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!

Favorite Label Friday Nov. 16 2012

in label world.... 60s and 70s labels became very fun, very playful, and even silly...like the rest of society, the 60s and 70s relaxed the uptight Name Only style of labels that came before...and back then,  often the only hint of art or happiness in the life of the label's artist, might have been a fanciful script or interesting font.
The hippie/natural/playful/crafty times influenced labels and we see extravagant fonts, highly stylized, and lots of little symbols, pictures and a real sense of humor....Cute 70s dress...has a classic style, but the name of the dress company told you a thing about the times they be a'changing.... 

New Discoveries. yes, sir, the 60s and 70s brought us to new directions. Protest the war, protest racism, protest environmental destruction...aka, our ecology...Civil rights, animal rights, voting rights, new ways of living, new kinds of foods....man it was cool !!

and look Butterflies Are Free!! Here's a 60s dress, Flutterbye, the label has a cute little yellow butterfly.
The pattern of the dress was Marimekko-inspired.

and here's another Flutterbye dress that mimics Lilly Pulitzer prints.

Very fun font and a very fun name for this Laguna Beach California dress maker. All Two Potato dresses are fun, and funky, and very casual.

A cute print of scattered feathers....but the label.... 

Mmmmmm ! It's GAILORD. yep. it is. Look at the tiny spy in a trench coat, a fedora, and big sunglasses. James Bond....The Pink Panther....the Cold War brought spy culture and spy intrigue to artists in the labels they designed.

And Fashion Conspiracy! Was this also inspired by James Bond movies which were immensly popular in the 60s and 70s .   Mmmmm look at that daisy...that was very popular as a motif in the time period, too.

It's on a 70s knit sweater, inspired by Italian knitmaker, Missoni.
this one has sparkly lurex threads.

Oh yes! late 70s/early 80s and the Rainbows!! The Hearts !! and if this sweater isn't cool enough......

Yes !!! Party !! CELEBRATION  YEAH!!!

The safari look was a popular look in the 60s and 70s....here's a version of the classic Geiger or Abercrombie & Fitch (old school) safari jacket in shiny black nylon windbreaker material.

....so you know the label has to be fantastic right? It is!
Curly Top For Young America.
not for old ladies.
Cute font and such a statement!

Swingles? yes. I think you can see the rainbow threads....and the Swingles name was a mash-up of Singles Swingers Separates .  Swingles by Character.  This tweed jacket is packed full of neat details... It really has character!

My favorite label of the week.....Tomboy.
The 70s labels as the clothes, often had a 30s feel because of influences from the 1976 Oscar-winning movie Bonnie and Clyde. Theodora Van Runkle designed the clothes.  In the movie of  Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there was a huge  fashion influence.....and none other than Ralph Lauren was on the design staff.


And....the move, The Sting, with swoooooooon, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, took place in the 30s...another influence...The costumer designer? none other than the stunning Edith Head. 

pic from 

So, not a surprise that some labels have a Art Deco 30s movie marquee look with the oval frame and the font...and the fun name........Tomboy !!

  pic from

Favorite Label Friday Nov 9 2012

I have a bad bad habit of buying things...just for the label. I spend my days looking at things and 99.99% have a label somewhere on them.....clothes have a label in the neckline, the zipper area, the waistband, the side seam...a lamp might have a stamp on the bottom, a piece of furniture a stamp like a woodburning in the drawer, the back or on the bottom.

some of the ones are things I've sold, things I own, things I have for sale....and every Friday except Holidays....I'm here to entertain and bring a smile! 

Just like any artist that designs a cute dress, a fancy blouse, or a rugged pair of pants or shoes or boots, a lamp, a piece of furniture.....the person that designs the labels often get CraZy ! or not.
Many labels are perfunctory...here's the facts ma'am....Others...well...Take a look!

This Junior Look label with flirty eyes !! is the kind that will make me open my wallet...
this is on a cute little decorated sweater from the late 50s or early 60s. It probably had a matching dress made of the black and white herringbone wool.
It's made of woven satin.
Cute !!

See, isn't that cute? I'd sure love to see the dress .... if it's still available, it's in this section of my shop

Here's the ubiquitous NIKE label. A Nike label can tell you a lot...this label with the Swoosh, and the slanted Nike, all say early 80s.
Nike sport shoes....here they are...if still available.

Here's a pair of 60s ACME cowboy boots. The ACME is stamped on the pull. Acme used woven cloth labels until sometime in the late 60s to early 70s when they went to ink stamps in the boots...and...as production had to speed up, and then moved to Mexico, or China or where-ever...and left the USA, so did the artful labels.

Here's a pair of 50s Acme boots. Notice that the cloth label is the pull !  And that is why we call this style, among other names, Cloth Pull Boots. simple, eh?

Bass fringe loafers are a sweet delight with the labels. Printed in the bottom of the shoe, in ink, is the name, the style and other important info. ..like Made in USA.
Hooray.  Simple and maybe kinda boring....

But wait, it gets better. 

 Sewn inside is woven satin tape....on some pairs...

See ! It's navy blue with forest green.  That's a hint...that color scheme was very popular in the 80s...and Bass still put all kinds of neat details in these always awesome preppy shoes.

Here's a very sweet hand-knitted sweater, probably purchased at the Hotel gift shop or clothing store  inside the Hotel, when a lady or a husband visited Hong Kong.
Look....

Mrs. Gladys Chang knit this sweater, and there's her address so you can order more once you return to the States.