Vintage Christmas

Looking at these old photos is making me really nostalgic for my grandparent's tree growing up. Big bulbed strands of coloured lights, red beads, lots of red and yellow ornaments. Tinsel. So much shiny silver tinsel. And Bing Crosby playing on their eight-track. Love it. 

spray-painted christmas tree, 1954  

On Santa's lap, 1947

Christmas at the Wright Brothers, 1900  

crooked christmas tree, circa 1920  

Christmas time, 1923  

Christmas Shoppers, between 1910 and 1915

all images from Shorpy Historical Photo Archives

Tangerine Tango - Pantone's Top Colour for 2012

Pantone has named the top colour for 2012: Tangerine Tango, a radiant red-orange to replace last year's pink hue, Honeysuckle. Does this reflect an optimistic outlook for the new year?

It looks like the fashion world helped dictate this one, including J.Crew's Jenna Lyons whose brand has a bright orange ensemble colour blocking with green and purple in its latest winter ad circulation (the pants the model is wearing that are visible in another ad are the same shade of orange...):

J.Crew Winter 2011

J.Crew Fall 2011

Milly RTW fall 2011

Crazy For One-Piece Swimsuits

Bathing suits seem decidedly more demure these days what with all the one-piece options available. The extra fabric would not only make a dip in the frigid ocean waters more tolerable, but would also allow you to make more of a statement on the beach. I'm especially loving the strapless options. J. Crew has some really nice ones in various prints on their website right now, the stripes (not surprisingly sold-out) run a close second to the polka dots, but the "retro dots" are not available in a strapless option. 

Interesting to see that some of the styles are mimicking the lower (less revealing) cut at the leg that was more popular in the 1940s and 1950s.

h&m

rosamosario

topshop

j. crew

j. crew

3.1 philip lim

Take Me To The Riviera

The recent buzz and press from the Cannes Film Fest has inspired a bit of French Riviera wishful-thinking...that, and I just started reading Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is set in the 20s and begins on a beach "halfway between Marseilles and the Italian border." 

Were starlet Rosemary Hoyt to be transported to the beaches of the French Riviera today (or better still, were I to be), here's what I envision her to strut the Croisette in:

silk and linen cropped jacket, jaeger. blue cropped shirt, miss selfridge. rolled hem scarf, lauren by ralph lauren. whistlestop sandal, madewell. deacon fine-twill cropped pant, elizabeth and james. bamboula ltd market tote, madewell. super (tm) sunglasses, blonde havanna, madewell. dazzling nailpolish, chanel. bonjour tristesse, francoise sagan. 

image via polyvore

 

Crazy For Peter Pan Collars

The Peter Pan collar is evocative of children's clothing from the 1950-60s. As Peter Pan never did wear a collar (in the book that is, in the Disney cartoon his tunic had a pointed collar), I'm going to go ahead and make the claim that his namesake clothing feature must be so-called because it is The Collar That Will Never Grow Old.

Its recent revival into mainstream clothing lines (below, versions from The Gap and Topshop) adds an element of vintage charm, no doubt influenced by the likes of Alexa Chung who is frequently photographed in collared blouses, and whose fall 2010 collection for Madewell included dresses and blouses with these sweet rounded collars.

Then:

(source)

Now:

(source)

ad for fall 2010 - alexa chung for madewell

(source)

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190 Bowery, NYC

This cozy little kitchen with the cobalt-blue pressed tin wall has plenty of character and loads of charm. Shocking that it's actually one of 72 rooms in this downtown mansion in New York City's Lower East Side. According to this article in the New York Magazine, most real estate experts had pegged the building as abandoned. In reality it is occupied by a family of three - photographer Jay Maisel, his wife, and daughter - who bought it for just over $100,000 in 1966. Maisel uses the first two floors as gallery space, and has kept the architectural features intact - it was once a bank. Quite a spacious family home with its six floors, roof top patio and garden, and apparently rooms still being discovered...

all images via new york magazine: "the 72-room bohemian dream house"

Crazy For Scalloped Edges

"Show frills and femininity this season" - so said an advertisement from 1940 for a dress ("frock") pattern with scalloped details at the shoulder. It seems as though anything goes this season, but there is a definite trend towards a more ladylike silhouette with lots of feminine details.

1. chloe scalloped trim oversized sunglasses 2. coral crop top 3. bright floral tee 4. petite mustard crop tee 5. suede clutch (all by topshop) 6. see by chloe poya leather satchel 7. blue scalloped hem shorts by topshop 8. chloe scalloped ballet flat in cream

image sources: costumes from here and the Pittsburg Press, March 11, 1930, chloe sevigny, lauren santo domingo, camilla belle, polyvore

The Lost (And Found) Photographs of Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier (1926-2009) was a nanny and amateur street photographer whose photographs never saw the light of day during her lifetime. They were discovered by real estate agent John Maloof in 2007 when he bought a suitcase of old negatives at an auction, and he later bought the rest of them when they, too, surfaced at auction, around 100,000 negatives in total. She died shortly after this discovery, without ever knowing what an impact her images would have on people in the art world. Her work shows a lot of the glamour and grit of New York, Chicago, and elsewhere that she went on her travels (throughout parts of Europe and Africa). 

Her former charges have divulged as much as is known about Maier, describing her as reclusive and eccentric, but I love how they also describe her as a kind of Mary Poppins figure, because she would take them on these wild adventures but was probably somewhat proper from her French upbringing.

Self-Portraits:

On the Streets of New York City:

And Chicago:

And Canada: 

all images from http://www.vivianmaier.com/