I think because I was younger and more impressionable in the eighties, I
have more of a soft spot for 1980s nostalgia (Michael Jackson, Family
Ties, leg warmers) than I do for 1990s nostalgia (Julia Roberts, Lilith Fair, dress clips). I put this to the test going through my Mary Engelbreit stickers. Let me make it clear that I love her work as an illustrator, but
some of her concepts are whimsical and nonsensical in a way I don't
really get.
I mean, I do get it: chair of bowlies. Cute. I might like it better without the caption.
Princess of Quite a Lot. Okay. Like of nail polish and cake?
Many of her designs seemed targeted toward suburban, middle-aged women who enjoyed gardening, tea, and platitudes.
These are just adorable illustrations. For some reason the words and overall themes don't grab me. I wonder if I'd be more into them if I'd been introduced to concepts like "time for tea" when I was twelve.
The reason I wonder this is that I was super-into Lisa Frank, whose airbrushed designs scream commercialism, whose colors are garish and whose designs make no sense at all. Granted, Lisa Frank was marketed at kids and Mary Engelbreit at readers of Victoria magazine, but still. I understand the appeal of Lisa Frank, even today.
Yes! A bear on a rainbow ice cream cone! Clouds raining hearts! Lands made up of junk food!
I don't need to take mushrooms to accept at face value cats embracing rainbow moons, oversized clowns with unicorns in their hands, or tropical birds hanging on upside-down rainbows in the sky. Nope, no explanation needed.
Perhaps I just have a preference for the rococo, but it's also true that my tastes in 1986 were unsophisticated and, as a results, my standards for excellence were lower then.
Loved it.
So I have to wonder if my preferences are skewed as the result of my age. Or is Mary Engelbreit simply too grown-up and wordy?
