New York Times article ".The New Antiquarians"
Some well articulated thoughts on historical pastiche albeit of a bourgie-boho sort.
Beware, if this is not simply a misdiagnosed trend then the junk shops and antiques markets might become a tad more crowded for a season or two untill the "NEXT BIG THING" hits.
I think steampunk is to this Neo-antiquarianism what late Symbolism was to Art Nouveau - both shared a similar motivation in their rejection of the ugliness of modern mass production but produced rather different alternatives the merits of each we moderns could debate with the benifit of hindsight
Anyways,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/garden/30prewar.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1