A century of style.

A super cute commercial for the grand opening of the Westfield Stratford City shopping center in London entitled 100 Year / Style / East London. It's like an entire 20th century history class in under 2 minutes.

Fanciness

My sister's getting married in 3 months and is in full bride mode arranging and sending out bridesmaids links, etc. Apparently, Anthropologie (ie. the-best-store-ever) now does bridal! Or the company that owns Anthro just launched a bridal line called BHLDN.com. It's amazing and full of whimsical things I am coveting for myself that can be worn far away from a wedding. Check it out because there's a pair of jelly heart shoes and hat and a polka dot dress that have my non-bridal name written all over it!

{All images via BHDLN.com}

Images from the Depression Era

Man, I wish I had these when I was working on costumes for From Dust Thou Art. I had no idea that there were any color images out there from the Great Depression. It's rare to see all the textures and colors in the clothing from the period that can get overlooked in black and white photography. Thank you Denverpost.com for your an amazing gallery Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943! I'm definitely filing this think for future research.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Oh, and check out these girls taken in 1941 backstage at a "girlie" show at the state fair. The hair! Oh the hair!

{All images via DenverPost.com }

Man Shops Globe Pt.2

In the first episode of Man Shops Globe Keith Johnson goes to France and finds a antique gorgeous bed frame that Anthro is now reproducing. This may shock you, but I don't have a spare $2,498 to put towards a bed frame (or for furnishing the entire apartment for that matter). However I did buy a bed that's not as whimsical but in a similar style about a month ago at Ikea for $89 so I feel pretty fancy right now.

{Calligraphy Bed via Anthropologie.com }

Man Shops Globe

{Image via Sundance Channel }

I just recently discovered Man Shops Globe, a show that follows the buyer-at-large for Anthropologie as he shops around the globe, and it couldn't come at a better timing. Having just moved into my new apartment I've got a lot of decorating and revamping to do.  I watched the whole first season in two days while intermittently working on projects. The show is amazing and gives you the creative bug. I dare you to watch it and not immediately have an urge to rearrange your furniture.

Oh, and of course it makes you want to go to Anthropologie.com and ogle thing. These are things I would kill to have around the house.

 {Images via Anthropologie.com }

The Kentucky Derby

I do love an excuse to dress up and wear a fancy hat. When I lived in NYC, my friends and I would to the Easter Parade {another traditional hat wearing festivity}. The actual parade is nothing like the Judy Garland/Fred Astaire film Easter Parade, but it's still fun to get dressed up and look at other people. And when followed by a picnic in Central Park it's even better.

Sadly, I'm not in Kentucky {but my sister is - Hi Esther!} so I'll just have to enjoy these dapper derby folk via the internet. And there's the added bonus of jockey uniforms, which I love!

BTW - How fantastic does Johnny Wier look in his enormous hat? I think he pulls that look off better than most of the ladies.

 

{All images via KentuckyDerby.com}

Research via Flickr

 

{1960s}

This quarter I'm taking a History of Dress in the 20th Century and one of my projects is to compile a digital library of 40 images from each decade in the 1900s. I already have a pretty large stash of fashion images from magazines and ads so I wanted to challenge myself a bit and force myself to only collect photos of real people from Flickr. They are the hardest to compile and more accurate for costume research than from fashion shoots of the period (yeah, I'm a dork).

Well, I've been having far too much fun and found some pretty fantastic people. The clothes lovely (naturally), but the people are just so expressive!

Personally, I want to be the girl in the photo above. I'm seriously considering wearing my hair like that tomorrow, kerchief and all.

Here are some more photos I ♡.

{1900s & 1910s}

 

Why do I have the sudden urge to watch Anne of Green Gables?.....

{1940s}

 .....And buy sassy rounded white glasses?.....

{1900s & 1920s}

 .....While dancing on rooftops?.......


 
{1960s}

.....All while having been the best dressed kid on the block.....

{1930s & 1940s}

I just found two groups of friends I would like to join.....

{1960s}

.....Or I could hang out with this woman.

(Bonus Point: Note the cross in the top right corner)

All photos are from Flickr. Unfortunately I don't remember the photostreams for these images. If you know where they're from please let me know!

Buttoned Up

Soooo excited about Coraline coming to DVD next week. I was up half of the night on the movie's website playing with "Mother's Workshop" were you can put buttons on people's eyes in portraits. I knew there was a reason we took so many photos at Lori's bd party!

Now that I have a collection of them, when I move to L.A. in September I plan on creating a collage in my apartment. Hope my new roommate won't mind...