I’ve been watching Mad Men again recently; binge-watching episodes in the evenings as I list eBay. The last time I watched it, it was pretty much when everyone else seemed to be watching it (certainly everyone online, at least) and it was before we had kids: our house was tiny and filled with loads of…
Category: Vintage Magazines
October in the 1950s: Woman’s Own Magazines
It was like revisiting some old friends when I found these magazines out of the attic earlier this evening. It’s literally been years since I looked through any of them. I’d forgotten about the soft focus fashion, housewifely advice and gorgeous illustrations accompanying the obligatory romantic short stories. It seems a gentler, easier world than the…
Decorating Ideas from Golden Homes
Golden Homes was a DIY magazine published in the 1970s featuring articles on how to do relatively easy stuff; things like tiling the roof of your house, building extensions and constructing your own spiral staircase. I mean, anyone can do that, right? With the proper tools of course… I spotted a stash of these in a…
Catching up: Ludlow, Ladybird Books and Vintage Village
We’ve had a cracking couple of weeks at our house. Aidan seems to have had a reasonable amount of time off work so we’ve been away to Ludlow, we’ve sorted a few things out around the house, been to Vintage Village and I finally passed my driving test. Hurray! Ludlow was my belated birthday present….
Getting Knitty With It
I think that finally the nesting instinct must be starting to take over. Many of the people I’ve spoken to about being pregnant mention the dreaded ‘C’ word before long: cleaning. Apparently, this urge to clean every surface, wall and floor in sight starts to kick in prior to the baby arriving. As of yet,…
Baby Adverts from the 1950s
Our impending arrival means that I’ve seriously got babies on the brain. As well as the official ‘baby brain’… Scouring through my Woman’s Own magazines to look at the adverts builds up a picture of how womanhood was viewed in the 1950s; at least by mainstream society. Babies, cooking, cleaning and grooming appear to be…
Homemaking in the 1950s and Now
Are you nostalgic? As a generation, are we harking back to past eras more than any other generation before us? Or this a natural human action: to yearn for something we can never truly have – or replicate? It certainly seems that there are more and more people of my age who look to their ancestors…
Woman’s Own 1950s Easter Covers
It seems slightly surreal to be writing about Easter when the weather resembles the depths of Winter. Easter equals Spring, birds chirping, drip drip drop little April showers… not, hide indoors because it’s a blizzard outside. One of the things I love about my Woman’s Own magazines (amongst many) is how the covers vary from month…
Vintage Adverts
Just two of these to share today which made me smile for different reasons: It’s not difficult to see why Quaker’s Quick Macaroni isn’t still a staple in our diets… Savoury and satisfying, apparently. My first thought upon seeing that wasn’t, “Mmmm, delicious!” but: “Worms!” I’m not sure I trust Jane Beaton (cookery expert of Woman’s…
Little Owl Ski @ Obsessionistas
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be asked by the lovely people at Obsessionistas if they could feature my collection of vintage women’s magazines on their site. The full interview and gallery can be seen at their website here. Obsessionistas is a beautiful website run by Helen and Graham Powell. They feature…
Christmas Wishlist: Vintage Vogue Magazines
My collection of Woman’s Own magazines is quickly becoming one of my most prized possessions. I adore flicking through them, admiring the adverts, drooling over the fashion and wishing I could draw like Aubrey Rix, Joe de Mers or Coby Whitmore. One of the things I love about them is that they are mainly for…
’70s and ’80s Magazines for Sale
Regular readers will know by now my love for all things of yesteryear. My decade of choice is the 1950s, though I will go to the ’60s and late ’40s at a push. I do have some magazines from the ’70s and ’80s but they never get read, so I’ve made the decision to sell…
Little Owl Ski 