Boots and Flakey Sellers

I buy a lot of boots. I like boots. I am very particular about the insides of my boots...and you should be too. This can also happen with shoes, but it is pretty prevalent with boots, tho.
I ask sellers, when buying on line, if the lining is :
a/ Sticky.
b/ Flakey.
c/ Dusty.
If any of these things are going on, TOSS THE BOOTS IN THE GARBAGE.
Yes, Online boot sellers on etsy and ebay and in general in the big interwebs.
If a sellers knows their boots are ikk inside and sells them anyway....BAD NEWS. I encourage ya'll to file a complaint with Paypal to get your money back.

That "dusty" "flakey" "sticky" shit is TOXIC chemical glue that's breaking down. It is tiny microscopic particles of death that is breathed in to your lungs.
Eww. Bad. Toxic. Crap.

I have had to toss out a few pairs of boots from online sellers because they didn't know shit from shinola. If a vintage clothing seller has been doing online selling for a year or so, I'd say they sure as hell better tell me the truth about the inside damaged lining or they'll be facing A Big Fat SNAD complaint thru Paypal.
I just bought these black boots from this etsy seller and they are wonderful! The boots and the seller! funkyfrugalfashions



2 brands that are the worst, tho it can happen with any boot that is lined in that foamy shiny knit, are Cobbies, and Joyce, but I have a wonderful pair of feather-trimmed tall 70s cowboy boots from Dingo....same problem. I'm gonna cut them apart and remove the lining and remodel them for me.

The best boots in the world, if you can find them...are leather lined ones from Italy. Or unlined boots from Brazil run a close second in the quality scheme of things. Real work boots, real cowboy boots and real designer boots are great finds too....

Right now I only have about 22 pairs of boots....I've really pared down my pairs...ha ha...from my high water mark of 46 boots.
Not a huge number in the celebutant world of shopping-craziness, but then, I'm not rich or a celeb, so I thought that was a big number. This is just my personal boots collection......I'm not counting my boots for sale....at any given time.

I hate getting ripped off...ignorance is not bliss in this case!

Feeling very Marianne...again

His Cabin in Transylvania

just a few sneak peaks at......Drac's cabin where he vacations when the Holidays are over.......even shiny plastic vampires need a rest from time to time......

The Vintage Fashion Rules but Bonnie Cashin

Bonnie Cashin vintage jacket

I bought a vintage fashion book a month or so ago...It has Fashion Rules. Vintage Fashion Rules. Wear this but not that.I read about fashion, vintage and contemporary, all the time but I rarely follow any rules. I look at myself as a canvas...and my whole life is one big art project...

Elegance by Dariaux has kept my interest ....obsessively so....because it was written in 1964 and man, Do I remember the Rules!

City ensemble.
Country ensemble.
Day dress.
Afternoon dress.
Dinner dress.
Ball gown.
Matchy matchy.
Hat.
Gloves.
Handbag.
Stockings.

Let me give you an example of the terror of dressing with elegance...

"GLOVES" "Even women who never wear a hat should always wear gloves whenever they go out. Gloves are one of the most unobtrusive accessories when you are wearing them, but their absence is glaringly apparent when you have left them at home! You should train your daughter to wear gloves as soon as she is old enough to walk."
p.99.



this is from a Vogue '68 summer issue (I also have that white bowler hat on etsy too!)

And of course we can all remember the uproar Mrs. O caused when wearing a sleeveless dress........I hope you notice how much it is like that red dress from 1968!



the rule was : "A matching coat and dress that is called a "cocktail ensemble" in Paris, but in reality is often far too dressy for such an occassion, although perfect for theater openings and very elegant black-tie dinner parties." p.123
and "In order to attain the height of discreet elegance, which is the summum of the art of dressing, a woman must be either particularly gifted if she has not passed all her life in that atmosphere, or else she must give a great deal of thought to the question. And don't think for a moment that you will automatically reach this perfection by paying an enormous amount of money to some famous couturier! The truth is that the contrary is more often true, because a successful designer is obliged to seek striking effects by inventing a spectactular silhouette or unusual color harmonies." p.56.

The big Up In Arms controversy for Mrs. O was that her clothes were not elegant, were too casual, too eye-catchy and rather flip about the role of First Lady.

Dariaux lists the most famous of the Parisian couturiers and states the speciality of each one. She believed in the early 60s that there were few designers worth paying any attention to if they were not European.
She does allow that some American designers are worthy of the dollars of an elegantly dressed woman. The very first American woman on her list is Bonnie Cashin.
"Bonnie Cashin, who creates extremely chic and original sportswear."
p.54.

I adore all Bonnie Cashin!
She was born in 1915 in Oakland, California. Her father, Carl, wore coveralls that later inspired her to design the first woman's jumpsuit. Her mother, Eunice, was a dressmaker and major influence on her life.

Bonnie designed simple clothes and used leather in imaginative ways.
She often said "Chic is where you find it."

She designed quirky touches for Coach in the early 60s...things we take for granted now were her ideas: Big hardware on purses like brass toggles used to close handbags and also coats. She also used hardware to decorate gloves. The story goes that she was inspired by the ones that latched her convertible's top.

I have a Bonnie Cashin jacket that is a classic Bonnie in many ways. Superior wool cloth is soft, warm and sturdy. It is edged with a tiny strip of butter-soft leather.
The shape of the jacket is deceptively simple. It appears to be just a few a squares and rectangles sewn together...but her talent shines in the chic cut of the fabric. It molds to the body in a most attractive manner rather than hanging like a bag.


If you love Bonnie Cashin as much as me, you can spend some inspirational time at this website, The Bonnie Cashin Foundation, and this one also, at UCLA.






Bonnie in a Sears ad in the 70s.
Well, I hope the only rules you follow with fashion, vintage and otherwise, is to wear what is flattering to you, and to wear what makes you happy.

This Is an Answer to the question: Why Is Vintage So Smaaaaallll??

I am asked all the time...Why is vintage so small?
well, Victoria, people were generally tinier back in the old
days....they did more stuff that burned more calories and let's
not forget the food shortages because
of the war years and a Depression. Smaller people = smaller clothes.





Today, we have vitamins in our food, and in water that comes in plastic bottles.
We have food that has 12,000 calories per teaspoon, and that makes a bigger human.
Now,my people were hardy short and wide peasant stock from Eastern Europe, when they
weren't dipping into the Mediterranean gene pool...also tending to be shorter rather than taller....
The larger ladies want fancy dresses....I have some of those coming up soon.
I mostly have the Daily Dress...the marketing, the car-pool, the casual lunch with the girls...all cute, but not a party dress.
I am sorry about this...but larger sizes tend to be the Day Dress ....clothes were expensive compared to today's bargain shopping at "CheapNess Is A Virtue Corporate Chain Store"......du jour.

Here's a few at etsy....and I have a half-rack of size 14 and up...and in a week or so...more shall appear........

Merry Christmas Mom

Just cause my mom is dead doesn't change anything...
I loved my mom with my whole heart and I still do.




She loved Tony Bennett...and the first video is what my childhood looked like...
Judy Garland was another favorite in the house...and, well, growing up in the BayArea...San Francisco is the Center of the Universe.

I was a strange child I guess because I never went through "I can't stand my mom" phase.
Maybe because I got so little of her that I craved her constantly.
I think most children do crave their moms and dads, and they think they never get enough attention.
But with me, since I had to live apart from her for so many years as little little girl... I treasured the time I had. She gave me permission to be imperfect and odd. She demanded good behavior from me...well, she demanded truthfulness and honesty, and iced with tact if at all possible.



She was smart as a whip, and I get my whipsmartass attitude from her.
I treasure my weird sick odd childhood. I got to see so much and that made me both surprised by bullshit when it happens and also so jaded that I have a way of dealing with the bullshit...
I love the crazy half-ass way she did the whole Xmas thing...she'd make a big deal of it all, but then she'd set aside one day in late December to get really stinking drunk. I always had the best presents...she knew exactly the thing I really really wanted.

I tossed this one in the mix, because she'd have loved kd lang.



My oldest daughter has the pictures of Xmas 1970. Plastic drapes from Woolworths, cat-scratched dirty gray furniture, the dog scratching his many fleas, wobbly plant stand of her orchids...



And finally this Tony Bennett song...that Shields and Yarnell did also....because, Smile...it beats the Eternal Dirt Nap...
Merry god damn Xmas Mom...I know I was your favorite after Leland died...

Free Fun on Broadway - Pants half-off

	All funkoma vintage PANTS are half-off the marked price...because that's funny...
	David and Heidi consented to play here again! Folksingers In Hell Tacomen said they'd show and bring FIRE !! from about 3ish to 7ish... Cheez Whiz, Crackers, Hot Water, and toilet paper. This is the kind of Old School Tacoma fun we used to have until some dumbass closed down the MECCA! (totally PG rated entertainment) And it's FREE !

Date:	Saturday, December 19, 2009
Time:	3:05pm - 6:55pm
Location:	712 Broadway