Fashion Inspiration From The Movies! Casablanca Style.

Hello my darlings! It is yet again time for a monthly installment of: Fashion Inspiration From The Movies.

This time I am featuring Casablanca a fabulous classic!

Casablanca 1942
Staring: Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman

Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. 

Now it is time for my ever so exciting commentary regarding the fashions from this classic:

Bogart has on a wonderful fedora, trench coat and tie, if only men looked this good today!  Ingrid is sporting her famous hat (I have a hat like this) and such a classy suit!

Bogart has on a crisp light suit with a dark tie, great for  looking sharp in warm locations such as Morocco. Take a look at the ever so lovely outfit Ingrid has on, what a beautiful and classy head scarf. 

Bogart has done it again! Looking dashing in the hat, tie, understated suit AND do not forget your pocket squares gentlemen. Ingrid has on yet another great hat, LOVE the striped top and cool, light jacket. 

Lovely lady and nice gentlemen! Now we have a chance to take a peak at the outfits from earlier, only now it is a full length view. Wow, am I glad I included this because have a look at Ingrid's outfit plus those wonderful spectator pumps she is has on.

Bogart in yet another cool suit also look at that stunning paisley dress Ingrid has on!

I love this picture of  Ingrid, I want a giant globe such as that. Look at her soft and feminine hairstyle, classic lightweight suit and flower/pin.

Wow, romance is in the air and great outfits are everywhere in this movie!

This concludes our Fashion Inspiration From The Movies for this month.

Here's looking at you kid!


Brooksie

New Outfit Post.

It has been forever since I have done an outfit post, this post goes in conjunction with the Bettie Page Store post I did a few days ago. I am wearing my new Bettie Page blouse. This is what I wore out to dinner for Valentines Day evening.

Clothing Specs:

Hoop earrings: Thrift store
Watch: Thrift store
Blouse: Bettie Page Store of course
Black pencil skirt: Store at the mall
Fish net hosiery: Spartacus
Heels: Pin Up Couture also from Spartacus
Lipstick: Lady Danger by MAC

Cheerio!

Brooksie

Bettie Page Store in Portland Oregon Opens!

This last Sunday I was out for stroll and some shopping in down town Portland with my friend Jen. It was a cool and brisk afternoon. I had caught wind that a Bettie Page store was opening in our fair city so we set out that afternoon to find it. All I knew was it was on Broadway Street but which Broadway Street? We have two in Portland, one was right in the heart of down town, which was right where I happened to be. The other one would not have been possible for us to make it too on that day considering we were on foot and bus.

So we asked around a bit and came up with nothing. We ended up walking up and down Broadway until low and behold there it was not even a block a way from Pioneer Square! We proceeded to go in to have a look see, there were so many beautiful things to look at so many lovely reproduction pieces of clothing from back in Bettie's heyday! Last Sunday was the store's grand opening day.The next thing I know Jen is pulling outfits off of racks and handing them to telling me to try them on, saying this one will be perfect for you and so will this one! I tried on each wonderful piece and they all look they were made for me! The shop was beautiful, laid out so nice and the staff were so perfectly sweet and helpful. Plus the music was divine, I felt like I had taken a time capsule back in time to the 1950's.

I ended up picking out and buying a sweet little sheer, long sleeve blouse, it was an off white with red and black, medium size polka dots. It will go with the two black pencil skirts that I bought last week at the mall, I had been looking for a blouse with some red in it to go with the black pencil skirts but it does not appear that red is an "in" color for spring which is too bad because I love me some red! However red does seem to be a very popular color for the 1950's which is lucky for me because the 50's is one of my favorite era's!

I highly recommend the Bettie Page store for all ladies that are looking for a nicely made and feminine clothing line, whether or not you are a Bettie fan I am sure you will love this store!

Until next time!

Brooksie

No Poo! The Non Shampoo Method To Washing Your Hair!

Most of you who have been following my blog for a while know I am a fan of home remedies. I am here today to mention the no poo, shampoo method. I normally have very oily hair, about half way through the day my hair looks like a grease pit but no more! I was willing to try anything to get some balance to my hair and scalp, I was even willing to go without shampoo! (If there was a chance that it would or could make a difference). Well folks I have been doing the no poo method for about 4 months and I noticed a difference right away. This is an all natural way to clean your hair with none of the additives, stabilizers and synthetic fragrances which are not good for a person anyway.

All it takes is baking soda, water and apple cider vinegar. I keep two plastic water tight containers in the shower (make sure they hold at least a measuring cup amount) one with just baking soda in it and the other with the vinegar and water combo.

Also you may have to work with these proportions a little bit to find out what works best for you, because everybody is different. Since my hair is oily I use a little more baking soda then what is recommended but about the same amount of the vinegar and water combo.

Here are the proportions most recommended:

1. Pour about 1 tablespoon of baking soda into the palm of your hand, and moisten it. Massage it into your hair and your scalp. Wait a minute, then rinse. I usually focus the baking soda mainly on the scalp because that is where it gets oily. Make sure you rinse the baking soda out really well otherwise it will be fizzing on your head and you will turn into a science experiment! 

2. Combine 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar) and 1 cup water in your container. You can do this in advance, so you don’t have to mix it up every time you wash, and you probably won’t need the whole cup for a single washing (I use about a quarter of the container for each time). Give the container a good shake, then pour some of the vinegar mixture onto your scalp. Massage it into your scalp and your hair, wait another minute or two, and rinse thoroughly.

That is all! Try it out, it works great for me and it may just do the same for you.

Cheerio! 

Brooksie

My Beekeeping Friends

I ran across a wonderful article in The Blender which is the Williams-Sonoma blog, the article is about my beekeeping friends Matt and Jill. They are a husband and wife beekeeping team. I first met them before they were married in 2006 when they were a part of the vintage gang that would meet and get together in Portland Oregon. We would get together about once a month and go on many fun vintage excursions. For example we would go have lunch or cocktails at Huber's which is Portland's oldest bar and restaurant (it used to be a speakeasy at one time), or to the Palmer Wirf's Antique show which is the largest in the USA, or to a local tiki bar for food and cool beverage, or to see Christmas lights on a historic lane. Our group all met on The Fedora Lounge online forum for vintage lovers (there is a link on my blog page). On The Fedora Lounge they went by the names of Beaucaillou and Cacklewack. Any who they now make and sell bee hives to people all over the world and they have about 30 hives all around SE Portland. I am very fascinated with bees, I even love them! I have wanted my own bee hives ever since I was a little girl-I grew up in the burbs-my next door neighbor and his wife (they were old enough to be my grandparents) had bee hives.

You can read the article here: williams-sonoma.

Cheers!

Brooksie

Vintage Fashion Inspiration From The Movies!

Okay folks I promised you that I would make my vintage fashion inspiration from the movies a regular feature so here it is! Before we get to that I need to make mention of this, last month I asked my blog followers what they wanted to see more of and Dr Blood of Dr Bloods Video Vault  blog: drbloodsvideovault  left me a nice message letting me know that he would like to see more fashion inspiration from the movies (types of posts) however he added a different spin to it and requested that they be from horror and film noir movies. Okay film noir is right up my alley but horror, I never really thought of featuring this genre in a fashion post. So he has posed a challenge for me and I do like a good challenge....but how can one blend vintage and horror??? A light bulb went off in my head and I thought of all the really great Hitchcock movies over the years! Brilliant!!!

So without further ado I present to you....

The Lady Vanishes
Starring Margarette Lockwood & Michael Redgrave
While traveling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.

I saw this movie about a year ago and it was listed as a horror movie but it was not that horrible. It was still a good movie, I enjoyed it. It is an Alfred Hitchcock film from 1938. Here are some pictures, stills and images from the movie. Of course I will do my usual fashion commentary along the way. All images from google.

So far it looks good and mysterious 

Look at these snazzy dames they look quite stylish with their cocktails!

Fabulous fur and great hairstyle, the epitome of the 1930's.

Wow! I LOVE both of their outfits here! Look at all the stunning little details!

Sweet little slip that can double as a nightie.

Outfits with monograms need to come back into fashion.

More fashion goodness on both men and the ladies in this film!

A well made ladies wool suite is always fabulous! Don't forget the little details such as the hat, gloves and broach/corsage. 

Well that is it for now! Also thank you so much Dr Blood for your great suggestion, I am going to have some fun with this!

Cheerio!

Brooksie

When My Mom Came Out West

I have had this idea for quite sometime to tell about the story of when my mom came out west. For a few years it has been popping in and out of my head. Every time I think about it I shoot the idea down... why would anybody want and need to hear this story except for a family member? Then I think to myself someone in the world of vintage might like it, even if only just for nostalgia sake. So here we go, on with the story, I hope someone likes it!

The year is 1943, the war is on and my mom is 11 years old. At that time she was living with her mom and dad (my grandparents) and her younger brother (my uncle) in Indiana. They decided they needed a change so they packed up everything in their Airstream Trailer (which I nicknamed the Silver Bullet) and drove across the United States to Portland Oregon. They parked the Silver Bullet in a trailer park (this park was on 82nd and Division Street at the time) and took up residence there for a while.

My grandpa was a shoe maker, he used to make clogs-the ones that are closed in the back-with a wooden sole for the Rosie the Riveters that worked at the shipyards in Portland. My mom said some of the Rosie the Riveters lived in the trailer park and that they were real nice ladies. My grandpa made clogs in every color under the sun, for my mom to go with all of her outfits. When my mom was 14 years old she started high school at Franklin High the clogs were quite popular in the North West at that time and she found most kids to be envious because she had clogs in every color. When some of the kids found out she lived in a trailer park some of them called her trailer trash (imagine that back in those days referring to someone as trailer trash!), I think they were just jealous of her huge clog collection!

When my mom was 15 years old halfway through her sophomore year in high school her parents bought a house and small farm in a tiny town called Willamina (which was even further out west in Oregon). Then she started high school at Sheridan High, she says she remembers sack dresses being all the rage in Portland (the big city). All of the girls thought she was quite ahead of the times and fashionable because she was wearing the sack dresses with her handy dandy clogs! The sack dresses had not hit the town of Willamina yet! This was when she met my dad, at first they were just friends. Then they started dating when my mom was 16 and my dad was almost 18 (in 1948). My mom graduated from high school in 1950, that was when my dad joined the army and fought in the Korean War. In 1953 my mom and dad got married on July 3rd. The Korean War finally ended and my dad was out of the army and a free man!

My mom and dad were high school sweet hearts and were married for 56 years until my dad passed away in 2009. My mom is still alive and lives on the Oregon Coast and will be 81 in May of this year. I did a blog post with a picture of her back in October: artdecogirls.blogspot.com

Here I am dressed up like a Rosie the Riveter with my clogs sitting on my grandpa's trunk from when he was in the Merchant Marines. 

Cheerio!

Brooksie