THOUGHT PATTERNS

"Puzzle" Rajasthani bracelet

I love my "puzzle" Rajasthani bracelet, given to me by my husband Terry. He has such great taste in jewelry. And after living in India for a long time and having dealt with jewelry he knew right away when he saw a really special piece. It's such a unique design, showcasing amazing craftsmanship. 

The bracelet is composed of numerous zig-zag silver pieces that fall together perfectly and are held together by a piece of strong woven thread on the top and bottom of the bracelet, best seen here...

The bracelet is just so pliable and flexible and feels wonderful on my wrist...

I've never seen one like it, but, while researching Rajasthani bracelets I stumbled onto a bracelet which is the closest I could find to what I have. The workmanship looks very similar to me...

Beautiful! This bracelet is still available at Cose Cosi. Quite pricey though!

xoxoxo

{Photos by Tina Tarnoff, all except bottom two, from here}

What I wish I wore today

A 21st century Victorian outfit consisting of...

adorable but bold shoulder nautical top by dinwiddies

a denim drama skirt, also by dinwiddies

a voodoo dolly top hat by belladluna

these insanely cute spat attack shoes by irregular choice

and a wooden faux vintage medicine bottle pin by AlteredEras.

Instead I chose to wear my go-to-safe-simple-black. Boring! I really have to start dressing more adventurously in real life too, not just in my virtual world.

xoxoxo

Gems in my neighborhood

Al's Attire is this great old-style-type tailor store (old-style but very hip) that is located in North Beach, not far from where we live. The vintage-style clothes are custom tailored and handmade from vintage materials. (They also carry ready-to-wear clothing.)

I love everything about this place, the retro feel, the brick walls, piles of shoe forms, hat boxes from the 40s, dress forms, vintage sewing machines, steamer trunks that store vintage patterns... It's a heaven to go into.

Recently they started making clothes for kids, but not just any clothes for kids. Like tiny lord of the manor sport coats, and Oliver Twist hats, and things like that. It's just too adorable.

Terry had a shirt made there, an old-fashioned work shirt, and it's just great. It gets better every time we wash it. Al even put in a custom label with Terry's name on it. Which just cracks me up. Tom Waits had some of his jackets made there, with custom labels, I'm sure. Which I think is pretty cool. We are practically Tom's buddies. :)

One can also get shoes made. Oxfords, Spectators, foxy 40's femme fatale platforms, etc... They trace your foot, you choose the design, that kind of stuff, and, voila, they make shoes just for you. Like in the olden days. Go figure.

Here are some snapshots of the store's window display...

A coat for a fancy lady and a coat for a wee dandy.

Edwardian style shoes.

40's platforms.

The family ensemble.

Boxes of hats.

Look at this little suit. It's incredibly cute.

Love the old scissors and the sewing machine.

Visit Al's Attire website for more info.

xoxoxo

{photos by Tina Tarnoff}

On Dior's New look and our kitchen becoming a greenhouse

My husband is working on his new book which is partly set in the 1940s. I've been doing some research for him on clothing (gladly!) and found some hilarious details about the upheaval Dior's New Look caused when it was first premiered in the U.S.

 

 

(About the New Look: In 1947 Christian Dior presented a fashion look with a fitted jacket with a nipped in waist and full calf length skirt.  It was a dramatic change from wartime austerity styles. After the rationing of fabric during the Second World War, Dior's lavish use of material was a bold and shocking stroke.  His style used yards and yards of fabric. Approximately 10 yards was used for early styles.   Later Dior used up to 80 yards (WHAT!) for newer refinements that eliminated bulk at the waist. The New Look and new approach to fashion was a major post war turning point in Fashion History.)

 

 

 

 

The fashion and news world were absolutely delighted and head over heals in love with Dior's line, but, not everybody shared their enthusiasm...

 

"Christian Dior himself encountered negative reactions to the New Look later in 1947. On his first American trip, he was promptly whisked away from a Chicago train station as 'embattled housewives brandishing placards bearing the words: "Down with the New Look," "Burn Monsieur Dior," "Christian Dior Go Home" advanced'.

 

Chicago was not unique. In Louisville, 1,265 women believed that the New Look was not only impractical but also anti-feminist, and signed an anti-Dior petition as members of The Little Below the Knee Club. In Oildale, California, Mrs Louise Horn gave a timely demonstration of the dangers lurking in the New Look. As she alighted from a bus, her new long, full skirt caught in the door. The bus started up and she had to run a block alongside it before she was freed. In Georgia, a group of outraged men formed the League of Broke Husbands, hoping to get '30,000 American husbands to hold that hemline'." {source}

Haha. "Burn Monsieur Dior"?! 

...

 

We have officially turned our kitchen into a greenhouse. All of our plants had to be taken in because our house is undergoing a major paint job. And, I'm kind of liking being overwhelmed by green...

 

 

 

 

Luckily, we have three big windows in the kitchen, so the plants are getting plenty of light. We might consider keeping them here through the winter.

 

(Hurray! said the plants in unison)

 

xoxoxo

 

{Dior's New look images via Glamourdaze, Showstudio, 1000fragrances}

A few favorites...

This Vintage 1920s Arabian Nights Handmade Tapestry coat at this great vintage store Fab Gabs (I love this shop, the descriptions and photos are great and the girls that model always look like they came from the 20's or 30's - like the cutie below)...

 

I've been obsessing about tapestry coats lately, and I MUST say that this is the nices one I've seen.

Tribal Inspired Bags...

Top three from Dazzling Lanna and the fourth from iampAmm.

...

And these Colombian Mola shoes (Mola is a cotton fabric made by the natives between Colombia and Panama) handmade by Camila Urdaneta and Nelly Peñaranda at Diverso Studio...

 

Shoe labyrinth.

...

One other thing I've been into lately are octopuses. Or is it octopi? Here are some great vintage illustrations found on Vintage Printable (click to expand)...

Well, the ones in the last photo are squid actually. But, that's all right, the color matches.

xoxoxo

One great store design

I must say this is the best shop window display I have ever seen...

(click to see a much larger version)

It's an AllSaints Spitalfields clothing store in London and the shop window is filled with old sewing machines.

I think I wouldn't walk out of the store until they gave me one.

Oh, how I love the design of these old sewing machines. The contemporary ones look so awful in comparison.

Another beauty. 

I don't even know what style of clothes AllSaints sells. I'm too stuck on the sewing machines. Let me go check...

Part of the store interior. Quite impressive.

The clothes are mighty fantastic too. I could spend hours browsing on there website.

I especially loved this trench...

 
Front

 
Back

Lovely.

xoxoxo

{discovered via Persephone Post Blog}   

Cherries, strawberries and rose blossoms

I'm really loving the fruit and floral print on dresses lately. Here are some of my favorite examples...

Fabulous HANAI YUKIKO 1968 Beige Floral Pattern Chiffon Dress

I love the simplicity and the folk art quality of the rose print on this dress. The dress is such a neutral color, but in combination with these roses it's just perfect.

...

 

Late 20s early 30s dress in sheer rayon with sailor collar
 
This sailor collar is so adorable. And three-quarter sleeves are my favorite.

...

 

Stunning silver 1940's 1930's silk organza bias gown with strawberry print and huge sweeping hem

It appears that this dress is completely see-through, but I'm not sure what is one supposed to wear underneath!

...

And now for something even more delicate and beautiful (although not so wearable, at least not in this day and age)...

Petticoat 1894-1898

My goodness! If this was a petticoat, can you imagine what the dress must have looked like!

...

Worth evening dress, 1898 with cherry print

So lovely, don't you agree? These cherries must have been hand-painted.

...

Sigh. I think I'm off to bed to dream of cherry covered dresses.

Good night.

xoxoxo

A sparkly starfish (or two) for me

Alright, so I couldn't really find a rhinestone star hairpiece that would match the one I was dreaming about for ages, seen and worn here by Sarah Sophie Flicker...

Although, to be honest, I'm not sure I would be brave enough to wear it. So, it's all for the best that none have crossed my path. 

But, after a long(ish) search, I came out a winner, as I have discovered a more appropriate, modest - althugh still a stunner - gorgeous, rhinestone starfish hair barrette...

It's sparkly and pretty and it even holds well in my silky hair. Usually hair pins just slide off.

Shall I pose for you? Let me...

I think I spotted a spider. Hello!

One on the ceiling, too.

Nighty night!

xoxoxo

Tonight I'm Coveting....

... these spectacular beauties, ready to be taken out on a dance floor...

Silver and gold leather and oilcloth evening sandals, late 1930s - early 1940s.

Sadly, size 5 (I'm 9.5, but maybe I can squeeze my feet in? Cut the big toes off? Any suggestions?)

Then...

1940s Leather Doctor's Bag

I'm not a doctor, but it would sure accommodate nicely all of my necessities!

I know I'm being ridiculous, but I really want these...

Victorian two tone baby button boots. To keep under my Bell Jar.

It gets even better. :)

I'd like to start my Vintage Sideshow Photo collection with...

Vintage Sideshow Circassian Girl Photo

A fantastic carte de visite photo of a sideshow entertainer known as the Circassian Girl. With her hair teased into an afro-like hairdo, she portrayed a woman from Northern Caucasus, who had been kidnapped and enslaved in a Turkish sultan's harem before escaping. Circa: late 19th c.

Love her!!!

I wouldn't mind feeling special in...

 

Vintage 1900's Lost Horizon Lace Blouse

Which, I would courageously pair with this...

Vintage 1930s style RAH RAH SIS BOOM BAH Collegiate Shag Jacket

With those silver shoes from beginning, we're talking bold here!

I know I should go pick out a skirt or a pair of sailor pants to complete this ensemble, but instead I will calm down, stray a bit and covet this toy...

Vintage Cat Toy - Wind Up Roll Over Cat from 1940s.

So Cute.

I'd like to watch him roll over again and again and again... again and again, until I'm ready to go to bed.

Like right now.

Sweet dreams...

xoxoxo

Stockings!

These are some seriously fun looking stockings...

Tattoo stockings, with demure looking heels. Kind of like Little Red Riding Hood with an edge.

 

How about inviting a bunch of ants to crawl up your legs?

 

It's fun to wear your veins and arteries on the outside. They look pretty.

 

No! My leg is not really broken, it's just my stockings!

(Great conversation starters, these stockings.)

 

I wonder if one needs to also always carry an umbrella when wearing a pair of rain drop stockings. They kind of make you want to.

 

I always carry some thunder with me.

 

Hey, that sure is a nice grin you're wearing!

 

What's under your skin? Auch!

 

A great trick to conceal the real band-aids after falling off your horse.

 

Not sure what these are, but they sure look fun! (UPDATE: Terry says it's a meat chart! :)

The stockings are from Les Queues de Sardines - visit their website for stockists and more designs.

About:

"Les Queues de Sardines, a registered trademark of the m + o studio, is offering an original range of stockings and tights notable for their unconventional and unique graphic style. Add a pinch of narrative humor - the result is a choice of elegant and unusual models that will dress up your legs with an unusual stylish and elegant pattern. Screen-printed by hand in limited quantities, these rare and exclusive articles will never go unnoticed."

They sure are cute!

xoxoxo