Remember when movies were silent, mobile phones were giant and photos took two weeks to process? No? Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t long for their return.
Retailers aren’t just tapping into the past on baby boomers’ behalf – they’re playing on a generation’s nostalgia for a time they never knew.
While some brands are cashing in on their own rich cultural cachet (see: Coca Cola or Adidas), others are hopping on the retro bandwagon, providing eager young buyers with faux (but fashionable) relics faster than you can say Lana Del Rey. But this instant aura of authenticity may ultimately be their downfall.
“The ironic fate that extinguishes so many trends built on suggesting and exploiting authenticity is that their very popularity extinguishes that which made them popular,” argues Nathan Jurgenson in the online sociology journal The Society Pages.
Jurgenson adds that faux-vintage photos made through Hipstamatic and Instagram serve “to highlight the larger trend of our viewing the present as increasingly a potentially documented past.” (And this was written before Facebook Timeline became standard.)
For posterity’s sake, here are some of my faux nostalgia finds in the world of fashion, film and more.
Fauxtography
The tweeted photo: a quiet, snowy street scene. The comment: “It was so beautiful I didn’t even need Instagram.”
We’ve gone from grainy, faded polaroids to disposable cameras to crisp digital photos to… grainy, faded digital photos. The new mantra: When in doubt, add a filter. That way you’ll place “yourself and your present into the context of the past, the authentic, the important and the real,” according to Jurgenson.
But if you want to be really original, you’ll take a photo that can’t be Photoshopped. On a recent trip to chic Parisian department store Franck et Fils, I happily paid €10 (one tenth of the price of my last digital camera) for a single picture from a photo booth.
Developed by legendary photo studio Harcourt, the booth debuted at Cannes and produces bright, flattering headshots that are a far cry from the stark portraits made at your local DMV.
Vintage reinvented
Banana Republic’s Mad Men capsule collections aren’t just cashing in on a sexy, award-winning series set in the 1960s – they’re appealing to men who collect bowties and women who long for the days when Marilyn Monroe’s voluptuous figure was the standard of beauty (whether these days even existed – just try nailing down Marilyn Monroe’s dress size, I dare you – is another matter).
The first collection, created in collaboration with Mad Men costumer Janie Bryant, was promoted through an online casting call that let fans reenact and upload scenes from the show.
In a nod to (or a swipe at) the copycat series Pan Am, the second collection launched on a branded Virgin America flight from JFK to LAX, with a suspicious number of fashion bloggers on board.
The cinched waists and tailored tops are accessibly retro, whether you’re a Peggy, Joan or Betty, but never stray into kitschy costume territory. And no girdles required. Can Debenhams’ Downton Abbey line be far behind?
Classic cocktails
Forget alcopops and molecular mixology. Old-school spirits are front and centre in hip bar and hotel menus like Fairmont hotels’ Classic Cocktails program, which lets guests order a Singapore Sling, Boxcar or Brandy Alexander at any Fairmont property in the world.
Not only is Fairmont appealing to a prohibition party-throwing, Boardwalk Empire-watching crowd, each drink serves as an intro to the hotel brand’s illustrious history. e.g. The Jazz Bar at The Peace Hotel in Shanghai, or The American Bar at The Savoy in London, former home to bartender Harry Craddock (who created The White Lady and published the seminal Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930).
Fairmont is also using the program to send fans to their social networking microsite – Everyone’s An Original – for recipes and tips.
Found footage
Popularized by 1999’s The Blair Witch Project (or, if you must, 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust), the found-footage genre is running strong in movies such as Cloverfield, The Devil Inside and the Paranormal Activity franchise.
With less of an air of manipulation than a mockumentary, found footage gives viewers an “authentic” alternative to scripted scenes and slick CGI. In the case of recent teen comedy Project X, the goal is “simply to look like the wildest viral video of all time,” wrote The Globe & Mail’s Andy Nayman.
And while early faux footage films may have strained audiences’ credibility – what kind of person would keep the camera running with her life at stake? – in 2012, it’s all too believable that someone would document every waking moment of her life, assuming it will interest someone else (see also: Twitter updates).
Even more believable? That in the future, all footage will be found with iMovie’s Aged Film effect already applied.
Did I miss anything? Live performances of podcasts? Joysticks for your iPad? New albums on vinyl? Mobile phone attachments that look like rotary handsets? Feel free to weigh in with your favourite old-school-inspired goods.
Original photography in top image by Yu Tsai.
Seems like nostalgia in marketing is a recurring phenomenon – although not always easy to spot in retrospect. After periods of intense technological advances, it seems people wax poetic for the old days.
I’m already reminiscing about the time I read this article. Those were the days.
“in 2012, it’s all too believable that someone would document every waking moment of her life, assuming it will interest someone else”
The interesting (sad?) thing is, it will. Though my feeling is that we have always been voyeurs, titillated by glimpses of the lives of others. The internet has just made it easier. People used to pass letters they got around and read them out loud. Eavesdropping on the old party lines was standard.
Also: note that a lot of kids toys have gone retro (marketing old beloved games and toys to the parents who had them when they were kids).
Further evidence: http://obamapacman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Lenny-Kravitz-iPhone-Retro-Phone.jpg
I’m sure it won’t be long before all this faux-nostalgia in photography gets traded in for “real nostalgia,” and applying a filter with your iPhone will go the way of the slap-on bracelet (coming back any moment now, btw).
“Oh you took it with your iPhone? I used a ‘found’ SLR and developed the film myself. It just feels more real.”
Of course it won’t last very long… remember when hipsters weren’t so lazy?
I hope the trend does not disappear – although, like all things, it will…I’ve been wanting this for a while:
http://apple-iphone.in/ipad-gramophone-docking-which-works-without-electricity/
Well written… I’d add in designer tiffins .
Would also be interesting to ascertain the number of ‘hipster’ consumers these products (gimmicks) are luring. the nature of hipsters is an ever changing need to appear authentic (logger cabin shirts and beards anyone?) … making a quick buck on a cool product with a shelf life of 5 min is either the greatest revenue model .. or the stupidest.
Will nostalgia be possible to feel for the first decade of 2000? it’ll just be nostalgia for nostalgia…weird
I don’t think nostalgia is unique to the current era. We always do this, because the past (particularly the past that happened right before we were born) can be inscribed with all kinds of hope, stability, etc that we feel like we’ve lost in the current era. The only difference now is that the rate of change is faster, so the difference between now and then feels more stark. That, and we are *constantly* sharing each and every photo, thought, drunk late-night tweet/status update with hundreds of people on social media. So instead of, say, going to the cinema and watching one nostalgic movie, we watch everyone (myself included) document every mundane aspect of their lives with Instagram.
I just had to check in and point out the most amazing recent example: An entire episode of NBC’s Community done up like an 8-bit videogame. And it works! http://www.tv.com/news/community-is-going-8-bit-for-a-video-game-episode-28697/
Turns out brands are pretty good at getting us to yearn for what never existed: http://t.co/g1BHXNuP
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/vgocxyMT from @sparksheet
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding | Sparksheet: http://t.co/h1nC6rSK #Instagram #MadMen #ProjectX #Polaroid #fauxstalgia
I shamelessly stole your Instagram quote @GingerJobot for this piece on fauxstalgia for Sparksheet http://t.co/numtBROL
@nathanjurgenson My piece on fauxstalgia is live on Sparksheet, featuring your excellent observations. http://t.co/numtBROL
The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/qXzdY5Js
@FairmontHotels Classic cocktails tap into cravings for instant nostalgia (and Mad Men fandom) http://t.co/numtBROL
thanks! MT @EveLovesLuxury @nathanjurgenson My piece on fauxstalgia is live, featuring your excellent observations http://t.co/8k8wYjAH
"Faux-vintage photos highlight our viewing the present as increasingly a potentially documented past” http://t.co/mMkM5nlb
The rise of nostalgia branding. It's all the rage http://t.co/U0yPETa8
#sparksheet Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/TZ9n0TGf
From Mad Men vintage to fauxtography, brands aren't just selling classics, they're marketing nostalgia:
http://t.co/AKL15al6
The rise of nostalgia branding. It's all the rage http://t.co/U0yPETa8
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/zBFsxXqy
RT @evelovesluxury: @FairmontHotels Classic cocktails tap into cravings for instant nostalgia (and Mad Men fandom) http://t.co/nGEfgNBn
Trends are cyclical, why wouldn't advertising maximize on our compulsion to rewind and revisit? http://t.co/Bi5Wi0As (via @sparksheet)
#SMspark Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/nFoTg6El #SM24hrs
As of today, Instagram is now available for Android… Just in time for our feature article on branding nostalgia: http://t.co/AKL15al6
As of today, Instagram is now available for Android… Just in time for our feature article on branding nostalgia: http://t.co/AKL15al6
As of today, Instagram is now available for Android… Just in time for our feature article on branding nostalgia: http://t.co/AKL15al6
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia #Branding | Sparksheet: http://t.co/ZONqh5oY via @AddThis #marketing #business
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding | Sparksheet: http://t.co/CyKwqhCw
Being nostalgic is the new black. l Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding | Sparksheet: http://t.co/UiRC1jUp #marketing #branding
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia #Branding http://t.co/eOuBOekz
Great piece by @sparksheet: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/Z6gJakvu
Great piece by @sparksheet: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/Z6gJakvu
Brilliant @evelovesluxury The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/fEJZCKeR <wish we really went back to curves of Marilyn Monroe
The Rise of Nostalgia #Branding: http://t.co/baJpq3FV
The Rise of Nostalgia #Branding: http://t.co/baJpq3FV
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/DeE2T49j
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgic Branding – http://t.co/HxRwRFRV
From Mad Men vintage to fauxtography, brands aren't just selling classics, they're marketing nostalgia:
http://t.co/AKL15al6
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding | Sparksheet http://t.co/RuoCUmhK
No, we can't return to the days of polaroids and ascots, but that doesn't mean we can't pretend: http://t.co/g1BHXNuP via @Sparksheet
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/VSOx2GRb
RT @sparksheet: Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/1s2cgsEg
Re-thinking my filters c/o @EveLovesLuxury and @sparksheet: Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/Hz8clEo5
Re-thinking my filters c/o @EveLovesLuxury and @sparksheet: Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/Hz8clEo5
Instant Classic: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding | Sparksheet http://t.co/ARN0UMyJ
scary to realize just how hard i fell for all of this RT @sparksheet: The Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/lo6GTwOA (via @plvandijck)
Instant classic: the rise of nostalgia branding http://t.co/jaQmHh8v
Instant classic: the rise of nostalgia branding http://t.co/jaQmHh8v
Instant classic: the rise of nostalgia branding http://t.co/jaQmHh8v
Another great article by Sparksheet – definitely worth reading especially if you are a small business owner. http://t.co/JCmS4eSj
Had to repost for the 8-bit episode @nbcommunity @sparksheet: Rise of Nostalgia Branding http://t.co/ojbb8Pu2 (Def had geeky flashbacks)
Will the downfall of #nostalgic #branding come soon? Is it serving as a means to buy time? @Sparksheet
http://t.co/6oGba4Jp
[…] love for retro has even inspired a marketing trend. In nostalgia branding, marketers seek inspiration from past cultural artifacts to appeal to the generation that […]
It seems that brands of all kinds are tapping into retro vibe. http://t.co/JqRbuuT4
[…] They say nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. But in a high-tech world, retailers, content creators and service brands are wooing customers with decidedly low-fi experiences, reports Eve Thomas. … […]
[…] easily explain this, even to ourselves. We can’t easily acknowledge the narcissism and the nostalgia that drives so many of the apparently rational decisions we make every day. But that doesn’t […]