A millennial’s guide to the Palm Springs aesthetic

I attended a Zoom conference awhile back. During the talk this image by photographer Larry Sultan was shown.

My Mother Posing by Larry Sultan, 1984

Look at those pants! I have been aware of this aesthetic due to its light prominence in childhood cartoons, depictions of the Hollywood lifestyle, and Super Soaker packaging. But it’s got a thing to it. What makes up that thing?

Via The Points Guy

Palm trees!

Makes sense right? But it’s really ingrained into the visual culture in a cheesily obvious way.

Stephanie Braconnier/Shutterstock

Palmspringsstyle on Insta

Architecture from an almost space-age!

Via Architectural Digest

There’s a certain cleanliness about it. Palm Springs emerged in the spotlight around the same time that architectural modernism was all the rage. Convenience, flashiness, and minimalism we’re all new and exciting concepts.

Via Fodor’s Travel

A portion of Palm Springs coined the name “movie colony” as many tv and movie personalities ended up locating there. Frank Sinatra is a famous icon of Palm Springs.

This is Frank Sinatra’s place with token human via Visit Palm Springs

Swoopy toons

If you were actually born early enough to see The Jetsons or The Flintstones, both of those styles were heavily influenced by mid-century hyper-modernism which was sometimes referred to as “Googie”. Palm Springs thrived during that time. The illustrator Nat Reed capitalizes on it perfectly.

Nat Reed’s Facebook Page Cover

So there you have it. Go throw on some white pants, if you’re pale like me, tan up so you don’t match the pants, and go play golf in the desert… or whatever they do to pass the time.