Chairs that care.

If you are a fashion blog lover, then I'm sure you are familiar with Jane, of Sea of Shoes fame. Jane is still in high school but she and her mom have a ginormous fashion collection. They are fortunate to be able to afford some pretty high-end schtuff, but it's pretty undeniable that they both have an excellent eye for fashion. While I think Jane is the bees knees, I have to say I'm completely obsessed (in a non stalkery way of course) with her mom, Judy. Judy was a model and is so elegant and chic....but also totally funky and bad ass. I love that she has this amazing relationship with her two daughters (the other one, Carol, maintains a lower profile but Judy always makes sure to mention her as well). You can check out her blog over at Atlantis Home.

Recently Judy posted about this project that the two of them did and I thought it was pretty great. The initial inspiration was this image in Australian Vogue:

How cool to create a couch made of canvas and allow your kids to draw all over it?? I mean, it helps if the drawings are sweet kid's doodles and not ugly scribbles. So this sparked the idea to take a fancy chair, recover it in canvas and then have children decorate it. The final product is so whimsical and cool. I think the combination of high-lo (fancy chair and down-to-earth doodled) is what makes it. The chair is part of an auction to benefit a children's hospital, which is perfect. Here are some pictures of the chair, but you can read the entire post here. I think the end result is pretty amazing.

Diorama Drama.

This will seem a little random, but lately I've been obsessed with museum dioramas. Something about the mix of taxidermy and painted backdrops that just pleases me soooo much. I mean, I know people have mixed feelings on stuffed animals. Some people are creeped out by them, some people think they're amazing. The museum diorama, however, takes it all to another level. Just take a look at these photos:









It's undeniable. This is good stuff people. It's all about the majesty of nature: the drama, the fur, THE MASTADON!!!!!

Images: from the American Museum of Natural History. I believe the last one is from the Royal Ontario Museum.

Pretty Little Ray of Sunshine.

A while ago I posted a series of photos I called "hiding in sunshine." It was all about me craving a little bit of sun but not a bright sunny day—more that dreamy, moody, blown out vintage sun. Well I recently stumbled upon this lovely Lady Tron video which is a little bit like that collection of photos come to life. So pretty! The director is Neil Krug, a 25 year old photographer living in Kansas. I think this is his first music video, although he did some work with Boards of Canada too. It's so dreamy....I think you'll like it.



OH, and Neil has a really beautiful Flickr stream, if yer craving even more.

The Samsonite Fashionaire

I really adore vintage luggage. Although let's be clear, I certainly don't love schlepping it around town. I totally admit that all my beloved old vintage suitcases & train cases weigh a freakin' ton and are total back breakers. I'm more than happy to roll my little green wheelie suitcase all over the airport. (A trip to Vegas with the Devil-Ettes sporting my pink hardshell Samsonite suitcase taught me that lesson—sweaty sequins do not a glamor girl make, my friends.)



One of my favorite vintage bags is the Samsonite Fashionaire line. The distinctive black and white floral pattern is so great, and of course the bold orange lining is a total dream. I have several of the bags from this line and they just make me so darn happy. My favorite is the carry one bag because its the most practical.




Samsonite recently re-released the line as part of their Black Label Collection. The added a roller bag (of course) and also including a jivey black version with white flowers. Christina Ricci as the spokes model although I never really saw ads fr the campaign. The suitcases cost a pretty penny and I'm not sure they sold very well. I will say that this tends to be the "go-to" vintage suitcase for stylists all over the place. I always see it in random commercials and music videos.







If you're intrigued by the Fashionaire, and you know you are, you can often find them on eBay. Occasionally they are listed as "Samsonite Marimekko" although this is false. I'm fairly certain that marimekko had nothing to do with this line and it was just some enterprising eBayer who started listing it that way to drum up interest!

Oh, so check this out cha-cha, a while back I found this awesome little tunic that had the exact same pattern on it. Very cute eh? It's not vintage but who cares. It's still fun.


[Do I get bonus points for seamless use of JIVEY and Cha-Cha?? See next post if you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about!]

Gettin' Jivey with a Vintage Teen Book.

Dahlinks, this week we have a little switcheroo on the Story Time Tuesday bus. This book is one of my all time favorites—not so much for the images, though those are pretty great, but for the writing. It is a decorating book written in 1960 for teen girls and is SOOOO chock full o' slangy goodness. This little treasure is all about decorating your room and making it the perfect lil hideaway. "It's not written for squares. It's for you, in your language, giving you jivey pictures, plans and color combos. Dig this too, you'll get tons of tips for making your room totally YOU!" Hee. I keep thinking I want to introduce "jivey" into my vocabulary more. I found this baby on eBay and have been smitten ever since!

As I flipped through the book, I couldn't help but wonder what real teens thought of this. I mean, on the one hand it seems SOOOO over the top, like "Really? You're going to say Dig It every other sentence??" Oh, and she also calls people "Cha-Cha", which is pretty great. At the same time, back then, maybe no one ever really took the time to write like this. Maybe kids thought "Wow! This is soooo cool! She's like totally part of the beat generation! Dig it!"












Is this not jivey beyond belief, cha-cha?

It's time to retro LIMBO!

Yes dolls,  I've been a little quiet lately but I promise I'm gonna make it up to you. Just you wait. We begin with a fun retro photo set that just makes me sooooo very happy. Sure you've seen vintage photos from the 60s. And sure you've seen some vintage photos of parties. But have you ever seen vintage photos of a 60s LIMBO PARTY?? Oh ho ho, I thought not my friends. Cue the Harry Belafonte and lets limber up.

Images: From the fabulous Flickr of Fernando W I believe this party is in Germany too.

He's a right proper animal, he is.

Lawwwwwdy! Work is kicking my sweet lil booty these past two weeks. I was there til 1:30am tonight. It's insanely late but I'm so tired that I can't actually sleep. I'm afraid to type too much, because my brain is mush right now, but I wanted to share these charming lil prints with you. I saw them first on my friend Tracy's blog, Shutterbean. [As an aside, Tracy is an insanely talented cook and if you are looking to be inspired, be sure to check her out! Her food photography is pretty amazing and always makes me want to give the recipes a try.]

So take a gander at this fun animal artwork, created by the lovely Ryan and Lucy at Berekely Illustration. I love how proper and suave these little guys are. I'm partial to the gentlemanly racoon, but you pretty much can't beat a Big Cat with an Eye Patch, now can you?

You can buy prints for a very affordable price (as low as 10 smackers!) on their Etsy Shop. If you had to choose one of these elegant gents, which would be your pick??