There’s an unfortunate tendency for these retro-futurist posts to go all a bit boys-toys-ish. That’s understandable, given that Cold War supersonic fighters and bombers did, well, did look pretty cool. Likewise the cars. And, sadly, hunt for contemporary fashion photos and it’s almost impossible to find ones depicting men in space age outfits – it’s all women. Even the sales photographs for the giant computer brains generally have women posed as if operating them.
Anyway, this time around there are… planes, cars, some house interiors, and some fashion. A few of the fashion photos show designs by Pierre Cardin, who probably deserves a post all his own…
Aircraft
Avrocar
A proposal to turn the Concord into a supersonic bomber
Saunders Roe Sr.53 rocket- and jet-propelled interceptor
How the crew entered the Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder supersonic bomber
The observer's cockpit in the De Havilland Sea Vixen
The cockpit of the Boeing Stratocruiser airliner
A proposed supersonic bomber based on the Bell X-3, from the cover-art to Secret Aerospace Projects of the US Navy by Jared A Zichek
Cars and Trucks
The cars of tomorrow
Cadillac Cyclone concept car from 1959
General Motors Firebird III from 1959
Chevrolet concept truck by Luigi Colani
Dodge Deora from 1967
And this is how you got into the Dodge Deora
Fashion
Space age hats. I think.
Pierre Cardin fashion
More Pierre Cardin fashion
And yet more Pierre Cardin fashion
Emilio Pucci-designed bubble hats for Braniff Airlines
Interiors and Appliances
A space age computer
The tap is a real retro design but the ad is, I think, a spoof
A retro-futurist television
Many of you will probably recognise where this is
Party house!
It Doesn't Have To Be Right... 
March 5, 2012 at 10:43 am
“Many of you will probably recognise where this is”
Is it Google’s new office 🙂
March 5, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Your “bubble hats” nearly came true in another sphere. In the early 2000s fencing investigated replacing the existing wire-mesh mask design with lexan equivalents. The concept was almost (but not entirely) thrown out because of the ridiculousness of how they would look.
What we got instead was this:
Obviously we call these “welders” masks. They are surprisingly popular considering some of the injuries.
December 18, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Thank god for sharp cornered TV… where nothing fits right
December 22, 2014 at 12:39 pm
This is interesting. You’ve replied to this and it seems my comment is out of date. These masks are now banned.