Swoonworthy: history

Monday, April 27, 2009

Speak Easy

On Saturday night, I reconnected with some long-lost good friends at a Roaring '20s-themed party. The lighting was perfect, everyone was appropriately dressed, and there were even blackjack and craps tables set up (surprisingly, the host said he didn't spend a dime on decorating, but it looked great!).

I wished I had a flapper dress to wear, but I was able to make do with a brown satin cocktail dress, a tweedy, textured vintage jacket with cute trim & buttons (probably from the 1940s), and a feathered headband, all of which I already owned.

I absolutely love fashion from this decade. The caps, hats & headbands, the long strands of pearls, and the dropped waist dresses (which I can't necessarily pull off properly due to my disproportionately large hips - not that they're large on their own, just that compared to the rest of my body, they're a little off... TMI? Sorry...).

I'm also a huge fan of art and fashion illustration from the '20s. I love the art deco movement and its influences not only in illustration, but also in architecture and jewelry.

I have an art deco calendar above my desk at home that I could easily get lost in for hours.

What are your thoughts on the Roaring '20s?
Style-wise, what is your favorite decade?

*swoon*
Paige

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Commons

I woke up to the most beautiful morning today! It will be in the low 70's today and tomorrow, sunny through and through!

I had a fantastic, ultra productive three-day weekend. Ran a lot of errands, did a lot of cleaning, and even made the drive all the way up to the Skagit River Valley (northeast of Seattle) to go to the tulip festival! (I'll post pictures in the near future...)

For today, I had planned to focus on tulips... but during my search for photographs, I came upon Flickr's newest project, The Commons.

The Commons is a place to view the world's public photography archives, and add whatever information you may know about specific photos, therefore enriching the collection. Maybe I'm late in discovering this, but it's just too cool not to share! If you don't have a Flickr/Yahoo account, I would highly suggest signing up just to access this amazing collection.

The Gullick Family, New South Wales, circa 1909
These outfits are gorgeous!

Paris Exposition: ship, Paris, France, 1900

Japanese-American camp, war emergency evacuation, circa 1942
(this title is a bit misleading, using "camp" for "prison"... amazing how they could still smile and look oh so fashionable during such a horrible time in history)