A Glorious Occupation

      I think the eighties get a bad rap.  We are at the tail end of an eighties revival, (and heading, gasp, into a nineties revival complete with grunge and ditsy prints), and I say to all the twenty somethings out there "you still don't get it".
     As someone who came of age in the early eighties, living within a 2 hour drive of New York City with a Mom who encouraged and facilitated all of my crazy ideas, it was an amazing time to be alive.
     I know that my experience would have been very different f I had never left the Connecticut town where we lived, if I had instead turned to big hair and acid wash as my uniform and inspiration.  But HBO played Kim Wilde and Clash videos in 1981, MTV followed not long after with Adam and the Ants, Visage, Duran Duran, Kate Bush, Ultravox, Bow Wow Wow and all the rest and that sealed it for me.  New York City was there, glowing like the Emerald City in the distance, calling me home.....
Fiorucci on 59th Street, The Village, Washington Square Park, St Mark's Place, Unique Boutique, the long lost and lamented Canal Jeans Co.  Music everywhere, dancers in the parks, boom boxes playing Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaata.  I remember going to the city on a school trip, sitting in the Museum of Modern Art staring at the architectural model of Falling Water for hours, seeing Carmen at Lincoln Center, and walking along sidewalks that glittered in the bright lights of midtown.  My mom and I went down to the Metropolitan Museum to see some amazing Costume Institute Exhibits, (before they built a permanent space in the basement), Yves St Laurent, Indian Costume, not to mention the Tiffany Windows in the American Wing.  It was a decade of anything goes in fashion.  I used to wrap a  piece of fabric around me in a tight tube, cinch it off with a combat belt, lace up my boots, requisite gel in the hair and off I went to school.  My love of vintage was honed in an era when every thrift shop was bursting with roach killer shoes and vintage 50's dresses, deco cigarette cases and drawers overflowing with gloves and jewelry.  I wanted so badly to have pink crazy hair like the girl in the Stand and Deliver video, and paint an apache stripe across my face to conquer the world.
    In the middle of all of this add an older brother, amateur DJ and sometime juvenile delinquent, who mixed his love of hip hop culture with my love of the New Romantic.  He used to, like all older brothers have done at one stage or another, give me gifts for my birthday, music that he wanted but thought I might like, only to say, days later, "Oh, I know you really didn't like that Malcolm McLaren, Tom Tom Club, etc., record I got you.  I'll just take it off your hands and get you something else" So off the record would go to his room, only to find me in his room stealing it back, because I actually did like it/ want it and no way was he going to steal my birthday present!  When my brother got his driver's license in 1981, he went off in my mom's little white Subaru and was gone for 3 days.  Turns out he just decided to drive it down to the city to have an adventure.  It was a crazy time.

SO, ANYWAY.......

     The whole reason I am telling you this story is because I found a way in my Textile Influences class to channel my love of 80's music and fashion.  A way to show people some of the things that shaped me and why I still believe that it was an era unmatched in color, music and creativity.

     I did a huge project on Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood and the influences on the textiles of the World's End Collections that they did together from 1981 - 1983.
     I started with Pirates and ended with Witches and I tried to show the amazing mix of culture and music and history and hip hop that influenced their work at that time.  This crazy scavenger hunt was a real joy for me to do (but with lots of late nights, which doesn't mix so well with looking after a toddler) and it has fueled a fire that I thought had long been extinguished in my soul.  I wish I could share it all with you, but a 65 page power point presentation with video is kind of hard to show in a blog.  Instead, here are some images and links to help you along.
    It all came from Malcolm's quote "Stealing is glorious occupation, particularly in the art world".  And steal they did.  As quoted on Vivienne Westwood's site, they were "plundering history and the third world..."  Did you know that Malcolm is the one who gave Adam Ant his Apache stripe?  It was a wild ride, and if you stop by one day for some tea, I'll be happy to give you the whole song dance, complete with references and footnotes.  Until then, enjoy a very small sample of my latest obsession and be inspired by the music and the video.  All of the research and correlation of images is mine, it's all documented in case you have any questions and, trust me, it was truly a labour of love......

Talk about finding a Rossetta Stone to help figure out what I'm looking for... above is Mary Read, female pirate.  Below is the invite to the Pirate show, red shirt, exposed breast and all.

Bow Wow Wow, C-30, C-60, C-90, Go!  Their Pirate collection in action, their Pirate philosophy in musical form....

Apache brothers, World's End styling, Navajo blanket....

This Matisse collage (Femmes et Singes) is not well known, but it can be seen hanging on the wall of Matisse's studio and printed on these two dresses......

Malcolm McLaren, Buffalo Gals

I could watch this a dozen times in a row.  I think I have at this point.  Love the Rock Steady Crew...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miMkdjDMmKg

Punkature video from You Tube, (it wouldn't let me link the video directly - this is one of the more obscure clips under Vivienne Westwood on youtube....) The song is Malcolm McLaren's "Soweto"

I love anyone who can mix victorian wallpaper and Blade Runner and get away with it........

Malcolm McLaren, Double Dutch  

Watch their feet, and then look at the crazy shoes that Malcolm and Vivienne are wearing in the picture below.  They were designed to look like strobe motion, multiple framed feet in motion....

Witches, their final collection together (they could barely stand each other at this point, bricks were thrown through windows, just nasty stuff.....) featured prints done by Keith Haring, based on his subway drawings.  It is also based on Vivienne's research into Caribbean voodoo.....

Crazy, but cool.  The image on the bottom is a voodoo mud ritual asking for help with money issues.....

Like I said, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  But it is wonderful to be inspired again....

These images are used for educational purposes only (and published without permission).   

All are documented to the best of my abilities below.  

Sorry for the horrid margins and numbering layout.  Computers drive me crazy.

In order of viewing:
1) Mary Read, n.d., viewed on 28 February 2012 <http://piratical2.pbworks.com/w/page/17003204/Mary%20%20Read:%20Crossing%20the%20Gender%20Lines%20of%20Piracy>.
2) Beeche, Robyn, Pirate Invite, Wilcox, P2004, Vivienne Westwood, V&A Publications, London

3) Bow Wow Wow c-30, c-60, c-90 Go, video, SGG THIGH, 4 may 2011, viewed on 18 March 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb5Nk0WOF84>.

4) SPC Sw Apache BAE 1-29 02005600, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, n.d., viewed on 2 March 2012 <http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siarchives&uri=full=3100001~!33347~!0>.

5) Beeche, Robyn, Pirate, Wilcox, P2004, Vivienne Westwood, V&A Publications, London

6) Blanket 1870 - 1880, Rodee, P2003, Weaving of the Southwest:From the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen PA
7)  Beeche, Robyn, Savage Collection, Wilcox, P2004, Vivienne Westwood, V&A Publications, London
8) MNAM CCI Paris, Studio in the Hotel Regina 1953, Bergruen et al, P2002, Henri Matisse Drawing With Scissors, Prestel, Munich
9) Dress Malcolm McLaren, n.d., viewed on 16 February 2012 <http://metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/80087569?rpp=60&pg=2&ft=Vivienne+Westwood&img=2>.
10) Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals, video, 103clips, 18 February 2006, viewed on 21 March 2012, <http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14en_malcolm-mclaren-buffalo-gals_news>.
11) Punkature Vivienne Westwood 1982 Paris, video, boogietv, 21 October 2009, viewed on 15 March 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miMkdjDMmKg>.
12) Beeche, Robyn, Punkature Runway detail, Wilcox, P2004, Vivienne Westwood, V&A Publications, London
13) Blade Runner image, 2 May 2008, viewed on 8 March 2012 <http://io9.com/385974/la-to-become-blade-runner+esque-dystopia>.
14)  Mercury Wallpaper designed by Lewis F. Day, n.d., viewed on 8 March 2012 <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O228211/wallpaper-mercury-low-price-wallpapers-for/>
15) Malcolm McLaren Double Dutch, video, 29 June 2007, viewed 21 February 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt6Co7EMNCU>.
16) Chi, Tseng Kwong, P1984, Art in Transit, Harmony Books, New York
17) Meisel, Steven, (original US Vogue June 1983), Wilcox, P2004, Vivienne Westwood, V&A Publications, London
18) Women’s bomber jacket and skirt designed by Vivienne Westwood, n.d., viewed on 23 March 2012 <http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=353280>.
19) Munoz, Eduardo, Reuters, Haitian Voodoo, n.d., viewed on 24 March 2012 <http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_nv/more/section/archive?date=2009/7>.

Umm, Happy Belated New Year?

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I know, I know, I know.......
It has been a a very long time.
BUT,
I have a good excuse.

I have been going back to school, 2 nights at week at RMIT, studying textile design!
It's been an intensely amazing time, but it has not left me much room to breathe.
Before the Easter break I was working frantically on a project that was way more than I needed for credit in my class, but I did it to my standard, not theirs, and I am very happy with the result...

See my next post for details, and, umm, happy new year?

a long overdue hat

     Oh, poor neglected blog.  Yes, I have been ignoring you in favor of my daughter and my textile class.  Yes, I keep promising new things and then........ nothing.  Well, no more!  My course is finally finished and I have a few extra moments to devote back to you.  I suppose that I have been fulfilling the main purpose of this blog - to be inspired to do creative things.  Of course, there are only so many hours in the day to do those things.
Anyway..........

    Have you ever sewn a hat?  They are deceptively tricky.  Such small, seemingly simple things that are like logic puzzles in the actual construction.  This pattern is one that I've had a for a while.  It doesn't even have all of the pieces.  Just the instructions.  But, knowing that it is a size 22 (inches), I could probably blow up the instructions on the copier and recreate the pattern.  Which means that, if you're ambitious enough, you can too!

      I love old hats.  Especially the ones that you need to actually style your hair to wear properly as opposed to the hats that are just meant to hide your hair which isn't properly styled.  And I always love a good rain hat.  Especially one that protects the carefully styled hair.
    I own a vintage home sewn hat like the mini hunting cap, purple herringbone with a red feather, and it is just fabulous.

Have fun, take deep breaths and follow the instructions..........

  

      Oops, a couple of lines got cut off.  On the left, that last line should be "Trim hat seam to 1/4".  And on the right, it should read " Tack bow to CF of headband over pleats".  

      You may find that you need to clip the seams a bit more than shown.  You may be pulling your hair out by the time you get to that point.  You may have already finished and are saying "so, what was the big deal?"  In any case, it's always good to know how to sew a hat.  Even if you never do.

I don't own the copyright to this pattern.  Vogue does.  I have scanned this without their permission.  I don't do this for profit, only to inspire others. 

     

Ask not what your country can do for you......

      It has been a tough weekend in terms of world news.  Being an ex pat often means that I read the news from the US in the role of an outsider looking in.  I'm not going to discuss politics here, mostly because that's not what this blog is about, but I would like to acknowledge the armed forces of the US, (and also the Diggers from Australia) who are serving in Afghanistan.

     I love vintage and part of the reason why I love vintage is because I love history.  I love the glamour of the 1930's and 1940's mostly because of the contrast and escape it offered from the day to day reality of most people's lives during that period.  My grandmother saved her ration coupon book from the era and passed it to my mom, (who I hope still has it - I have a worrying feeling that she gave it to a 12 year old me and I have no idea what happened to it).  I don't know where it is now, but I remember looking at those coupons, one for eggs, one for flour, one for sugar, one for meat (each with corresponding picture) and thinking "that was it?"   Don't forget, it didn't mean that you got those things for free. It meant that when you went to the store to purchase those things, you could only buy them if you had a coupon, could only buy the amount specified and only if they were available.  No coupon, no stock, no luck.  Food was rationed.  Fabric was rationed.  Most industrial materials were funneled into the war effort and consumer goods were not as widespread and readily available as they are now.

    That's the key phrase, really, "as they are now".  The US has been involved in major combat operations since 2002 but what has the average citizen given up, had rationed, or gone without?  Not much.  We live in a la la land of shopping malls, amazon.com, free delivery and free returns, Starbucks coffee, all you can eat buffets and weekends in the Caribbean.  Any fruit we want is available year round at the local super grocery store.
    I know that has changed a bit since 2008 with the economic downturn, but I think you understand what I am getting at.  Can you think of one material thing you have done without since the first planes bombed Afghanistan or the troops marched on Baghdad?

    It seems that the people who have been the ones doing without are the ones who have family members serving in the conflict zones.  And now there are 38 more families who will do without, forever.  The men who died in that chopper crash, be they American or Afghan, will never go home again.

     It has been a week of news about asking what your country is going to do for you rather than asking what you can do for your country.

    This seems silly, after all the seriousness of the last paragraphs, but once upon a time some of what you did for your country included knitting for the soldiers.  It gets cold in Afghanistan in the winter, and even though these patterns are 64 years old I don't suppose any soldier is going to turn down the offer of warmth.  So, lets think back to a time when knitting wool was rationed, (chances are you just unraveled and rewashed the yarn from an old sweater to make anything new), but our soldiers could still look forward to a warm cap and vest to layer on those cold days.
And think about those soldiers who will never make it home......

The patterns above are from "Guide to Modern Knitting and Crocheting" by Alice Carroll, published in 1947 by Wm H. Wise and Co. NY.  I don't own the copyright to any of these images. 

My intention, as always, is to share and inform, not to profit.

A little learning is dangerous............

    I love the Australian Home Journals that my husband's grandmother gave to me last month.  Every time I look at them, I find something new and interesting.  Dramatic housewife fiction, fascinating ads for Nylex toothbrushes and Youth-o-Form corsets, and loads of knitting patterns.  Some of them still have the original gift with purchase sewing patterns tucked between the pages.  How cool is that?

     All of the issues before 1951 have a quote across the top of the cover page.  One says: Going back to the dark ages? Another one says: Absence of occupation is not a rest.  And my favorite: A little learning is dangerous.
 I can only imagine what the rest of them might have said.  And what kind of message were they sending to the housewives of Oz?
 
     So, to make up for missing last week, (sick child, sick mommy, no daycare day off, etc, etc...), here are two things for you to make and do as we head towards the last weeks of winter, (and my US friends start to think about Autumn leaves).............


     Let's start with something to wear with your cardigan on those days that you don't want to wear tight knit sleeves over a blouse....... Oh, and don't forget to note the gargle recipe at the very end.  It is cold season, after all!

See, you didn't even have to knit that and with a good pair of pinking shears you don't need to hem it either.  For the metric system devotees, 1" is 2.5 cms.  Please measure your goods accordingly.

Now for the knitting portion of our program:

(read the pattern in columns for the first two pictures - the third column is on it's own at the end)

How fabulous is that?  A snappy jerkin for chilly transitional days.  Imagine it over a long sleeve T with wide leg pants and some great jewelry.  Not that I'd wear it like that, (I'd find a vintage puff sleeve 1950's blouse pattern and do it up old school) but you have to admit it is "snappy".

Just a reminder that I don't share my collection for profit, only inspiration.  I don't hold the copyright to any of these images.

Have fun!

A bonnet for your pixie..........

     My husband's grandmother recently gave me some of her old Australian Home Journal magazines.  I love old magazines, especially ones that have old knitting and sewing patterns.  At one point I loved them for the illustrations.  Now I love them because they are a window into the way things used to be made.  You can know all of your vintage style by sight, but not until you've knit or sewn a pattern from the early twentieth century do you truly begin to understand how these clothes were constructed and fit.
    The ladies these magazines were geared for are the original "wing it" designers.  Nothing says "now figure it out yourself" like a pattern with instructions that abruptly end or else tell you to now "finish all with 1/4" bias binding".
     This pattern is one of those - it tells you everything you need to know to make it, but it leaves just enough room for you to wing it.  Plus, little girls don't wear enough bonnets anymore and they are so cute!

Please don't use this pattern for commercial reasons.   These things shouldn't sit in a box in someone's attic, forgotten, and that's why I share them with you...............

Sew For Your Country.............

    I am posting this a bit later than I expected.  Between birthdays, skids and school holidays life takes over sometimes.

     Once upon a time, if you needed a new suit you would either pop down to the shops to have one tailored OR you would pop down to the shops for some fabric and make one yourself.  The US government was in full support of the home arts, especially coming out of the 1940's and 1950's.  I have fabulous knitting patterns to make to send to your soldier boys on the front, (helmet liners, fingerless gloves to use with their rifles, etc) and I am still hoping to one day acquire a fabulous pattern issued during WW2 which basically shows you how to cut a woman's suit from an old man's suit.
    Times are different now, and your average career woman doesn't have time to whip up a new suit over the weekend for Monday's meeting.  However, some of the techniques in this booklet are really good to know if you even like to sew a little bit, and knowing how to make proper pockets and buttonholes is invaluable.  
   The US government booklet shown below was issued in 1964 and distributed as a free gift by a NY state representative.  Enjoy!

Once again, I do not hold the copyright to any of these images.  I share my collection for personal, not commercial use.