René Lalique glass car mascots

Just had to write a post about these wonderful pieces of art. I used to gaze at these deco hood mascots in awe as a child in one of my dad’s vintage car books. Never forgot them and still would love to own some of them myself. René Lalique was a genius when it came to glassware.

Twenty nine mascot designs were produced for the sleek cars of Hispano Suiza, Isotta Fraschini, Bugatti, Bentley, etc. All were made from very high quality glass, and provision was made for them to be illuminated by special metal mounts. The rarest are the coloured and tinted pieces. Here are some of my favourites.

    

   

   

Photo Source

La Femme Chez Elle 1930s magazines

Ahh…La Femme Chez Elle. So many beautiful art deco minimalist style covers and fashion plates within. And lots of nifty hat making tips! I have scanned some of the articles for you here from a few of my collection. Yes, they are in French, but the visuals are worth looking at. Some lovely knitting patterns too and I really want to try and make the tilted straw hat. So cute! If you are interested, I have some for sale in my Etsy store. I noticed that Artposters.com even has copies of the covers for sale as prints.

          

Miss L Fire – Autumn/Winter 2012

I have been a fan of UK based Miss L Fire for a while now. Stunning shoes with styles so reminiscent of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Here are my favourites for the coming European season. I love the ‘Boston’ in green and wish I could have a pair right now! Miss L Fire, also have a one of the coolest websites around so check them out. The A/W 12 collection is shown here at the moment. Enjoy!

1920s/30s ‘Bibendum’ (Michelin Man) posters

As a kid I always liked the old version of the Michelin Man. My dad restores vintage cars and many of his friends in the vintage car club he belongs to collect old MM tin signs and paraphernalia.

Best of all, I love the old cigar toking, monocle-sporting, mummy-esque looking ‘Bibendum’ (his real name) of the 20s and 30s. He’s kinda scary looking but so very, very cool and sophisticated. Nothing like the lame ‘cartoonish’ Michelin Man of today who looks like he’s advertising children’s cereal.

           

    

Vintage photographer in focus: Simply stunning Steichen

I was pulling out some of my books on vintage photography recently and was reminded of how much I love Edward Steichen. I adore his simple lines and the way uses shadow and light. Steichen’s photos of gowns designed by Paul Poiret in the magazine Art et Décoration in 1911 are some of the very first modern fashion photographs and he helped define an era of glamour and elegance. Along with fashion work, he also photographed stunning portraits of movie stars and well-known faces of the day including Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Anna May Wong, Pola Negri, Loretta Young, Lilian Gish, Amelia Earhart and Joan Crawford. Hope you enjoy these classic images.

http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/steichen/

          

          

          

          

     

          

          

     

          

      

* Shared from my post on Swingfashionista

Snowfire Face Powder ad – 1936

I’ll take one of each hat please!

Source

Michelle’s Esty picks of the week: Art Deco homewares

Well, today I thought I would post pics of my favourite Art Deco homewares currently for sale on Etsy. There are so many wonderful finds to be had that I wish I had a tonne of money to purchase them all! Sadly , I would need a bigger house ;P Which one is your favourite? I think mine is the cocktail cabinet.

* All items linked back to their original Etsy source. 

          

    

    

   

For the chaps 1: Vintage swimsuits

Check out this awesome collection of men’s swimming trunks from the 1920s to the 40s from Vintage Haberdasher’s blog. Interestingly they range in colours from black to yellow but there seems to be a preference for the darker colour choices. Most were made from wool with a canvas belt to keep them from sagging and falling off once heavy with water and many have a little coin pocket included in the design.

Jantzen Ad, 1930

Vintage Olympic spirit!

Found some lovely pics, in keeping with the Olympic spirit that is upon us. Yes, we still have a the Parolympics to go yet folks. Here are some pics of the Olympic team uniforms from the past. The ladies even wore a cloche hat in the 1920 US team!

1920

1936

1948

1956

1960

Source

My Etsy picks of the week: 1930s

As most of you know, my favourite era is the 1930s, so this week I have scoured Etsy for 30s items that I like and posted them here for you all. From gowns to shoes and accessories, from sewing patterns to homewares. Some of these items are from a few of my fav fellow Etsy sellers such as Top Tottie Vintage , eStitches , SIB Vintage and Raleigh Vintage. Enjoy!

* All items linked back to their original Etsy source. 

                   

      

                        

Lovely 1940s snoods and shoes …

For all my 1940s loving friends … I have been scanning some of the great ads in vintage magazines that I own and thought I would share them as some of the shoes are simply stunning. Most of the pics are featured in a mid 40s Sears and Roebuck catalogue and the other is from the 1943 British magazine – Britannia. I love the Specators and the ‘Kumfees’. Great name 🙂

         

The cost of being a well-dressed flapper – 1926

Great article I found on the Retronaut website about high-end fashion in the 20s. The cost of  $346 in 1926 is equivalent to $4,414 today!! Clara Bow is the model here.