My Trailer Park Xmas

Trailer park, mobile homes, RV's and 5th wheels are my neighbors here and their human inhabitants love to put up the Xmas lites! or Christmas lights!

 Mee toooo. In the  vintage Winnebago, on the front dash, we put a vintage light up Snowman and a vintage light up Santa. They are both blow molds, made in the USA, by Union Products, Leominster, Mass.
What's a blow mold? It's an awesome piece of Americana. We Americans saw the need to make figurines of plastic, brightly colored, and we needed them to light up and we needed them to decorate our yards and our American homes.  clicky that link up there and learn more!

In 1960 John Steinbeck, the Californian, got in a pickup truck with a custom-made camper and a poodle and went on a trip to find America. Yes Steinbeck had his own RV, his own mobile tiny house. The book is "Travels With Charley".
One of the things he found was a mobile. home. community.
And he stopped to visit and chat with people who had bought one and lived in a neighborhood of other like-minded folks. What Steinbeck found was that people loved their mobile homes, their trailers.  Some of them knew this was the only house they would ever afford, and became "house-proud" and were content.
And some used their years in a mobile home park as a jumping off place, and a chance to save a lot of money to one day, be able to afford a "real house".
And now today, we have another resurgence of people who, though they may be middle class, they may have just left the middle class, they wish they could get in to the middle class, are, once again, loving the small home movement.
No need to build a tiny house on a trailer frame, but you can if you want. If you want your own home, buy an RV, buy a trailer, buy a camper on a truck, buy a 5th wheel set-up.

yeah! Blow molds of the Nativity.

I've always chosen "marginal housing" because you get a lot of house for a little bit of money, and you live in very interesting neighborhoods.
My trailer park is no exception to that astute finding! I have the most interesting neighbors, so many of them choose to live in a manufactured home, rather than a Stick Built, or brick and mortar home, or a home built of 2x4's and permanent foundations.

Here is a little video I made with retro tiki lounge music by John Deney, to show a few of the trailers and mobile homes. Merry Christmas trailer park people!!

Lurex shiny bright!

oh about 70 years ago, during World War 2, a bright shiny thing happened. Metallic film to wear, was given to mankind. Where there was once war, there came Bright. Shiny. Happy. for the people.
It just wouldn't be a proper 40's Post-war Midcentury Modern life without it. It was used in that 50s chenille fabric for living room upholstery.  You know it and have probably worn it. If it has sparkle and shine and wasn't a sequin it was most likely LUREX^®.
It's a shiny metal film applied to a synthetic surface, like a fabric, and then cut into threads to weave cloth or knit pantyhose, sweaters and threads and novelty trims. It is also twisted with other threads to make threads for weaving, sewing and accenting boring clothes.

50s Star Pillow is yes, PINK with gray, and it has Lurex silver threads in the textured fabric.
Yes. sold from my shop. :-(

Take a look at Rose Brands, and see it in all it's Wowza Beauty! silver, gold, velvet, tissue, knit, all kinds of fabric and patterns.

Here's a vintage 50s dress, for sale in our shop at etsy, in turquoise, green, gold and ruby, and woven through with shiny threads, very likely Lurex, altho, with most vintage dresses of this era there are no content labels.

 and what would the 80s be without shiny shiny dresses for Prom?
Boring. As. Hell.
Pick this little mini number up also in our etsy shop for some sparkly New Years Eve fun!
This is a Double Shot .. It has loads of sequins and a ruffle skirt, a wide sash and a BIG rose too!
By ZumZum.

Oh and who can forget Julie Newmar as Catwoman, in the 60s TV show, Batman. Of course her skin-tight catsuit was made of black sparkly shiny Lurex.  For more of Julie, stop by her website and buy something.

You can buy it made into thread for embroidery, you see it knitted in sweaters and it isn't a vintage thing at all! Modern designers and clothing companies use it all the time.

The Lurex company put up this cute little film featuring vintage fashion starring Lurex!

 Here's just a very few of our vintage fashions as examples of Lurex in vintage fashion. A 60s velvet top with heavy gold metallic trim, very Sgt. Pepper, sold.

Here it's used as an accent woven in a silk sheer fabric for a 70s party dress by Nat Kaplan.
On the swirly feather print are dots and feather tips in shiny golden Lurex.

80s! Oh yes, that Luxe Lurex. This is a tissue poly woven fabric made into a very glam Grecian party dress, also sold.

Lurex can be any color in addition to gold, silver and copper. Green, blue, rainbow.... you only have to dream it for it to be true!
 Here's a shiny green dress made of a heavier satin woven with some Lurex also. Sold.

One of our favorites, bright blue Lurex with accents of black stripe bow and lots of big ruffles for a sweet dolly party dress. Sold.