Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

Design

90 Years of Movie Titles
Written by Christopher in Film

90 Years of Movie Titles

Christian from the Netherlands, graphic designer by day and movie buff by night sends me this link to a website of his which features stills from hundreds of movies back from the silent movie era up until today. For anyone who is interested in graphic design in movies here is your chance to admire the great work of of talented title designers. Not only have...

20th Century Fashion from Taschen

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...

Video

Interesting trailer from the upcoming documentary entitled Coast Modern which takes you on a trip back in time to look for the origins of Modernism architecture and how its style and look became associated with the west coast of the US. The release date for the documentary is set for autumn this year, meanwhile you can read their blog. Filmmakers Michael Bernard and Gavin Froome...

A Mid-Century Gem Exposed in Los Angeles

Located in Los Feliz, in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, this stylish 1953 house going under the name “The Chew House” was built by architect Eugene Kinn Choy and is now up for sale if you got a cool $1,850,000 to spend. What fascinates me about this property is that there are so many original elements still intact, from the the tiles to...

Video

More retro goodness from the Prelinger archives. This film sheds some light on the early 1950s standardized building processes using asbestos sidewalls which apparently raised no red flags concerning health issues back then. Funny how awareness can change so quickly....

Eichler numbers marks the spot
Written by Christopher in Design

Eichler numbers marks the spot

If you are a lucky owner of one of the 11 000 mid-century Eichler homes located in northern and southern California, chances are you are also a design and architecture savvy person who appreciates fine details. Proud Eichler home owner Carmen realized this and are therefore offering authentic Eichler house numbers for sale through her website eichlernumbers.com. You can buy any digit combination from two...

Beach Fashion in the 1950s
Written by Christopher in Inspiration

Beach Fashion in the 1950s

Seeing summer is around the corner, why not catch up with the latest trends and styles in beach fashion for women. Here are a handful of beach fashion photos from Life Magazine circa 1955. The photos were taken by film director, musician, journalist and photographer Gordon Parks who is mostly known for directing the 1971 blaxploitation movie Shaft starring Richard Roundtree. Many people have no...

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