Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Men Only

On the weekend we went to a large outdoor antique market that is just an hour outside of Toronto. Realizing it was already August it occurred to us that we really needed to get to the market, which has been open since May. Where the summer has gone I do not know.

Not five minutes on site and I spotted a stack of 30 book sized magazines. I wasn't sure if they were books or magazines but I thought the illustrations were fantastic. Vintage 40's and 50's and all men.

Now, here is a little warning. Be careful if you google this for more information. Men Only is a British publication and was probably the inspiration for Playboy. In these early magazines, the nudie cartoons and topless models are either very artistic or very humorous. I only discovered that when I got home and found a beautiful show girl as a centerfold. In the 70's it was bought and became the sort of magazine I would not be buying at an antique market or any market for that matter.
Each magazine has a "letter from Paris" which I can't wait to read and all sorts of clothing tips and articles about the issues of the day.
I wonder what magazines someone will write about 60 years from now that they find in an antique market from this decade?

The question is, what do I want to do with these magazines? I did think about framing all the covers. What a wall that would make! For now, I am scanning them and reworking them in Photoshop. This is how my fridge looked this evening.

I opted to make a set of magnets! Really, every cover is fantastic...there might be 30 magnets on my fridge by the weekend!

5 comments:

  1. the covers on these mags are fantastic..great find.

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  2. Hi Carmi: I just finished reading the Josephine B. trilogy. and I don't know if you remember the mention of vintage clothing. Or at least that's how interpreted it, where they would let the servants wear the clothing because it was stylish to be a little crumbled. Wish I had kept the book and quoted this portion, but even back then there was someone who like "vintage"And then there are some people like my sisters who when I asked them to send me vintage postcards, they sent me postcards with old looking buildings. Never have set foot in an antique shop, isn't that weird, how we all have the same mother and father but are all different. I'd love your opinion on the position of women social in this time of your new/old magazines.

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  3. Love the artwork - fantastic style. Well spotted ;)
    Interesting thinking about magazines 60 years on.
    At a church fair, after some rummaging, I found some late teens 70's magazines with an article about the year 2000. Myself, and my Mam were laughing so much at the predictions, that we would all be walking around naked, but painted silver, and retired by the time your 40-42. Trying to hunt down where I put the mags. Have a horrible feeling my Dad threw them out, probably not realising! :(

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  4. I scored a small pile of 1930s German men's mags at the St Ouen market in Paris. The pics and illustrations are amazing!

    Love these!

    Cheers,
    Madge

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  5. How absolutely funky! What a great find. I'm sure you'll find lots to do with the great illustrations.

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