The end-of-summer Art Deco Festival aboard the Queen Mary is scheduled for August 19-21. The event marks the ship’s 12th Art Deco gathering, a weekend to celebrate the artistic movement that influenced the design of the world’s most advanced ocean liner of the time.
The end-of-summer Art Deco Festival aboard the Queen Mary is scheduled for August 19-21. The event marks the ship’s 12th Art Deco gathering, a weekend to celebrate the artistic movement that influenced the design of the world’s most advanced ocean liner of the time.
The festival explores Art Deco’s effect on culture, fashion, food, art, interior design, architecture, music and more. Produced in collaboration with the Los Angeles Art Deco Society, the Queen Mary will present a weekend experience that relives an elegant past; a time when fabulous people in elegant dress clinked champagne glasses before taking to the dance floor or enjoying the most lavish of meals.
A time when style and gaiety were nightly staples and every day aboard was a grand occasion.
Daily activities include a showcase of vintage cars, a colorful Bazaar offering collectibles and vintage goods for sale and expert lectures spanning topics from filmmaking, the evolution of smoking, the influence of Noel Coward on the culture of the times, and Radio in the Art Deco era.
A Strolling Art Walk will focus on the Queen Mary’s extensive art inventory, murals and paintings – including the recently opened gallery Passion for Painting: The Art of Winston Churchill Exhibition. Sir Winston Churchill embodied the Art Deco period and the exclusive west coast presentation of his paintings lends a new element to this year’s festival. A Double Decker Bus Tour is a stylish off-ship excursion through Long Beach’s historic district.
A Prohibition Mixology class introduces period libations while a Soda Fountain Tasting will interpret the creative temptations that sometimes made film stars of counter boys.
The dances that helped frame the era will be on display at the Deco Derby Pajama Party; Jim Ziegler and the Swingsations at the controls. Sunday’s Tea Dance features Ian Whitcomb & His Bungalow Boys while Tim Gill’s Gin Mill Grifters jazz ensemble will provide the soundtrack for the Gatsby Daze Garden Party.
The Art Deco Festival’s centerpiece is the Grand Ball. The formal vintage ‘dress-to impress’ evening presents a lavish four-course historic menu with the Dean Mora Orchestra completing the mood.
Yet, it is the Art Deco aficionados and returning festival-goers who will again be the real stars of the weekend celebration. Their energy and passion will make the 12th Annual gathering a spectacular stroll through time. Many will be on hand for a special screening of the new Queen Mary documentary, “Mighty Ship at War” – August 21 at 8 p.m.
“The Festival offers a real world Art Deco experience presented within an iconic venue designed at the movement’s zenith; a maritime time-machine reflecting a storied past worth remembering. That the ship celebrated its 80th Maiden Voyage Anniversary earlier this year makes our 2016 Festival even more special.
There’s no better place for an Art Deco lover to be than aboard the Queen Mary,” said John Thomas, President of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles and Queen Mary Historic Consultant.
For a full schedule of activities, pricing and more information, visit: http://www.queenmary.com/events/art-deco-festival/