GPOY ~ with turban

 I only just this very minute learnt what "GPOY" means.

 I'm such a bad Gen Y. I think I would have been cool in the 60s/70s though, but now I'm just out of touch mannnn.

Anyway I thought I'd name this post after my new found vocabulary (haha) since it is - gratuitous pictures of myself with the added addition of a turban and stuff.

I got home today and was feeling a bit grey so I thought wearing this bright pink turban would cheer me up a bit - and it did! I guess this outfit is channelling 40s 50s and 60s. All of it is thrifted.

Speaking of stripes and jeans, I also love these guys from the 70s! Stripes are, apparently, timeless.

The Ramones

Hope you're having a nice week.

A century (almost) in shoes

I've come to realise what my guilty pleasure in life is:

I really, really enjoy browsing through vintage shoes, whether it's in a market or online I don't really mind.

I think I've always been enchanted by shoes from a very young age, particularly high heels (somewhat ironically since I can't really walk in high heels due to a foot ailment I had as a child). I used to love trying on grown-ups high heels when I was a kid. Then there was the love affair with those little pink plastic princess shoes (you know the ones with the little feathers on the toes that click click around when you walk) that seem to be essential to every four year old girl's life.

I think it's obvious to most people who know me well...or read my blog!...that I love all vintage fashion, but there is something about the design qualities of shoes (their sleekness, shininess, glamour) that seems - when it's done well - to mimic perfection.

A couple of years ago I was browsing through a book shop and I came across a book called Vintage Shoes by Caroline Cox that was basically a pictorial history of shoes, and wow, I fell in love with it. Every decade of shoe history was covered with big colour photographs and biographies of the shoe designers. I suppose everyone who is interested in the elements of design must have one particular object that they favour like houses, or cars, or chairs? Mine I think, must be shoes.

The funny thing is though that despite this visual love for shoes, I don't own many pairs of shoes myself. I think this is because I am very very fussy when it comes to the shoes I wear, I like them to be sleek, easy to walk in and flattering on my feet, and because vintage shoes are often so pricey and hard to come by in large shoe sizes.

The good thing is, I still find pleasure in looking at shoes, even if I can't own them.

Here are some amazing women's shoes (perhaps I will do a post of men's shoes in another post one day) from different decades that I have fallen in love with via etsy.

Just click on the era to go to the source.

Victorian

I am a big fan of Victorian lace-ups. Always thought they looked comfy (but I doubt anyone could fit into them now because their feet were so small!)

1900s

Aren't these just beautiful?

1920s

1930s

1940s-50s

To me, 40s shoes are just the most glamorous...and the 70s tend to mimic the 40s when it comes to shoes so I love them both of course!

1960s

1970s

These are BIBA!! :O

1980s

Love these! Very Molly Ringwald in Pretty In Pink!

1990s...

Well most of us were there weren't we? And to be honest I'm not a huge fan of those chunky Spice Girl platforms....(I'm sure there were some decent shoes in the 90s?) but I'll leave it to your imagination.

What is your favourite shoe era?

1960s eye make-up

The other night I was feeling really bored so I decided to try doing some Penelope Tree style eye make-up to pass the time.

Pamela Des Barres, Penelope Tree, Shelly Duvall & Twiggy
via: sandy says

This is how it turned out (the images are bad quality phone photos sorry!) I have tried doing 60s make-up before and hadn't been entirely happy with the turn out, but this time I think I figured it out. You have to space the liquid eyeliner bottom lash strokes quite far apart for it to show up from a distance...and because my eyes are deep set I have to make the strokes quite long.

Maximum Summer

I have been admiring the idea of wearing a 70s maxi skirt this summer. Though unfortunately and strangely I find genuine 70s clothing to be hard to come by. Maxi skirts in particular are hard to find, and are often very pricey when you do find a nice one. The other thing about genuine 70s maxi's is they are often made from heavy synthetic materials and sometimes even quilting (like to find on an old bed spread!) so not so handy for the hot 30 + summer days.

But it is still possible to find amazing 70s dress patterns round and about...so I had the idea that maybe I could make my own - if I could just find a big enough reel of lightweight retro fabric. So this I've decided will be my summer project!

I always love looking at 70s dress patterns, it's like candy for my eyes. Everything is so colourful, flattering and modern in a nice way (ie. you could still wear a lot of these styles today and be considered fashionable but not minimalist like half the fashion designs you see modelled today).

~ I would like one with a frill at the base ~

Here is a short collection of maxi designs for your delight:

Mary Quant and models wearing her designs

1970s Mens Fashion - Rock Star Style

You know how I am about all thing 70s at the moment, well during my blog reading I came across this great post by Miss Peelpants at Get Some Vintage Appeal revealing some hot photographs from the book: The Faces 1969-75

The post features Rod Stewert, Ronnie Wood and others frolicking around in glam rock velvets, shiny suits and blouses. It is a great insight into 70s mens fashion which I have a soft spot for.

You should check out her full post with more photos here. Plus if you're a fan of the 70s in general I think you will enjoy reading her blog!

60s & 70s School Style Summer Inspiration

Today it was a wonderful 30 degrees in Melbourne. It feels as through Summer has hit early, and I'm excited. Bring on the t-shirts and summer dresses. This summer I will be channeling the sunny colours, patterns and shapes of the two decades of Groovy.

Vintage Barbie clothing - she's not exactly Miss Natural, but you have to admit Barbie did have style

I wouls love to get, or possibly make a legitimate 60s  jumpsuit to wear this summer!

Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst in 'Dick'

The Runaways

Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith

Images via: http://superseventies.tumblr.com/, http://areyoupassionate.tumblr.com/, http://retrogoddess.tumblr.com/, http://plasticbats.tumblr.com/, stylerookie and rookie mag

About blogging, and giant babies

Hi, sorry I haven't been around for a while...I've been busy and lacking inspiration. I'm having a blogger dilemma. Perhaps more appropriately, I am suffering from a bad case of blog boredom. I am one of those people who follows many a famous, big hit fashion blog, but I have just about stopped reading all of them. There are a select number of blogs that I look for on my dashboard which I find interesting, funny, inspiring (you know who you are - if I am following you and you are not a 'world famous' blogger then don't worry, I like your blog!) but none of these top blogs are any of these things. All they are is hundreds of photos of themselves in vintage or more often pseudo vintage (my arch enemy) clothing, or photos of themselves and their boyfriends/husbands frolicking around on holidays, while we are constantly reminded about how wonderful their life is.

Thanks. I find this most interesting.

It is starting to drive me insane. I find that the blogging world suffers from a serious case of copy-cat syndrome. It is odd that 99% of these top bloggers some of whom have many hundreds or thousands of followers, most of the time dress in the same way and blog about things in the same manner, which is why it becomes boring if you are someone like me who looks for a unique voice/sense of style. I am not saying that just because your blog is highly popular that it is automatically bad, obviously people must start somewhere and perhaps some of the smaller blogs that I like will become famous in the future, but it does seem as though the blogging world, like the real world, highlights people who conform, not people who have the guts to be different.

So should we feel sad that only 5% of bloggers appreciate our blog? No, absolutely not.

Last year I was forced to take a compulsory class as part of my major, (which I despised at the time, but have since come to realise was more helpful than I ever thought it could be) where we looked at the philosophy of writing. Only one concept has stuck with me from this class, and that is Bourdieu's concept of 'art for art's sake'. In a nutshell, Bourdieu discusses the fact that 'high art' ie. modernist literature like Joyce's Ulysses is often unpopular or rejected by bourgeois society while it is bench marked by the elite as a seminal work of art and made as 'art for art's sake,' without economic gain. In contrast, things that are often popular amongst the status quo and hence economically successful are often seen to be crude or labelled as 'bad' art by the elite - the best example of this I think is Blockbuster Hollywood movies of today.

I think the analogy I am trying to make here is fairly obvious so I will leave it at that. But basically the purpose of this post is to say, I want to make my blogging more interesting, so I have decided to start a writing blog (I will probably keep posting on this one too) so I can write opinion articles about issues I find interesting, and begin my quest to improve my writing skills and enter the world of writing/publishing. This hasn't happened yet, but I hope to start it up soon. I've also posted the essay I wrote about Bourdieu's theory in relation to the 70s Punk movement as part of that class on a new page labelled Articles and Essays if you care to have a look.

In other news, Melbourne is currently full of giant reptile babies. I know, weird. It's for the annual Melbourne Festival. This is a picture of me in front of one baby. My friend S who took the photo says it looks like it is trying to do yoga.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Carnaby Street 1968

A time warp, back to the fashions of Carnaby Street in 1968.

Sunday 60s Juke-box

Thankyou for all the lovely birthday wishes!

Just a few favourite hits for this Sunday evening.

Happy Sunday!

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

As Tears Go By - Marianne Faithfull

You Can't Always Get What You Want - Rolling Stones

Living in 70s High-Rise

The most flattering kind of hip wear.

via

Charlotte Gainsbourg

stylepantry

Stevie Nicks via

hypeed

via

Jodie Foster as Iris in Taxi Driver 1976

 

chictopia

via

hypeed

Mmmhmm. That's right.

Happy Saturday!