March 6, 2014

"Wes Anderson is a genius, but ... come on, people! Get a life! Make your own style."

"Pretentious hipsters of the world, unite!"/"My favorite detail in this article are the piles of old books used as wedding table centerpieces."

Comments at a NYT article about an interior decoration trend inspired by Wes Anderson movies. Click on the slide show to see what the results actually are.

30 comments:

mccullough said...

Without pretension hipsters, the NY Times would be gone and Manhattan would be affordable.

traditionalguy said...

OK, Wes he can do nice arrangements of colorful stuff...but he will never beat Laurence Meade's Dogs Of Madison for colorful arrangements of real life.

I am serious.

Tim said...

Who is Wes Anderson?

rehajm said...

The antlers, armchair, gold shade lamps and flying geese were all in my grandparent's house.

Is this normcore décor?

kjbe said...

Growing up, I had a friend who's house was decorated in that midcentury pole lamps, uncomfortable furniture and ducks-on-the-wall.

I still don't like it (I do get a kick out of the Mr. Fox-like portraits, though, in someone else's house).

Ann Althouse said...

"The antlers, armchair, gold shade lamps and flying geese were all in my grandparent's house."

Oh, that reminds me. I watched the first episode of "True Detective." What's up with antlers? Some kind of Satan thing or Matthew McConnaughey chasing his future self? No "True Detective" spoilers, please. I'm just wondering about these dubious people who find antlers amusing.

mccullough said...

The antlers are a type of crown. A mishmash cult thing.

Nonapod said...

Did decorating your home with bric-a-brac to make it look like the interior of a family style restaurant exist before this Wes Anderson dude?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

... come on, people! Get a life! Make your own style.

I have a life, and thus, neither the time nor the interest in making my own style.

Ann Althouse said...

One time on TV in the 1960s, Red Skelton walked on wearing antlers and said "Mind if I horn in?"

That was funny.

RecChief said...

looking at all that midcentury furniture caused two reactions:
1. It explains why I get so many calls to make Arts & Crafts/ Craftsman/ Mission and Shaker furniture.

2. Wasn't the Democrat party telling us that it was Republicans that wanted to drag the country back to the '50s?

RazorSharpSundries said...

If piles of old books be the hipster decor de jour, then crown me Hipster King of all I survey. Which is currently my sad bachelor apartment temperamentally a flourish w/ piles of old books.

JackOfClubs said...

Comments at a NYT article about an interior decoration trend inspired by Wes Anderson movies.

When I first read this I somehow got Wes Anderson confused with Wes Craven. I was expecting decor from the boiler room scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Freeman Hunt said...

The slides don't look like his films.

Titus said...

My father has an entire room full of guns and antlers and animal heads, and full bodies, and birds, and fish, some with a really pointy nose, and even a rooster.

traditionalguy said...

Antlers are signal the Satanic symbol called Baphomet, the Horned Goat of Mendes, and form the top left and top right points of the ceremonial pentagram.

How hip can you get?

Anonymous said...

Just a guess here, tradguy, but calling hipsters devil-worshippers is probably just going to push many of them further into the embrace of a fashionable, ironic and snarky lifestyle.

Known Unknown said...

Let it be known Wes Anderson existed before hipsters.

Bottle Rocket was released in 1996.

Known Unknown said...

The slides don't look like his films.

Bingo. We have a winner. These hipsters have failed miserably.

Anderson's attention to detail is more acclimated to period-piece fanaticism than random quirkiness.


The Godfather said...

My parents would be so proud to know that their middle-class (but tasteful) 1950's decor is now fashionable "midcentury".

If only the values they cherished in those far-off days were also fashionable again.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Antlers on the wall proclaim that you aren't the least bit squeamish about how meat ends up on your dinner table.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Wes Anderson did not exist before hipsters, which go back to the 1940s.

traditionalguy said...

@chrisnavin.com...You are right. Hipsters need to enjoy their lives. And then somebody asked the question from a desire for understanding. I promise to keep quiet from now on.

Known Unknown said...

Wes Anderson did not exist before hipsters, which go back to the 1940s.

I am speaking of the modern incarnation.

The Brooklynites.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

Some of those pictures are successful at imitating Wes Anderson's style, some are unsuccessful. One crucial element of his style is that, in nearly every shot, the camera faces a flat surface head-on, usually a wall. The wall is like a page, and the camera placement in relation to the wall gives the shot a literary quality. Many of those pictures either have no wall or face a corner of a room, which indicates that the photographer hasn't figured out the Wes Anderson style.

Foobarista said...

Never heard of the guy.

Bob R said...

The problem with mid century modern furniture (which I like) is that the original stuff is either falling apart and impossible to fix or hideously expensive.

I greatly prefer sarcasm to irony.

rastajenk said...

Blogger Foobarista said...
Never heard of the guy.
3/6/14, 10:00 PM

I had to look him up on imdb. Even that didn't help much.

Trashhauler said...

Some might think all that 50s stuff looks nice today, but it wasn't very comfortable or children friendly back when it was new.

Foobarista said...

Me too. I've seen "Moonrise Kingdom", but didn't think enough of it to follow who directed it. It wasn't bad, but not great.