Prints Charming Sunday: Mucha Muchacha.

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday!




Today's pick is this a-MAY-zingly cool Vintage 50's Mexican Dancers Novelty Print Dress & Bolero, currently available on Etsy (and for a very decent price, homies) from seller Metro Retro Vintage:







It's a GREAT freakin' outfit (and that cut is always truly flattering on a chick's bod), but I do have a question. Or many. I've been looking at this dancin' duo for a while now and can't exactly seem to figure out what's going on here, exactly. Is she just thrown over his hip, like he's hauling a sack of flour? Where, precisely, are her legs? Perhaps she lost them in a Dance-Off gone horribly wrong, involving a too-hot tortilla, a mariachi band on speed and ill-fitting sombreros? And is he not wearing pants?! (Because I fully condone Pantsless Dancing, I just need to know.)

Bye Bye Birdie

I wasn't even going to post today, but thanks to my homeslice Club Vintage who found these (for sale on ebay, of all places), I figured it was a MUST to share these heels with you guys.

I think it's safe to say, these too can be filed under: Oh, SNAP.


And so, I give you ... the birdcage shoe:




I hate birds (seriously), but these are totally acceptable. Plus, they're studded! Peep toe! Ankle strap! Velvet! Can't...form...sentences...


These super rare Vintage La Rose Birdcage Heels are currently up for auction on ebay with 4 days to go, at a current price of $100 with the reserve not met. Oy. Let's torture ourselves more, shall we?




It's a bird! In a cage! For the heel! Naturally they're a wee vintage size 6.5, which means they probably fit like a modern size nuthin'. (Dammit!) But they sure are purdy to look at!

Prints Charming Sunday: One, Two, Three O'Clock, Four O'Clock Rock!

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday!






Oh, SNAP. Lookie lookie at this vintage novelty print:





Utter coolness, amiright?! You know what wasn't utter coolness? Me, in high school. I wish my teen years were like the wacky kids on this skirt. Hell, I'd settle for a day. But it never was like a supercheese episode of Happy Days for most of us, was it? (Ooh! Like the "Fonz-jumps-a-shark" episode! That would be a kickass day to have.) Unfortunately my Cool Kid Status didn't kick in until my 20's. Or 30's. OK, never. So I was always nerdy, so sue me. High school and teenagehood was a huge slice-o'lame cake with a side of boredom frosting and geek sprinkles. (Side note: must scout out- and possible kill for- cake. Now. Right now.) But whatevs. There's nothing like a healthy dose of repressing your feelings (and probably Miller High Life) that cures what ails ya, amiright?!


This totally incred Vintage 50's Rock & Roll Dancin' Teens & Records Print Skirt, on Etsy from seller Wear It Again:




If you need me, I'll be moping in my room listening to Wham! records and hoarding the Hubba Bubba. Lip Smackers and puffy unicorn stickers may be involved, it's gonna be a long night.

Prints Charming Sunday: This One Time, At Band Camp...

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday!



I gotta admit, today's vintage novelty print speaks to my inner nerd... OK, who am I kidding?! My inner nerd, my outer nerd...hell, my entire nerdhood loves this print. I realise my supercool (shuddup!) persona would lead you to think otherwise, but I've played many an instrument since childhood. One of the longest I've played is the viola. I was in the orchestra and played in school concerts from 6th to 12th grade. I am a for-reals band geek. And you know what? I don't care who knows it! Do we have any other band geeks in the house? Let me know so we can swap True Stories of Embarrassing Moments, as we all have a dorky story of lame things that happened during practice or on stage during a concert. Like this one time, at band camp....


Today's vintage novelty print is this a-may-zing Vintage 50's Violin Novelty Print Silk Dress, currently available on Etsy from seller RedBox Vintage:

Way-Out Wednesday: Read Between The Lions.

It's Way-Out Wednesday, kids!




I was going to save today's pick for this sunday's "Prints Charming Sunday" theme (being as though what you're about to see is a damn cute novelty print. DAMN CUTE.) However, my toe-curling joy from vintage love could not be contained and therefore must be shared with you now! RIGHT. NOW. And while that sounds borderline filthy (if you didn't read it that way then move along Grandma), I promise today's pick is not borderline filthy. It's a wonderfully dorky and therefore made of the most extreme kind of AWESOME, this Vintage 60's Lion Novelty Print Shift Dress, available on Etsy from seller TMHL:




A lion. Wearing glasses. Reading a book.



Win, win, win and oh my god WIN. Nerds of the world unite! Our time has come. Oh yes. Our time has come. How nerdy am I, exactly? The whole time I wrote today's post, I imagined that the lion's voice probably sounds exactly like the animal kingdom's version of Jerry Lewis's Nutty Professor and how ass-kicking it'd be if there was a cartoon based solely on the Nerd Lion from this dress. That's how nerdy.

Aqua Blue Heaven Friday: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For...

...(vintage) ice cream (maker)! Perfect for beating the heat that's a-brewin' is this too-cute Vintage 50's/60's Aqua Ice Cream Maker, currently available on Etsy from seller Blue Bonnet Fields:





There's really nothing better than homemade ice cream. If you've never made it yourself, I highly demand you do so immediately. You can buy fairly cheap ice cream makers at Target and Wal-Mart and the like- but vintage ice cream makers are so much cuter than modern ones. And everyone loves ice cream! Why, smartly-suited businessmen like ice cream...






...and last year's model of fembot likes ice cream...





...and to answer the age-old question: yes, models do indeed eat ice cream (when it's just for a photo shoot), as witnessed in this shot for 1957's "Bag Dress" by Givenchy...





...even our homies in Tel Aviv gots to have their ice cream!

Prints Charming Sunday: Cluck You.

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday!




This week's vintage novelty print is a little odd (well aren't they all, really? Isn't that the whole point of a novelty print, is to be a little wacky and not-sense-making? I'm telling myself to shut up already now.) I'm uber charmed by this week's pick. Maybe it's the pink/yellow color combo that's going on. Maybe it's because it's so delicate and girlie-looking. Maybe it's because it's got chickens with roses in their mouths. Yep. That's the reason.




So, OK, the roses aren't really in the chickens' mouths. But it sure would be a lot cooler if they were. (Tango chickens? Awesome.) Nonetheless, chickens and roses makes no sense and how could you not love that?!




This nonsensically awesome Vintage 60's Bird Print Blouse is currently available for a very sensical $28 from Etsy seller Silly Rabbit Vintage.

Aqua Blue Heaven Friday: Cheers Of Joy.

It's Aqua Blue Heaven Friday!




It's milliseconds away from being o-fficially the 1st day of spring, so why not promote a vintage sweater? Ha! I scoff at you, spring. My love of sweaters knows no season.


I keep coming back to this particular sweater you'll see in a sec, mulling over whether I should buy it or not. It is, after all, my favorite color combo of all time (aqua & orange represent) and it demands to be worn with cuffed denim capris. It's sending me mixed signals~ are you an après ski sweater? Are you a cheerleader-inspired sweater? What are you and why won't you leave me alone?! Also, why can't I get "Oh, Mickey, you're so fine, You're so fine you blow my mind. Hey Mickey! Hey, Mickey!" out of my head now?

I decided not to buy it, only because it's wool and it seems the older I get, the more I have a weird reaction to wool, in a weird way that never bothered me before, weirdly. What gives? Stupid aging. Has this happened to anyone else before? Where something that never bothered you now irritates the bejesus out of you now? (Please say it's not just me.) At any rate, it's a freaktastically cool sweater and someone needs to buy it, or else I may resort to covering my torso in benadryl lotion and plastic wrap, just so I can wear it.

Behold the awesomeness, this Vintage 50's Aqua Boucle Rosanna Sweater, available on Etsy from seller Dear Golden:

Prints Charming Sunday: Hellcats.

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday, cats and kittens! (That wasn't some cheesetastic 50's slang I was trying to pull on you. You'll see the tie-in in a minute.)




You know, I don't like cats. I'm sorry, but I don't apologise. Not a cat fan. But you know what I do like? I like offbeat, cat novelty prints. But you know what I like even more? Slightly evil, possibly possessed, borderline demonic cats. With laser eyes.

Case in point: this awesome Vintage 50's Kitten & Yarn Novelty Print Fabric, currently available from Etsy seller Coming Up Roses:







They'll steal your catnip. Then steal your soul. (But awww, they're so cuuuute!)

Prints Charming Sunday: Tutti Frutti, Oh Rudy

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday, my little love muffins!




You know, I haven't worn anything with a cherry print for going on 7 years now, thanks to places like Hot Topic who've been cranking out these so-called "50's style" dresses smothered in cherry prints. Certain large repro companies make it seem as if the cherry was thee Official Fruit Of the 1950s, and it's gotten so that you can't swing a bag of cats without hitting something "retro" with a damn cherry on it. I respect the small "Mom and Pop" repro-ers out there who are doing it right and not flooding the market with even more of those little red monsters. I dunno. Maybe I've been around "the scene" for so long that I've just burnt out on them. In my 6 years as a vintage seller, I personally handled an actual vintage cherry print exactly *twice*, so where this bastardization of one single fruit came from, I have no idea! I'd love to know, actually. My only guess is someone took the idea from Marilyn's cherry print dress from her 1961 movie The Misfits, and ran like hell with it:











Even Marilyn is annoyed.



But when I come across a for-reals vintage cherry print, it makes all the stabbiness go away and makes me full of gid! Or at least, something resembling joy. It's like finding a ray of validation in a sea of Hot Topic tulle and stretch cotton-lycra.

Enter this amazingly fab Vintage 1950s Fruit Novelty Print Sundress, currently available from Etsy seller Vintage Frocks of Fancy:





I love it because it's not just cherries, it's loaded with Carmen Miranda-worthy bananas, pineapples....uh, guavas...I dunno, some other random fruity specimens. Anyway, my point is that obviously I'm not a fruit lover and can't even name them, but also it's a really especially rockin' summer frock that I think would make Marilyn full of gid, too. Or at least, something resembling joy.

Aqua Blue Heaven Friday: Cinderella's Slippers.

It's Aqua Blue Heaven Friday, lovers!





Spring will be here soon and that means cute shoe weather. Please, no more with the Uggs or those knit sweater Eskimo bootie type things. Comfy? Yes. Fug? Even bigger yes. I'll admit to owning a pair faux Ugg boots (AKA Fuggs)- black suede ones by Airwalk I got at Payless last year for a million times less than the cost of real Uggs. But you know what? I'm in Pennsylvania where winters kick your ass, so looking cute from December to March isn't really an option. Anyone living in frosty areas get a fashion pass for Ugg necessity! Everyone else, you're on your own. Like the California girls who wear them with denim mini skirts and "wifebeaters". I don't get it. It leaves me with many questions. Two, actually. One is: what the hell? And 2 is: are those types the equivalent of our east coast Jersey Girl guidettes? You know, leaning toward the slutty end of the fashion spectrum and rocking perma-Cheeto orange faux tan. (AKA: the female version of a guido.) Needless to say, I'm ready for warmer weather, ready to pack away the damn Fuggs and move on so I can start making fun of people who wear socks with sandals.



For extreme awesomeness, you may dig these Vintage 50's Lucite Heel Slingbacks, in a very sad and very wee size 4.5-5, currently available from Etsy seller Cheesecake Vintage:





But check out the etched heel! Do love it. (I wonder if I can get that down to my Fuggs?)

Atomic Tuesday: Write This Way.

Welcome to another [very late] Atomic Tuesday!




Today's vintage pick is this incredible Vintage 1950s Artsy Atomic Print Dress, in a very decent size (38-34-44!), in a very decent colorway (pink and teal!) for a very decent price (80 bucks!), currently available from Lucitebox:




You know what I most dig about it? It's how the "chicken scratch" print reminds me of the scribblings of a writer, ie: "It was a dark and stormy night" ... no, that won't work... "Once upon a time in a land far, far away" ...nah, too cliche ... then out of the dank alley of 1880's England emerged the butcher knife-wielding madman"... that's it!...

Prints Charming Sunday: Everyone Knows It's Windy.

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday!



Did you know there's only 20 more days until the first day-o-spring?! It can't come soon enough, I say. If I never see another snowflake for 3 more weeks I'll be a happy camper! (Of course, give it a few months and I'll be bitching about how hot it is.)

Let's kick off this rare, positive & hopeful mood I'm in for pleasant-er, spring-ier weather (I love warm yet grey & rainy & windy spring days over lovely sunny days. Shocking.) with this to die Vintage 1950s Windy Day Novelty Print Sundress, currently available on Etsy for a decent 95 bucks from seller Catbooks1940s:




My favorite part of this print is the little girl taking off with the umbrella! That's hilarious! Adios, kid! Wait. That sounded wrong. Kinda creepy. You know what I mean. It's just a killer, entertaining spring print is what I'm trying to get at. Sheesh.





PS: Do you have the 1967 song "Windy' by the Association stuck in your head now?! Mwuahahaha, that's my evil gift to you! Damn. I have "eeee-vryone knows it's winnn-deee" in my head now too. Evil-doing backfire.

Prints Charming Sunday: Whole Lotta Chicken Going On

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday! Today's post title will be alot more amusing in a minute when you see what today's vintage pick is! Actually ... come to think of it ... I'm probably the only one who's easily amused by these corny puns and cheesy titles, sooo ... it probably won't be very amusing at all.






Today's vintage novelty print is this Vintage 1950s Chicken Print Blouse- and good news, it's neither impossibly tiny at a 44" bust or ridiculously overpriced, at a decent 50 clams!








Look at all that cock. (Awww, come on, you know there's no room for good taste here! Surely you saw that one coming?) The blouse is currently available on Etsy from seller Coronet Weeds Vintage.

Prints Charming Sunday: Presidential Sweet.

Welcome to Prints Charming Sunday- and also Happy Valentines Day! I hope your roses are free of thorns and your chocolates free of fat. Wow, that sounded like a really lame Hallmark card.

I'm not going to rock a Valentine's Day novelty print theme today, because I've already done it over the past week or 2 and frankly, I'm kind of over all the hearts and pinks and cutesy. Instead, I'm thinking about tomorrow, which is President's Day here in the US, honoring our country's forefathers and whatnot. I thought about what could represent the day in a novelty print and came across plenty of red, white & blue bicentennial/1776-1976 vintage stuff but it's just wasn't exactly was I had in mind. And then I remembered the Colonial/Americana theme.

The Colonial/Americana theme for home decor made it's way into the home starting in the 1950's and carried on well into the 1970's, from the oversize plastic gold-painted eagle plaques to the Americana drapes, which also matched the fabric on the hulking, heavy wood furniture. Good...lord. Fug. And while I appreciate the patriotism of it ... it was not pretty. Yet, it was more common to see that in the average Joe Schmoe home in anytown, USA than the idyllic, mid-century modern/Heywood Wakefield/atomic/boomerang decor that we like to assume homes looked like in the 50's. The colonial crap was cheap, easily accessible and the furniture wore like steel. So there you have it.

So in honor of tomorrow,today's vintage Presidential-y novelty print is this Vintage Americana-Print Sailor Blouse:



It's not too gaggingly colonial, not too cutesy, but the perfect combo for old-timey sweetness. Blouse is currently available on Etsy from seller Decades of Baltimore.

Aqua Blue Heaven Fridays: Aquadots.

Mornin', kids! Rise and shine, happy campers, for Aqua Blue Heaven Friday! (OK, I'm not even believing my own faux morning cheerfulness act. I hate myself for even trying. It's not that I'm not happy. I'm just not a happy person in the morning, Like, say, any time before noon.)



While mornings aren't my bag, man (said in a hippie tone- again, I hate myself for that), I found something for this week's Aqua Blue Heaven theme that is so damn charming and wonderful and freaking awesome, that I would consider jumping out of bed for. (And if it was booze-scented, then I may have just invented the most perfect alarm clock.) I'm talking about this to- die -for Vintage 50's Rockabilly Dress w/Polka Dot Bow, currently available on Etsy from seller Clever Vintage:



Now. If I only I had a 34" or smaller bust. And was shorter. And my hips were 36" or smaller (oh come ON), then this dress would be a total Kim dress and I'd be all over it, like ... something ... that's on ... something. I dunno. I can't think of any clever similes this morning. But if you're of wee stature and build, I envy you. Also, grab this dress already and go back to bed. It's the right thing to do.