Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

1960s

Atomic Age Wallpaper
Written by Christopher in Design

Atomic Age Wallpaper

Whether you are redecorating your living room, planing on buying a mid-century modern flavored house or want to make your kitchen look more groovy, Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpaper has what you need. Their series of Atomic Age and Mod Generation wallpaper range from 1950s styled Googie patterns to exotic tropical Tiki to the revolutionary and psychedelic flower power look – perfect for any bachelor...

Video

The classic intro from the movie The Italian Job (1969) starring Sir Michael Caine and Noel Coward. The character is cruising a Lamborghini Miura through the Italian alps down to the city of Turino while Matt Monro is singing On Days Like These. So dreamy. So perfect. Wishing I was there right now. Check out this website for a complete list of all the filming...

Fashion Photography by Mark Shaw

Here are a couple of excellent early 1960s fashion and style photos taken by famed photographer Mark Shaw. If you recognize the woman on the boat, it’s no other than Jacqueline Kennedy her self. Mark Shaw is best known for his photographs of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy, which he shot originally for LIFE magazine. He also developed a strong friendship with JFK and Jackie...

Elegant Mid-Century Office Design

Look at these lovely vintage photos scanned from adverts in Fortune Magazine from 1963 and 1964. I love the way how clean and elegant everything is organized, the calming color schemes and use of typical mid-century rectangular angles. The furniture is designed by Thonet Industries and Steelcase who has been active in designing office perihelia since 1912. For more Steelcase office photos and mid-century goodness,...

Video
Written by Christopher in Roadtrip

Swinging London 1960s Fashion

For many of us the 1960s was the fashion decade of the 20th century. Especially if you lived in London at the time, which was known as “Swinging London” – a definition made in April 1966 by British magazine Time. Most of us can only daydream what it was like during that era from what we have seen or heard in magazines, music or movies...

Video

Before Starbucks, Espresso House, Nero and other major coffeehouse chains invaded every city on the western hemisphere there were thousands of smaller coffee houses or coffee bars as they were referred to back then. London, England saw a major expansion of these quaint places in the early 1950s, right about the same time as the first Espresso machine was introduced there. The clip is taken...

Video
Written by Christopher in Advertising

Welcome to the world of TWA

Here’s a glimpse into the wonderful world of now defunct Trans World Airlines (TWA). I love the catchy and somewhat cheesy 1960s theme song! The video could use some color correction obviously seeing it has degraded quite a lot over the years, but who cares. Following that video is a promotion of Boeing’s new 747 airliner with what looks like Trans World’s livery. I can’t...

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