There’s a reason Art Deco doesn’t do subtle. The entire movement was a fever dream of excess—gold-trimmed skyscrapers, lacquered everything, and geometric patterns sharp enough to cut. It was a global flex, a champagne-fueled middle finger to the Great War, and a declaration that the future was here. But behind all the jazz-age swagger and European bravado, the Art Deco aesthetic owed a massive debt to the East.