Artsy Wednesday: Frigidaire Sheer Look Appliances

I've been linking to Deep Glamour a lot lately, I know. Their posts are just so interesting to me.

Like this one, on Frigidaire's 1957 ad campaign rolling out a complete redesign of their kitchen appliances. The name of the line, Sheer Look, is a less apt description of the appliances themselves and more an overt attempt to lend some glamour to the new look of the stuff.

The appliances themselves look familiar to us - they're boxy and white and look like, well, kitchen appliances (in the days before stainless was everything, at least) - but they must have looked very futuristic to housewives back in the day.

The ad shows off the new line via a couple dancing through the appliances:



Old school glamour? I suppose so, of course my new school self couldn't help but think that we see much, much better dancing on So You Think You Can Dance. Proof of evolution, I guess.

Overall, what an interesting time capsule piece. There's the dancing, the design, the assumption of the consumer mindset. All of this takes place in the years just before the creative revolution - in the days that immediately precede the world of Mad Men. It's as foreign to me as if it was 100 years ago, not just 50. Fascinating.