A CENTURY on from the "Roaring Twenties" when the world revelled in the end of the 1918 pandemic and the post-war economic boom, experts are predicting a new era of post-pandemic 21st century indulgence.

 

A new “Roaring Twenties”?

The latest aficionado to weigh in on the subject is none other than the most powerful woman in fashion - Dame Anna Wintour. The British-born long-term editor of American Vogue - whose ice queen reputation has earned her the nickname, “Nuclear Wintour” - said she believes the signs all point to a roaring 20s revolution.

 

“Signs” such as?

Dame Anna claimed that huge queues “around the block” at luxury stores such as Dior and Gucci, as well as the throngs gathering outside Harrods as stores reopened in London, are evidence of a demand for post-pandemic luxury. She told the Financial Times:“People have been locked up for a long time and they are going to go out and want to spend. They are going to want to travel . . . to get dressed up….It’s about enjoying everything that life has to offer.”

 

And that’s what happened in the 1920s?

A combination of factors saw the decade become an era of mass consumerism, hedonism and indulgence, including relief at the end of World War One and the end of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, as well as surging economies in the Western world, with aviation and automobile industries expanding and the rise of new technologies, such as moving pictures and the telephone.

 

The Great Gatsby?

The character of millionaire Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book represents the extremes of 1920s wealth and decadence in the United States, capturing then trends such as jazz and the "flapper" style which defined the era. “It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess and it was an age of satire,” Fitzgerald famously wrote of the 1920s.

 

Now a new Gatsby-esque era is ahead?

In his new book, "Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live", Yale professor and social epidemiologist, Dr Nicholas Christakis, says that history shows when pandemics end, the closure sparks a spell of people seeking out extensive social interactions. “During epidemics you get increases in religiosity, people become more abstentious, they save money, they get risk averse and we’re seeing all of that now, just as we have for hundreds of years during epidemics,” he told The Guardian, adding that post-pandemic, these trends will be reversed. “People will relentlessly seek out social interactions,” he said, predicting “sexual licentiousness,” lavish spending and a “reverse of religiosity”.

 

And a “fragrance fiesta”?

Jean-Paul Agon, chairman of L’Oréal, the world’s biggest cosmetics group, agrees. He said: “People will be happy to go out again, to socialise. This will be like the ‘Roaring Twenties’, there will be a fiesta in makeup and in fragrances. Putting on lipstick again will be a symbol of returning to life.”