some of these designs are perhaps a little too cold for day-to-day life, but they are an excellent palate cleanser for Roaring Twenties overload and would act as an excellent starting point for planning a design scheme for your home. Take a mix’n’match approach – half German proto-modernism and half Fitzgerald decadence. Choose brilliant white plaster walls and a simple, matt parquet floor, but then clad your chimney breast in mirrored panels and buy a lapis-blue Eichholtz sofa. Don’t overdo it with the period pieces and try to ensure a good balance of modern and Gatsby; two velvet armchairs coupled with a more contemporary rug, or a simple kitchen in jewel tones with geometric tiles. Aim to feel like you could have both Jay and Frank round for cocktails, and both would feel flattered that they had influenced you.
Too much is not enough
The excess and problematically appealing vulgarity of the Roaring Twenties is in part what attracts us to them; we all want to swig champers in the back of a drop-top Rolls, lolling against other Bright Young Things on our way to some wild party. Trying to emulate that sort of indulged abandon is hard when travelling to a pub quiz in the back of a pre-booked minicab, but there are other ways of achieving the most desirable lifestyle aspects of the 1920s through design. The easiest and most effective is to have a drinks tray in every reception room of your house. A silver tray stocked with either some vintage decanters (try charity shops or splash out at Georg Jensen) or attractive spirit bottles gives a wonderfully homely decadence to every room. Pair with some tumblers or thin-stemmed glassware, an ice bucket and tongs and a little tray of cut lemons and limes, and a post-work stiffie will taste all the more joyous. Put a tray in your dressing room or bedroom too, so you can make a drink as you dress for an evening out (it should be stressed that all these drinks need not be alcoholic – the dry Nick Carraway would surely be a big fan of a Seedlip and tonic). In fact, generally setting your home up for entertaining will give you Gatsby vibes quite simply; burn mandarin candles from Jo Malone, drizzle truffle oil over everything you serve and flash a green light at intermittent intervals. However, remember you aren't actually Daisy Buchanan - you cannot spend all day sighing languidly and ripping pearls from your neck as you do have to pick the children up at 4pm.
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