Travelling in arty Aussie style

The curious incident involving Monsieur Depardieu reminds me how much air travel has changed over the past few decades. An in-flight experience used to be the height of luxury (and politeness), but these days on board lavatories are just as bad as they are on inter-city trains. On my flight back from Spain this week, one loo had soap and no hand towels, whereas the other had hand towels and no soap.

Anyway, I’m glad to be back because I wanted to show you this rare reminder of the air travel style of yesteryear. I love the curiously arty design of this Qantas airline souvenir from ShopCurious. The vintage silk scarf is colourfully printed with bold images of tourist destinations from around the world. Funnily enough, the clashing colours remind me of the outfit worn by Australian nomad, Trudi, whose photograph appears in our latest Curious Trends article.





Talking of memorabilia, do have a read of my RetroProgressive post on the official merchandise for the London 2012 Olympics over at The Dabbler today – and let me know what you think of the uniquely contemporary designs.

Will you?

Slow-tech lifestyle shift?

I was reading Elle Decoration’s recent trend report, which seemed rather like a manifesto for shopping curiously – favouring nature-inspired pieces, along with "humble materials, upcycled treasures and… quilted fabrics."

If you’ve visited central London recently you may not have noticed any move towards frugality, but after the recent riots, we’ve begun to think in a totally different way.




ShopCurious has been pivotal in the shift towards vintage and recycling. We’ve been helping lead consumers towards a less wasteful, more meaningful future - from hi-tech to artisanal; from unnecessary extravagance to provenance…













Trends indicate that a lot more of us are starting to look back to a previous (more reliable) time, when the physical and tangible prevailed… But can we not combine the advantages of modern technology with our old-found knowledge of what works, and what doesn’t, to create innovative, contemporary solutions?




On that note, you may like this curiously quirky, collectable out of print book - Corey Ford’s Guide to Thimking (sic). With over 40 vintage cartoons and groovy graphics on the cover, this ‘humorous handbook for the machine age’ is the height of retroprogressive cool.

Are you?

PS My prescient predictions from September 2010 are also worth re-reading.

Hotbed of vintage colour

As the temperature in London rose dramatically over the weekend, Wayne Heminway’s Vintage 2011 at the Southbank Centre provided added rays of sunshine. I don’t think I’ve seen so many smiling faces at the Royal Festival Hall since Robert Mayer’s concerts for children many years ago.

On Saturday, there was a lovely juxtaposition of quirky retro style mixed with ‘60s Pop Art, ‘70s psychedelica and ‘80s disco. The result was a cacophony of colour - and trends indicate that this sort of effect is likely to be a big influence for the coming season.



























From juke boxes to glitter balls, the vintage vibe was curiously colourful across the board. Even the 1940s styled Clore Ballroom (above left) looked ultra-fashionable. In some ways it was a natural extension of the exciting new wave of design unleashed at the time of the original Festival of Britain. But it was also a contemporary continuation of the unique mix of cultures and talents for which our British Isles are so famous.

I was intrigued by the way men and women dressed for the occasion. The 1950s male ideal of 'health and strength' (see below) didn’t appear to be in evidence, but there were certainly some uber-cool disco dudes on the scene...
























Along with plenty of authentic retro fashion...




















And I loved the old fashioned interiors, some of which were created using items from the Hemingways’ private collection.




















Mr Hemingway was on fine form as he introduced the Soul Revue (more on this in a forthcoming post). Though perhaps he could have done with a little retro styling?




















Skylon's bar created vintage inspired cocktails to celebrate the festival... I'll leave you with the wonderful view from Skylon at sunset.
















By the way, gentlemen wishing to get the ‘hot vintage’ look might like the fabulously funky retro silk tie by Pierre Cardin at ShopCurious (shown above).

Do you?

PS See more vintage men’s fashion in my latest RetroProgressive post on swimwear at The Dabbler.

Regal fashion and Regency style

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife," wrote Jane Austen in the opening lines of Pride and Prejudice. With the Royal Wedding almost upon us, I decided to take a look at wedding fashion. It’s rather curious that the Regency period has had such a lasting effect upon formal dress styles. This is something you can read more about in my Retropgressive post today at The Dabbler.






I also wanted to mention some vintage fashion books that are new in at ShopCurious. These include James Laver’s classic volume on Taste and Fashion and Margaret Rothwell Lane’s Half a Century of Fashion.








For royal watchers, there’s also a curiously collectable book called The Queen’s clothes, which demonstrates how much the Queen’s wardrobe has reflected her various roles as a working woman.











All the books have fabulous illustrations and photographs, documenting garment styles, accessories, shapes and colours through the ages. I always enjoy seeing how fashions used to be and how much they’ve changed over time…for better or for worse.

Do you?

Banana bonanza

Have you noticed that everyone’s going bananas? Artists, fashion designers and celebrity movers and shakers are suddenly inspired by the unique, yellow fruit. With all the fuss over this quirky curiosity of nature, I decided to investigate the slow banana boat travel option in my Retroprogressive column at The Dabbler today.

Meantime, if you’d like to indulge in the strange new craze, we’ve a deliciously decorative retro fruit basket box by uoldbag! at ShopCurious. Or, perhaps you’d like to celebrate this curious new trend by joining me in a Banana Split?

Will you?