Eagle Eye exists to explain the gaps—between how we dress and how we live; between the spaces you’re drawn to and the coat you keep reaching for. Each month, London-based designer and creative director Alex Eagle will tap her roster of friends and experts to explore the “why” behind a certain theme—why we’re drawn to certain things, and how those instincts quietly form over years without us really noticing.
It’s a column rooted in interior design, with many branches (and, of course, a curated edit of shoppable products to boot). Born in 1920s Paris, Art Deco soon swept through every discipline of design—architecture, interiors, jewelry, fashion—uniting them all under a single set of convictions: that beauty should be structural, that ornament must earn its place, and that elegance and abundance are not opposites.
It was the visual language of a world emerging from catastrophe and choosing to be magnificent. One hundred years later, now feels like precisely the right moment to return to it.
The centenary of the movement's defining event, the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, prompted a major retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs that just wrapped in April, gathering over a thousand works across the arts. Even beyond the anniversary, people are hungry for something more considered, more lasting, and, frankly, more decadent after years of expendable design.
That appetite is visible everywhere you look. At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy drew directly from the Art Deco movement for his Métiers d'Art 2026 collection: tassels, feathers, and intricate beadwork by Maison Lesage, the storied Parisian embroidery house that has supplied couture’s most exacting craft since 1924.
The conversation between then and now has rarely felt more alive. It is a conversation I’ve been having myself, too.
I keep returning to Art Deco as a reference point in my interiors work with Eagle + Hodges: its geometric rigor and insistence on material honesty. As interior designer Michael Bargo puts it: “You need a foundation of comfort in your structure, but of course decoration and accessory is always welcome.” To that end I also find it cropping up in smaller, more personal places: the embroidery on a Conner Ives silk robe, the curves on a Guéridon table, or even Sophie Buhai’s Evil Eye minaudière for storing tiny essentials.
To dig into the elements of Art Deco that feel more relevant than ever, I spoke to Bargo, jewellery designer Fernando Jorge, antiques dealer Dorian Caffot De Fawes, and Parisian art gallerist Mia Lacoste. In various forms, Art Deco asks you to commit to craft and give a single, beautiful thing space to breathe.
That instruction, it turns out, is not dated at all. Tassels, Everywhere The tassel, in all its forms, is one of the simplest ways to bring an Art Deco sensibility into your life without reinventing your wardrobe (or decor) from scratch.
Start small: a belt, a clutch. Alaïa’s leather belt can be worn loose or tightly for a cinched silhouette; Sophie Buhai’s Cyclops clutch, with its elegant single tassel, does all the talking for you if you’d rather keep the rest of your outfit pared-back.
Geometric Harmony A core principle of Art Deco is the belief that beauty emerges from proportion, repetition, and the confident placing of one form against another. Nowhere is this clearer right now than in tailoring.
The pinstripe, that most architectural of patterns, runs through Chanel's Métiers d'Art 2026 collection like a grid, giving structure to every silhouette. Inspired by New York City’s iconic Art Deco skyscrapers, jewelry designer Fernando Jorge understands this balance instinctively.
“I wanted to explore the architectural potential of diamonds, introducing step cuts and sharp edges into my work.” His jewelry speaks to the precise tension between hard stone and warm gold, and reads like a piece of Deco architecture made small enough to wear. For the tabletop, I like Zanetto’s creamer for a bit of geometric interest.
Intentional Adornment Art Deco's foundation rested on a very particular idea of glamour: excess with intention. Lacoste puts it beautifully: “Art Deco embraces beauty unapologetically.
It goes all in, but with elegance and structure behind it.” It’s not decoration as an afterthought, but embellishment as the whole point. An embroidered bag, like Manpriya's silver snake one, carries exactly that spirit.
Look for an object that has been thought about, worked on, cared for, like the vintage repousse comb from Studio Mantel. The embossed silver on tortoiseshell takes the everyday act of combing your hair to a whole new level.
Lavish Materials This segues nicely into our next point. “After years of disposable design, people are returning to objects made by hand, with intention, with noble materials that age well,” notes De Fawes.
These materials—silk that catches the light, rosewood that feels luxurious—play right into Art Deco’s opulent nature. A current favorite of mine is Conner Ives’ piano shawl mini dress.
I think it’s the epitome of lavish: made by hand with 100% vintage silk, truly considered, and well thought-out.