Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

Inspiration

None of These Cars is Real
Written by Christopher in Inspiration

None of These Cars is Real

It sure looks real doesn’t it? It could very well be photos from a 1950s advertisement trying to promote the latest model of a car or pristine time capsule that were just discovered. But none of what you see is actually real. Michael Paul Smith from New England, USA is a model car enthusiast and photographer and creator of these fun and highly detailed photos...

Audrey Hepburn – Mid-Century Icon
Written by Patricia Greenwood in Inspiration

Audrey Hepburn – Mid-Century Icon

As a child of the 60s, I spent hours next to our little portable record player listening to show tunes my mother and father had provided for our entertainment. The Sound of Music (1965) and My Fair Lady (1964) were some of my all time favorites and it was through those vinyl recordings that I fell in love with Audrey Hepburn. Her talent, class and...

Automate Your Life with Technology

Whilst a fan of the fifties and sixties and quite clearly my appearance is that of a man stuck in a time warp I have always been a man who takes advantage of his current times. From attitudes to technology, and it is technology that I would like to talk about today. As ladies man, man’s man, man about town to quote Catcher Block in...

Staying Fresh In The Office – Don Draper Style

In an early episode of Mad Men, Don Draper shows up for work wearing the same clothes as the day before, having not made it home to his wife the previous night. Inside his office, Don opens a desk drawer to reveal a stack of crisp, identical white button-up shirts. He peels off the old shirt and reaches for a new one. This simple change...

Where are all the Good People?

It was contemporary artist Jack Johnson who asked the question “Where’d all the good people go? I’ve been changing channels, I don’t see them on the TV shows. Where’d all the good people go?” I was watching Mad Men the other night and seeing all the antics of the characters it got me thinking about the people of the late sixties and how the show...

Visions of a ’57 Chevy Bel Air
Written by Patricia Greenwood in Inspiration

Visions of a ’57 Chevy Bel Air

I love cars. Let me rephrase that. I love vintage cars manufactured in America from 1955 to 1975. I love the streamlined, the finned, the hard tops, the convertibles, the muscle types, the bold colored, but mostly, I love that fabulous automobile icon, the ’57 Chevy Bel Air. My admiration for this vehicle began many years ago, when I was quite small. What started out...

Retro Christmas Advertisements from Mid-Century America

Christmas is around the corner and to celebrate this magical holiday we are featuring a few samples of holiday related advertisements and imagery from 1946 and 1964, courtesy of Roger Wilkerson’s collection. To me, the hand drawn illustrations and images in mid-century advertisements are the epitome of style and warmth. They really show-off how talented advertising America were some 50-60 years ago. That fine attention to design and pseudo-realism really grabs...

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