Fall Fab: Palm Springs Modernism Bash

A smaller chic event flowers in October (ahead of February's huge to-do).

IT'S PRETTY EASY... to don flannels and knit caps around Seattle and feel as though you're part of the rainy-coffee-fir-fabulous scene, and dressing in beach wear, around Key West, can slip you right into the no-worries-no-hurry vibe (where bare feet tend to be a-ok). But there's only one true monarch among mavens of mid-century-ism these days, the must-go location where you can still play at being in 1962, complete with your Pucci-like scarves and skinny ties and bouffants and indoor-outdoor houses. It's Palm Springs, of course, which welcomes you and your mid-century daydreams throughout the year. But the retro looks go way up come the middle of February when thousands of style fans descend upon the desert resort for Modernism Week, a packed-schedule spectacular devoted to gorgeous architecture of the bygone era and all of its satellite styles (cars, trailers, sunglasses, shoes, dishware). Modernism Week is so popular and well-attended that there is a little Modernism Week, of sorts, in the fall. It's called the Modernism Week Fall Preview, and while it isn't the hefty eleven days of the February confab, it does fill out four full days in the middle of October. That's...

OCT. 9-12... to be exact, and the 2015 autumn event has some good/groovy stuff going. The "extended weekend" shall spotlight an array of the "best events from the annual February festival." Look for a Rat Pack Experience Party at the Palm Springs Art Museum, the double decker bus architectural tours, walk-arounds inside house-designing legend Albert Frey's Aluminaire House, and a Modernism Show & Sale at the Palm Springs Air Museum (about 40 dealers in all will turn up with era-awesome items). Walking tours and other gatherings of an info-sharing, social-making nature dot the roster. As for tickets? They go on sale on Aug. 1.

OF COURSE... you can play at being a member of the Rat Pack, dress-wise, any day of the year in Palm Springs, and locals and tourists alike'll go with it. But come the Modernism Week Fall Preview, and Modernism Week itself, your chance to go total mid-century in your look and with your interests blooms like a glorious cactus flower.

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