Goodbye Model T May 26 1927

My favorite car of all time....is the Ford Model T. fact. It is the fun car of the oh so romantic 20s.....the time of the last American/Paris wild abandon.....of art....literature....when America reveled in all it could be. Away with bonehead jocks. Away with stupid people. Yes to the ascendency of the intelligent.......the romantic.......the talented.......the lovely........the working class......and fuck the Corporation......
ah yes. the Jazz Age...the Roaring Twenties....Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Picasso....   Prohibition.....Women's sufferage.....Harlem....worker strikes!

As Willa Cather said...'The world broke in half in 1922"....because more Americans moved to live in cities and left the farms. We shifted from being an agrarian country to a more urban one. And, significantly, at least until the Wall Street Crash, on paper, during the 20s the nation’s total wealth more than doubled.



here

oh wait. Henry Ford. The creator of the asembly line. The "great" innovation that fucked the worker of all  intelligent love of work. While the assembly line did make products affordable to the average worker......and we do need to pat the old Nazi sympathizer on the back. He did say he had to pay his workers enough money to actually buy the cars they made.
How's that for a worker revolution??
Today of course, corporations have no intention of actually paying their workers a living wage so they can buy quality goods they produce.

here

Model T production began in 1908, though Ford had been producing cars since 1903.  Because of traditions of work and making products that had been the way of the world for centuries, early cars were handbuilt one at a time by a team working on one car. Breaking work tasks into tiny parts was the beginning of faster production, worker disenfranchisement, and ultimate control of production of goods from the top down.

No longer would a worker have a say in how something was made, what process he/she found best and so workers lost whatever control they had about their work conditions.
Ultimate corporate control of the work day in every form gave rise to bloody, violent, reasoned, erudite, principled workers rights and demands.


here




 here

The 20s was the time of the full press of capitalism in America. And workers had to fight back for their souls.
At the very least, since a worker was now a "tool" and not much of a human to the corporation, labor unions fought management for good wages, vacations, day work length and all the 'perk' workers today might take for granted, were bought with the blood of early workers in America once the assembly line became the most popular way for corporations to control workers and make the most possible profits.
Apple iPhone anyone?

****Anyway, the last day of production of the Model T (for Tressie!!) was in 1927.****


If you are interested in a charming movie that shows the fight of the worker in the early years of the 20th century...I suggest Reds with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton and so many other folks.....this is another blog post.

"Everyone from carpenters and street car conductors to waitresses and newsboys belonged to a union. In 1919, when Seattle unions gained worldwide headlines by declaring a general strike that shut down the city for five days, some 60,000 workers belonged to 110 unions affiliated with the Seattle Central Labor Council and the Washington State Federation of Labor."







here



here


So so long the 20s...so long Model T.... so long worker dignity..............Unless you fight for it.
"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance"


and of course, Emily Lloyd in A River Runs Through It...drives a Model T (at 5:16) on the Montana railroad tracks.....which is a fine movie with Brad Pitt, and Robert Redford directed it...so that.

Favorite Label Friday January 25, 2013

Oh yes. I do. I do buy things just to have that label. Not a fancy-schmancy label...tho, I don't hold it against a label or a thing if some nose-in-the-air has their name on something....
I love this one!
Truth and Soul.

Sooooo 70s. Peace. Love. Truth. Soul. Big sun and the Moon and the Stars. Look at that font...bubbly and fun. In between listening to The Carpenters and Sly and the Family Stone, us flower children and hippies were busy saving the world and making it better for all of the peoples. We got sold out by Ronald Reagan and the Republicans for the last 30 or so years...but Good Times, Equal Rights and saving the planet for our survival is now Back in style, Back in the knick of Time.

And the sweater is so fantastic! Styled like it's 30s, but made in the 70s in that neato blend known as Space Dye of the time, or simply, heathered, or multicolors.....
this one blends rust and green yarns in this Purl stitch  turtleneck, with 30s style deep ribbed cuffs and waistband.

Here's another 70s style...this is from the "FUN" 70s...party, disco, and slinky sexy dresses. This gathered ruched number recalls the glam gowns of the 30s also. Yup, the 70s was the 30s and 40s done all over again...with a groovy twist, in modern fibers for easy care.

Hey look.......Easy Street Fashions!
Getting yourself to Easy Street was a real big deal in the 30s and the 40s as you can imagine...The Depression, Prohibition, and the threat of looming war....and then...war. Dreams delayed, and soldiers fighting overseas.

The vintage 70s long empire dress with wide straps....and a deep neckline, has a sexy gathered bodice and is reminiscent of the 40s glam gowns.
So very....1970s Halston and the Disco.

The 70s colors repeated the earthy colors of the 30s too.....brown, moss green, shades of orange......rust, peach, pumpkin and earth tones of tan, khaki and caramel....

These 2 skirts ....both in earthy autumn tones, are from the same company, but the labels changed with the times...starting out more traditional, with a very charming logo...then later, it got more whimsical with a swirly font..... I find this interesting because, Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, in a conservative locale.... and the older label, here, reflects the timeless classic style, with is simple font and spare yet detailed logo of high rise buildings with their high rise windows!

this wool skirt is charming with perma pleats...The wool blend plaid is a rich blend of coffee brown, rust, tan, camel and pumpkin. Shaded ombre rainbow plaid...not boring!


But later on in the 70s, teals, blues and dark browns came into style...and the label changed....Simple yet fun...and still traditional, and also cheaper to make, with much less detail than the earlier 70s Copley Square Ltd label.

Another change....the earlier 70s skirt has a red, white and blue UNION label, while the late 70s skirt doesn't. As Unions came under attack, and US jobs moved overseas, Americans lost good benefits, good wages, and still kept on producing excellent quality goods as much as they were allowed to by the bean counters and CEOs.

A classic with its charming perma pleats...The wool blend plaid is a rich blend of coffee brown, rust, tan, camel and dark teal.


Later 70s clothes are often darker colors and jewel tones....turquoise, teal, purple, burgundy, berry, and ruby.
Here's a delicious purple velvet blazer....The label is College Town, a venerable Massachusetts label that started making college girl clothes in the 50s when post-war "girls" started entering college in big numbers.

I see a logo with Hearts and Arrows....follow your heart...follow your dreams!

Made in USA

Back in the early 80s I noticed that a lot and I mean a lot....of things I was buying new were made in countries other than America. I use to enjoy buying neat imported things from Cost Plus Imports in San Francisco back in the 70s, and the occasional cute widget at Woolworths, but imported merchandise was still quite rare. I bought wicker baskets from China because that's where they were made. Made in India handwoven and stamped textiles indigenous to the country...When that changed to making 3rd world countries the low-wage exploited workers of the world...I stopped buying imported goods if at all possible.

And, I simply stopped buying imports from that time on....unless I could not find it made in the USA. This meant I went without a lot of stuff. And that is fine! I made do, I bought used, I made it myself, I lived without. (I have always had used clothes, used housewares, used cars, and used furniture...this new trend of "junk" and "diy" ain't anything new to me!)



 
 pic
During the 70s, I remember imports from Taiwan ROC, and Hong Kong, for instance, showing up in clothing shops. And Volkswagens...and Volvos...from Europe!

While the imports were rare until the mid 1980s, they offered no real challenge to American jobs and our economy. The industry that grows around imports.....the ships, the ports, the dockworkers, the movers....can add to an economy. What has happened since Reagan was installed in the White House, is that people have been convinced that buying American is dumb, that government is the enemy, and that Unions didn't get those high wages we used to enjoy.....and now....we have low-paying  jobs in the US, and Americans have closets overflowing with junk from China.

 a label from a vintage nightgown, Made in USA, and UNION made!

I have always been promoting the re-use of that stuff others have discarded! When I say "The Recycled Life", I'm not saying some slick marketing concept.....I live it. I believe it.
I know this has always been the right way to live.
I developed this philosophy of living back in the '60s when I was a teenager.
1. Buy Quality. It lasts a long long time, cutting down on waste.
2. Buy from Small Business. Do you think Macy's really gives a shit about you?
3. Buy local as much as possible. We live in a world economy, and we always have, so if you can't find what you want in your area, search out other small businesses, and buy from them.

When I offer something with a not-made-in-America label, it is vintage or used. It needs to be reintroduced to our modern life again. It needs to see life again. It needs to be used, and worn out!
We can't change the past, but we can change today....we can change tomorrow.

Where ever you live, you can buy more stuff made locally, buy better quality stuff, and be mindful of all your purchases. I'm typing on a made in China computer.....because I repaired my old computers until they could not be revived. I didn't buy a new computer every year....I kept what I had for about 5 years, and got it repaired.



Minnetonka moccasins are made in (surprise) Minnetonka Minnesota USA.  Since 1946, Minnetonka has been a staple of American style.

Crayons are made in the USA! not every Binney-Smith product.....but crayons are.

Here's the classic Crayola factory tour from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

A Real Working Class Hero

Because Americans keep voting against themselves, we now have this unemployment mess.
Since 1980, voters have been moving towards Republicans, with delusions of quick wealth and becoming victims of fear-mongering about "Welfare Queens" and the "Undeserving" stealing your hard earned tax dollars going to lazy malingerers. You've been lied to.
Republicans and capitalists and corporations never give a crap about Jobs....They want to get as much work out of you with as little pay as possible. And they want to pay no taxes...Taxes are for Workers to pay !

When greedy layoffs happen, the workers that are left behind then have to do even more work, and become burned out. A healthy corporation does mass layoffs only  to grow profits for shareholders. And, do workers have investments or 401K's...not many. On one hand, those middle class workers that have investments might benefit when corporations cut jobs, but, those same middle class workers might see their neck on the chopping block and be out of a job...and no investment is worth that.

Democrats have tried to wring Worker protections, unemployment benefits, job training, education benefits, and other considerations from the powerful in order to protect the American worker from exploitation. The New Deal in the Roosevelt admin in the 1930's changed the power balance in America. The New Deal was branded by the rich of the time as disasterous ! 


Yet, the greatest prosperity ever witnessed in America was from the late 30s thru the end of the 90s, when the attack on the worker began in hyper-speed against all the gains that were made.

 Cigar makers in Florida in the 30s

US corporations cut their work forces in the US by 2.9 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million, new data from the U.S. Commerce Department show.
American jobs and factories were closed and re-opened in China and 3rd world countries around the globe.


Unions have come under massive attack. Worker rights have been repealed. Incomes fall. The rich rejoice ! They told you they wanted to end The New Deal, and they have just about done it!


The New Deal

What is bizarre is that when you ask Americans if they like Social Security, job protections, environment protections, and Medicare, they always say Yes ! Yet, they vote against these programs when they vote for Republican candidates who represent Corporate Fat Cats......
Unions and worker rights organizations stand as a bulwark against the power of mega-corporate power.

 Not all Fat Cats believe that sucking the blood from workers is right, and some believe it is destroying America. Warren Buffet said this in 2006,  "There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Beginning in 1980, Americans began to dislike unions because workers were manipulated to think that all unions were corrupt and were not protecting workers from exploitation. Reagan fired the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization in Aug 1981.
He did this to let workers know, they better not ask for good working conditions, better wages, and benefits, or Else!
That union, PATCO, was decertified in October 1981, by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and Reagan decreed those striking workers could NEVER be rehired as an Air Traffic Controller.


Union buttons.

The history of unions shows a violent suppression by powerful money interests.....corporations, banks, insurance companies among them.
If you have benefits, vacation pay, sick days, worker training, unemployment benefits, safer working conditions (OSHA, environmental laws) THANK THE UNIONS !
They marched and fought and were murdered so you can have rights at work.
To see workers turn their back on the very institutions that give them hope and dignity is one of the most disgusting trends in America I've witnessed in my 56 years. Racism is on its way out of our culture only to be replaced with hatred of workers, by workers themselves !




Wisconsin Teachers
Yes, this is the enemy. 

It has been well documented that people have been voting against their own interests.
Fox channel, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, George Bush, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh...these people represent the RICH, and lie to you to undermine your faith in yourself and your fellow human.

Until we return to the days of Worker Power, we will never solve our recent unemployment problem.
If you have an hour, please spend it here, listening to this program, for a quick history of workers in America.

Woody Guthrie

A boat ride.....

Boating Seafaring and the men and women who take to the seas.. ...is always on my mind...
Here's at least 2 versions of the melancholy classic about sailing... Sloop John B...
Johnny Cash, and Okkervil River.
Then the 1953 1st film of a series of 3 by Stanley Kubrick about the Seafarers International Unions. You remember. Organizations of working people who banded together for safer working conditions and fair pay from The Man, for the privilege of making The Man rich.





If you watch closely at the beginning you can see the KALAKALA at .20.......
then links to the 2nd & 3rd in the series.



part 2.........and part 3

Right now on etsy...some of my faves..Navy pants !!
I have Tacoma Vice Mayor (not the mayor of vice), Jake Fey...'s Uncles WWII navy felted wool pants.....

But This pair is on etsy......for you !



Here's my latest find......is this a WAVES jacket ?
more research needs to be done......meanwhile.ain't she pretty?