Nautie Godiva Vintage Giveaway! (Closed)

********************************************************* THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED! Please see our current giveaway HERE!

This week's yummy giveaway comes to us courtesy of Eileen of Nautie Godiva Vintage, which features a playful yet sophisticated collection of vintage clothing and accessories from the 1930s and beyond (including this current Huzzah! fave). Eileen is generously offering one lucky winner the super cute vintage oval pendant necklace pictured above. The reversible (!) pendant features an antiqued enamel botanical scene on one side and a gold leaf cut-out on the other. Two lovely looks in one!

To Enter The Giveaway: Simply visit Nautie Godiva Vintage and leave a comment here (w/ your email address) indicating your favorite item from the shop before Sunday, Sept. 5 at 10:00 p.m. PST. The randomly selected winner will be announced on Monday, Sept. 6 and contacted privately with additional details. Good luck, and thanks for entering!

For up to 3 additional entries & opportunities to win:

+ Tweet about this giveaway & leave one additional comment

+ Stumble this giveaway & leave one additional comment

+ Become a fan of Nautie Godiva Vintage on Facebook & leave one additional comment

(No purchase necessary to win. Giveaway contest open to readers worldwide. One winner will be selected from among qualifying entries at random by Huzzah! Vintage at close of giveaway on Sunday, Sept. 5 at 10:00 p.m. PST.)

And the winner is...

Congratulations to thee lovely Clare, lucky commenter no. 5! We'll be in touch soon with details ~ xo, Team Huzzah!

Vintage Labels We Love, 2010 Edition

Because nothing signifies 'cool' like a clever mspelling.

She may only be Goodenough, but at least she's an original.

We had one of those on our high school campus.

In case you're wondering, we also laugh heartily at fart jokes.

Animal Lover

Summer of Love by Saiman Chow

We're not big fans of animal anthropomorphism a la Disney, but these are quite dope, as the kids say. If Donna Haraway hasn't already bought the rights to this series for the cover of her next book, she really ought to.

Jane Child: Still Scary After All These Years

So we were all set to write a post loosely titled "Fashioning the Third Wave" about the feminist punk and new wave fashions of the late 1970s - early 1980s when, during our search for photos of Poly Styrene and The Slits, we somehow came across an image of Jane Child that stopped us dead in our tracks. Even after all these years, this woman still scares the shit out us. The muscles, the hair, the 'mystical' Indian earring nose chain. It all conspires to at once totally date her and totally construct her as a curious creature of the future. Whether she emerged from beyond Thunderdome or from behind the Iron Curtain, we don't know, but we are certain that "I Don't Want To Fall In Love" is still as horrid today as it was 20 years ago. Enjoy (or, don't):

Bad Hair of the 'Good War': Get The Look!

During WWII, supporting the Allies on the homefront meant more than merely tying a yellow ribbon around your fruit trees. It also meant purchasing bonds, conserving rubber and walking around town with Hobby Lobby birds stuck in your updo like it was no. big. deal.

Jean Jean Vintage Giveaway! (CLOSED)

********************************************************* THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED! Please see our current giveaway HERE!

This week's scrumptious giveaway comes to us courtesy of Duff of Jean Jean Vintage, which features a breathtaking collection of vintage jewelry 'for every girl, every day' (including this current Huzzah! fave). Duff is kindly offering one lucky reader the It Tolls For Thee vintage 1940s sweetheart locket pictured above. This wearable piece of mid-century eye candy features an etched face and two shallow interior compartments perfect for photos. The locket is marked with a '43' (probably the year of its origin) and measures 1" x 1", while the barrel link chain measures 16" in length. A gorgeous heirloom to enjoy now and forever. As an additional bonus, Jean Jean Vintage is also offering our readers 10% off their purchases now through August 31. Simply enter promo code "HUZZAH!" at checkout in the notes to seller for an after-purchase refund via Paypal.

To Enter The Giveaway: Simply visit Jean Jean Vintage & leave a comment here (w/ your email address) indicating your favorite item from the shop before Sunday, August 29 at 10:00 p.m. PST. The randomly selected winner will be announced on Monday, August 23 and contacted privately with additional details. Good luck, and thank you for entering!

For up to 3 additional entries & opportunities to win:

+ Tweet about this giveaway & leave one additional comment

+ Stumble this giveaway & leave one additional comment

+ Follow the Jean Jean Vintage blog & leave one additional comment

(No purchase necessary to win. Giveaway contest open to readers worldwide. One winner will be selected from among qualifying entries at random by Huzzah! Vintage at close of giveaway on Sunday, August 29 at 10:00 p.m. PST.)

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Liz, lucky commenter no. 167! We'll be in touch soon with details ~ xo, Team Huzzah!

Fantasy Vintage Shopping Spree With Our Sponsors

Have you checked out Nautie Godiva and Eklectic Xplosion yet? Their fab vintage collections make us want to drop cash like snow. Alas, we have neither here in California.

A Brief History of Smoking Babies

2010:

1951 (via Life):

Even smoking babies are apparently more mature than they used to be; Indonesian Baby was up to two packs a day when the fuzz snatched his fags.

Sassy's Maiden Beach Jaunt

Sassy greeted the beach (and her fellow canine party-goers) with all the verve of a convalescing donkey until the beef sticks came out. And we can't be sure of this, but based on that first photo, it appears she may have witnessed something of a primal scene at the start of the festivities.

We're already prepared to tell her that her friends were playing 'leapfrog' if she asks.

Bike Porn!

Small road bikes suitable for short women are rarer than a smiling Olsen in a buffet line, so when we found the c. 1984 Fuji 450 SE pictured above on a popular online auction site last year, we knew we had to have it. Like the pricey Terry brand of 'bikes for women,' the Fuji 450 SE featured a slightly smaller front tire that somehow--through the same laws of physics and illusion at work at the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot--make the bike easy for wee women like us to straddle without incident. Despite the fact that we paid a song for the bike, it actually came to us in near perfect stock condition (huzzah!). Naturally, though, our aging hipster aesthetic sensibilities compelled us to swap out both the stock saddle and drop handlebars for Brooks components and mustache bars (which, even to our surprise, are more comfortable than drops and straight bars).

With another car-free Fall approaching, we're thinking seriously about investing in some sexy woodgrain fenders and bike spats to keep our petite bums and ankles dry on the road this year. We're also really enamored with the CETMA flatbed racks, which we feel might usefully permit us to carry less on our ailing backs. And although we totally don't need woodgrain rims, we think they're an essential part in making our bike ultimately look like a rolling log jammer ride (i.e., awesome!).

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Fashion SAY WHAT?! Moment of the Week

You see those three dudes outfitted in head-to-toe Merona brand menswear? Yeah, them. They're apparently the co-founders of Polyvore, the Internet's very profitable answer to the paper doll and the second largest producer of chewing gum for the eye (though we expect they'll outpace teevee soon enough). While we don't harbor any fantasies about the nature of capitalism or the oft-romanticized entrepreneurial spirit, we were more than a little surprised by this bit of information. And once we've satisfactorily reconciled our impression of Forever 21 with the brand's new line of maternity wear, we'll get to work on quelling the cognitive dissonance created by this latest fashion industry revelation. oof.

The Fashion of the Future Today!

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Until recently, we thought adult jumpers and gladiator sandals were the contemporary equivalent of the midi--i.e., elaborate jokes crafted by the naturally-awful CEOs of Urban Outfitters and American Apparel at the expense of fashion-forward women worldwide. As it turns out, though, these items have been the stuff of fashion fantasy since the early 1950s when at least one stylist working on a Life pictorial about the 'future of women's fashion' decided they were indeed our fashion destiny. Guess you can't fight fate.

Vintage Trompe l'Oeil a la Hermes

We're not sure what's more amazing: These Herbert Sondheim-for-Hermes dresses, or the last model's 22" waist.

1952 Retail price ~ $29 (or, $232 today).

Fantasy Vintage Shopping Spree With Our Sponsors

Just a few ideas for our next vintage shopping bender at Montana Snow and Dear Golden.

The Spring / Summer Socialite Dress

We here at Huzzah! Vintage love us some some polka dots, especially on a structured mini with hints of Kate Spade, but Peach's garment from last night's episode of Project Runway was redonculous, right?! The brown collar detail snaking its way down the model's back is obviously problematic, but we're actually more offended by the sweetheart halter. (If you insist on imagining a woman's bust resting on or near her clavicle, at least have a sense of humor about it!)

Obvious biases aside, we think the Lilly Pulitzer number on the right makes all the right spring/summer socialite moves. Accessorize with a white wine spritzer and an ever-so-slight air of superiority.

Worldly Objects

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We tried to think of something really insightful to say about the death of paper map culture and the resulting aestheticization thereof, but settled instead for the bad pun you see in the title. Sorry, and TGIF!

The Midi Skirt: Birth Of A Bad Idea

Above: (Top) Today show host Barbara Walters advocates on behalf of the midi while a mini-skirted midi detractor and James Brady of Women's Wear Daily look on. (Bottom Left) A soap star issues her silent protest against the new skirt length sweeping the nation--and her wardrobe department (Bottom Reft) A woman in the formerly fashionable mini holds up a midi-length skirt in the mirror. (via Life, 1970)

1970 was a big year. Angela Davis was fired from UCLA for being a communist, bicycles were finally permitted to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and the mini skirt was declared totally and utterly dead by the editors of Women's Wear Daily. In its place emerged what would become known as the 'midi' (or, as many would have it, 'the worst thing to happen to women's legs since the Birkenstock'). Despite the appearance of such anti-midi groups as GAMS (Girls/Guys Against More Skirt) and FADD (Fight Against Dictating Designers), designers and department stores pushed forward with the trend, secure (apparently) in the knowledge that desperately fashionable women would help them weather the storm of resentment. As Marshall Field President Charles W. Folds condescendingly put it in a 1970 Life interview, "There'll always be that strange woman, God bless her, who wants to be the first out of the hen coop with the latest oddity. She'll go to any length to be au courant and we make a lot of money because of her."

(Kinda makes you crave a Virginia Slim, don't it?)

We Went To The Alameda Antique Fair & All We Got Was This !?$%# Sunburn

... oh, and some smashing vintage dresses and maillots. What to keep, what to keep.....??

Fantasy Vintage Shopping Spree With Our Sponsors

Please buy these lovely pieces before we do; our poor closet doors are beginning to buckle.