Lillian Bassman

As much as I love vintage fashion itself, I think the photography behind it is, sometimes, even more beautiful and eye-catching to the viewer.  The way photographers captured the sharp lines of dresses, the wide angles of hats, and the slender curves of women against scenery of the age really draws one back into a time of classic elegance.

I recently stumbled across the works of Lillian Bassman, a fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar in the 40s through the 60s.

Her use of high contrast between the black and white, the placement of the subject, and the almost glowing auras of her stand ins give her pictures an angel-esque feeling that could almost be a sketch transfer verses film itself.

During her almost twenty years of fashion photography, she captured many subjects and was considered one of the last great women in fashion photography, until she decided to pursue her own, private work, and actually threw out the majority of her negatives and originals.  Twenty years later, a bag of forgotten work was found and all was brought to life again.

Photo Source

Teal

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One of my favorite colors is teal and variations of it.

Maybe it's because I don't like wearing lighter blues or greens, but I love any tone of teal or turquoise. 

Personal preference, I guess, but here's a sampling of teals in the shop right now.

Review: Vintage Menswear

For Christmas this year, I received the book Vintage Menswear, a comprehensive source to rare suits, military uniforms, and classic sportswear.

The book is beautiful on its own.  It has a nice cover with a texture to it and hundreds of pages of glossy prints of clothing you would normally only see in a museum.

The clothing is detailed, highlighting the tears in the fabric, the tags of the designers, and the beauty of the garment, accompanied with a blurb of when the piece is from and its use.

Full page pictures, half page details, and close up shots occupy the pages as you flip through, leaving your eyes darting back and forth and pausing to take it all in.

Most of the garments are work-related, meaning uniform or military, so every day clothing like shirts and trousers aren't highlighted, which I would say is the biggest downfall of the book, but I have a fascination with military uniforms, so I loved the book nonetheless.

Also, there's some pretty great leather jackets featured, which is another one of my favorite things, and overall the book is stock full of gorgeous images you'll love, but if you're looking for what people wore to church or a party, it's not what you're looking for.

All images are scans from the book itself.  Buy it here!

Celebrating the Female Form

Being a woman, I highly appreciate the female form and all we must do to maintain it.  In life drawing in college, I would have to draw myself naked and put it on display for the whole class, all male except me and another girl, to critique.  I had to not only recognize, but draw and point out, any imperfections I had.  Trust me, doing that is a very humbling experience and makes you realize how truly amazing the human form is.

Though, like any other human being, I have my up and down days about my weight, I'm happy with how I look and I'm comfortable in the skin I'm in.  I love being sexy and buying cute things, and, as the saying goes, "If you've got it, flaunt it." To a certain extent, at least.

So, it's no surprise, that I'm generally drawn towards pin-up photography and ruthless photos of women being deviant.  When you walk into my house, there's a framed picture of a naked woman's bust from a Paris photography exhibit.  There was a half-naked photo of Keira Knightley in my old apartment's my bathroom.

If you follow Ollie Otson on Facebook, you'll see I post a vintage/vintage inspired photograph a day from the file of photos I have on my computer (which is why you, also, don't see a link back to the original source on any of these, and for that I do apologize).  I try to keep them pretty tame, but I decided to post some of my favorite photos here that you probably won't see on our Facebook.  They're all sexy in their own way while still leaving enough to be desired, the way it should be.

Again, sorry there are no sources to the original photo links, but these pulled from the archives of my computer.

Silver and Gold

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This week and last saw an influx in listing the vintage jewelry we have in the shop to online.  I have actually had quite a few people say they love our jewelry selection and wish we put more online, so here you go!

Keira Knightley

 It's amazing we're months into this blog, and I haven't had a single post about Keira Knightley (though I have mentioned her a few times).

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit obsessed with her.  I often joke that if she hasn't been in a movie, I probably haven't seen it.  Plus seeing Pride and Prejudice with her in it in high school made me realize I wanted to pursue costume design and eventually led me into vintage.

So, she's kind of a big deal in my world.

But seriously, the girl is awesome and always looks great, which is why many consider her a muse to their art, like director Joe Wright who has worked with her in numerous movies and production.  And she seems like a cool chick you could grab a beer with, someone who has an "I don't give a shit" attitude about many things, but one who still stands up for what she believes in.  If you've ever read a magazine article featuring her, she's witty and passionate, making jokes, but being serious about what she does and why she does it.

Girl crush much?

Pictures from her various spreads in Vogue magazine.