I can’t resist the lure of a pretty retro bag or purse, and Accessorize have a few that have me salivating among their new collections.
As well as having a huge number of vintage inspired print bags, Monsoon’s sister shop’s coin purses and wallets seem to all draw heavily on a vintage influence. Be it forties or right up to the seventies there’s something for any occassion.
They’re a bargain too, starting at just £4, so you’ll have plenty of pennies to line them with left over.
I can’t say I’m a regular viewer of the South Bank Show, but the Revolution 68 show on Sunday March 16th (ITV1) seems worth a look.
It explores the art, artists and music at the heart of the revolutionary year of 1968, looking at the role of writers, actors and musicians in the street battles that marked 1968 – and whether they helped to change western society and culture.
The show includes interviews with Vanessa Redgrave, Tariq Ali, Oliver Todd and Tom Stoppard, as well as features on The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, with two never before broadcast interviews from 1968 – one with Mick Jagger, shortly after he attended the rally in Grosvenor Square and another with an angry John Lennon as he responds to attacks from the far left at the end of 1968.
Find out more at the ITV website
If the R2-D2 projector is a little out of your price range, you could always make the more modest purchase of an R2-D2 home telephone.
Thankfully you don’t have to pick up the entire unit to answer a call – one of the legs/runners unhooks as a standard handset – which gives you an idea of how big this is. Features include head spinning and flashing lights when a call comes in (or at the push of a button if you want to impress your friends), ring selection (standard, animation or R2-D2 noises), last number redial and volume control.
If you want one, it retails for £79.99.
There’s a distinctly 70s space age look to Sony’s first-ever DAB radio – the XDR-C705.
Rubbish name, but a nice bit of technology. Not just a DAB radio, it offers DAB and FM reception a large LCD screen for all the radio information and indeed the time – because this is also an alarm clock with various settings.
Completing things is a large black speaker on the front and the price tag – which is around £60. It’s available now.
This item is not a new version of the Rubik’s Cube, but you can’t help but feel that is where the idea for its came from. It is in fact The Magic Chair, part of Habitat’s Very Important Products for Kids range.
It is credited to Daniel Radcliffe, although I’m not sure how much actual design input the young actor/wizard had, but his royalties for the Magic Chair go to charity which is another good reason to buy it.
It costs £120 from Habitat.
Islington-based After Noah stocks a huge range of vintage and retro-influenced items, including gifts, toys and furniture, but is their range of Industrial Factory Vintage Lamps that has particularly caught my eye.
Mainly dating back to the 1930s, these lights come from a time when the UK had a manufacturing industry and made its own lighting. Their website shows a wide range of examples of styles that may be available although you will need to contact After Noah to find out their exact stock. The lights are made from spun steel and then coated in an oven with a vitreous enamel finish and they have been rewired or the electrical fittings have been replaced to bring them up so they are safe to use.
Visit After Noah to browse their selection.
