Under the Influence: A Girl With Particular Shoes

So, Little Red Riding Hood said to the Blackbird Girls: "What big nerds you are!" And the Blackbird Girls shrugged in agreement....

We at Blackbird World Headquarters are unapologetic bookworms. One of us also happens to collect fairy tales, so when it was time to brainstorm our first photo shoot for the new website, turning to the magical world of literature was an easy step. While we could have run straight for Cinderella or Belle, we instead looked to the nameless, but fearless, heroine of a slightly more obscure story called The Enchanted Pig--or as we like to call it, The Girl in the Iron Shoes.

It isn't exactly a tale of boy meets girl. In this particular story, girl marries based on a prophetic book that she wasn't supposed to read. By night, the princess and her husband are able to...umm...live the married life. By day, he is a bona fide, mud-rolling pig. She happens to prefer the night-time version of her mate, and in an ill-timed attempt to break his porcine curse, the princess is punished with an impossible quest: to search the world for him, on foot, until she has worn through three pairs of iron shoes.

As the story goes: "On and on she wandered over nine seas and across nine continents; through forests with trees whose stems were as thick as beer- barrels; stumbling and knocking herself against the fallen branches, then picking herself up and going on; the boughs of the trees hit her face, and the shrubs tore her hands, but on she went, and never looked back." In addition to the traditional obstacles of a long journey on foot, the girl must visit four dangerous places to seek guidance. The first is the house of the Moon....

And what better outfit for this occasion than a cream 1960s mod mini and cape, paired with groovy 1960s cream Renauld sunglasses and a chunky silver pendant? The combat boots, of course, are her "iron shoes."

Next, she must hike to the house of the Sun. For this look, we put a 1960s gold sweater vest over a printed Carol Craig dress and added a copper turban, 1970s Dior sunglasses, and a groovy handmade copper statement necklace.

The third milestone of her quest is visiting the house of the Wind in a fluttery silk dress, 1970s green-framed Foster Grant sunglasses, faux pearl bracelet, and rhinestone earrings.

From there, she must walk across the vast Milky Way. We chose a sparkly sequined top with just the right amount of slouch, paired with cropped seersucker trousers, 1980s aviator sunglasses, a 1960s MGI studded purse suspended from her belt, a 1950s multi-strand necklace, and a shimmery rhinestone bangle.

At last, our intrepid heroine reaches the end of her quest at a weathered little house in a lush forest.  Here, she will prove to her husband that she is no longer the girl that he married, but a better (stronger) version of herself. For the "Honey, I'm home--and we need to talk" reunion, we dressed our model in a 1970s floral chiffon maxi dress under a metallic silver vest, and added black and coral sunglasses and screwback earrings.

The story has a happy ending, in which the pig's enchantment is broken, revealing him to be a prince from another kingdom. He weeps when his bride relates the tale of her harrowing journey, and they kiss. Soon afterward, they travel together to her father's castle, and he asks them to rule in his place. As the story concludes: "And they ruled as only kings rule who have suffered many things."

And although our well-traveled heroine can now prop up her feet and indulge in a well-deserved rest, we're sure that she will continue to be the Queen of Cool, and look incredibly fierce while doing so--in more comfortable footwear, of course.

Our photos look great on our shiny new website with some vintage celestial illustrations, including a couple of our favorite artists: Don Blanding and Dorothy Lathrop. We're keeping the Etsy shop open, but our favorite finds will end up at www.blackbirdgirlsvintage.com. Check us out!

Junk Love: Aloha!

We LOVE vintage Hawaiian prints, and since we've lately picked up a couple of great pieces for the shop, I thought I would do a quick perusal of other people's Hawaiian dresses on Etsy and put together a sweet little blog post to highlight my favorites. But, I didn't factor in two things: 1. How much I love every single one that I see; and 2. How many there are on Etsy right now. My search for "vintage Hawaiian dress" produced 184 pages of tropical paradise. I only made it to page 20 before I had to make myself stop saving pictures. So, maybe we'll just call this little post Hawaii: Part 1....

1950s Shaheen wiggle dress, Here

Shaheen dragon caftan, Here

1950s Shaheen, Here

1960s Malia maxi dress, Here

Surfside barkcloth, Here

1970s Pake Muu, Here

1950s Kamehameha, Here

1960s Lauhala, Here

1950s Shaheen, Here

1970s Malama/Liberty House maxi dress, Here

1960s barkcloth Harriet's maxi dress, Here

1950s halter dress w/ bolero, Here

1950s wiggle dress, Here

1960s maxi dress, Here

1960s Paradise Hawaii, Here

1960s Kimono-style mini dress, Here

1940s Surfriders, Here

1960s Lauhala, In our shop

1960s halter keyhole, In our shop

1960s Malia, In our shop

1960s maxi dress, In our shop

Junk Love: Lilli Ann

Think of the last time you saw Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland. Imagine Alice finding that charming little cottage in Wonderland, and the White Rabbit rushing in, screaming, "Mary Ann! Mary Ann!" Now replace that with "Lilli Ann!", and you will understand how my brain works sometimes.

But on to other matters, like the fact that the Blackbird girls love Lilli Ann clothing, especially from the 1960s and before.... We're all about a tiny waist, dramatic collar and unusual sleeve--all things that epitomize Lilli Ann. Oh, and did I mention coats? (But we'll save those for the end....)

The company began in 1933, and they used a lot of unusual fabrics after WWII that became characteristic of the line. We have a fabulous variegated tweed suit in our shop (shown below) that was made of a silk/wool blend. Unfortunately, due to the fact that silk tends to become very fragile over time, and the nature of the weave itself, the wool strands often exert too much pressure on the silk threads, thereby causing the fabric to shred at stress points. Ours has this problem at the shoulders, which broke our hearts. But it's still gorgeous!

In our shop

Here's a near-perfect suit in a variegated silk blend:

On Etsy

A side view of another near-perfect example of the same design:

www.lulusvintage.com

And here's the original ad for it from Vogue (1955):

Love that accordion sleeve? Here's another version, with mink trim:

On Etsy

 The company's designers definitely loved fur collars, which you'll see on suits and coats. This green suit is another to-die-for example of Lilli Ann perfection:

On Etsy

And some great fur-trimmed coats:

On Etsy

On Etsy

I absolutely fell in love with this 1940s beaded suit. Even though there's some damage, it's fabulous:

On Etsy

This 1950s dress came as a bit of a surprise, as it was vastly different from most of the other Lilli Ann pieces that I've seen (but I have always focused mainly on suits and coats, so I suppose it makes sense). This one is pale gray with a pink, green, and metallic gold print.

On Etsy

But the thing I love the most is the wasp-waisted princess coat. This brown one is a fine example:

On Etsy

But THIS ONE IS MY DREAM FANTASY. I want to hold this coat, and love it and squeeze it (but not hard enough to damage the fabric!)...!

On Etsy

Could a coat possibly be any more fabulous than this? Why yes, actually. If you add Persian lamb to the sleeves:

www.1stdibs.com

And...I just went into cardiac arrest. I think we're done here.

On the Radar -- Color Cues, Part Deux

It's been a year since my last Color Cues post -- using fresh art from Etsy as inspiration for color palettes to spruce up your home or your design project.  I pay attention to trends, in the sense that I usually like something before it's trendy and then I promptly forget that it's trendy when it hits. 

Really, trends are interesting, in an abstract kind of way.  I mean, I do write a trend post on this blog.  But sometimes, I just like to find what appeals to me, what pulls at me, and then go from there.  That's what I've done here.  Enjoy -- and hey, buy some art from these great artists!

Fernet Branca screen print by KRUSTYstuff on Etsy, here.

 

Bella Fiore nr.4, Aqua and Coral Red art print by IsaBella by Margriet on Etsy, here. 

 

Fruit fine art photograph by LupinGrainne on Etsy, here.

 

Large Abstract Painting by Lola Donoghue on Etsy, here.

 

 

On the Radar -- The Word Necklace

So we've all seen the classic name necklace, made famous again in more recent times by the beloved icon, Carrie Bradshaw, played by SJP.  What would Carrie be without her "Carrie" necklace?

This idea was taken about a gazillion steps further in Lanvin's Fall 2013 show, with their line of wordy statement necklaces.  They used words like "happy" and "cool" in a script font, and scaled the proportions way up. I really like the look:

 

Is this cool?  Yes.  Is this a new idea?  Not really.  Look at this Chanel necklace from 1994:

There are some options if you don't want something quite so large, like this sweet necklace from Dior, in white gold with a diamond:

Or if Dior is out of your price bracket (or on another price planet, as it is in my case), there's tons of reasonably priced options from the handmade side of Etsy, like this sweet "happy" necklace from Piano Bench Designs, available here.