Tuesday, June 29, 2010

THESE!


anthro2
anthro1

These are why I'm sometimes almost compelled to spend upwards of $230 for a mass-produced, contemporary cotton dress. So clever! So whimsical! So misleadingly easy to tastefully recreate on a smaller scale in your own home for special events like hip baby showers!

Friday, June 25, 2010

We Came. We Saw. We Thrifted.


thrift

Melissa of Purple Deer and I traveled to the exotic Oakland suburb of Fremont yesterday to meet thee luhvely Theresa of Verseau Vintage for an afternoon of 'power thrifting.' If you live in the area, don't bother hitting up the local thrifts any time soon because we absolutely laid waist to the shops. Melissa snatched up all the florals, Theresa scooped up all the modern avant pieces, and I nabbed all of the groovy modish garments. TRUST.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Just Slap Some Paint On It


favela

Living in San Francisco, it's not uncommon to see houses painted in bold colors and avant designs. Typically, though, these houses are not in the city's ghettos since, well, there's usually little to be cheery about there. This apparently is not the case in Brazil, where two Dutch artists have used one of Rio's notorious shanty towns, or favelas, as their latest canvas. The artists call it 'urban renewal,' but I have to wonder if they haven't merely 'modernized' the community's endemic poverty?

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

If Dress Forms Could Talk



Monday, June 21, 2010

The Way We Were


hair
[ via Life (1946) ]

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

If I Wrote Ad Copy For Spanx


spanx

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Shop Update: Days of Summer


Vintage 1980s Coco Chanel Style Boater Hat

Summer VintageBetsey Johnson Spanish Dancer Crinoline SlipVintage Floppy Wide Brim Straw Hat with BowVintage Summer Straw Bucket Hat
Vintage 1980s Cornflower Summer Dress
[ click photos for details ]

Monday, June 14, 2010

Dear Oscar De La Renta (& Saks)


oscar

While I recognize that your target market consists primarily of rich white women who make poor use of their wealth, I am still slightly scandalized by your description of this blouse as 'nude' in color. Perhaps you missed the important memo circulated in regards to this issue back in, oh, 1968? If so, I believe it is filed away in the permanent archives at both Band-Aid and Crayola. Check it.

Sincerely,
Fashionably Distracted Academic

(ps: can we collectively build a list of adjectives that describes the above color without perpetuating hoary notions about race? I'll start: 'Champagne')

Thursday, June 10, 2010

If I Wrote Ad Copy For American Apparel


malaria
[ shout-out to Annie for providing the original mosquito net snarkasm from which this evolved ]

Monday, June 07, 2010

Sassy's Spa Day


boston terrier

Sassy Mae (aka "Professor Frito," aka "Little Mamma," aka "Ms. Mae") got a much-needed bath yesterday. She also enjoyed a mani and pedi from our in-house cosmetologist, for which she went almost entirely limp. Funny lady.

Friday, June 04, 2010

Gender Trouble


pigeon toed fashion bloggers

Pictured Above: Chictopia or Fashionable Dystopia?

"If extreme height and exaggerated 'artistic' postures gave the modern woman of [early 20th century] ads a certain claim to elegance and prestige, still she gained stature only in comparison to other, non-fashionable women. In relation to men, as Erving Goffman has intriguingly suggested in Gender Advertisements, distortions of women's shapes and gestures often convey messages about social subordination. Women, Goffman argues, appear in poses that are more 'canted,' more exaggerated and grotesque, more off-balance and tenative than those assumed by men. These stances and gestures imply a sense of dependence...and a willingness to make oneself into an interesting 'object.'"

(From Roland Marchand's Advertising the American Dream, 1920-1940)

ADDENDUM: As a child, I recall feigning a slight pigeon-toe. I also recall crafting faux orthodontic retainers out of paper clips and plastic bracelets. Strange that even as young girls we know to desire so many symbols of youth and handicap.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Dressing For Your Body Type c. Late 19th Century


looks

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Books That I Will Someday Write


Vintage typewriter from The Fancy Tail

1. But I Don't Want to be the Janitor: A Children's Guide to Socialism
2. The Woman Who Knew Too Much: How My PhD Ruined My Life (An Autobiography)
3. A Brief History of the Microplane Zester