The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane (1990)

Having not covered a film on here for a while (and needing an excuse to avoid more pressing matters), I've once again wasted hours painfully trawling through another movie no-one's heard of in a noble quest to immortalise it's long lost interior design. Unsurprisingly it's another gem from the nebulus world of the late 80s/early 90s.

Ford Fairlane was the vanity project of shock-jock comedian Andrew Dice Clay, a guy who wasn't very funny and is probably best remembered as the bouncer in Pretty In Pink. Thankfully this post isn't about him, it's not really about the film either - although it has it's moments including a soundtrack by Yello - it's about the style, ok?

The first location of interest is the amusingly titled nightclub 'Greed'. If I was still running club nights, they'd look like this (now that I think of it, they kind of did anyway).

The Post-Modern meets Industrial (meets vintage Stringfellows) interior can just about be made out through the glossy haze director Renny Harlin imposed on pretty much the whole film (not a bad thing IMO). Stuff happens involving twin groupies and the wacky yuppie guy from Commando and Twin Peaks but yeah, if you really want to know the story go watch the movie.

The real reason for me detailing this film is simply Fairlane's house. I've loved it my whole life (well, since I saw this film as a teen), it's this incredible 1950s Mid-Century Modern haven; all weird angles and curves. I want to retire to a place like this. In LA. Tomorrow.


Glass bricks and Atomic-era geometric doors what's not to love?

Completely re-writing the story, the neon phone rings...

...and combined with a full volume MTV news report about a heavy metal band (with a killer logo)...

...the eponymous 'Rock n Roll detective' is awoken in his Memphis Design-style shirt and polka um, square sheets.

Priscilla Presley is at the door rockin' a Gothy 50s vamp look.

The New-Wave pattern on his dressing gown is really cool but I couldn't get a clear shot of it. Ditto the Mid-Century abstract mirror above Presley's shoulder.

Again the dry ice machine was in full flow so the interior was tricky to make out. However I love the pink Atomic desk lamp and ceramic rocket here.

also detactable is this Amoeba coffee table with hairpin legs.

On the veranda (left) are two Butterfly sling chairs, originally designed by Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy in 1938. Admittedly not easy to make out here, there are clearer shots of them elsewhere in the film, but I needed an excuse to show the back of the house.

you know the way that people watch North By Northwest and go 'oh I really want to go check out James Mason's Space Age house at the top of Mount Rushmore' and then they Google it and are heartbroken to discover that it never existed and it was only ever a drawing?  

...well yeah before you start booking flights to LA, this house doesn't exist either, or rather it did  until they blew it to pieces in the film. I'm sure it's a Starbucks or something now. Gutted.

The UFO-style roof of the iconic Capitol Records building, setting of the movie's last scene...

...inside of which is an evil Record Exec's office boasting some Post-Modern Art Deco-style business.

zany sculptures, neon (and blood) abound.

A pair of Cassina chairs from this earlier post.

Cassina chairs, Deco lamps and cowprint. Boom!

Bonus feature: the cover of a spin-off comic.

POSTMODERNISM AT THE V&A

I was lucky enough to attend the Press View of the V&A's new exhibition 'Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970-90'. Aside from some amazing mini-Danish pastries laid on, the exhibition itself was also pretty good too. When I say pretty good, I actually mean it was pretty much everything I love about being alive all condensed into one (large) space. So yeah, it was actually amazing.

 Style & Substance 1970-90

I was going to post some pictures on here but the guy next to me got in some serious hot water for snapping in there, so I'll just provide other pictures of some of the things on display in the show....

...well, apart from this one, largely because it's not an actual display piece, also because it's slightly illegible and most importantly, it demonstrates wallpaper with the 'Bacterio' pattern designed by Italian supremo, Ettore Sottsass.

Sottsass was a highly respected Italian designer for Olivetti, who at a relatively late age, sensed the Punk spirit in the air and decided to rebel against the increasingly staid and dull modern design of the 70s (well, have you ever been in a Danish furniture purist's shop? yawn!). He formed a collective of New Wave designers dubbed 'Memphis' and, launching in Milan 1981, they set out the template for the 80s - irreverent retro-futuristic designs that referenced high and low art from 30s Deco to the 50s Atomic and beyond. It was completely impractical but who cares because it looked amazing (oh, and they didn't do brown).

Unsurprisingly I'm a huge fan of Memphis, and plan to feature more of their stuff in a forthcoming post. However, at this particular exhibition they have a whole room dedicated to Memphis that features the likes of LA designer (and my favourite of their crew) Peter Shire's 'Bel Air' armchair:

Also included is Michele De Lucchi's prototype models for Girmi homeware products. Why these never went into production is beyond me:

courtesy of Barbaric Interior blog

last but not least, Sotsass' own iconic 'Casablanca' sideboard makes an appearance:

there is even an amazing rare photo of a pre-Chanel Karl Lagerfeld in his 1981 Monte Carlo apartment, which he had decorated exclusively with Memphis (as you do).

Aside form bonkers 1980s furniture the exhibition also features fantastic architecture by the Vegas-inspired Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown and Charles Moore's highly controversial 'Piazza d'Italia' in New Orleans which managed to piss off every purist by essentially being a giant camp stage set combining the classical with lots of neon (and a fountain in the shape of Italy for good measure):

The Art featured tended to reveal the Dystopian clash of glamour and despair within Postmodernism. A favourite of mine is Rem Koolhaas'  'Delirious New York' from 1976:

Delirious New York Book 

Ron Arad's 'Concrete Stereo' 1983 also continues this apocalyptic vision:

there's so much more in the show from ceramics and jewellery to a final section on pop culture including original outfits from Annie Lennox, Klaus Nomi and they even have Rachel from Blade Runner's stunning dress suit!

I can't tell which I love more, the designs themselves or the fact that almost everything in the exhibition was (and often still is) reviled by authenticity obsessed purists. I think I'll have to go again to decide.

Postmodernism: Style & Subversion: 1970-90 opens at the V&A, September 24 and runs until 8 January 2012.

Ebay find.

So...after the little fashion diversion, we're back to furniture and here's a selection of iconic pieces currently found on eBay. This time more Mid-Century Modern than the 80s Post-Modern stuff I've been hyping of late.

Modernist Eye Clock 

Although described as 60s/70s in the auction, I'd place this more in the late 50s/early 60s. It perfectly suits 1950's Tola (African Mahogany) furniture which I love so much because they just ebonised everything for a touch of Noir-ish glamour:

1950s G-Plan Tola Cabinet & Bedside Table (courtesy of HW Furniture Archive).

Also on a similar tip is this late 50s Sofa and matching chairs. Geometric and angular, they feature original charcoal and grey fabric in a typically 'New Wave' abstract pattern.The castors are listed as being 'easily removable', something I'd personally do like, immediately:

 Atomic-era Angular Sofa

 Atomic-era Angular Chairs

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