Daniel Strohl wrote an interesting speculative article in Hemmings yesterday about some Brooke Stevens renderings that Hemmings came across in the Milwaukee Art Museum. One of the drawings shows Stevens’ vision of how the DS could be given an American-style makeover for the US market.
Clifford Brooks Stevens was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles and motorcycles — as well as a graphic designer and stylist. Stevens founded Brooks Stevens, Inc. headquartered in Allenton, Wisconsin. In 1944, along with Raymond Loewy and eight others, Stevens formed the Industrial Designers Society of America. Upon his death in 1995, The New York Times called Stevens “a major force in industrial design”.
In his revisioning for the DS, by adding protruding fenders, fins, chrome and a raked rear roof, Stevens’ result is about as far from the original DS design of Flaminio Bertoni, as could possibly be. Daniel wonders if the proposal was ever shown to Citroën. Perhaps, as the Ami 6 designed by Bertoni was introduced with a reverse angle rear window, but the rendering is hardly indicative of the DS’s great aerodynamics, and the styling is definitely locked in the USA automotive look of the late 1950s.
Daniel asks if Steven’s design is a winner or not? You can read the article and respond here: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2020/02/24/when-brooks-stevens-dreamed-of-desinging-a-citroen-ds/?refer=news&utm_source=edaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-02-24