With Ralph Lauren’s cashmere-and-wool-blend fisherman’s cap you can get the feel of Greta Garbo aboard her yacht while skipping the silly look of The Skipper, Captain Subing — or worse yet, Hugh Hefner. *wink* (Sale found via Shop It To Me’s Sale Mail.)
Wool-Blend Fisherman's Cap
Seafaring Greta Garbo
Tags: hats, Shopping, vintage style
When most of us think of or visualize Audrey Hepburn, we see her simple elegance (at least when she wasn’t playing roles wearing period costumes) But Audrey did use accessories; she just wore less of them at a time and let each speak boldly. For example, head scarves.
Audrey Hepburn Scarf
Few today think of head scarves as a beautiful way to frame your face, but these practical pieces are found on the cheap — often for less than a dollar!
Audrey (and her costumers) made use of scarves on hats too.
Audrey Hepburn In Breakfast At Tiffany's
Audrey Hepburn In Funny Face
We sure don’t wear fashion hats like we used to, so such dramatic statements are usually reserved for very special occasions, but just think of the extra life you can get out of your hat if you consider working it with a scarf from time to time? (Your wedding hat won’t look the same year after year if you change it up!)
These last two are stretching “scarves” a bit… But what is a wrap but a very big scarf? *wink* And you sure can’t beat these looks when it comes to bold fashion statements! Makes one reconsider raincoats & even cloaks to go for a dramatic wrap.
Audrey Hepburn In War & Peace
Audrey Hepburn Bold In Red
Tags: Accessories, hats, scarves, vintage fashion, vintage glamour
Vintage Hane's Stockings Ad
For fashionistas who like to learn about fashions — old & new — I’m proud to share with you this month’s edition of the fabulous! festival. Hosting was fun!
Beauty:
Icy presents L’Oreal Infallible 16 Hours Lipstick Compact posted at Individual Chic.
Woman Tribune presents Piggy Paint Finally Makes Non-Toxic, Kid-Friendly Nail Polish a Reality posted at Woman Tribune.
Fashion:
Azrael Brown presents Three Gents In Snappy Hats posted at Infomercantile.
Deanna presents Smoking Hot Fashion: Recycled From Cigarette Butts posted at Kitsch Slapped.
Ed Biado presents Today’s most common fashion mistakes posted at Ed Biado at MST Life | Philippine Lifestyle News.
Ed Biado also presents Sunglasses at Ed Biado at MST Life | Philippine Lifestyle News.
Fabulously Broke presents 3 work environments to dress for posted at Fabulously Broke …in the City.
Pop Tart presents Tips On Darning Stockings & White Satin Blouses Yellowing? at Things Your Grandmother Knew.
Savings not shoes presents How to update your wardrobe after a major weight loss or gain posted at Savings not Shoes.
Personal Style:
Deanna presents The Answer To One Of Life’s Hardest Questions posted at Kitsch Slapped.
Icy presents A handbag of uniqueness, Part 1 & Part 2 at Individual Chic.
Pop Tart presents Kilgallen’s Boo-Boo posted at Kitschy Kitschy Coo.
Tali presents Mexican Pinups - A Cinco De Mayo Special- The Pinup Blog Way posted at The Pinup Blog.
Lastly…
This one may not entirely fit the theme, but I found Matt Curt’s Mafia Looking College Basketball Coaches (posted at NCAA Football 10 News) too clever not to include.
The next edition of the fabulous! festival will be hosted by Barry at 3stylelife.com on June 15 and the deadline for submissions is June 12th. You can submit your posts here.
Vintage stocking ad Found in Mom’s Basement.
Tags: Accessories, beauty, blouse, cosmetics, fabulous! festival, Fashion, handbags, hats, Makeup, pin ups, stockings
Continuing my salute to the many hats of Greta Garbo…
This fantastic headpiece isn’t really a ‘hat’ — but I do have a great story that goes with it.
Garbo in headpiece as Mata Hari
I saw this photo (or another like it) of Greta as Mata Hari when I was about 14 or so, and was so smitten, that I tried to create such headpieces myself. I began by draping necklaces & pendants from my hair (securing the chains with bobby pins) onto my forehead. Yes, even out in public. I’m sure I looked ridiculous, but the vision of me in my mind’s eye was soooo beautiful that I didn’t see what others saw.
Once I spend an entire Saturday trying to make a headpiece like this with one of those safety pin and beads kits… After spending so many hours unable to even complete what was supposed to be a belt or a choker — and knowing I’d need several of these kits to make what I envisioned in my mind to be the equivalent of Garbo’s headpiece, I let my friends talk me into going to the mall and hanging out. Whatever they did there must have been some sort of intervention, because I never resumed making the headpiece or even wearing the necklaces strung in my hair.
I know I should be a bit embarrassed that I did all that; but honestly I’m mostly just sad that I stopped trying to recreate the look.
Now all I need is another free Saturday.
(I haven’t had one of those since I was 14!)
Tags: Accessories, crafting, hats, Jewelry, vintage glamour, vintage style
A pictorial salute to the many hats of the legendary & beautiful Greta Garbo.
This photo is of Garbo in The Painted Veil, where she trades the sophisticated turban of a bored & cheating wife for better habits - if not a literal nun’s habit and veil.
Garbo wearing a turban in The Painted Veil
Garbo as Anna Christie in a (probably not raspberry!) beret. (For some reason, I always look like a frumpy, sloppy mess in a beret. *sigh*)
Greta Garbo as Anna Christie
Garbo sure looks like she has a “cloche” relationship with her mom. *wink*
Garbo and mom 1933
This photo of Greta on a yacht could be from The Single Standard…
Greta in yachting cap
The Single Standard is one Garbo film I’ve yet to see, but considered by many to be one of her best films. I’m guessing the reason the film is only available on VHS (and pricey too yet) is because too many folks don’t like the silent films. But I adore them and was hoping the film would be in a Garbo Signature Collection, or TCM’s The Garbo Silents Collection. I continue to hope that TCM or someone puts out a DVD of The Single Standard soon… That would be something to take your hat off for. *wink*
Tags: Films, hats, vintage fashion, vintage glamour
Few things say “vintage glamour” the way turbans do.
Gloria Swanson Wearing A Turban
We don’t see turbans often today, which is rather surprising because they are practical — especially in winter and on bad hair days. Look how cute Solanah is in her pink velvet turban!
Solanah Wearing A Pink Velvet Turban
A fun 50’s floral turban with blue bow.
1950s Printed Turban
A turban-inspired sculpted metallic 1930s hat with gold tone metal buttons down front.
1930s Metallic Turban Inspired Hat
If you can crochet, there are even vintage turban patterns — I love this striped one!
Vintage Turban Crochet Pattern
Tags: Accessories, hats, turbans, vintage fashion, vintage glamour
Bust magazine announced in their December/January ‘09 issue that hats are back, saying in “Hats For Lasses: Craft Your Own Beau Chapeau”:
Headgear is back in a big way, especially fascinators (small headpieces often adorned with feathers), first popular in the early 20th century, and pillbox hats, a classy staple of the early 60’s.
Hats For Lasses Feature In Bust Magazine
And then they gave us easy & inexpensive to make instructions for making them — while I prefer actual vintage pieces, I totally recognize that there is always the need to make the perfect hat to complete your ensemble. So go for it!
Instructions For Making Vintage Looking Hats by Callie Watts
Tags: Accessories, crafting, hats, magazines, vintage glamour
It may seem strange to only speak of a hat when the photo is of Hedy Lamarr…
Hedy Lamarr
But when you find an equally dramatic, high-fashion vintage hat as Hedy wore in Dishonored Lady, you’ve got to!
Dramatic 1940s Cartwheel Hat With Cut Outs
The hat was found at Dorothea’s Closet.
(Notice I said it was the perfect hat for a fashion look — I’m not even hinting at a suggestion that a hat will make you look as lovely as Lamarr *wink* No offense, but she was stunning!)
Tags: Accessories, hats, Hedy Lamarr, Shopping, vintage fashion, vintage glamour
The Knack… and How to Get It was a British film released in 1965 about the sexual revolution in swinging London-town, complete with a Greek chorus of disapproving members of society’s “older generation”. In the film, bookish teacher Colin (played by Michael Crawford) is frustrated by the womanizing ways of his housemate, Tolen (played by Ray Brooks).
The film opens with a series of mannequin-esque women in tight sweaters and short skirts, robotically waiting in line to get with Tolen.
The Mannequin Women Of The Knack... And How To Get It
Shot in black & white, the mod fashions seem nearly as bland and dingy as an Ugly American imagines London to be. My first thoughts were that we’d shift to color after this initial footage, but the entire film is in black and white. This, along with admittedly few costume changes, leaves little to leap from the screen as far as the fashionista’s attentions go — so why review the film here?
Because in black and white the film is much more of a character study (perhaps this was a calculated move on the part of director Richard Lester, most known for his 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night; I’ll leave that for movie critics to debate), leaving what little eye-candy fashion there is to become iconic & symbolic. At least in this person’s mind.
As I said, the women who visit Tolen are darn-near replicas of one another. Same tight-fitting sweaters and short skirts on the same lithe frames — just their hairstyles set them apart. They become rather unidentifiable and even (surprisingly, for a feminist anyway) unremarkable — you just don’t really care for or about these women. For even as the supposedly sexually satisfied women (we never see a sex act) prepare to leave with their “gifts” from Tolen, they seem without pleasure. When he gives jewelry, there is a cold acceptance. Even when the women given the Green Shield Savings Stamps (the UK version of S&H Green Stamps) lick the stamps to place them in their books, there’s no heat. And you know how sexy women’s mouths and licking are usually made in such films.
Where you might expect the vapid, drugged, zombie state of women in lust writhing and purring over “the man with The Knack”, there is instead the the passionless, mechanical quality of women who all look alike. I can’t help but find parallels to women who blindly follow fashion trends.
In a case of he-doth-protest-too-much, Colin rants angrily about getting a new roommate in his house because he can’t focus with all the goings-on in the house — both the practical issues resulting from the long line of ladies who visit Tolen & the moral & misogynistic improprieties. He puts a sign up, hoping for a monk or a nice quiet girl, but instead, through a series of comical mishaps ends up with Tom (Donal Donnelly), a quirky young man who insists upon painting over everything brown (but really seems compelled to paint everything in sight white), as a new housemate. Just in time too, for Colin is about to go over to the dark side — give up on morals and love — and get lessons in “The Knack” from Tolen.
While the boys are getting things sorted out at home, there’s a sweet, young country girl, Nancy (played by the charming and fetching Rita Tushingham), arriving fresh off the train to London.
Nancy Arrives
She’s completely unlike the other young women we’ve seen. While her clothes are certainly more mod than New Look, she expresses — in fashion and face — a freedom the mod mannequins do not. She’s not just “country” v. “city; she’s alive. This is best shown with her innocent face beneath that plaid newsboy cap.
As fellow passengers voice the societal concerns of the big city ruining the sweet young woman, Nancy enters the London train station and sits down in a photo booth, taking portraits of herself as a hip urbanite. Notice that Nancy has removed her hat — a hat which should be watched as symbolism in the entire film.
Waiting for the photos to come out of the machine, Nancy gets her first rude awakening to what the swinging city has in store. A couple, older man with younger blonde, walk up to the photo booth. The young woman steps inside, draws the curtain closed, and proceeds to rapidly hand her male companion pieces of her clothing — one by one, including bits of lingerie.
Stripping In The Photo Booth
Until we can obviously understand that she is completely nude in the photo booth; we see bare (or perhaps stocking-covered) legs & her shoes beneath the curtain as she happily poses for the camera.
Nancy, en route to the YWCA, has several other big city lessons in store for herself; including a hilarious scene with a hoodwinking salesman inside a clothing shop. Once she enters she is instantly proffered a dress & pushed into a fitting room by a salesman who says:
I never thought I’d see so much purity of pattern. Absolute rightness. I must please you, and I think I can. Don’t fail me now, because I may never trust myself with a woman again, ever. Try it on. I’m sure, absolutely, I can please you. Show me. Wait for me.
Nancy Approached By Salesman
The complete pitch is repeated word for word with the next woman who enters the shop — and overheard by Nancy, who mimics him. She still buys the dress — but instead of buying a new hat, keeps her (now) trademark cap.
Undeterred by the slick swinging city & its rude people, Nancy continues on eventually running into Colin and Tom at the junkyard. The young men are there as Colin has deduced his poor luck with the ladies is due to a too-small bed, and Tom has found him the perfect Edwardian iron bed in the junkyard. Tom sees a way to help the naïve and awkward Colin with girls by getting Nancy to come along home with them.
Using the guise of promising to help Nancy find her way to the YWCA if she helps them, the three roll, carry, and float the bed through the city back to the house. (At some point the bed is now white as if Tom had painted it along the way.)
Rolling Bed Through London
Floating The Bed Home
In this part there’s plenty of humor, including when Nancy, perched on the bed as the boys lift it to carry it down significant stairs, says, “I’ve been picked up now, haven’t I?”
This clearly disturbs Colin — but things will only get worse once the three get back to the house and Tolen decides to show-up his housemates by putting the moves on Nancy.
Tolen Putting The Moves On Nancy
Tolen believes women must be dominated (that is part of “The Knack”), and his aggression frightens her. Colin seems oblivious, but Tom tries to assist; however Tolen eventually seduces the her into leaving with him on his motorcycle. Tom convinces Colin that the two need to save the poor innocent girl from herself and Tolen and they set off to chase the couple on foot. What ensues includes a Benny Hill/Keystone Cops chase scene.
Tolen and Nancy lose them and duck into a park. There Tolen really puts the moves on Nancy. She nervously says “no”, then demands he leave her alone — mocking Tolen. But she takes things too far when she starts calling him “Mister Tight Pants”, distracting herself. The conflicting desires have her falling to the ground in a faint. This is where the boys come in, assuming the worst, that Nancy is dead.
Park Scene In The Knack
As they argue, Nancy sits up and yells, “Rape.” Not once, not twice, but endlessly throughout the town, even once she starts to tell a cop but decided not to. (As a feminist, I have to say I was rather put-off by this at first — but eventually you just have to laugh at the absurdity, especially due to the length of this scene.) Nancy even goes door-to-door. She knocks and when the door is opened says just the one word, “Rape,” to which the housewife says, “Not today, thank you.”
Nancy arrives back at the house before the boys, strips and remains in Tolen’s room, still insisting she’s been raped.
Nancy Nude In Bed
Now Colin takes the lead and confronts her, telling her she’s not been raped. The combination of their individual positions and mutual insistence becomes an elixir or sorts, and now Nancy claims Colin was the one who raped her. This is so laughable to Tolen, that Colin’s ego is affected and he falters for a second. Even Nancy seems to be insulted by Tolen’s reaction, so she starts saying that Colin “raped me marvelous super!” Colin responds by saying that he could, he would — he’d like to but he didn’t. Eventually Nancy & Colin consummate the claims in Colin’s new big bed.
Nancy and Colin as a Couple
Everything is settled for the couple now; Nancy will be living there. But Tolen is now upset by such impropriety. He heads off to some sort of pre-scheduled meeting with a fellow womanizer named Rory — one he feels is not as good as he. He gets there and Rory’s women now fill the Albert Hall (”now we know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall”) — not merely preventing Tolen from entering, but even trampling him in their blind (cold) lust.
Tolen Trying To Get Into Albert Hall
Tolen, a very changed man, now joins the chorus of disapproving society folk, while the rest go on and live happily ever after.
A very unusual and thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy about remaining true to yourself — with lots to think about in the regarding fashion too. It makes me want to go out and get a plaid newsboy cap.
Plaid 1960s Newsboy Cap
PS I have to add that my heart was taken by the wonderfully mad, childlike (not childish), painting-everything-white, Tom. I wondered why he didn’t get the girl. At one point Tolen wonders too. Maybe he’s gay. “Are you a homosexual?” he says to Tom. Tom replies, “No. Thanks all the same.”
While it clears up one issue, I’m still wondering why Tom’s left single.
Tags: Accessories, Fashion, Films, hats, mod, retro, Rita Tushingham, seduction, The Knack, vintage fashion
If you, like me, would rather stay home & eat leftovers than head to the mall, here are a few basics to get yourself this holiday — a girl can always use these basic black pieces.
For beneath that little black dress — little black slips.
A pretty vintage black nylon slip, from Etsy seller Schmoo1515, which is special enough to wear as the little black dress.
Pretty Vintage Black Slip
This vintage full slip from Etsy seller houseofvintage has such pretty ruffles that you may never want to take it off. It could double as a nightie, but I’m betting the lucky guy or gal who sees you in this will want you to take it off… eventually. *wink*
Sexy Vintage Black Slip With Ruffles
If you only need a half-slip (and I’m guessing that means you already have a black cami!), then how about this vintage lacy half-slip made by Saramae for Lord & Taylor? It’s available from Etsy seller Sassycatts.
Lacy Hem Of Vintage Black Saramae Half-Slip
For your legs…
Super cute and sure to put new life into your little black dress, vintage stockings with a rose pattern. Three pairs available from Etsy seller whyteboots.
1960s RHT Stockings With Rose Pattern
For your feet…
Platform Oxfords are a staple in vintage dressing; the Nine West Women’s Kimball Platform Oxford is sure to become a classic in your wardrobe as well as give you a lift. (Additional colors available too.)
Platform Oxford Shoes By Nine West
To top it all off…
No, not (quite) a top hat, but a stunning black silk velvet Edwardian hat. Derby styling with a rose velvet bow and beaded accents available at (in?) Dorothea’s Closet.
Black Silk Velvet Edwardian Hat
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