How Do YOU Retro...?

Makes you dizzy, doesn't it...

Retro...
Wikipedia defines it as  a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again.
 So, in a nutshell, anything that fits this criteria from  any era can be considered to be "retro". Though, arguably, there are some "blasts from the past" that  should not be described as a "blast" but should instead be "blasted" (as in "blasted into a million pieces") and mercifully forgotten.

The way old timers listened to music...

With such a broad definition of the word, the question here is, how do you retro...?
I suppose this all depends on the year you were born in and the eras you grew up during. Perhaps it depends on the era that was most influential to you. Either way, everyone retros differently. And, just for the sake of randomness and my being in a retro kind of mindset lately, I thought it might be... interesting... to see how one Gen X-er retros...

For those who have no clue what was considered Generation X, Wikipedia has a very in depth definition of the term. For the short version, Generation X (or Gen X) refers to those born after the "baby boom", usually classified as those born between the 1960's until the early 1980's.
And being in the middle ground of Gen X, my way to retro, for the most part, tends to lean more towards the taste of the early to late 1970's...

The bachelor pad decor

It was, to say the least, a bit of a "unique" time where style was concerned... Color schemes were something that, today, leave a bad taste in people's mouths. Various shades of oranges, browns and yellows, olive green and white...  It sounds like a bad nightmare and, to a degree, it was when used in certain combinations and patterns. Well... that's not true, either. No matter what combination or pattern it was used in, the standard 1970's colors were on the disturbing side whether it be clothing or decor. Ask any Gen X-er about the decor in their home or their clothing growing up and chances are they will shudder at the thought and will, to your horror, bring out a stack of old pictures from their childhood to prove to you they aren't making this up.... Stephen King couldn't make up stuff this scary...

Wicker, white and yellow...

That's not to say that those were the only popular colors of the time... Burgundy (and similar shades like raspberry and mulberry)  was also a popular color. Coincidentally, I have a photo of my father in a pair of burgundy, polyester bell-bottom pants to prove this...
Robin's Egg Blue was also a popular color, mostly for things like polyester pant and leisure suits. Add to this a shirt open to the navel with an ass load of gold medallions on chains around your neck, a white patent leather shoes and matching belt and congratulations, you are now officially a 1970's "lounge lizard"!
I'm happy to report that I have no pictures to prove that "lounge lizard" look ever existed... Lucky for you... and myself, for that matter... It was a fashion statement that could, for anyone viewing it, scar a person for life. And I wish I could say I was exaggerating that statement.

But, bad color schemes and fabrics aside...

The Rockettes on wheels...?

A less gaudy version of 1970's fashion can be seen in the picture on the left, along with another popular accessory of the times... roller skates...
In this day of more attractive styles of skates and the more popular roller blades, it's hard to believe that skates were ever designed like this, let alone in such hideous color schemes... but they were. I personally had the other version of roller skates of the time, which were nothing more than a metal framework with metal wheels that slipped over your shoes and required an odd looking metal key to adjust them. And, as you would expect, they didn't glide you across the ground smoothly...

Good heavens, my mother had patterns like this...

Not necessarily a sign of those times (as it's been ongoing for decades) but definitely something I remember with little fondness from my childhood was the practice of making your own clothing with patterns like the ones on the left. My mother often drug me along on trips to fabric stores... I assume it was so I got first look at whatever hideous material she was choosing to make, perish the thought, matching outfits for me and my sister, who is five years my elder.
I have pictures to prove this, also!
Scary pictures...

But not everything about style was nightmare inducing...

Actress Goldie Hawn circa 1978

 Hair was one of the better parts of the era... Shag cuts, like this one Goldie Hawn sported in my favorite movie, Foul Play, were an attractive style that have since made a comeback in some way, shape and form. What I find so wonderful about this style is that it worked with mostly every hair type and didn't really require a lot of care. Well... unless you took it to extremes like Farrah Fawcett did... Copying her hairstyle required a curling iron, several cans of Aqua Net hairspray and a lot of time on your hands...

The Bee Gees during the disco era

Even men's hairstyles were, in certain cases, quite attractive. In some cases (think Barry Gibb, the guy on the middle in the picture on the right) the men had nicer hair than some of the women! Though in the case of good old Barry here... adding the beard made him look a bit like Jesus Christ... As for the other Gibbs pictured here... what can I say. The attractive men's styles of the times just didn't work for them.
Though there were some bad styles, just like in every era. The difference being, even a bad style wasn't considered as such.
Remember Barbie's boyfriend Ken...? Imagine if that sculpted plastic hair were more like real hair and you have one of the less attractive styles of the times. The same goes for Michael Brady's "man perm" accessorized by the cheesy mustache, all of which made him look like a retro porn star. Bad looks they may have been, but at the time they were considered the "in" thing. Lucky break for my father, who had naturally curly hair and didn't have to pay for the "man perm" (I have pictures to prove that horror, too).
Even women had some horrible styles... The worst of these would be what I consider the "white girl's fro"... Imagine a HUGE pile of cottony, frizzy, curly hair surrounding a dwarfing the head of a white girl... Not a look that could be pulled off by anyone. Though, back in the day, even such unruly hair was considered a style and an attractive one at that.
"Having a bad hair day...? No problem, man, this is the 70's! There are no bad hair days!"

I'm thinking that's a mindset we should adopt in every era...

The popular star/sunburst clock

And then there's the nostalgia...
Starburst/Sunburst clocks were a popular item found on walls back in the 1960's and 1970's that, strangely, seem to be a popular item for those wish to own a piece of nostalgia.
Prime example is the clock in the picture on the left... When I was young, a clock exactly like this one hung on the wall in our living room. I always loved that clock...

(left-right) Paula Janis, Sherlock the squirrel and Carole Demas

One particular day in my youth, I found that my mother had taken the clock off the wall and had added it to the pile of things being set out for the trash. I was devastated! One of my favorite things in our house, something I had an unexplained affection for, was being thrown out for being outdated and no longer in working condition. And, being the strange child I was, took the clock when she wasn't looking and hid it in my closet in hopes that, one day, I could get it repaired. If nothing else, I figured I'd have a nice decoration for the home I would one day have. Amazingly, the clock began working on its own one day and now graces my own living room wall.
Imagine my surprise, when looking for a picture of the same clock, to not only find the exact one I possess, but to learn the cost of it as a nostalgic piece is $160! I guess the saying about one man's trash being another man's treasure is true...
But nostalgia is more than material possessions...
Memories are the best form of nostalgia... One of my favorite memories that is overflowing with nostalgia is of sitting in front of our old floor model television watching one of my favorite shows, The Magic Garden... Paula and Carole in their pigtails, sitting on swings or toadstools, strumming guitars and singing catchy tunes like "The Hello Song", "My Little Rooster" and "See Ya"... A patch of giggling daisies dubbed the "Chuckle Patch" that told jokes and a pink squirrel puppet named Sherlock... It may sound lame to the younger generation, but back then, this show was like the Holy Grail of young children's programming.

That's how I retro...

"Do the Hustle..."