Categories / Books, Men's Fashion, Women's Fashion

Vintage Knitwear book by Marnie Fogg

Knitwear

Following on the heels of her books on Vintage Handbags, vintage furniture and vintage shoes, Marnie Fogg's latest title looks at Vintage Knitwear

It takes a chronological approach over its 224 pages to explore the knitwear of the last century, moving from hand-knitting to technological innovations. Key moments in knitwear style are explored, such as Jazz and the jumper craze of the 1920s or the designer decade of the 80s. It's sure to inspire you to pick up your needles, or at least have a look in the shops – handy then that the book also contains a shopping guide. 

As you'd expect, the title features the designs of John Smedley and, as part of the Fashion's Night Out event on the evening of 8 September, Marnie Fogg will be in the London John Smedley store to promote the book. 

The book is priced at £25 but it's currently available for £16.25 on Amazon. 

Buy it online

Categories / Design and Interiors

Retro message tags from A Wilderness For You and Me

Message tags

Got something to say that could do with a dash of retro style? Check out the message tags made by A Wilderness For You and Me. 

The world of Australian based designer and illustrator Nyssa Skoyi, the tags are decorated with images cut from old books and magazines, set against colourful, period patterns. The other side of the tag contains a space for your message. The tags are sold in sets of two and each set has an evocative name such as 'The Pilot's Daughter' or 'Misses Air Hostesses'; the set illustrated is called 'Children of the 60s'. They certainly a offer a more stylish option than email to get a message across. 

A set costs AUS$10. 

Buy them online

Categories / Books, Design and Interiors, Kids

Puffin Books 70th Birthday Limited Editions

9780141331744H

As part of their 70th birthday celebrations, Puffin are publishing limited editions of six classic children’s books designed by some big names in art, design and architecture.

Of most interest to us here are Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens designed by Peter Blake and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott designed by Orla Kiely. The rest of the series are: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl designed by sculptor Antony Gormley;The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett designed by Charlie and Lola author and illustrator, Lauren Child; Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson designed by architect and sculptor Frank Gehry; and Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne designed by architect David Adjaye.

The books will be published on 2nd September, priced £100 each and limited to just 1000 copies of each. You can view the covers online at Puffin now, but you won’t be able to order them before 2nd September.

Categories / Books, Men's Fashion, Women's Fashion

Out of Print clothing: book jacket t-shirts

Out of print tees

While its now fairly common to be able to get prints of classic book covers to hang on your walls, Out of Print clothing offer you the chance to wear your favourite design on a t-shirt instead. 

Their cotton t-shirts cover a selection of iconic twentieth century books such as On the Road, Lord of the Flies, The Naked Lunch as well as Slaughterhouse-Five and Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age which are shown here. There's probably a design to please most literary or aesthetic tastes. 

Each t-shirt costs $28 and for every one sold, an actual book is donated through the charity Books for Africa. 

See the range online

Categories / Books, Kids

Dick Bruna vintage story book bunting

Bruna bunting

You can't have failed to notice the huge amount of bunting bedecking shops and stalls and is on sale just about everywhere at the moment. Here's some more, but with an interesting twist: it's bunting using vintage book illustrations by Dick Bruna

It's the work of Etsy seller leJeune who has taken the original illustrations from a 1966 copy of Bruna's The Sailor and made them into the bunting. His bold illustrations are used on one side with the story on the other. Take a look at her shop from more bunting from other children's books, the perfect thing for a kid's room. 

This bunting costs $22.

Buy it from Etsy 

 via Kickcan and Conkers

Categories / Books, Homeware, Kids

Loni kids bookcase from Habitat

Loni bookcase

Here's a piece of design for kids that would look pretty good adult sized too, the Loni bookcase from Habitat

Made with Oak veneer, the block like design of the piece gives it a retro look and makes it suitable for holding books as well as toys. And the best bit is that you can stand it the other way round: it works just as well stood vertically as it does horizontally. It measures 90cm across and 61cm across – that's unless you flip it the other way of course!

The bookcase costs £89. 

Buy it online