Some things that are just the cat's meow...

We have been knee-deep in research of a piece we found back in the fall, and we're sinking deeper and deeper every day -- it's almost like we have fallen down the proverbial rabbit's hole with this thing!  We promise we'll spill the beans on that soon, when we feel like we have a better grasp on it.  BUT -- what we can tell you right now is that it has plunged us further into our love of 1920s fashion.  The dresses and various accoutrements are just dreamy.  So in honor of our newest madness, we're sharing a few items from our favorites list of 1920s loveliness!

A 1920s cloche by Gage Brothers, in our Etsy shop, here.

1920s diamond ring from Fergusons Fine Jewelry on Etsy.  Here.

Silk velvet cape from Dear Golden on Etsy, here.

1920s silk floral dress from Raleigh Vintage, here.

An amazing wax blossom headpiece from Vintage Gown, here.

Carved jade, diamond, and black enamel earrings.  Found at JewelsduJour.com.

From FuzzyLizzie.com

French silk evening dress from the Met Costume Institute's collection.  Here.

Circa 1925 heels.  More about them, here.

Junk Love: Which Witch?

Halloween is one of the Blackbird girls' favorite holidays, and one Blackbird mother is even crazier about the day than we are. So, for the month of October, my junk love mind will probably wander to vintage Halloween stuff more often than not. Today's journey is about witches.

The witch is the Blackbird mother's absolute favorite character from this holiday. She has collected Halloween items for years, and she has LOTS of items, but she is downright passionate about witchy stuff. She has so many things that, in a lot of cases, it is really hard to find an example that she doesn't already own. I decided to make this my quest today, so here is a selection of wish-list items that will make her drool if she ever sees this post.

As a fan of paper ephemera, of course I looked for those items first. These are my two favorites, both of which I have never seen before. I really want this place card:

Vintage 1930s Gibson witch place card, From Etsy

I also especially love this 1930s die cut witch because she is double sided, and the crepe cauldron is still in great shape.

Stirring and stirring and stirring my brew..., On Etsy

This is probably the cutest candy container I have found. Yeah, she's got her broom, but she certainly doesn't need it to go fast (even though the $300 price might slow me down a bit)....

Vintage Rosbro witch on motorcycle candy container, On Etsy

We always look for vintage Halloween post cards as birthday or Christmas gifts for the Blackbird mother, and this is one that absolutely cracks me up (and it's another item that I've never seen anywhere before).

Vintage Halloween post card, From Etsy

And here are the budget-busters (yeah, the candy container is super-expensive, too, but these are special because they are incredibly rare). The first is a limited edition vintage Ouija-style game called The Salem Witch Board. The board itself is plywood, and has great graphics printed around the border of witches and other Halloween-y stuff (hehe..."weenie"). The instructions state: "The Salem Witch Board is a talking number board used in the attempt to contact the Spirit World through the use of 66 different numbers, each with their own meaning." This one is for sale on Etsy for $125.

Vintage Salem Witch Board game; On Etsy

The second is a very rare fortune-telling game from the 1920s. Even though I don't collect this stuff, I would be tempted to hang on to this if I ever came across it (Ssshhh! Don't tell....), but at $220, I'll sadly have to deny myself this one.

Vintage 1920s Fortune Wheel, On Etsy

Junk Love: A Lunchtime Quickie

So, I packed my lunch today, because I decided that I didn't need to spend money on a restaurant. My plan was to find a quiet spot and read during my lunch break. When the noon hour rolled around, though, I had an epiphany: if I go to the antique store during my lunch hour, then I can eat my lunch at my desk when I get back! It was an emergency, after all. I need to find Christmas presents for the other Blackbird....

I spent the drive reminding myself that I am only buying presents for other people. I will not buy junk for myself! I will be selfless! And then less than sixty seconds after I walked into the store, I saw this:

My gasp made the guy behind the counter look up at me with narrowed eyes. I was in ecstasy, holding the tin up so that the halo of light from heaven shone down upon it. The angels were singing softly from above. And then I saw the sign: 15% OFF ALL ITEMS IN THIS BOOTH. I nearly hyperventilated.

And so, at the cash register, we were united forever. She rode home in the front passenger seat, and will now occupy a place of honor in the house. Of course, I had to look online to see if there are any variations on the theme, and it turns out I have another potential collection on my hands....

Oh, Ms. Swanson! May your elegant profile grace my home for years to come!

 

The Skinny: Walter Beach Humphrey

Walter Beach Humphrey was an American artist of the early 20th century who specialized in magazine and book illustrations. He did cover art for Liberty, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Elks, and other major (and not so major) magazines of the 1920s and beyond. He was best known for Colonial and American Indian images, starting from his Dartmouth days, but many of his most beautiful illustrations featured women. He showed a bit of Art Nouveau influence in his earlier female forms, especially with the long hair and flowing garments (which still managed to be skimpy),  but his work in the 1920s epitomized the new ideal for women--slender figures, new necklines and hemlines, and shorter hairstyles made them appealing from a fashion standpoint. Faces in profile gave them mystery. Their elegant necks gave them timeless beauty. These ladies are classy, and if they have a bit of attitude, it's almost a here-and-you-missed-it moment.There isn't much information available about Humphrey, because he lived a pretty calm life, but I thought he could ring in Spring for us....

Spring is looking for a good time...

And she seems to have found it--Spring gets a little frisky....

"Reflection"

A political cover for Collier's

Sexy tan lines are quite suggestive....

Beauty and the beast? Hahaha

Near and dear to our hearts, a lady to reads instead of cleaning

1920s Liberty magazine

1920s Liberty magazine

1920s Liberty magazine

The Skinny: Not What It Seems

You know how daydreaming can take your mind down a twisting, turning path, until you end up thinking about something completely different? This often happens to me when I play around online. I love to click on embedded links, and sometimes do this until I've drifted to a far different shore, with no memory of what I started out looking for.

So, today I was looking at a list of companies that turn 100 this year (I don't remember why I was doing this), and I somehow went from Prada to Miu Miu (a reasonable jump), which reminded me of muumuu, and so I thought of Hawaii. I collect vintage hula girl pinups and sheet music, which for some reason brought to mind Dick Van Dyke (no idea how this jump happened). This made me think of Fitzwilly, a fabulous movie co-starring Barbara Feldon. I remembered that Ms. Feldon famously portrayed Agent 99 on Get Smart, so I decided to look at images of her back in the 1960s. While doing this, I came across a blog with the iconic picture of Tippi Hedren and a crow that came out as a promotional item for The Birds. I Googled Tippi (and doesn't that sound weird?), and then I found this:

bombshellbettys.com

Wait...are those lapels painted on? Is that even a real belt? What about that stitching detail? In 1952, Tippi Hedren was photographed in this trompe l'oeil dress. Hermes had come out with an entire collection of painted (or screen-printed) clothing, which was copied in the US by Herbert Sondheim (legally) and sold at a lower price. Now, I generally hate trompe l'oeil clothing. Why paint on fake pockets? I want real pockets! But, not surprisingly, vintage Hermes won me over. So, I just had to find more of these gems....

pinterest.com

pinterest.com

flickriver.com

eattarantula.blogspot.com

tumblr.com

And this got me thinking about what other sorts of vintage trompe l'oeil clothing I could find, like these adorable John Carr Doughty knit ensembles from the 1960s:

www.vads.ac.uk

www.vads.ac.uk

www.coutoureallure.blogspot.com

For those who prefer colorful clothing with fake details, here are some Roberta di Camerino designs:

di Camerino velvet coat; pinterest.com

di Camerino gown, 1970; 1stdibs.com

Roberta di Camerino exhibit, Palazzo Fortuny museum in Venice

Of course, nobody is more famous for trompe l'oeil clothing than Schiaparelli, who captured hearts in the late 1920s with her cravat sweaters:

ayalfillette.weebly.com

Of course, she was also a bit weird. Here are some positively creepy Schiaparelli gloves from the 1930s, complete with snakeskin "fingernails":

http://alagarconniere.files.wordpress.com

Also weird, this Surrealist collaboration with Salvador Dali, called the "Tears" dress:

"Tears" dress, Salvador Dali collaboration

I did manage to bring my strange train of thought back to fashion, at least. Plus, not only did I manage to waste an afternoon on Google images, I learned that every now and then, trompe l'oeil is kind of cute. Except for those Schiaparelli gloves. Creeptastic. Seriously.

The Skinny -- Cloche to My Heart

I love vintage hats. (Of course, I do.  Is there anything vintage I don't love, really?)  But cloche hats are my favorite.  There's just something about them.  A cloche hat frames the face in that perfect way -- drawing attention to the shape of the wearer's eyes and lips.  I think they also draw attention to a woman's neck, showing the freedom and sensuality of a short hair style and a bare neck.



The cloche hat was invented in 1908 by Caroline Reboux, a Parisian self-made milliner (hat maker) that lived from 1837 to 1927.  She was a striking figure, white hair juxtaposed with a youthful, girly look.  Reboux promoted her creations by insisting that a woman's look was not complete without the finishing accessories, such as the perfect hat.

From Adrianna Sassoon, here.

Although the cloche was invented before the 1920s, the era of the flapper was its heyday.  The distinct shape dictated the hat's name, cloche being the French word for "bell".  The sleek, close fit shaded the eyes and the forehead, forcing ladies to look up to see.  That pose became part of the attitude of the wearer -- to look down your nose and hold your chin up became de rigueur, as did the coyness of looking down, with your eyes hidden, as a flirt would do.

Cloche hats were adopted by all the major fashion houses. They were worn as everyday hats, and they were beaded and appliqued to be worn in the evening or by brides.  They were primarily made from felt or soft fabric, but were later shaped from straw, sisal, and knitted fibers.

From Hoodoo that Voodoo, here.

The women chopped off their hair to match the hats.  Josephine Baker wore what was called the Eton Crop, a short, slicked down style that appeared in Britain first in the mid-1920s.  The style resembled how Eton boys wore their hair, hence the name.  Soft finger wave bobs and severe Louise Brooks style bobs were also very popular, and all showed off a woman's bare neck in a new way.  Very risque!

Now for a fun fact!  From my research, it seems that women could send messages with the ribbons on their cloche hats. For example, a firm knot trim indicated the wearer was married and unavailable; an arrow shaped ribbon indicated a single girl that was already in love with someone, and a flashy bow meant single and looking for love.

The stunning Carole Lombard, from here.

There are some beautiful new examples of cloche hats out there right now, too, like this one from Behida Dolic Millinery, available here on Etsy.  This is on my wish list!