Retro Orange and the World's Fair

There is something extremely appealing about retro orange. There's the 1950s industrial type or the 1920s tangerine type. Theres even the 1960s pop orange.

My favorite is the 1930s reddish-orange. I want to help you discover how to bring more retro orange into your life.

Background

I react to this color like most people react to a tranquil blue. I'm calmed and grounded when around it. I think it has something to do with happy memories. Memories of seeing paintings with shades of burnt orange, orangish brown and sienna. Memories of my grandfather and his orange triangle chair I liked to sit in.

A color can be tied to memories. Subconsciously or consciously, it effects your mood.

I wasn't born yet for the 1939 World's Fair, however I WAS at the 1964 New York World's Fair when I was five. Now that I'm older, I have memories of memories and no pictures. But I do have a fake-gold official World's Fair necklace with the iconic globe. My memories include the water fountains around the big Globe, the It's a Small World Boat Ride, and an indoor tram ride that took you to exhibits on how a future home would look like.

A good book about this fair is The End of Innocence: The 1964-65 World’s Fair by Lawrence R. Samuel.

It goes in cycles. Some of my Great Aunts wore bright multi-colored clothes with big chunky colorful jewelry. My Mom rebelled by inundating my childhood with plain white dishes and dressing in neutrals and tailored accessories. Then, I rebelled with the opposite of that and had punked-out colors and my New York City phase of wearing all black.I've now made peace with color palettes and have settled for neutral clothes and colorful Fiestaware dishes!

They no longer make the reddish-orange Fiestaware I have, but there are still some beautiful tones in that part of the color wheel still being offered.