Old Flame >> Vintage Matchbooks

Here.

LustList >> Necessary Office Supplies >> Typewriters as Keyboards

If you love typewriters, you need to check out this clever guy I discovered in this month's VF (oh, how I love thee) who is retrofitting typewriters to act as keyboards for your iPad or monitor!  Simply with a USB cord!

As he hilariously says on his site, "The USBTypewriter is a a new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obselescence."  HA.  I'm going to be laughing to myself about the cleverness of that oxymoronic statement for a while.

Tastemakers >> Jeanne Lanvin

From the library of Jeanne Lanvin, shot by The Selby.

Interiors >> Vintage Suitcases, Art

I posted this a while ago but just came back across it and still love it.  Shot by The Selby, the apartment of the couple behind Obedient Sons & Daughters.

LustList >> For the Library >> Touchable Sound

Just in time to feed my recent obsession with album covers, this book featuring the best 7-inch covers just hit shelves.  With over 300 covers, I think this could entertain me for a while!

In related news, Rolling Stone published a list of the top 25 record stores in the US-- check it out here.

[Past posts on album 

covers here and here]

LustList >> Vintage Blue Note Records

More Blue Note album covers, for the most part art directed by Reid Miles, photos on 1, 2, and 5 by Francis Wolff.

Necessities >> Letterhead

 This is awesome.  Just discovered a sister blog to Letters of Note (check it out if you don't know it-- it publishes scans of original historically significant letters) called Letterheady, which publishes the letterhead of famous figures and companies.  Could browse their archives for... a while.

(Stephen King)

For No Good Reason

Old books, old trophies, and maps.  Love it.

Image from Roberta Grove on etsy.

Via Parcel Post

LustList >> For the library >> "Lists"

I am dying to get a look at manuscript archivist Liza Kirwin's new book Lists.  The book collects various lists of famous artists, from to-dos to address books, with the premise that such lists both augment an artist's personal history and add insight to bits of history that were happening at the time.

(Can't make out much of Kline's tab, but the one at top looks like possibly a Chateauneuf du Pape?)

The book includes ephemera like Picasso's list of his favorite artists at the first Armory show in 1913, most of whom went on to dominate the art scene in the coming years, proving that he not only had personal talent, but also an eye for quality in others' work.  (Also interesting that he left off Braque, his contemporary in the Cubist movement... I am personally gratified by this because I never liked Braque's work haha.)

(Pretty awesome cover, no?? I love the retro illustration and the mix of typography!)

Another "list" is Alexander Calder's address book, which reads like a summary of the "who's-who" of avant-garde Paris in the early 1900s. Other lists are more personal, like Janice Lowry's list of "50 people I need to forgive" and Eero Saarinen's list of reasons he loves his soon-to-be second wife.  

 Little seemingly insignificant lists, in retrospect, can actually take on major significance as snapshots into the making of a decision, the evidence of priorities, etc.  As a compulsive list-maker myself (I literally have lists for everything-- running lists of gifts to give people, equipment I want for the kitchen, etc.), I am totally intrigued by the chance to look at other peoples' lists, espcially hand-written ones!

Available here from Princeton Architectural Press.

Via The Morning News.

PS -- Speaking of lists, if you're looking for something to make, here's what's on my list of things to cook this week: Grapefruit, Celery, and Parmesan Salad, Cilantro-Marinated Grilled Tofu and Soba Noodles, Grilled Guacamole, and Double Chocolate Layer Cake.

Nostalgia >> Land Cruisers and VW's "Thing"

Going with a theme today apparently... nostalgia.  Sometimes it just happens.  But seriously, I love these cars.

The "Thing"-- removable doors, top, and a windshield that folds down.  What more could you ask for in a car to hit the beach in?

 Notice the available colors above are "Pumpkin Orange," "Sunshine Yellow," and "Blizzard White."  Not only did the colors have great names, but they were painted in that wonderful flat lacquer that doesn't have any of the obnoxious glittery "pearlescent" nonsense that car colors have now.

via Secret Forts

Paper, Typography, Graphic Design... Nostalgia

 I'm a sucker for old paper things, like airmail envelopes and tickets... they have that effect I've mentioned before of making me long for an era I never actually lived through.  They also make me wish the design of small, everyday things like this were still given such attention. 

 It's the same way I feel about public buildings, like post offices and public schools-- they used to be built so beautifully, and were architectural icons in town, and now they're just built to be functional and cheap.

via Paper is Lovely

Old Stuff >> History of the Feminine Costume of the World

 Based on the recommendation on design*sponge, I perused the New York Public Library's digital image archives, and I discovered this book from 1927 that goes region by region dissecting the history of women's styles. 

Above is the chapter header for the Assyrian section, and then the following page in each chapter is titled "Fashionable Ladies" and depicts fashionable ladies of the respective region.

Chic draping in Assyria, no?

I think it's interesting that the chapter on the French region is given the title "The Comfortable Costumes of..." since it still seems that French women have mastered looking both chic and like their outfit came together effortlessly.  They never look like they tried too hard.

Then, there are more detailed pages for each region on things like sleeves, skirts, shoes, and jewelry...

I particularly liked the jewelry page for Gaul.  #2, at top middle, looks a LOT like the Cartier love bracelet, no?  Wonder if that was a classic French style and that's where they got the inspiration? 

#19 (bottom right) looks like the inspiration for the "bit" motif, based on the actual piece of equestrian equipment, and made classic by Gucci on their bit loafers, like these below.  Didn't realize it had been a motif in jewelry for so long as well!

The original inspiration for the gladiator sandals of today...

Also, WHAT are those sock/shoe things (#3) at top middle that are like socks with men's faces on them?  With mustaches??

Finally, thought this montage of fabrics from Europe was interesting...

Compare to the fabrics of India...

You could learn so much about textile history from comparing the different countries' fabrics in this book!

Other than those mustache slippers, seems like this book would provide endless inspiration and reference material for modern designers...

More from this book here.

NYPL Digital Gallery here.

Golden Age

Loving this piece from the NYT Style Magazine on the former glory of the styles of the skies.

"We’re told that there was a magical time long ago when, whatever your seat assignment, flying was first-class. But when did it all end? Last week, Marie Force, the archivist at the Delta Heritage Museum in Atlanta, published an online gallery of photographs of Delta flight attendant uniforms from 1940 to the present. “Delta was one of the more conservative airlines,” Force says. “We didn’t have hot pants.” Still, for almost 40 straight years, the airline’s female flight attendants (something called “stewardesses”) turned heads.

In the 1940s, they did it with military-style overseas caps and spectator shoes; in the ’50s, with futurist insignias and stiletto pumps; and in the ’60s, with A-line topcoats, alligator-print boots, Chanel-inspired jackets with three-quarter-length sleeves and the “Delberet,” a pillbox hat designed for Delta by Mea Hanauer, a New York milliner. The ’70s were all about coo-coo colors, bell-bottom pants, Slavic tunics and, weirdly, a yellow raincoat. And then in the ’80s, Delta took a sartorial nosedive that it couldn’t recover from until 2001. Return your seat to its upright position, and take a look."

My mom was actually just telling me today that the prettiest girl she knew as a teenage in Memphis went on to be a Pan-American stewardess and that it was the biggest deal because only the most beautiful girls were hired by Pan-American.  Then, she was scouted by someone from Hollywood who was on one of her flights, and she ended up in the movie South Pacific.  A "fairytale story," as my mom put it.  Those were different days indeed.
Article here.

via... someone who still flies in style... thanks!