“Breathtakingly ugly”: advertising taste in 1970s domestic interiors

Abstract

Frequently featuring avocado tapered curtains and vinyl wallpaper, the domestic interiors of the 1970s are now considered remnants of ?the decade that taste forgot.? This paper beckons to ask under what conditions domestic architectural taste was rendered within this abundantly decorated era. An interdisciplinary study of design, history, and advertising is enabled through a semiotic reading of an advertisement that is guided by the sociological research by Pierre Bourdieu. The effort to contextualize the role of domestic architectural taste in 1970s is found upon developing domestic interiors as advertised vehicles of upward mobility that showcased taste as a constructed object that is sutured with signs of cultural capital.