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November 5, 2013

SPACE DESIGN

Spy Vibers have been interested in yesterday's post about designer Raymond Loewy and his designs for Ian Fleming's Avanti. Here are bonus images of some of Loewy's concepts for NASA's Mercury, Apollo, and Skylab missions. Loewy's book Industrial Design here. Spy Vibe's coverage of the Dieter Rams design exhibit at SFMOMA here. More about Skylab's design process here.

Recent Spy Vibe posts: Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, The Prisoner & Captain Scarlet, HMV returns to Oxford st w Beatles promo, Diego Fortunato & Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, Peter Asher, Gerry Marsden tour, Elio Petri on Blu-ray, Sophia Loren, new Beatles BBC album, new Hercule Poirot novel, Beatles fall 2013 releases, A Hard Days Night cinematographer dies, Magic Christian on Blu-ray, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute

Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address

November 4, 2013

AVANTI

Aston Martin. Bentley. James Bond may be famous for his sports cars, but the secret agent inherited the love of high-speed design from his literary father, Ian Fleming. My favorite Fleming auto is the Studebaker Avanti. In fact, I featured the car in my upcoming Miki Zero spy novel. The Avanti was designed in 1961 by none other than Raymond Loewy. One of the principal creators behind modern industrial design, he created the Coca-Cola bottle, Greyhound Bus, Lucky Strike package, PA Railroad locomotives, logos for Shell, Greyhound, Exxon, Nabisco, and the US Postal Service, and even the interiors of NASA's Saturn I, 5 and Skylab! Loewy was born on November 5th, 1893 in Paris and spent much of his life in the United States. Google paid tribute to him on their site today. Below are preliminary studies for the Avanti by Loewy. I like to imagine Ian Fleming pouring over these drawings with a rush of excitement. The 007 author famously replaced his second Ford Thunderbird with the Studebaker Avanti you see below, which he said was "an infinitely higher class of machine." (The model in my book is white). You can see more Avanti details on my Spy Vibe Novel image reference page on Pinterest here. Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive here.

October 28, 2013

EDITH HEAD

Google paid tribute today to costume designer, Edith Head, who was born on this day on 1897. Celebrated for her long film career and immortalized in Pixar's Incredibles, Spy Vibers will be familiar with many of her classic designs from these movies: Wings (1927), Beau Geste (1939), Road to Singapore (1940), Holiday Inn (1942), Road to Morocco (1942), Double Indemnity (1944), Road to Utopia (1946), Sorry Young Number 1948), Sunset Blvd. (1950), My Favorite Spy (1951), War of the Worlds (1953), Roman Holiday (1953), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Funny Face (1957), Vertigo (1958), Blue Hawaii (1961), Last of the Secret Agents? (1966), The Swinger (1966), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Topaz (1969), The Sting (1973), Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Man Who Would Be King (1975). Continues below.

With 35 Oscar nominations (and 8 awards), she is the most celebrated costume designer in Hollywood history. Ms. Head was famous for being photographed in thick glasses, which were in fact blue lenses to help her see how colors would photograph in black and white. In the TV clip below, she talks about working with Audrey Hepburn on Roman Holiday. Stills below are some of her designs for Alfred Hitchcock, including outfits for her friend and favorite leading lady, Grace Kelly.