Is it possible to want to be someone when I grow up even though I’m 31?

Because I want to be M.Bibelot.  She is, hands down, the most impressive wardrobe_remixer I can call a contact.  I think raiding her closet would be the highlight of my year–though I know I couldn’t pull off even a quarter of her things half as well.

Love her taste in furnishings, too.

My Saturday has been mostly taken up with sleeping.  Who knew getting 5 hours a night for the past week would lead to being near comatose by the end of it?  I did manage to hit up Volunteer Park for some serotonin and the drug store for passport photos for a visa for an upcoming vacation.

In the meantime, enjoy this fabulous chicken dress via My Vintage Vogue’s twitter stream.  Maybe, just maybe, a rooster might have been able to get me out of bed today.

One of the very first movies I added to my queue when I joined Netflix was The Thin Man.  I’ve never read Dashiell Hammett but I think that’s because the movies are delightful enough on their own.

The sequel, After the Thin Man, takes place over the course of only a few days so there isn’t much to see in the way of clothing.  The costume designer clearly had to settle for having fun with Nora Charles’ sleepwear, her robes looking much closer to evening wear than something you’d wear to cover up your nightie.

This might have been my favorite, worn after she woke up Nick in the middle of the night with a craving for eggs.  The bow is just too much.

She’s then wearing this robe with fur cuffs the following morning.  As you can see, Nick had to settle for one robe for the night.

While the fur is a nice touch, it’s the crazy pleating at the sleeve that really caught my eye.

If only sleepwear looked like this now.

I’ve been listening to the Finches and Basia Bulat pretty obsessively–both discovered via Pandora.

Basia hails from Canada and has the fey kind of style I’ve admired in the past.  It doesn’t hurt that she’s ridiculously talented with a store of heartbreaking songs.

The Finches are out of San Francisco and though their debut album is two years old, I hold out hope they’ve got more in the works.

Trying to find good versions of their songs is a bit tougher but they’re worth seeking out.

Getting some ideas for the Tweed Ride that’ll be taking place in Seattle on February 21st.

While I probably have more than enough wool and tweed in my wardrobe to throw something together, I’m getting seriously tempted by the idea of a vest…

More photos from the San Francisco Tweed Ride…and previously on (Into) the Fray…

I saw A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore last week with an old coworker.  I had no idea until the name flashed across the screen that Tom Ford directed it.  Had I been better at keeping up with my fashion blog reading, I might not have been caught by surprise.

I was not really impressed.  The phrase ’style over substance’ kept occuring to me.  I just never fully engaged with the characters but would have happily watched the entire thing on mute for the costumes, bouffant hair styles, and prettiness alone.

It’s too bad because I adore Julianne Moore in just about anything–and Colin Firth is yumminess personified.

Maybe I’ll just watch Magnolia for the 11th time to cleanse the palate…

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

It might be my fascination with all things vintage, it might simply be that my hair is inclined to bouffant despite my best efforts.  The draft of this post pre-dates my introduction to Mad Men but I definitely haven’t missed its presence on the show.

Diana at Our City Lights did an awesome post capturing the beehive’s most recent manifestations.  When the annual Christmas costume party rolled around, I finally had an excuse to wear one myself.

The theme this year was rock stars and I immediately thought of Amy Winehouse or one of the Ronettes.  Cats eye liner and a beehive could capture either equally well.  While it would have been nice to ape vintage indie queen Zooey D. (who I didn’t realize was a bouffant habitue until I saw the video Pigeon Toed posted) in her rock star persona from She & Him, I don’t think I could have pulled it off–or anyone would figure it out.

For an artistic rendition of big hair, check out these lovely ladies via Whorange.

Pictures of my my version to shortly follow.

As someone who loves tweed, Argyle (if you saw my socks in my wardrobe_remix photos, this would be more evident), and vintage style in general, I was delighted to see that cyclists in Washington, D.C. had organized a Tweed Ride.

Cyclists in Washington took part in the city’s first “Tweed Ride,” an event in which bicyclists put on their most dapper attire and toured the city. Participants were encouraged to wear Victorian-era fineries and ride vintage bicycles. The practice began earlier this year in London and since there have been rides in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.

I’d love to see Seattle join that list.

Via Reese.

Female, a pre-Code movie with Ruth Chatterton, presented a perfect butt bow I knew Wendy B. would appreciate.

George Brent’s expression says it all, doesn’t it?

And one more divine screen capture showing Ruth’s amazing costumes.

Happy Wednesday.

I know I’m quite late in finally seeing Sofia Coppola’s version of Marie Antoinette and have no real excuse other than it was one of many movies I always intended to see but never got around to–marathons of Dirty Jobs were far too distracting.

This film reminded me of Barry Lyndon in many ways, seeming at times to be far more about image than plot.  The conversation amounts to little, often consisting of obviously banal dialogue or gossip in voice over.  I don’t think this is unintentional, showing the vapid, shallow, fish bowl nature of life at Versailles.

I read the biography the film was based upon but it was years ago; I had to lean on wikipedia to recall that 7 years passed before Marie Antoinette bore her first child.  Her absorption in all things material has more context knowing just how long that period lasted.

Of course, my favorite scenes associated with this lavish opulence are of Marie and her favorites examining fabric.  I think I might actually make the same expression when I spy fabric I like.  Now I just need a little dog to accompany me.

While I know the party I’m going to tomorrow couldn’t possibly be as glamorous, it’s nice to dream.

My sister is a huge fan of Truman Capote and it’s through her that I read Breakfast at Tiffany’s and came to understand why he’d always envisioned Marilyn Monroe in the role and not Audrey.

His infamous ball has been on my mind as Halloween approaches and while I won’t be wearing a mask, I do have a costume.  I’ll be sure to get pics tomorrow.

Movies have definitely kept me occupied the last couple of weeks.  Having loved Wife Vs. Secretary so much, Jean Harlow was on my mind when I started filling up my Netflix queue.

Yet as a pre-code movie, it’s miles more risque than the comparative titles might sound–there’s even a glimpse of Jean’s breast during a scene where she’s switching pajamas with her long time friend, Sally.  The costumes are by Adrian, and despite being a mere secretary at the beginning, Jean’s clothes are to die for.

The pleated little triangles falling from the collar and sleeves of this dress were simply lovely in motion.  This pleating is replicated in the dress Jean wears while she’s getting sloshed on illegal hooch.

It’s hard to tell in this screen capture, but the sleeves are layers of little pleat, like one of those straws that collapses on itself.

After she wins over the local millionaire, her clothing gets much more extravagant with feathers and furs abundant.  This by far, with its Renaissance cascade of lace from oversized sleeves, was my favorite.

If anyone has any other Harlow movies to recommend, let me know.  She’s charming, even as a gold digger, and I’m sadly not as familiar with her work.

If the boyfriend is out of town or late at work, that equals a night of catching up on the classic movies I’m constantly saving to the DVR.  Most recently, that included Presenting Lily Mars and Wife vs. Secretary.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Judy Garland–her breathless, gushing sort of delivery has always given away just how vulnerable she really was.  She was 21 in this film and given the glamour treatment for the first time in her career–always consigned to the plain Jane girl-next-door roles previously.

Given this was filmed during the middle of the war, the costumes aren’t too outrageous.  The hats, on the other hand, certainly were–one even plays a key role in the plot, which shouldn’t be surprising given the emphasis on accessories during rationing.

While the acting in Lily Mars was nothing to sneeze at (Van Heflin was great fun in his flabbergasted dealings with Judy’s character), it’s hard to hold a light to Jean Harlow, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy.  In Wife vs. Secretary, you can tell they’re all absolutely having a blast with their roles.

If I had a complaint, it might be that, again, the costumes aren’t generally eye-catching.  As the secretary, Harlow is realistically portrayed in rather plain garb.  While Loy’s is definitely more extravagant, she’s also meant to be very classy (as always) and there’s rarely anything outlandish worth capturing in a screen shot.

Love the pleats, cuffs and delicate watch she’s wearing.

The charm of all of the actors, the standard 1930s repartee, make this a fun watch that goes by far too quickly.  James Stewart has about eight speaking lines as Harlow’s steady.

Related reading:

How Does a Girl Like You, Get to Be a Girl Like You?

Mildred Davis

Classic Film Stars Photoshopped

Simply adoring the sweet dresses at Very Purple Person.

Her choice of fabric, the ruffled sleeves and little pleats are all too darling.

While in my heart I know I couldn’t pull off a drop crotch romper, her pictures make me feel like in an alternate universe, I might look as cute.

Oh, to live in Tokyo with access to such amazing fabric. & of course she has an Etsy shop featuring her wonderful things.

As someone who’s written off the vague interpretations of ‘ethnic’ that various designers and more mass market brands have been pushing for the past few years, this article in Time about the death of the sari caught my eye.

“People in Delhi have abandoned their own traditional clothing,” says Bilal Ahmed, 24, a weaver who works for his family business in Jammu and Kashmir. Ahmed and his family specialize in Kadhai work, a type of embroidery. “We have started making more suits and shirts than saris,” he says. “People don’t buy saris anymore. Now they buy jeans.”

It’s interesting to think of something like the sari going the way of the dirndl or kimono–worn only for ceremony or cultural celebrations. The impact this has had on the weavers who make them has been apparent.  Perhaps it should be unsurprising, but a further blow to this craft in the form of knock-offs from China seems even more unfortunate.

But maybe there’s hope yet.  I got an email about Christine Philip’s Fusion line and was intrigued, especially in light of the article I’d read only a few weeks prior.

Currently based in Atlanta, Christine’s influences are her home country of India, and the middle East, where she’s lived extensively.

While these are far more sumptuous than anything I’d wear day to day, it’s just crazy to me that while western culture is wildly appropriating shapes, forms, prints and textures, those things are dying out in their original cultures–only to be born anew in these reimagined designs.

& if anyone can think of other designs working in a similar way (Sandra Oh in a couture version of a hanbok comes to mind), I’d love to hear it given I’m clearly fascinated by this kind of thing.

Though Regina Spektor’s most recent album came out at the beginning of the summer, it took being isolated in the woods for me to take the time to listen to it.

I think I first heard of her when she was opening for the Strokes way back when they were the new big thing.  I adored her playful, clever music but had no idea about her background, coming to the states through perestroika.

Her quirky songwriting is matched by an offbeat sense of style that strikes me as fanciful but still very real.  Her doll-like appearance certainly doesn’t hurt.

Not to mention I can’t help admiring those who can pull of red lipstick as a matter of course.

Don’t kill me but…a few gray days and a mist this morning have me actually thinking about fall.

Yes, there’s been a terrible heat wave in the northwest this summer, but as someone who’s constantly freezing, I gloried in actually being too warm for once.  So even I’m surprised to find myself thinking about what I might add to my wardrobe for the fall months, or how I might mix and combine things to come up with a fresh look.

These two wardrobe remixers caught my eye, the first for her use of florals with a patterned, textured tight and the second for the reverse example–florals on bottom, texture and pattern on top.  While I’ve only recently incorporated an all over floral into my wardrobe, I’m trying to imagine which tights I could wear them with–or perhaps a wool jacket–to mix things up for fall.

Happy Friday.

So intrigued by this exhibit at the White River Valley Museum at the Auburn Community College:

Suffer for Beauty: A Retrospective on Women’s History as Evidenced by the Evolution of Undergarments.

Each section includes a stylish outfit from an era, a silhouette of the ideal woman’s shape of the time, photos of trendsetters and local women doing their best to live up to the standard — and, of course, examples of the underwear that made it possible.

The article states the curators took a light hearted tone, which is pretty clear from the museum’s site where they actually say ‘women have been responding to these changing norms of beauty in the best way possible, altering their shape and look…’  While I don’t think I could approach corsets as the best of anything, I think it would still be fantastic to see these items in person.

I can’t believe I found out about this wonderful Portland based street style blog only recently.  I adore the combination of portraiture with typical street style shots–as well as their choices of who to feature.

I love clicking around the links lists featuring street style from around the world; it’s so much more satisfying to see what real people where in their daily lives.

Sadly, the Seattle based street style photographer has gone on to other things but I think Urban Weeds makes a great replacement for my local fill.

via Sugar Pixie Express.

I’ve known about Elsita’s amazing paper cuts and artwork for some time–she makes the front page of Etsy often enough I’d be blind not to know.

Her amazing sense of style, love for vintage clothes, use of color, and gorgeous hair accessories (not to mention her curls!) are all news to me.  Catalogued in her fashion blog, the Hidden Seed, I’m getting beyond inspired just looking at the pictures.

I just need to break out my fascinators a bit more.