Monday, November 30, 2009

Daily Outfit


Ah tights, without you Northern skirt dwellers would be forced into nothing but trousers for the winter months.

Cardigan: thrifted and I switched the buttons
Shirt: H&M
Skirt: Plum
Scarf: vintage
Belt: thrifted
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell
Vintage Mahjong Bracelet

Perfect Vintage Christmas

Here's my entry for the super cute Super Kawaii Mama and her vintage Christmas Competition to win many fabulous prizes. Entries are to be sent in by 4 Dec. and the winner will be announced on 7 Dec. (Hey, that's my birthday).
I know that the entry was supposed to be under 200 words and is now 437 words, but I'm still in end of term paper writing mode (1200 words=easy, 200 words=really hard).
The perfect vintage Christmas would be at dusk, curled up on the chesterfield with a mug of hot cocoa watching Mr. Astaire dance or Mr. Stewart romance Miss Sullavan, whilst Mr. Crosby and Miss Kitt's emanate from the gramophone as the snow softly drifts past the window. There will be a real fire popping and crackling in all it's majesty and slowly warming the empty stockings hanging from the mantel, waiting to be filled with mandarins, candy and wooden blocks.
The tree in the centre of the room will be real and will have just come from the forest, so that it's sappy, spicy, woodsy smell will disperse through out the house and one's home will retain that uniquely Christmas-y smell long after the last present has been unwrapped and the carpet vacuumed. The tree will be decorated with lights, baubles, tinsel and ornaments until it sparkles just right. The ornaments wont be valuable antiques but will be sentimental ones that have been carefully passed on from one generation to the next, from that little fibreglass bird bought by the grandparents for their first Christmas together to the popsicle stick reindeer made by the youngest child last year. And beneath the tree on Christmas Eve there will be a small pile of presents wrapped up in brightly coloured paper and bows. There wont be as many presents as what the neighbours have, but instead each one will be handmade or selected with such care and devotion to what the receiver would love and no one from the house will be standing in the returns queue next to the neighbours come Boxing Day.
The house will be filled with the sounds of loved one rushing to-and-fro in a happy frenzy of last minute baking, wrapping and sewing as the beloved pets peek out from beneath the furniture waiting for the opportunity to sneak a bite of dinner. And once the bird has been eaten and the paper hats have fallen off the adults' heads then the family will retire to the living room to play a board game or perhaps a round of charades or else to go for a stroll in the newly fallen snow and admire the lights around the neighbourhood and the snowmen dotting every garden.
For the perfect vintage Christmas is the Christmas that should be celebrated by everyone. One that isn't about the latest gadget or decorating scheme or going to every party; it is about spending time with one's family, friends and indoor animals, exchanging thoughtful gifts, recipes and traditions and creating wonderful memories that will last longer than any present.

”

Friday, November 27, 2009

Daily Outfit


Last week I stopped by one of my favourite thrift stores on the way home from school (all of the thrift store I regularly visit are along the various bus routes I take home from University) and I was flicking through the disappointing rack of long polyester skirts from the '80's when I came across this skirt. My first thought was "what a sweet and cosy, yet cool trim. I hope it fits" before running off to the dark change room to try it on before anyone else spotted it. It did and for $3 CDN it followed me home. I love the thick knit and red waistband and that it's now my warmest skirt. I haven't worn it before today because I'm still not sure what top to wear it with. But if this winter is anything like last year's, then I'll be wearing it a lot.

Cardigan: thrifted
Skirt: vintage
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Daily Outfit


I'd like to wish the neighbours a Happy Thanksgiving.

Skirt: thrifted
Sweater: H&M
Scarf: vintage
Tights: The Bay
Shoes: Kenzie
Belt: thrifted

Vintage Novels {Vile Bodies}


Evelyn Waugh's second (and funniest) novel is a glorious thinly veiled satire about Waugh's friends, the Bright Young Things set of Mayfair in the interwar period. Not only is it the finest record about their whirlwind lifestyle of parties, sex, drugs, fast cars, jazz and yet more parties, but it also makes fun of everything in the Roaring Twenties London society, from gossip columns to politics, religion, money, film making, hotels and drunken majors. It's a highly readable laugh out loud book of very witty lines, marvellous names and a slightly disjointed story line. The party scenes make me ache to be there and the clothing descriptions are just heaven (bottle-green bowler hats and cross-dressing anyone?). Most of the novel is told through the conversations which the two main characters have together over the telephone, which today remains a record as to about people talked and used slang in the Twenties and Thirties.
But it's also a sad novel, particularly towards the end as the effect of their fast-paced party lifestyle affects the young characters. Waugh also records the opinions of the older generation about the Mayfair generation, who grew up in the shadow of the war without having served in it and will be approaching 40 when the next war breaks out.


The plot of Vile Bodies revolves around struggling novelist Adam (who had his manuscript seized at Customs because it's title looked a bit naughty) and his efforts to earn enough money in order to marry his girlfriend Nina. Poor Adam tries everything, from writing the gossip column Mr. Chatterbox about what his friends get up to at parties, to betting on a horse and finally to asking Nina's doddering old father, The Colonel, for some money and then realizes that the Colonel signs his cheques as Charlie Chaplin. The relationship between Adam and Nina plays out like a romantic comedy, but it also shows that the conventions of the romantic comedy don't work in real life, something that Nina understands but Adam does not. The novel ends with Adam serving in the Second World War, written nine years before the invasion of Poland.


The novel was adapted by Stephen Fry into his visually stunning film Bright Young Things in 2003. As far as adaptations go, this is one of the best. Although he cut out a few parts from the novel, he maintain the novel's mood and biting wit. Stephen Fry did, however, change the ending by tacking a coda onto the end of it and by doing so he resolved the relationship between Adam and Nina, but I do like this added ending. And the costumes and sets are just drool-worthy. Plus you get to play the game "spot the now famous but then unknown British actors". And Peter O'Toole is hilarious in his cameo as the Colonel. But I do think that one should read the novel first before watching the film if you want the plot to make sense.
Here's the trailer:

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Daily Outfit


I love scarves! The right scarf can change one's whole outfit or add just that little extra something to an otherwise ordinary look. Plus they're cheap and easy to collect. I think that it's time to bring back the scarf. I'll share part of my large vintage scarf collection after the semester is over, when I can photograph them in natural midday light.

Top: thrifted
Skirt: vintage
Scarf: vintage
Belt: thrifted
Tights: The Bay
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell


Bright Star

Bright Star is an aesthetically perfect film. I love how Jane Campion used the natural colours of the seasons and landscape to frame every scene and to enhance the emotions of the characters so that the audience was able to experience the same feelings. Some shots were just too beautiful for words, especially the ones in the forest and field of flowers. My two favourite scenes in a cinematic sense were the butterfly room and the bleak black snow covered woods at the end.
The first scene made me squee! An extreme close up of Fanny hand stitching a ruffled collar to her dress. There are numerous other extreme close ups of everyday objects that I just wanted to take pictures of them to share on Flickr.
And the costumes were breathtaking. So many colours and little details to identify with, even though no one wears that style of clothing any more on a daily basis. And you could see the period shoes and boots, something that's never done in Jane Austen adaptations.
I found it really interesting that Jane Campion told the story from Fanny Brawne's perspective, since Keats had her letters to him burned after his death (a truly great loss). I also liked how she showed Fanny's interest in fashion and sewing in order to show that she was creative too.
What I didn't like was the portrayal of Keats. When I heard that a film about Keats' life was being made, I got so excited because there aren't any good films about the Romantic Poets. Keats is just awesome (I mean that in both the word's original meaning and the current slang form). To have written some of the greatest poems in the history of literature from the age of 19 to his death at 25 is both an unsurpassed legacy and a terrible loss as to he had yet to write. I found that Cammpion undermined his awesomeness. In the film, Keats remained an undeveloped character. We do not see much of his personality nor his process of writing. And what was forgotten in the film is that Keats knew that he would become consumptive and die after watching his mother and brother die from it. That is why he abandoned his education in order to write poetry. In the film, it's shown that he didn't know of his fate until he coughed up blood one night. And we don't see just how ill he was as the actor only looks like he has a bad cold at the height of his illness. I also objected to the reading of some of his poems at the incorrect times or mood of the scene. And the actor was too tall, Keats was just over 5 feet tall.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Daily Outfit


I was cleaning out my closet this weekend and I found this dress which I used to wear a lot a few years ago but had forgotten about. It's almost like getting a new dress.

Dress: Gap
Brooch: vintage
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

I was waiting for the bus today and a random guy walked passed and asked me if I liked Twilight, to which I replied no. "Yeah, you don't seem like the type" was his response.
I suppose that I should actually watch the movie sometime, instead of just dismissing it as a "lame vampire movie" (vampires don't sparkle!) and an attempt to cash in on the second generation of Harry Potter readers. Has anyone actually seen it?

Tomorrow: my review of Bright Star.



Friday, November 20, 2009

Daily Outfit


I love buttons!
I tend to replace most of the buttons on my thrifted cardigans or on my old cardigans to bring new life to them. On modern clothing, buttons tend to be boring and functional, rather than a functional statement. Queens of Vintage did an article recently about how buttons can add character to garments and I couldn't agree more.
Wanting a way to show off my small vintage button collection, I remembered this print over the weekend and put aside my embroidery to embellish a cardigan (which took longer to do then I thought).
How to you display your vintage button collection?



Cardigan: thrifted and embellished
Skirt: vintage
Belt: thrifted
Shoes: Kenzie

My Favourite Skirt


This is my favourite skirt, or at least this year's favourite.
I found it in August at Value Village for $7 (CDN) just peaking out amongst a sea of mini skirts and crap from the '80's. Which is weird because I've never had any luck before or after at Value Village (they keep raising their prices so I don't go there very often. I know that it looks vintage, but it's only a couple of years old, I think that someone brought it back with them from Hong Kong judging by the label.
What's your favourite thrift store find of 2009?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Daily Outfit


I've been wanting to try wearing the short sleeved sweater over the long sleeved shirt for a little while now (I think that I got the idea from watching The Bob Newhart Show) and today it came together, because I was running late for class. What do you think?

Sweater: thrifted
Blouse: thrifted
Trousers: thrifted
Scarf: vintage
Shoes: Chuck's
Beret: dollar store

Vintage Novels {The Mother Hunt}


Did you know that buttons can be deadly?

In The Mother Hunt, written by Rex Stout in 1963, handmade horsehair buttons lead to two murders and the eventual unmasking of the murderer.
In the novel, a baby is left in a young widow's vestibule with a note stating that her late husband is the baby's father. Mrs. Valdon then hires Nero Wolfe to identify and locate the baby's mother. On the clothing that the baby came in are the horsehair buttons which are the only clue to where the child came from.
Nero Wolfe is the eccentric genius detective who is also a hermit, gourmand and orchid fancier. Archie Goodwin is his street savvy, sharply dressed assistant and leg man.
Out of all of the American detectives, Wolfe and Archie are my favourite detective (they act together to form one detective -Wolfe is the brains and Archie is the people person, narrator and observer) and I think that this is my favourite of Stout's novels.
In addition to the pages of the importance of buttons to the crime, we also have Archie Goodwin describing vintage clothing from the male perspective and what he can tell about a woman just by what she is wearing and how she carries herself.
The only adaptation is from Timothy Hutton's 2001/2002 A&E series (it was cancelled all too soon so that A&E could switch to a reality show format. The adaptation with it's rich sets is true to the book and has some of the best examples of period costuming on TV, from bright dresses and furs down to the numerous Deco ties and Archie's colourful suits.
Here is the only clip I could find:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Daily Outfit



This weekend I had a mild bout of the normal 'flu and wrote two term papers in less than 36 hours. I'm off to embellish a cardigan to wear tomorrow while watching The Waters of Mars.
How was your weekend?

Cardigan: Gap
Blouse: thrifted
Skirt: vintage
Pins: vintage
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell
Tights: Hue
Belt: thrifted

Friday, November 13, 2009

Daily Outfit


Sweater: thrifted
Skirt: thrifted
Scarf: vintage
Scarf Clip: vintage via Etsy (scarf clips deserve to be brought back!)
Belt: thrifted
Shoes: Kenzie

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Daily Outfit


Sweater: vintage
Skirt: vintage
Belt: thrifted
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Vintage Novels {The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club}


The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club was written in 1928 by Dorothy L. Sayers and is the fourth of the ten novels featuring her detective Lord Peter Winsey (my favourite detective- I shall write a post about him as soon as I've finished writing my term papers).
The story begins on the evening of Remembrance Day with the discovery of the body of General Fentiman in his favourite chair at the Bellona Club, who has been dead for several hours but no one noticed. The problem is that the General's wealthy sister, Lady Dormer, had died that morning at 10:37 and according to her odd will, the bulk of her estate would have passed to the General had he survived her and if not, then the bulk would pass to her distant relative and ward Ann Dorland. Lord Peter, being a member of the Club and known for his powers of deduction, is therefore asked to ascertain which sibling died first in order to resolve the legal difficulties before the affair turns into a public scandal. Naturally he finds that the General had been murdered by someone who knew of Lady Dormer's will.
The novel itself addresses several issues and fads of the day. Sayers' biting wit is largely directed towards Ann Dorland, who is trying to be a bohemian modern artist, but she has neither the personality nor the talent to be successful. Using monkey glands for improving health also pops up several times as does Sayers' critiquing her own genre of detective stories.
What is largely forgotten in literature studies and by mystery fans is Sayers' genuine portrayal of the lasting effects of shell-shock on those who returned. The General's younger grandson, George, is rather badly affected and is unable to hold down a job. Instead his long-suffering wife Shelia has to go out to work, which George is grateful for but is unable to cope with being supported by his wife. As such, Sayers' has preserved the attitudes towards women supporting the household in the interwar period. We can see that those of the General's generation (who fought in the Crimea and Boer wars) view George as being weak and a failure for not fulfilling his expected role, but George's own contemporaries who fought in the Great War are understanding of the situation that George, being permanently disabled, is unable to work and must be supported by his wife as he is too proud to accept hand-outs from Lord Peter (who was also shell-shocked, though not as badly).
I found the novel to be funny in some places, particularly with the portrayals of the older members of the Club, who are most upset that the General died there, rather than having the decency to die at home.
The novel was adapted into 4 BBC episodes in 1972 starring the vastly underrated Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter. I think that the Ian Carmichael adaptations of five of the Wimsey novels are, along with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, the best television mysteries around, because they get everything right, from the plot to the characters to the costumes and they're not painful to watch, like it is with whatever ITV is currently doing with it's Agatha Christie adaptations. If you don't have time to read the book, then I would recommend watching the adaptation, which should be available from your local library.
This is the only clip I could find online:

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Shut the Door, Have a Seat


Now that it's over, I have to say that I've been really annoyed with most of season 3 of Mad Men. Mostly because it's becoming increasingly obvious that the people who run the show were not around then and only get their knowledge of the early sixties second-hand and as a result the characters act and react in the stereotyped way that the post-boomer generations expect them to. One can also see that the attention to period detail has been slipping. The backs of the hair styles on all of the male characters younger than Roger are shaggy and uneven, whereas then they would have been cut straight across by the barber, usually every week. And Betty's date dress and hairstyle in Rome would not have been seen until at least 1964. I know that she was experimenting but she would not have worn anything as modern as that dress knowing that she was having dinner with one of Don's most important clients.
I also can't stand how the writers are bringing in today's political correctness in order to point out society's current view that "we're so much better than they were because we have Health and Safety, no afternoon drinking and use Ms. as an address". Which is why we see moments like the dry cleaning bag (which my Grandma says would never have happened), cutting to a shot of someone smoking whenever cancer is mentioned and the foot getting chopped off.
But what I found most annoying this season was that most of the episodes tended to drag on and on without much of anything getting resolved or any character development in anyone really. There are so many questions that didn't get answered like why are Pete and Trudy so happy, why is Peggy sleeping with Duck, what's Paul up to, why is Lois still working there? But the biggest question that did not get addressed is: What's happening with Sal? Why get rid of him just as the gay rights movement is about to start and we would be able to see it through him?
However, the season finale did make up for the previous episodes. At least in season 4 will see the gang back together and doing actual work. Maybe next year, we'll be able to see more of Roger, Peggy, Pete, Harry and Paul and the two Smiths (they have to bring them to the new agency) and maybe less of Don sleeping with yet another brunette and of Betty being a bored angry housewife (that's mostly because I don't think that January Jones can act). I also hope that Roger will dump Jane the alcoholic child and go with Joan, since they do treat each other as equals and Roger has realized that he should have left Mona for her instead. And that Joan will realize that she is good at her career of being in charge of everything, which she will be able to now that the drunk childish failure of a rapist husband is going to die.
Although I'm not at the edge of my seat like I was with the cliff-hanger finale for season 2, I already know that season 4 will be lighter because four months after JFK was killed this happened and everything changed:

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Daily Outfit


Sweater: thrifted
Skirt: thrifted
Belt: thrifted
Collar: vintage
Brooch: vintage

Vintage Novels {Auntie Mame}


"As luck would have it, Auntie Mame, dressed in one of her most exotic outfits, was having stingers with a distinguished Lithuanian rabbi and two dancers from the cast of Blackbirds when Mr. Babcock and I burst into the drawing room."


I love Auntie Mame! It's one of my very favourite novels. I reread it at least once (sometimes twice) a year. It's just so wonderfully hilarious and the author's descriptions of daily life and characters over a span of about thirty years are some of the best written in American Literature. For example "She was built along the lines of a General Electric refrigerator and looked like a cross between Caligula and a cockatoo".

Auntie Mame; An Irreverent Escapade was published in 1955 and was an immediate hit, staying on the New York Times best seller list for over two years. It was then adapted into an equally successful Broadway play starring the always fabulous Rosalind Russell, who reprised her role in the film version that was released in December 1958 and became the highest grossing film of 1959. A paperback edition was finally re-released in 2001 by Broadway Books along with its 1958 best selling sequel Around the World with Auntie Mame (dedicated by the author to Rosalind Russell).

Auntie Mame tells the story of a 10 year old orphan named Patrick who is sent to live with his father's eccentric sister Mame Dennis in 1928. The book is told by an adult Patrick looking back on his madcap adventures with his aunt, after being prompted by a memoir in Reader's Digest about a foundling being raised by a rather dull spinster. We first meet Auntie Mame when she is in her Japanese phase before becoming (among other things) a decorator, Southern belle, Anglo-Irish writer, society matriarch, failed actress before ending in her Indian phase. Patrick never complains about the unconventional way in which his aunt raised him, such as sending him to a co-ed school for naked children for a few weeks. But he does rebel after graduating university by getting engaged to Gloria Upson, who's all blonde, Connecticut, tennis and has a friend named Bunny (definitely not from the right sort of people). Naturally Auntie Mame has to prevent the marriage from happening in the funniest chapter of the book.
What the author does brilliantly is to describe every outfit that Auntie Mame wears and in what context she wears them in. Since she changes her style every 15 minutes, we get a record in prose form of the changing styles of the vintage era and the care in which she selects her outfits in accordance to where she is going and who she is meeting. We also have Auntie Mame's best friend and stage star Vera Charles (the archetype of the Heroine's Alcoholic Best Friend) offering this advice on what to wear to meet Patrick's very conservative trustee: "A grey day, a grey mood, a grey dress with perhaps just a suggestion of sables".

Here's the trailer and a scene from the beginning of the film. As far as adaptations go it's excellent, maintaining as much as possible from the book that the censors would allow and changing a few aspects in order to make the plot run smoother.




Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Vintage Novels


I have noticed that the vintage revival movement has been sorely lagging in reviving popular novels of the period. I've always read vintage novels and have never really gotten into reading modern novels. I think the last modern novel that I've read for fun was The Liar by Stephen Fry (I've been meaning to get around to reading his other novels) and that was a couple of years ago.
Therefore, I'm going to do a weekly post on Thursdays of a vintage novel (or novella) and include how it was received when it came out and review any adaptations made of it.
My first selection will be up tomorrow, sometime in the late afternoon.

The Queen of Taps


Out of cinema's three best solo tap dancers (in terms of innovation, creativity and high degree of expertise) only Eleanor Powell remains largely forgotten, despite being heavily featured in That's Dancing and all three parts of That's Entertainment.
The only reason I can find for this is that there are no books about her, few of her films are on DVD and TCM rarely shows them (Born To Dance was on yesterday and the next showing of one of her films is not until the middle of January).
Although she only made a handful of films before retiring and moving into a nightclub act after divorcing Glenn Ford, she was the only female tap dancer to have the starring part and for the plot to be based around her dances.
Even though it's been said that Ginger Rogers did everything backwards and in heels, Miss Powell did choreograph most of her dances and they usually featured a skill feature, such as rope, Morse code or this dog (which she trained herself):


I love watching her films because you can see the level of work that she put into making them look effortless. And also because she is often costumed in the best examples of late 1930's sport fashions. The plots may be similar but like all musicals you know that the choreography will be different and everything always turns out right in the end. And one of her costars was the young Jimmy Stewart who sang (with a fair voice) several songs.
This is the Fascinatin' Rhythm number, which you might remember from the behind the scenes footage shown in That's Entertainment 3



Although she never danced with Gene Kelly, she is the only dancing partner of Mr Astaire who was able to out dance him, not by much but he is occasionally slightly off the beat.


I would love to see a biography of her to come out and for her talents to be rediscovered, but until then I can make do with the good selection of her dances on YouTube.
This is the long version of the Begin the Beguine number (the short, quality versions keep getting taken down) from Broadway Melody of 1940. Skip to the 6:09 mark and you'll see the best tap dance ever filmed.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Daily Outfit


I have to start taking photos in the morning, I always forget how early it becomes dark.
Does anyone else think that Betty is going to leave Don for Henry next Sunday?

Blouse: thrifted
Skirt: thrifted
Scarf: vintage (too cold to take a close up)
Belt: Jacob
Shoes: Kenzie