Blog Tag Wednesday, Suckas!

So I'm finally taking part of the eVintage Society's Blog Tag, which will be a weekly blog every wednesday, so stay tuned. See, I'm a joiner!

Vintage or Bust!~ Wednesday Blog Tag~Prints Charming
April 30th, 2008

Its time for Wednesday blog tag again! The fashion magazines are predicting that prints will be hot for summer…large florals, bold brushstrokes, graphic designs. Lets talk prints!

I've been tagged by Empress Jade's blog, Empress Jade Vintage.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PRINT OFFERED IN YOUR INVENTORY?
What luck. It figures, I just sold some really cute ones over the past week, so this is my current favorite. It's a 50's fab flecked pencil skirt with a crazy green atomic print!



See the awesome?!



WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF NOVELTY PRINT?
Exactly that~ a novelty, something unexpected and out of the ordinary. Flowers and polka dots don't count, those are too basic. But a print that sort of makes you scratch your head and say "What? Why?!"

MOST AMAZING NOVELTY PRINT YOU’VE EVER SEEN?
I covet so many different prints at a time from other sellers, so it's hard to say what the *best* one ever was. I can tell you the best one that I personally ever had (and my heart still hurts from not having it anymore) was on a 50's cotton full skirt- it made no sense and that was GREAT. A print of birds making nests in martini glasses hanging from a clothesline. Oh the pain.




SIZE MATTERS….WHEN WEARING PRINTS, DO YOU PREFER BIG OR SMALL?
Totally irrelevant to me.

COLOR OR BLACK AND WHITE?
Depends on the clothing. I love, love, love black but not so much with the white. I like to add a little color to alot of black, how's that?

WHAT DESIGNER DOES YOUR FAVORITE PRINTS? (think Shaheen, Pucci, etc)
I really like the nonsensical prints by Vested Gentress for chicks. For men, there's nothing better than the Hawaiian prints on 40's and 50's rayon shirts by ArtVogue, Kamehameha and Surfriders Sportswear.

The Lonely Dragster

Just a quickie (I said quickie) post for my friends The Violators Motor Club, who are throwing a most rockin' shindig this weekend, hot rods, bands, what more could you ask for? Any of you poor unfortunate souls cursed to wander the NE PA area like me should check it out. You just might see my ugly mug, since it's been 400 years since we got out with our peeps, but I don't think the Impala or the Dodge are happy making an hour and a half trip. So we'll see. (But there's my good deed for the day, you jerks!)

Freaks Come Out At Night

It would appear as though I have a mouse in my house- more specifically in the kitchen, as if the mouse KNOWS that's the grossest and most disgusting place he should be hanging out. I'm a country bumpkin, born and raised in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cornfields, so things like mice and spiders don't bother me much-- but it doesn't mean their existence in my world should continue. Sorry PETA, but some critters just have to GO, survival of the fittest and all that. I'm big, you're little. I'm right, you're wrong, MOUSE. Now if this guy was a swingin' little bugger, throwing swanky cocktail parties in the middle of the night, I wouldn't mind and in fact would probably get up at midnight just to hang with his mousey party people. But this is a mouse of the dirtbag variety. One who poops. On my counter, behind the microwave. So now his life of eating toaster crumbs must END.

I'm not even sure WHY there's a mouse in here- it's the first time I've seen anything alive in this house in the 4 years we've lived here, thanks to the numerous horny stray cats that prowl in the vacant lot and woods behind my house, and they take care of little critters in the usual ways that cats do. Not the Stray Cats. If THOSE Stray Cats hung out in my backyard, the 8 year old would be in heaven as he's been cuckoo for them for years, with Green Day in second, also in heavy rotation on his CD player. Though I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet. Plus, you bet your ass I'd be charging admission for people to see the Stray Cats in my back yard, batting around a mouse in their hands and smoking catnip doobs, or whatever it is cats do with catnip, in between sets. A gal has to make a buck *somehow* these days, and if that means selling out, then by GOD I'm on it.

So anyway, what to do about that damn mouse. Humane traps? Not the way I roll, kids. The Ball and Chain set up 2 mousetraps with peanut butter on them, because apparently mice sneaking swiss cheese off of traps is urban legend that Walt Disney started. So I bought these traps from CVS for stupid cheap, but I think you get what you pay for. Woke up this morning to see that the little bastard licked the peanut butter clean off the traps, and the damn things never set off and sprung into neck-snapping action. So either CVS makes shoddy rodent-catching devices and will get a strongly-worded letter from (probably not though, I'm kinda lazy in the angry mob way) or the Ball and Chain is just an idiot. It's probably the latter.


I really can't stand Mickey Mouse, never liked the bugger, even as a kid. The voice, the merchandised, overpriced crap and of course, an entire evil empire dedicated to what is basically a small rat. But I would totally rock this vintage 60's sweater(although I think it seems a bit older than 60's, don't you? But whatever. You love it). From shannondzikas, an Etsy girl who I now think is pretty right-on, because she announces "I'm poor and crafty!" on her main page. Aren't we all.

You're A Better Man Than I

So I was looking around on ebay this weekend because A.) I was bored and B.) I've had enough quality time with my family thank you and needed to escape all the crazy and in-law dysfunction. Lo and behold I found some ridiculously cool vintage shirts, the kind I'd give my left foot, my firstborn or my right ovary to own- and not necessarily in that order. But here's the real kick in the head: they're each $369 on a buy it now. For one shirt. Oh and one more minor detail: They're NOT EVEN VINTAGE but my most hated form of fashionry- they're repros. I'll tell ya, I was fooled until I clicked on the listing and lo and behold he admits it's a "50's styled" repro. Too bad it's in the vintage category, supergenius. Call me grumpy, but I think that's a great disservice to the vintage community by asking such astronomical prices for something made a minute ago while the sad few of us vintage sellers ON THE LEVEL try to make a buck selling good quality vintage. And can we address the price? I wonder what his his train of thought was on this one: "$350? Too low. $400? Too high. $369? Why, that's the perfect price! And a $199 opening bid is a good plan." How strange and random. I could totally rock an 8th grade 69 joke, but I won't do it. (I said "do it".)



If you are so inclined to go the repro route, these are as good as any and I usually only support my fellow vintage sellers, so consider this my olive branch to the repro community. Actually these are made by Dry Bones, your better than average repros of rockabilly shirts, so I can give props when props are due, I'm not entirely made out of evil. From hirobilly (most excellent fun to say out loud), based outta Japan.





But I will always get stabby and belly fire over repros and the people who make them for mass resale, and that is something you can't take away from me. (You didn't think I was going out on a NICE note, did you?!)

Blue Comet Blues

So my friend Ang says that Fergie has a song out with a clip of Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It" in it. ExSQUEEZE me, asphinctersayswhat? Little faux rapper Fergie. From the Black Eyed Peas. Sampling Little Richard. Not to mention the Peas sample Misirlou on another song, but that just proves my point, which I SWEAR I'm getting to. I'm afraid Fergie, you are now ON THE LIST. Now, if you go for that kind of music then zippity doo dah and I say to you GOOD DAY SIR but it's not my cup of tea, nor ever will be, not even if you force me to listen to it Clockwork Orange-style. I'm so embarrassed for her, but mostly for the young listening audience who have no idea not only what real music is, but who recorded it (and the movie it hails from in this case). I am hatin' on Fergie for not only stealing really good 50's music and forcing it to mingle with her own, but also dressing vintage-esque lately...which by the way, you'll notice many a young skanky starlet has a "vintage phase" for about a month or 2 until the oh-so-wackiness of it wears off and they move on to their next fashion phase. No fair Fergie and Young Skanks, no fair. Oh yeah, I got my hate on. But all's I will say is this. SAMPLING MUSIC IS NOT CREATIVE. Dumbasses. I realise this sounds like I'm a 70 year old woman complaining about kids these days and their crazy jazz music, but that's how I roll. And STAY OFF OF MY LAWN.

For the record, let me show you where my blog name came from and NO IT WASN'T FROM FERGIE, and don't MAKE me pull this car over kids, or I will reach back there and slap your eyeballs into next week. For your viewing and listening pleasure, I give you "The Girl Can't Help It" from 1956. Just watch it for about 52 seconds and then you can carry on with your day, wondering what my problem is.

Music To Be Murdered By

Shopping online for something specific can be so stab-inducing in a way that I cannot describe. Oh wait yes I can- it makes me go berserker from all the stupid out there flooding my shopping experience with the crazy-making. I was on a quest for a funny little bowling shirt for myself of the real vintage variety and WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, DADDY-O's? Seriously, bowling shirts with freaking martini glasses or Elvis or *enter any other 50's cliche image here* is a CRIME of fashion, a toilet flush and a bitch slap to the vintage world. Not that I get my hate on with Daddy-O's, because they do sell some covetable dresses and are in fact making a living peddling their wares and props to them for living the American dream. But in reality, WHAT mafioso type in the 50's and 60's EVER wore bowling shirts when they were not in fact, oh I don't know, BOWLING?! And when in fact, did they ever wear bowling shirts with FLAMES AND DICE on them?! Oh, my heart will most certainly NOT go on.


Don't hate me because I'm an Italian Cliche.


Because I'm a loser and don't have HBO and have to watch HBO shows like the Sopranos when they finally come to TNT on basic cable 3 years after the show is over, I'm only now discovering the wrongness of mob fashion and James Gandolfini, you are now on MY LIST. I blame you for brainwashing today's youth into thinking that Today's Modern Mafia dresses even remotely cool and old school when they, in fact, wear VELOUR JUMPSUITS. Call me crazy, but I don't think JLo had you guys in mind with her line of track suits. I do wish TMM would take a cue from the Sopranos and their faux rat pack-esque style and help the vintage community out and actually start rocking shark skin suits and panel shirts again and REPRESENT. Don't you joiks remember Dean Martin and 2 tone shoes and Banlon and the Cool Gangster Lingo? And for the love of god, WHO WILL THINK OF THE PINKY RINGS?


Just say no to repros, kids. Once you get hooked, there's no going back. Do it up right, in real sleazeball fashion. Check out some shirts from yours truly at Fast Eddie's Retro Rags.





This one's coming soon, hold your horses you filthy animals.

Bring On The Dancing Horses

Hello, my name is Kim and I am an Anglophile. It's been 3 hours since I watched the Young Ones and so far so good, though I'm saying "wanker" more than any American really should without REALLY sounding like a wanker and everyone thinks I'm a dork but damn you Vyvyan, damn you straight to hell for being so downright shaggable. I'm pretty sure my love of British culture started in my pre-pubescent years growing up in the 80's when you couldn't swing a bag of cats without running into someone wearing a Smiths tee, or at least the really cool high school teenagers did, the ones I envied and SO wanted to be when I grew up. And I don't mean the Misunderstood Artsy Goth Kids in Bauhaus Tees And Fishnets either, but the girls who knew all the cool college radio bands and thought John Cusack Will Save the World in His Trench Coat. Which he probably will, but that's neither here nor there, and I'm pretty sure he's an Anglophile himself and now Lloyd Dobler, you are even more adorable in my book. What's with the British bands kicking all sorts of ass in the 80's? Can you say TACO? Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Taco was from the UK or not. I think maybe he was actually German, or maybe his pink wig is making me think he was German, not that wearing a pink wig is necessarily a German thing and I should probably do some fact-checking before making blasphemous statements about Germany's #1 hot commodity, second to David Hasselhoff.

It's really no wonder that so many of us Gen X-ers are screwed up, jaded or in group therapy, since we're the ones who've suffered the Cinderella Syndrome more than any generation. I totally made up Cinderella Syndrome. It's from growing up in the 80's watching too many Terribly Romantic Comedies, where the Sensitive Boy saves the Sad Lonely Girl complete with a cliched Ultra Dramatic End Scene With British Song For Emphasis. Isn't every girl STILL waiting for her own romantic comedy scene with a song from INXS playing in the background? I know *I* am, and I've been with the same guy for 400 years and he is a DAMN LUCKY MAN, so I remind him every day. If ever there was a time for Great Britain to kick America's ass it would have been then, brainwashing us into submission with hit songs from the Pet Shop Shop Boys, but you MISSED YOUR CHANCE, ENGLAND. What gives, conspiracy theorists? Notes of interest, and also because I am a fan of list-making:

1. Sixteen Candles. 'Member the scene at the end with Jake Ryan? Of course you do. I'll give you a minute to collect yourselves from all the sighing. 4 words: If You Were Here...And now I'm all verklempt thinking about that part. I will give myself a topic and talk amongst myself to get over it.

2. Pretty in Pink: If You Leave. Also chock full of other UK dreaminess.

3. Valley Girl: I Melt With You. Come ON, one of the best songs ever. Lucky for you though, you can hear it every 10 seconds on the Taco bell commercial.

4. Breakfast Club: Don't You (Forget About Me)

5. Say Anything: In Your Eyes. You can't say "cliche" fast enough. But still dreamy, no?


Is that a boom box in your hands or are you just happy to see me?