• 1920s cloche hat – Avalon, PDX, Oregon
• 1930s repro bow blouse with kittens drinking out of tea cups – Jitterbuggin on etsy
• 1950s dress worn as skirt
• Obviously I can’t get enough of these striped stockings
• Brown/Black Tstraps from Target

I have a very small head (my mother always laughs at me) but it’s quite handy for fitting into tiny 1920s cloche hats, which are usually size 21 and smaller. The next time you’re at the beauty parlor, request for the back to be “stacked” and they’ll usually cut your hair shorter beginning at the occipital bone. Think Louise Brooks. It’s a very handy cut to have for making hats fit. There is your beauty tip for the day.

Most of my cloches are ill fitting at the moment because the back of my head is overgrown. I haven’t had my hair cut in a while because I haven’t any extra money – a ladies’ haircut in Austin is $50 in most places before tip! I feed myself on nearly $90 a month, so it doesn’t really make sense to spend food money on something that will grow back in 5 weeks. I can manage trimming the front and sides okay, but I can’t stack the back myself. I wish I could pay for just partial haircuts, because I would gladly pay $25 for just the back to be cut and the rest left alone. I have a special technique for cutting my hair that is probably not approved by most stylists. It involves dry cutting the ringlets and then twisting sections that I pincurl and thin them out.

Close up of kitten fabric! I borrowed this image from the Jitterbuggin Etsy shop. By the way, I own another blouse from this shop and I can’t say enough nice things about it. It’s all handmade in Portland, Oregon by the cutest girl, too!

• Pink German glass earrings – made by me
• Antique key on a bit of string – estate sale
• 1930s lingerie blouse with peach and cream lace – Antique Mall in PDX
• Overalls – Urban Outfitters by way of Buffalo Exchange
• Striped stockings
• 1940s shoes – Magpie Vintage, PDX

This is my Mary Pickford face.

I love these stockings. I feel like a crazy cartoon spider when I wear them, because they elongate my (already) long legs. These 1940s shoes are quite cartoonish, as well. They are a size 10AAA, which means loooong and skinny, just perfect for my Ozarkian feet. This isn’t quite mentioned in polite society, but most girls birthed at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains are often born with large flippery feet so that they might become gifted in creek hoppin,’ peach tree climbin,’ and other activities that involve truncatin’ the g.
Oh, and they also remind me of this LOVELY photo of a Storyville Prostitute.

Since I obviously cannot get out of this 1930s chorus girl niche that I’ve grooved myself into, here are some more inspirational screen shots of the gals doing what they do:

Top Left: Screen cap of Dancing Lady (1933) with Joan Crawford in the center. My second favorite element of 1930s chorus girl movies is stopping the frame and photographing the rehearsal tap dancing outfits because they are so varied and interesting. Sometimes it’s a blouse and shorts, sometimes a onesie, sometimes a very short dress.
Bottom Left: Of course, in the final performance, the ladies all wear identical outfits. I like this little tuxedo suit number, it’s quite charming. This photo is from It’ll Take the Snap Out of Your Garters!, one of THE best vintage resources on the planet and run by one of my most favorite sassy ladies, Amy. Please pay her a visit if you’ve never seen her blog. You will be overwhelmed (in a good way).

• German glass bead earrings – made by me
• 1920s onesie as blouse – from Uncommon Objects, ATX
• 1970s Sailor Pants – Military Supply store, Seattle
• Green Greta Shoes – From Remixvintageshoes

Here’s my spin on a 1930s Chorus Girl outfit – I’m ready to dance!
I love this color of peach – and the garment has little floral embroidery and a rotting silk ribbon at the front.

I check this book out through interlibrary loan a few weeks ago and it has literally reshaped my techniques of pincurling. It is an invaluable resource for understanding curls and has the most ridiculous details of how to set them, how to brush them out, and how to sculpt them into different styles. Information about it here: Vintage Hairstyling on Amazon, but check your local library to check it out first.

Speaking of pincurls – everyone PLEASE check out the newest issue of Zelda, Bellewether and I are contributors to a full-color pincurl tutorial. It also features:

• COVER STORY : Like a Melody: Doris Eaton Travis (interview)
• A True Classic: Robert Osborne (interview),
• Marsha Hunt: On Golden Era Fashion (interview) ,
• Cocktails : Dead Men Tell No Tales, But Their Spirits Do!,
• Pincurling Tutorial,
• A Dress Shoe for the Man of Action (in 1922),
• Illustrations by Fyodor Pavlov, Lawrence Gullo, and Joslyn Zoe, Gelber & Manning,
• Vicky Butterfly : Vintage Burlesquer,
• Sage Advice : Mister Burton,
• Vintage City 101: Los Angeles, On the Town
• All of this for $7.50!! That’s less than a cocktail!

My hair is set to make the curls above by backwards curling them and pinned at the scalp so that they strand strait up. When they are combed out they make big corkscrew curls that boing into shape and stay that way for a few days (with resetting at night). Upon talking about flapper ‘fros, Nika recommended washing my hair with BIG from Lush because it has salt and citrus in it, so I tried out my salt face scrub instead (because I already owned it) and it turned out so well! It’s very fluffy and clean feeling, even four days later! I think when I run out of the scrub I’ll just make a paste of sea salt and citrus along with my normal combination of Apple Cider Vinegar and baking soda. Yes, I like to cook with my hair.

Top Left: The gals from “Gold Diggers of 1937″
Bottom Left:Chorus girls from “The Singing Kid”
Top Right:From “Dancing Lady” (1933)

• Yellow/Pink flower hairclips by Hello Kitty – Toy Joy, ATX
• Victorian/Damask black earrings – Urban Outfitters
• Sex Pistols Shirt – Urban Outfitters
• 1970s black sailor pants (made into shorts by me) – Military Supply Store, Seattle
• Black wedges – Melissa, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

I really debated on if I should post this outfit or not, since it’s not my normal 1930s style, but since it is technically 1970s, I guess it’s okay.
Plus, I don’t want any of you to think I’m a vintage snob/purist, although I do get put into the “Authentic Vintage” category by other vintage blogs
I have wanted a Sex Pistols shirt since I was 14!!!! I look for them on ebay every once in a while but they are always $75.
I know it’s not my normal style, and that it’s not very punk to shop at Urban Outfitters… but here I am in a t shirt!
When I sing karaoke, I always choose Sex Pistols songs or Outkast. Now you know all of my dirty secrets.
Here is my yellow eyeshadow. It’s by Makeup Forever and I like to bust it out for special yellow occasions.
Johnny Rotten is an adorable old bastard.
He falls into my ideal of suit wearing/crust punk gentleman.
I know I’m not supposed to say that the Sex Pistols are cute, but I will.

Here are some awesome Sex Pistols Songs:

• No Feelings – my favorite Sex Pistols song
• (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone – Sex Pistols covering the Monkeys
• A Ukulele cover of “No Feelings”
• An acapella version of “Anarchy in the UK”

• 1940s blouse with vegetable print – Amelia’s Retro Vogue, ATX
• 1950s sheer dress (worn as skirt) – Buffalo Exchange, ATX
• Sheer stockings with cuban heels and stripe
• Green bead earrings – made by me
• Remix Vintage Shoes in Avocado

My curl is looking specifically geometric this morning.
This is the face of staying up dancing until 3 am at Azz Everywhere.
I nearly passed up this blouse when I first tried it on… because although I do like novelty prints, I feel kind of corny when I wear them. This blouse is so darling, and it matches my avocado-colored shoes in an uncanny way. Speaking of novelty prints, I have one dress with perfume bottle print and one with rooster print that I wear on heavy rotation. Other prints I have include:

• Renaissance men and women holding pitchforks
• Kittens lapping creme from tea cups
• Patio furniture and flower pots
• Smiling clovers

As fitting, I ate a whole tub of guacamole from Torchy’s for my breakfast and lunch. I love bein’ fat with some avocados and coconuts! Oh, and the best news to happen this month is that my corner co-op grocery started carrying Daiya cheese so now I can have cheeze sprinkles on everything. I <3 cheese as a garnish and it’s so wonderful to have it back in my life (in facsimile) on pizzas, chilis and toast.
This outfit reminds me of Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus series:

I think I’ve subconsciously adopted Mrs. Frizzle’s attitude toward teaching in my own teaching philosophies. Of course, I won’t have a flying talking school bus, but I know how to make history more alive. Last week I worked on a lesson plan that involved listening to Woody Guthrie and Rudy Vallee tunes from the Great Depression and defending their importance for a new (fictional) CD box set put out by the Smithsonian Museum.

• Lace/Grey dress – Buffalo Exchange
• Necklace – from www.etsy.com/shop/swanbones
• Gold/Creme bow belt, from a 1950s dress that fell apart several years ago
• White/Black polka dot stockings (I think from H&M)
• black flats

Today is the day after 5 hours of tattoo work on my phonograph lady… I was a little disoriented this morning and didn’t realize that the tights aren’t quite the right shade!

• Ric Rac as headband
• Art Nouveau-ish earrings – Urban Outfitters
• 1950s? Strawberry House Dress – Ebay
• Strawberry bank
• Vintage slip
• Remix Vintage Shoes “Greta” in Green

Today was so pretty outside! I sat on my porch for a few hours and glued photographs into an album. At sunset, I went on a long bikeride over the bridge to eat Blueberry Oven Cakes at Bouldin Creek and recount my Parisian adventures to a friend.

• Navy beret that I sewed pearls on. I got the idea from Karin of http://www.blog.lilyofthevalley.se when she did the same!
• Orange paper flowers
• Pearl/Glass earrings – made by my sister
• Vintage navy jacket – Austin clothing swap
• Green belt – Decades Vintage, PDX
• 1930s flame colored dress – ebay
• Remix vintage shoes

I bought this dress on ebay with the original intention of cutting out the pattern and using the shape as a projection screen as part of my MFA thesis. It’s difficult to capture on film, but this fabric is absolutely luminous and glossy – it burns with so many colors! However, the projection idea proved too obtuse, and luckily, was scrapped. The dress remained, quiet, in my closet.
The first strange thing I noticed about this dress was that the piping around the pockets and sleeves is the sweetest color of periwinkle. But, I’ve never ever even thought to pair periwinkle with orange, but I think it looks quite lovely. I also like how the breast pockets look like folded envelopes! One thing I wish I could change about the dress is the length. It has a full zipper, like that of a house dress, fancy as though this fabric may be. It was probably a glorified dressing gown. We just got these paper flowers in at my work. I had a fun time today moving them from my hair to my blazer and back again. I got them in almost every color so brace yourselves to see some in the next few posts.
My remix shoes are still pleasing me with every time I wear them! These got a little beat up in the back when I rode on my bicycle.
Now my favorite! The sleeves! These are the kind of poofy sleeves I draw on all of my cartoon girls:

I think in this image I was literally chanting “Puffy sleeve! Puffy sleeve!” in a muppet voice.

The first time I wore the dress, Halloween, 2007:
I was posing as a living mannequin inside and outside of Decades Vintage Clothing in downtown Portland. I started out in the window, but I am too tall for most people walking by to notice. When people made eye contact with me, I winked at them! When I posed outside, two men pulled on my fingers to see if I was real. I held a dish of candy and whispered Enjoy when people took a piece. One woman yelled the loudest I’ve ever heard in real life. Her friends laughed at her. Two business men tipped me.

• 1920s Cloche – Ebay
• Faux Fur Stole – Coquette Faux Furriers
• 1960s creme coat – St. Vincent de Paul
• Fingerless knit gloves
• 1940s suit top
• Green belt – Decades Vintage, PDX
• Green and creme lace dress – Buffalo Exchange, ATX
• Striped Stockings – Sockdreams.com
• Brown and Black t strap shoes – Target

After a few days of 70F weather, the arctic winds have shifted and now it’s 30F in the mornings! I’m taking this last chance to go all out with my winter accessories. Stay tuned for the Shocking Pink faux fur stole and matching muff tomorrow!

Oh little cloche hat! I got it for a song on ebay forever and ever ago. It was one of the first things I ever got from the 1920s and I’ve treasured it ever since. It’s got it’s own little hat stand (a taxidermy bell jar, see below) on my dressing table. This shot below is from when I lived in Oregon in 20o6.

• White ribbon as bow headband
• 1930s white dress with pink stripes and flower baskets
• Pink sweater – Buffalo Exchange, I think.
• Green Belt – Decades Vintage, PDX
• Striped tights – Urbn, I think?
• Pointed shoes I traded Bellwether for a few months ago