The vintage art of typewriting

I was moseying around an antiques fair in Buxton Pavillion Gardens in Derbyshire over the weekend, when I stumbled upon a curiously characterful vintage find..

.An Underwood portable typewriter, still in its carrying case – and bearing the original warranty. This magnificent machine must surely have been the iPad of its day?

There’s no date on the typewriter or the case, but the dealer suggested this model dates from around 1929. Unusually, the shift and caps keys are in Eastern European typeface - can someone please let ShopCurious know which language this is?

Anyway, it brought back memories of layers of coloured copy paper – yellow, pink, green and blue… and multiple Tipp-ex papers to erase errors.

Oh, and forget iPad art a la David Hockney: What about this story from Oddity Central about Paul Smith, an artist with severe cerebral palsy, who creates the most extraordinary art using an old fashioned typewriter.

Who needs modern technology…


Do you?

Vintage Scout games...

A slightly longer than expected break from blogging to spend time with my ailing father, who sadly died a couple of weeks ago…

 
 
Anyway, it’s good to be back. You may wish to check out our latest Curious Trends posts.

And if you want to know what Prince Harry has in common with the Boy Scouts, take a look at my post today over at The Dabbler.


 




Talking of Scouts, we’ve some curiously collectable Scout memorabilia at ShopCurious, including vintage books that will come in handy if you’re organizing your own alternative Olympic Games – or are already suffering from games nostalgia.

Are you?

Medal-worthy or mundane?

There’s nothing curious about Stella McCartney, except that her newly opened store in London’s Fulham Road is curiously large – especially at a time when so many of the older established shops in the area (think Betty Jackson) have closed down.

Of course, McCartney has a famous father, whose voice seems to have gone off the boil at bit – though I suppose Hey Jude does have an Olympic chorus at the end... With all her unnatural advantages, I was trying exceptionally hard to not like the Olympic designer du jour - until I heard her in interview, earlier this year, at the Vogue Festival.

What a lovely lady – so down to earth and supremely sensible sounding.

Anyway, ShopCurious would like to hear your views on her designs. Personally, I find them magnificently mundane. But perhaps you think they’re medal-worthy?

Do you?

007's retro sartorial style

If you’re curious to know more about the legend that is James Bond, do pop along to the new exhibition at the Barbican. Fifty Years of James Bond Style is a must for lovers of retro fashion, illustration, technology and set design. 

As well as major fashion houses, the work of many specialist costume designers is showcased.Original costumes by the likes of Lindy Hemming are on display at the show - along with footage of illustrious cast members performing daredevil acts in their jaw-dropping outfits. You'll see Beatrice ‘Bumble’ Dawson’s creations for Pussy Galore, including the famous golden waistcoat, which tantalized Bond with its glow. And guess who these items of swimwear belonged to...

 

Did you know that Sean Connery’s first suit followed the late Savile Row tailor Anthony Sinclair’s line, which became known as the Conduit Cut? The tailor’s clientele included army men, who favoured a cavalry style – slim trousers, plus a jacket with a high arm hole and 'hacking cut.' It was Terence Young, the director of ‘Dr No’, who first introduced Connery to Sinclair.

By the way, if you’re looking for some sartorially retro style, how about these OR WOT! braces at ShopCurious – they’re produced by the oldest braces manufacturer in the world, who, of course, are responsible for James Bond’s braces.

The exhibition also features Richard Chopping’s illustrations for the dust jackets of Fleming’s James Bond novels, plus sketches and promotional artwork for the 007 films. Oh, and there are plenty of geeky gadgets and espionage paraphernalia too. That’s if you don’t get waylaid at the Martini bar…

Will You?

London's most conspicuously cool landmark?

It’s come a long way since its original conception around 12 years ago, but today The Shard will be officially opened to the public.An extraordinary feat of engineering has taken place to create the mega-monolith - just take a look at the photo gallery of the construction project at Wikipedia (see link above). During the course of the building works, I’ve also taken quite a few photographs from various angles and locations, several of which can be seen here:

Despite what the advertisement hoarding next to the Shard says, there’s no longer any need to travel to America - at least not to see the towering, shimmering glass of colossal high rise buildings.What’s more - the Shard is so conspicuous, it’s difficult to escape from, wherever you are in London...

With penthouses on offer at around £50 million apiece, the residential accomodation on offer is a tad pricey, but if you’re looking for something tall, with a bit of English provenance, how about these curiously collectable twisted wood antique candlesticks from ShopCurious? I’m not sure how well they'd suit a contemporary apartment in The Shard, but if you love old fashioned British style and subtle lighting (as opposed to laser light displays), these may be just what you’re looking for.

 

Are you?

Starry summer style...

Well, at least we can’t say we haven’t had a summer. There was one blisteringly hot day last week in London, which coincided with me being stuck inside the Royal Albert Hall. Not that I’m complaining, as I was there for a George Benson concert.

It was actually quite cool before the audience arrived – but 5000 people or so later and it was quite a different matter. George was on amazing form – with his sultry-smooth voice and dexterous guitar skills. He’s no spring chicken, but his performance was incredibly energetic for any age.

Afterwards, I got to meet some of the band members, including sensational drummer, Oscar Seaton.

It was a great honour to meet George Benson too – in fact I was totally captivated by his beautiful eyes…

When, in my stunned state, I walked out onto Kensington Gore, the Albert Memorial rose up in front of me like an apparition.

 And then Dustin Hoffman appeared out of the blue, looking like he’d just flown in on the red eye. It was curiously surreal to see him, let alone hear him say, “Look, I can’t stand around all night while you fiddle about trying to work out your camera.”

 

Anyway, if you’d like to add some starry summer style to your life, how about one of these copper, quartz and crystal cluster rings from ShopCurious?

Do you?

Flowers, frills, feathers and fans

 

The Queen was dressed simply, in powder blue, for the first day of Royal Ascot. My own curiously cobbled together outfit comprised of faded pastel shades – I customized an old pair of Top Shop shoes with ‘found’ floral embellishment, which I’d purloined from a vintage hat the night before. Thankfullly, I found a pair of 'nude' tights before I left too...

I wore one of the 'mad hatter' creations from my extensive millinery collection, along with a Missoni (thrift shop) dress, a vintage couture jacket and a 1950s beaded bag,which was borrowed from ShopCurious. Amazingly, I didn’t spot anyone wearing anything similar…

Along with the inevitable red, white and blue, hat and dress trends on Tuesday seemed to fall into several categories: Floral hats – ranging from modern, nature inspired to old fashioned bathing cap style.

Frills (and later in the day spills) were spotted on hats and dresses alike.

      
































Feathers were everywhere – occasionally getting in the way.

One lady couldn’t get enough of them and took a spare hat along, just in case her companion didn't turn up for afternoon tea.

Flying saucer hats were also in evidence, like the ones worn by retro girl-band, The Tootsie Rollers (below right). 

And there were Far Eastern style fan-pleated numbers too.












As well as fitted trouser suits. One woman sitting under an escalator reminded me of Diane Keaton. Whilst another seemed to be wearing her pyjamas.

Then there were the fashion mavericks – like Tracy Rose, who never conforms to any style but her own. 

I also noticed a couple of girls with crazy tattoos. And, from afar, saw a fabulous pair of striped-heeled sandals.

    

After a fun day of fashion spotting, I pirouetted back to the car park. Next time I might even watch the races..

Will you?

PS check out men’s racy Ascot fashions in today’s post at The Dabbler.