Timeless Patterns, Not a Passing Trend

   If you follow me on Pinterest you'll know that I'm a bit of a designophile.  Most of my pinning involves home interiors.  Even before Pinterest I had a huge album where I cut out and saved room interiors from magazines, sort of an old school vintage Pinterest, if you will.  I came across an article recently claiming that the chevron trend is dead.  Chevron or zig zag patterns have totally saturated design blogs lately and while I'll be glad to see trends evolving into something new, I couldn't help scoffing at this claim.  First of all, calling something as timeless as chevron a trend, is a bit ridiculous.  You can find this pattern in Byzantine mosaics for crying out loud!  Classic patterns have been repeated all through the 20th century (and before) until now, so design snobs everywhere need to stop insisting they've created a trend and can quash it whenever they deem it no longer relevant.  For your viewing pleasure, I've gathered some examples of timeless patterns from the 20s-60s.  My point being, that if you love something, wear it, put it in your home, and never be deterred because someone else insists "it's dead."

  Chevron

Joesphine Baker 1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1950s

1960s

Polka Dots

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1950s (dots AND chevron)

1960s

Plaid/ Gingham/ Tartan

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1950s

1960s

Houndstooth

Coco Chanel 1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s 

1972

Stripes

1920s

1930s

1930s (stripes and chevron)

1940s

1950s

1960s

1960s

What are your favorite patterns?

Mod mini

  When people think about preserving historic buildings, there are a couple of structures that stand out as worthy of our attention.  Styles like Colonial, Gothic revival, Victorian, and even Art and Crafts always garner a lot of attention.  What about buildings in our more recent past?  Mid-Century architecture isn't deemed nearly as sexy.  There are not a whole lot of people clamoring to save 1940s service stations, even if they are perfect examples of Art Deco architecture.  What about post war neighborhoods?  There aren't many historic walking tours dedicated to appreciating tracks of ranch homes.  Nobody is chaining themselves to these buildings, even though many are slated for demolition.  I had planned to do an outfit post in front of a vacant storefront downtown, but before I could schedule it, it had burned to the ground.  No one seemed bothered.  It was after all, just another vacant building in a struggling economy.  It got me thinking, perhaps I should seek out some of these vacant mid-century buildings for photo shoots.  Wouldn't it be glorious, if instead of building more stucco, Styrofoam filled monstrosities, we rehabbed some of these well built, brick mid-century businesses?  This is a series dedicated to all the forgotten postwar buildings.  I would like to bring them out of obscurity and into your consciousness.  
   The first is Cleaver Carpet Center, which opened in 1947, and no longer has regular business hours.  The broken window is the first sign that this building is in trouble.

Outfit details:

1960s "Suburban Corner" minidress: thrifted

1950s stretch corset belt: garage sale

1960s enamel rotary phone brooch: Ebay

Poetic License shoes: Modcloth

Older image from Flickr

The Satellite

If you've driven in South Colorado Springs you are probably familiar with the Satellite Hotel.  It was built in 1969 by architect Paul Brown, in an eight point compass shape in order to capture a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains and the Eastern Plains.  The structure is a great example of Googie style architecture, with a futuristic starburst that sits atop the building, space station shape, and a sign that evokes the World's Fair globe.  Today the building is part hotel, part condominium, and fortunately, a local landmark.

Outfit details:

1950s Judy Palmer dress: Etsy

1950s aqua filigree cateye glasses: Etsy

assorted Lucite and Bakelite bangles: Ebay & thrifted

1960s hotel matchbook

image from midcenturystyle.net

Petals and Pinafores, Winnie age 3

This year my darling daughter turned three years old.   She is clever, funny, and has a sunny, happy disposition.  Every morning she wakes up with a smile.  She puts on her prettiest dress, throws on her Hello Kitty backpack and announces it's time to go to school (she's too young for preschool...but at least she'll be ready next year.)  She loves to sing, twirl around in fluffy skirts, and read anything about cats or kittens.  She told me she is a super hero and her powers are being adorable and making rainbows.  We are so happy to have her in our lives.

Outfit details: 

1940s cotton undershirt and 1940s red and white pinafore: antique store

Want to see Winnie's vintage birthday dresses from her last two birthdays?

age1

age 2

Pineapples and Hula

I finally hosted my "bitches getting drunk" party.  I went with a Tiki theme, mostly because I really wanted to make tropical drinks with umbrellas, but also because I had the perfect dress.  I found this late 50s Hawaiian themed dress at the thrift store last Halloween.  It has a gorgeous black and gold print of islanders in boats, pineapples, hula girls, palm trees, etc.

Outfit Details: 

1950s Red Hawaiian themed dress: thrifted

Vintage gold basket weave box purse: antique mall

1950s gold charm bracelet: Ebay

Red flower fascinator: Ebay

Embroidered flower wedges: Nine West

 

I collected several different drink recipes from vintage sources, but we got stuck on Mai Tais, which are so very delicious.  

Mai Tais:

pour over ice

one shot white rum

one shot dark rum

1/2 shot coconut rum

1/2 shot apricot brandy

mix with orange pineapple juice

for added effect I served them in vintage Siesta Ware with pineapple novelty straws, colored drink umbrellas, and DRY ICE!

SiestaWare

I also made Pina Colada cupcakes & Tikis on horseback among lots of other food.

I had a fabulous time and now I am ready to plan for the next event.  Got any good theme ideas?

Kidney beans, amoebas, boomerangs, and ...umm gallbladders.

  I've been a bit out of the blogging loop.  A couple of weeks ago, a friend stopped by after dinner, for a quick chat and a beer.  I started having abdominal cramps and pretty serious back pain.  After my friend left, I decided that a hot shower would fix everything.  Before I could even rinse the shampoo out of my hair, I was doubled over in the bathtub in such terrible pain that I couldn't catch my breath.  I managed to stumble downstairs, mascara pooled under my eyes and lathery bubbles in my hair, to throw up a couple of times.  My oldest son called my husband to come home quickly and drive me to the emergency room.  I'm not one to complain about pain lightly.  I had a home birth, and aside from a couple of deep breaths and a crinkled forehead, I handled it pretty gracefully.  This was a different story.  I felt pretty confident that some internal organ had exploded, my diaphragm was paralyzed, and a painful death was eminent. At the hospital,  I was rushed back pretty quickly. FYI, the mere mention of chest pain, and the E.R. staff takes you pretty seriously.  After $9,000 worth of tests, and a shot of morphine, the doctors concluded that I had gallbladder stones and would need surgery to remove this insubordinate little organ.  I had laparoscopic surgery two weeks ago.  This surgery is meant to be minimally invasive, and includes 4 incisions, blowing your abdomen up with air, inserting a camera, some robot arms, and then evicting my bastard gallbladder.  Surgery went well, I am told, and I was sent home late that afternoon.  I have a vague memory of trying to convince the nurse that I wanted to take my gallbladder home with me in a jar.  I was on a lot of painkillers those first couple of days, so this may have been a dream.  I'm finally starting to feel like myself, well myself at about 65%, but it's a start.  In honor of my gallbladder, I thought I'd share some fabulous ads of mid-century modern furniture, shaped in amorphous, nature inspired silhouettes.

Kidney bean table woodworking pattern

Abstract artwork in a 1950s interior design book

collection of mid-century products, including; nesting tables, ashtray, ottoman, and Formica boomerang countertops

1950s Flooring advertisment

The lovely Betty White, who my son likes to remind me is literally older than sliced bread

1964 Futurama brochure

Ray and Charles Eames

It's good to be back!

XOX, Hannah