Nostalgia, Ultra

August Mood (+ A SALON)

SALON 06: NOSTALGIA will be a special summer edition held in the charming outside courtyard at Rita’s (one of my favourite restaurants in London) on August 23rd. The ticket price includes a glass of natural wine and a snack – buy yours directly from Rita’s here.

Ours is a culture in mourning for its past. Nostalgia prevails in our TV shows, fashion trends, and restaurant menus. Instagram accounts gain massive followings with endless imagery of late 90s fashion editorials and early 2000s runway shows. Teenagers source obsolete digital cameras on eBay and shoot candids of themselves dressed in long-defunct high-street clothing brands. A film (made for adults) about an iconic childhood toy becomes the biggest box office hit of the year.

It’s easy to diagnose the source of this bittersweet yearning: the present moment is chronically unsettling, and the future feels far from bright. Faced with news of rampant wildfires, global economic crises, and rising far-right governments, it’s no wonder that we seek comfort in the memories of our childhood years. Any reference to, or recreation of, the pre-internet '90s proves to be a particular balm – a time before endless doom-scrolling and online trolling is sure to stay bathed in eternal Golden Era light. Oh, to be a teenager at a time when technology promised only to help you plan your school look.

Nostalgia has two annual crescendoes: one being Christmas and the other being the dog days of summer. I once saw August described as the ‘Sunday of Summer’, and this time of year indeed evokes the kind of wistful melancholia that feels synonymous with the last day of the weekend. The best might not quite be over, but it feels firmly and sadly behind us. There’s an analogy here for the base note of our wider malaise: Civilisation has undoubtedly turned a new corner, but there is still enough of the ‘before times’ lingering in eye view to trick us into clinging onto a world that feels almost - but not entirely - lost.