Latest articles from Retro To Go

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• Plaid Natasha Trench from Fred Flare
• Midcentury-style Montford armchair at Marks & Spencer
• Nancy Print Jumpsuit from Whistles
• Cult clip: Design For Today (1965)
• eBay watch: 1970s Hornyphon 2623 portable record player
• Oasis 60s Print 2 in 1 Dress
• Retro Retreat: Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Ty Hedfan in Pontfaen, Brecon, Wales
• An Embrace of Roses by Woop Studios
• Copenhagen tea towel by Ferm Living
• Retro Seed Packet Collection
• Vintage Mr Men Notebooks
• Vintage Leather Gramophone Chair

Plaid Natasha Trench from Fred Flare Posted: 08 Feb 2011 10:11 AM PST Modern reinterpretations of the classic trench coat often opt for a utilitarian style, choosing traditional and sharp style elements for impact. If you favour a cutesier tone to your retro style, this Plaid Natasha Trench from Fred Flare is the ideal sixties-inspired choice. The structure of the coat is basic and chic, with an empire line and double breasted buttons. It's the colour palette, however, that speaks of mid-sixties looks, with a yellow plaid and bubblegum pink buttons to finish. The overall look has just enough mod style to create a stylish everyday retro item. Get it online from Fred Flare for $84. Find out more from the website

Midcentury-style Montford armchair at Marks & Spencer Posted: 08 Feb 2011 09:31 AM PST Not the first place we would consider for some cool, midcentury design, but Marks & Spencer has it with this Montford armchair. Don't worry about the red colour, there's a seemingly endless range of fabric options, both plain and patterned to go on that curvy frame, which also also has a sloped back and four tapered wooden legs. The chair is also traditionally sprung and has a reversible seat cushion. Available to order online in that wide range of fabrics, £549 is the price. Find out more at the Marks & Spencer website

Nancy Print Jumpsuit from Whistles Posted: 08 Feb 2011 09:28 AM PST The retro influence on the high street this season is showing ever more signs of a huge seventies influence, with disco and folk styles spreading rapidly among the big names. This Nancy Print Jumpsuit from Whistles is a great example, providing a high chic 70s look. The jumpsuit style, often more associated with 80s looks, takes on a chic disco-era aesthetic here thanks to the print and cut. With an exaggerated waistline, a deep v neck and exaggerated hips, it's the African-influenced print that seals the deal for this piece's vintage look. Get it online from ASOS now for £195, thanks to its 100% silk composition. Find out more from the website

Cult clip: Design For Today (1965) Posted: 08 Feb 2011 09:12 AM PST We actually featured the DVD last year, but I've just noticed a clip from the BFI's Design For Today package on YouTube, so here it is. A quirky little film without words that highlights industrial design of the day - that day being a day in 1965, as you might have guessed from the title. Oh yes, it was also the work of future Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson. Check it out below and check out the other BFI clips, some fascinating material online in their channel.

eBay watch: 1970s Hornyphon 2623 portable record player Posted: 08 Feb 2011 08:59 AM PST Apologies for featuring another portable record player, but some great designs keep cropping up - which this Hornyphon 2623 portable record player is. Let's look at the design first, which offers the three-speed record deck, contras for balance, tone and volume and a choice of battery and mains power. Oh yes - and those cool dimpled speakers, which provide stereo sound, then pack back into the deck when not in use, so you can carry it all round like a small briefcase. Very stylish. See an image of that over the page. Condition? According to the seller, it's 'hardly used' and 'very well-tended', with 'a very few fine and slight scratches on the outside, caused by storage'. Still some time to go, £1 is the current bid price. Find out more at the eBay website

Oasis 60s Print 2 in 1 Dress Posted: 08 Feb 2011 08:40 AM PST      Oasis clothing is a regular feature of these pages thanks to their knack for giving classic designs a modern edge. This 60s Print 2 in 1 Dress has a fab op-art print blouse with feminine pussy-bow neckline, off-set with a flattering camel skirt. The black waistband and neat pockets add subtle detail for a clean, sleek look. Teamed with smart black accessories (as shown here) this is a great outfit for the office and takes the hard-work out of co-ordinating your outfit by doing it for you. The dress costs £65 and you can find out more here.

Retro Retreat: Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Ty Hedfan in Pontfaen, Brecon, Wales Posted: 08 Feb 2011 08:02 AM PST Suppose winter will be coming to an end soon and we might start pondering holidays. If you want to get away from it all, you might want to spend some time at Ty Hedfan in Pontfaen, Brecon, Wales. Ty Hedfan means 'the hovering house' in Welsh and that's pretty much what it is. Fairly-recently designed by architects Featherstone Young, the house is inspired by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Pierre Koenig's Case Study House. Only this one isn't in the US, it perches over the River Ysgir in the Brecon Beacons, with views over the river and also of the surrounding countryside. Built using traditional slate and timber, it also has plenty of glass so the rooms are light and spacious, very much in that midcentury style. The main living room 'floats' over the river, giving great views by day, but also a great place to hang out at night, thanks to a log fire. The living, kitchen and dining spaces open on to a raised external terrace with a barbecue and space to eat outside, whilst the lower bedroom wing and main entrance hall link directly to the garden and river bank.  The house has five bedrooms (three en-suite) and can sleep up to ten people. Just make sure you like that kind of solitary living - the nearest shop is five miles away. Oh yes - it's pretty handy for the Brecon Jazz Festival and the Green Man Festival too. Prices vary depending on the season, but start at £950 per week. See the website for more images. Find out more at the Modern House website

An Embrace of Roses by Woop Studios Posted: 08 Feb 2011 05:13 AM PST For an alternative Valentine's Day print, take a look at this An Embrace of Rose print by Woop Studio.  Although this print obviously has a romantic feel, Woop Studio specialize in producing prints based around collection nouns, so take a look at their other designs based around things such as a Parliament of Owls or a Stand of Flamingos. All the prints are executed in the same retro style, reminiscent of the work of someone like Abram Games in the 1940s and 1950s.  Prices start at £69 for a small unframed print. See them online

Copenhagen tea towel by Ferm Living Posted: 08 Feb 2011 05:05 AM PST Michelle Mason has celebrated London, Maria Dahlgren has illustrated Stockholm. Now Ferm Living celebrates their home city with this Copenhagen tea towel.  The Danish company's towel reproduces some of the city's landmarks, such as the Little Mermaid statue. Like the designers mentioned above, this is a very stylized 50s/60s-style design which is enhanced by the soft colour scheme. These same colours run through all of Ferm Living's new collection meaning there's plenty of retro gems to look out for.  Printed on 100% cotton, the tea towel costs $19.  Buy it from 2Modern

Retro Seed Packet Collection Posted: 08 Feb 2011 04:39 AM PST As Britain continues to feel the pinch, the trend for growing your own food shows no sign of abating. The Retro Seed Packet Collection allows you to sort and save you seeds in style. There are five different designs in the set, including a nice variation on the ubiquitous "Keep Calm and Carry On" and a ration book facsimile.The reverse of each packet has a handy printed metric and imperial rule to help with your seed planting as well as areas to record the seed content. Perfect for getting organised ahead of the sowing season - bring on those green shoots of recovery! The packets cost £4.50 for a pack of 10 (2 of each design) and you can buy them from The Allotment Shop.

Vintage Mr Men Notebooks Posted: 08 Feb 2011 02:16 AM PST   The Vintage Mr Men Notebooks are part of a range of stationery that recall the early incarnations of the popular children's books. Whilst Mr Men books are still popular and readily available today, the books today are brighter and more modern looking, which inevitably means they lack some of the charm of the originals. For this collection, the illustrations are taken from the older books and are reproduced in more muted colours. The collection includes an A5 Mr Bump Notebook, A6 Mr Funny Notebook and A6 Little Miss Naughty Address Book. The Vintage Mr Men collection is in the sale at Campus Gifts, where all of the items the items can be bought for not much more than £5.

Vintage Leather Gramophone Chair Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:57 AM PST   John Lewis is currently selling a selection of leather chairs, including this Vintage Leather Gramophone Chair. The chair is a variation on the popular club chair, with a gently concave back, giving it a distinctive shape from which it takes its name. But perhaps its most attractive feature is that it has been upholstered in vintage leather, so that it comes with that desirable lived-in look of a vintage find. The gramophone chair costs £999 from John Lewis.

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