My First Vintage

These are the very first vintage items that I ever bought in a store. When I was about five or six, my Mum took me shopping in Gastown and we went into a vintage store (I think it was DeLuxe Junk) and one of the few displays that I could actually reach was the stand of plastic jewellery and hair stuff and I saw these three hair slides from the late Fifties (I think) and I then wheedled her to buy them for me. I wanted them because they reminded me of the blue feathers that the wizard used in The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship that PBS aired as part of Long Ago And Far Away. Remember that show? I miss it terribly! Anyway, I have worn one of the barrettes almost every day for the past fifteen or so years and I have never found anything else which secures my hair as well as these do.

What was the first vintage item you bought or had a grown-up buy for you? Do you still have it and wear it?

Vintage Novels {Gigi}

Colette's 1944 novella is just simply wonderful to read! It's so short (my copy is only fifty pages long) yet has five fully formed and complex characters. If it were any longer, then the character's strength wouldn't be diminished but there would be less for the reader to imagine about their thoughts. Gigi relies heavily on the imagination to picture the rooms in which Gigi and her family live and look, based on all too brief descriptions. For example, Aunt Alicia's bedroom is very plain and entirely in shades of grey (not that dreadful fluffy pink room in the movie) and shows how business-like Alicia was throughout her career. And pay close attention to the description of Gigi's hand me down dresses and Alicia's reaction to them as she is trying to teach Gigi while Gaston is in Monte Carlo.

The saddest character is Andrèe, Gigi's mother who isn't in the movie. Andrèe decided not to be a courtesan like her mother and aunt and so much suffer through being a second lead singer in the state theatres until age forces her to retire. I find Andrèe to be the saddest character because she could have been happily married to a stable member of the middle class if her family came from a better position or a talented singer and mistress to kings if her act of rebellion hadn't been to run away with Gigi's good-for-nothing father when she was a teenager. What I particularly like about Andrèe is how Colette uses her to show that Gigi could so easily follow her mother if she continues to rebel against her grandmother and aunt, since she is at that age in which she will go off with the first shop assistant who follows her home.

Unlike the film, the novel doesn't focus much about Gaston, aside from repeated how bored he is with the way in which society expects him to act, because the novel is centred around the four female characters and how careful they are to show off their best features to the world, even if they can't afford it or it is only to curl Gigi's hair just to visit Aunt Alicia.

As for the film, which I assume you've all seen since it's one of the last great musicals, I was surprised when I was watching it this week (I had only seen it once before) how explicit it was for being not only for a Code film, but an MGM musical also. (remember how clean the Mickey/Judy musicals were?) It's very clear, although it is never mentioned, that Alicia and Grandmamma were courtesans and this was how they made their living and what they are training Gigi to be, although they don't mention in the film that their family were successful because they were witty conversationalists and they didn't do silly things, like tell men's secrets or commit suicide for the attention. And Maurice Chevalier's character isn't in the novel, but no one, even someone as gifted as Coletter, could write a character with Maurice Chevalier's smile and singing "Thank Heaven For Little Girls". But other then that, the movie is a faithful adaptation and is longer then it takes to read the novel.

A Trip to Russian House

During the Olympics last month, there were around twenty or so hospitality houses from the different provinces, countries and a few major Canadian corporations (tho I'm not sure if the Mint qualifies as a corporation) and only a few of the Canadian houses are sticking around during the Paralympics. All of them had massive queues to get in, particularly the ones with a liquor licence -there was usually a three hour wait to get into Irish House which was in a tent next to a pub downtown. Since I was refusing to wait more then fifteen minutes in a queue, I only managed to get into one house during the two weeks, but I might try to get into a few houses on Friday.

Since Russia has the Winter Games next, I thought that I should make an attempt to stick it out and get into their House and I was in luck and only had to wait ten minutes on the afternoon that I went down there.

The Sochi organizers had taken over Science World as their pavilion for the Olympics, but they only had it open to the public from noon to just before 5 PM every day, which was rather odd. I had not been to Science World, which looks like a giant silver ball, since elementary school when we would be taken on field trips to check out it's cool Bill Nye science-y fun stuff.

I order to get into Russian House, you had to pass through an airport metal detector and the bouncers might search your bag. The bouncers, you can see one of them in the above photo next to the digital clock, were actually, IMHO, KGB agents. I say that they were KGB because they didn't talk, showed no emotion, wore matching suits and black overcoats, looked like they were armed under said coats and the older ones looked like they had killed people. I would have taken a picture of them, but I was afraid that I would disappear in the middle of the night. I have since talked to classmates who also went to Russian House and they also thought that it was the KGB. Did anyone else who watched the Closing Ceremonies think that it was strange to see images from Stalin's propaganda films included in the Russian presentation or that they have gone back to using the old Soviet anthem music as their new national anthem?

Once inside the house, you were greeted by this creepy holographic Russian couple, giving some trivia about Russia and their upcoming Olympics. I didn't know what to think of the hologram, since none of the other Russian representatives would speak to anyone without a media pass. But it would have been nice to talk to a human.

There actually wasn't a lot to do in Russian House
They had a massive model of Sochi and it's Olympic venues. But it was too large. Imagine the size of your living room, it was about that big.
There was also a continuous performance by these lovely ladies and their traditional band. They were my favourite part, but reminiscent of light entertainment on a cruise ship.

But I did take two short videos of their performance -just wait for it to fully load before watching.

Everything else was just geared for the media. Like this poster for an Olympic University. I wanted to know what an Olympic University was, but there was no one to ask and no leaflet to take.
There was a video of the high speed train being built in Sochi, but no mention of the war going on at the moment in the Caucasus Mountains which is where Sochi is.
There were also some random hot air balloons advertising a Russian bank for some reason, along with several other presentation alcoves with flat-screen television sets and lots of bright and shiny colours to promote various Russian and international corporations (like BMW) to members of the media and businessmen but not the visitors.

The only free stuff available were a giant basket of animal crackers and a girl handing out very hot tea in the cheapest and smallest paper cups available. I tried to drink it, but the tea softened the cup too quickly and burned me. There was also a bar, but it was closed to the public, which was the worst part since I wanted to sample the vodka and iced wine.
The only nod to the Olympics being about the athletes was a small display of hockey memorabilia, including the above jersey from the 1972 Summit Series where Canada beat Russia.
And finally there were some cardboard cutouts of I think Russian athletes with the Olympics mascots. Only this lady looks like she is scared but the plastic faced doll who is trying to kill her.

That was about it. I was only there for about half an hour and then I got bored and walked to nearby Chinatown to buy some candy.

Daily Outfit

Oh my fur and whiskers! I have been such a bad blogger of late! Last week was the last week of heavy readings and presentations of the semester and I just didn't have time to write any postings or keep up with my blog roll. Sometimes I wish for the simplicity of first year classes. But I do have several ideas for posts this week and I hope that this week goes better then last. But does anyone have any suggestions for what you would like me to write about later on?

Cardigan: thrifted

Blouse: thrifted

Skirt: vintage

Scarf: vintage

Tights: Hue

Shoes: The Bay

This is Judy Garland and Jose Iturbi in Thousands Cheer

How to Tie a Scarf #5

What's the girl's equivalent of the matching tie and handkerchief?

Why the matching scarf and tights, of course!

1. Select a long, skinny silk scarf in a solid colour that matches your favourite pair of brightly coloured opaque tights -not black, since the effect will be lost.

2. Wear a button down shirt (or blouse) with a collar in a shade of white or cream. This is best since a plain shirt will further draw attention to the scarf.

3. For the girly Marlene Dietrich look: do up the top button, turn up the collar, fold the scarf in half, place around the neck and thread the ends through the scarf and centre it. Tie into a small, fluffy bow tie and turn the collar down. Adjust as necessary.

or
For the more arty/Girl Guide look: unbutton the first two or three buttons, place scarf under the collar, tie into a large bow just under the first done-up button.

4. Accept compliments on your original awesomeness.

Cinema Tuesdays {The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp}

Made and set in 1943, the film begins with this young lieutenant making a preemptive strike in a war games training exercise and taking his command of soldiers to capture the leader of the Home Guard, Major General Clive Wynne-Candy in a Turkish bath.
Candy is most upset and reminds the young soldiers that "War starts at midnight!" but the lieutenant says that he doesn't believe that the Nazis fight by observing the traditional traditions of war. When the lieutenant then insults Candy and his moustache and doesn't believe that he has ever been in a real war, Candy attacks him and says that he's been fighting in wars since before the lieutenant was born and that the lieutenant doesn't know the story of why he has his moustache and why he holds his ideals that war can only be won by clean fighting and "10 miles up the hill both ways in the snow" sort of statements. And that's what the film is about -how Candy got his moustache.

Of course, the film is about more then facial hair. Churchill did hate the film enough to ban it from export to America until 1945 for a reason. It basically, and I do mean basically since the plot is too long and complex to sum up, shows why the older military leaders and the older generation figures in other works (such as Vile Bodies) were critical of the younger generations and the new ways in which wars were being fought and the way in which the world was changing. But unlike other films and books, this one explains why older generations held fast to their views (or didn't) and this why you should watch in, since we do want to understand what it was like to live on the Home Front, don't we?

Powell and Pressburger use three character to explains the story through flashback. Roger Livesey plays Candy.

Anton Walbrook (he was also in The Red Shoes) plays Theo, the "good German officer" and Candy's best friend
And Deborah Kerr plays three different, but equally important characters.

Flashback:

Clive Candy was also once a young lieutenant in the same Turkish bath, only he was the one interrupting the nap time of his elders.
He had also served in the Boer War and had earned a VC -that's the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour available to what are now Commonwealth citizens.

Cut to:

Segment One: 1902 England and Germany

Candy is on leave from the Boer War and goes to Germany, where he ends up fighting a duel with
Theo, who is then a lieutenant in the German Army
Miss Kerr is playing a suffragette and is the cause of the duel, but not for the usual reasons. This is also the part of the film where her character has the best costumes.

Cut to:

Segment Two: 1918-1919 France then back to England

Candy is a General in France and believes that they won by being sportsmanlike
Miss Kerr is now playing Barbara, whom Candy met as a nurse on the Front and marries her. She wears this lovely suit for most of this segment, but there is also a beautiful frock in an afternoon lunch scene which you must see for yourself.

Poor Theo. He's a prisoner of war in England and not very happy about it.
But he's still the best of friends with Candy and does offer the opinion of the losing German side and fears what will become of the world as a result of the Versailles Treaty.

Cut to:

Segment Three: 1939-1943 England

Candy comes out of retirement and takes a desk job as a General, but is pushed out due to his unwavering duty to clean fighting.
Miss Kerr is now Angela "Johnny" Cannon who is chosen out of 700 girls to be Candy's driver. She wears her hair in the same style that Sam does in Foyle's War, which I've just started watching. Does anyone know what this style is called or how to do it?
Poor poor Theo. He's now a refugee in England, but he's still friends with Candy, who vouches for his character and saves him from internment.

Theo suggests to Candy that he should become the leader of the Home Guard, which is where he can do the most good.

I think that the film ends happily for Candy, but you'll have to judge for yourselves.

I couldn't find a trailer or a suitable clip, so instead here's a gratuitous shot of a lovely bird hat:

Daily Outfit

Yes, I did copy this look from episode 5 of Glee. I found this top last week that was like the one worn by Emma, except in white and it only cost a loonie! I've been debating as to whether or not to buy a red skirt since the summer, as they are hard to find. But I found this one and it's fully lined and from the late '50's and it only cost a whopping $5, so it came home with me. I'm just not sure what else to wear it with, any suggestions?

Has anyone seen Tim Burton's Alice yet? I would like to see a modern 3-D film in the theatre, but it does cost a lot to see one and ever since I saw the pictures of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum looking like the creepy baby masks in Brazil, I haven't been sure if I want to watch it or not.

Top: thrifted

Skirt: vintage

Pin: vintage

Tights: Hue

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Here is "I Enjoy Being A Girl" with Nancy Kwan (she's dubbed tho) from Flower Drum Song