atomic americana

And with that, the vintage checklist shrinks a little more! I’d wanted an atomic print something-or-other for ages. It’s one of my favorite midcentury trends, all the more so for how strange it is. The weirdest things go viral sometimes. But designs inspired by atomic diagrams were indeed a Big Damn Thing in the 1950s. Some abstract, some not, all of them kitschy as ever-loving hell. Some people claim that “atomic” refers to radiation clouds from atomic bombs. To them, I say: don’t be morbid. That’s my job. This isn’t actually a vintage atomic print dress. They’re collectors’ items at this point, and I...