Is a man’s home his castle? Is she always the perfect homemaker? Here are two fun and kitschy retro guides that will help you to keep your spouse happy. Apparently, the journal Ladies Homemake Monthly had a famous adage which was “You can judge a good husband by how well-dressed his wife and children were and contentment of his wife.” True or not, it is still cute — even in a innocent sexist way. Both guides can be obtained for under $10 through Amazon, a great gift for someone who loves retro culture and living. [Thanks Cam]

Spacemen Magazine was a relatively short-lived publication. It was published from July 1961 to July 1965 and was a spin off from the more successful “Famous Monsters of Filmland.” Both were edited by the late Forrest J. Ackerman and Published by James Warren. The cover art for the 1965 Yearbook was by well-known comic book artists Russ Jones and Wally Wood. This particular cover was unique because the magazine’s covers were usually a color photograph (still) from a film, or an artist’s rendering of some more sensationalistic aspect of science fiction.

This cover, with its urbane space bachelor gives a rather obvious nod to Hugh Hefner. The magazine featured mostly photographs from, and articles about the Hollywood “Space-Age” films and television programs which usually took a rather fanciful view of outer space and the future (e.g. robots, alien invaders, space travel, etc.).

Written by: Jay Clark

Taschen is one of my favorite publishers of 20th century design and architecture themed books. I have a couple in my collection, but there’s room for many more – like this one. 20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Apparel Ads takes us through a stylish 100 years of fashion during the 20th Century via 400 fashion advertisements from the Jim Heimann Collection. This is a must have for any fashionista or trendsetter. 20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Apparel Ads can be obtained from most book stores or through Taschen’s website. It covers 464 pages in total which makes it a steal at only £27.99. [Thanks Cam]

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I’m a big fan of Taschen’s books. So far I have purchased their two advertising books from the 1950s and 1960s. The 50s book is the newer edition with only some 350 pages, the first edition had over 900 pages, but it seams that it is out of print now. I was lucky to find the 60s book at the swank department store Harrods in London last year. If you are into Googie design or just like the colorful, simple, but yet elegant designs of that period, be sure to get the advertising series from Taschen.