Home Archives for April 2020

A Vintage Nerd Recreates: Une Femme Est Une Femme (1961): Angela Récamier

April 30, 2020

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A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Retro Inspired Fashion Blog, Fashion Recreates, One Femme Set One Femme, Anna Karina Fashion, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Modcloth Plaid Skirt

There something magical that happens when the late Anna Karina made a film with Jean-Luc Godard. Fashion and social issues collided in a beautiful way. That melding keeps you captivated with the film despite language barriers. In Une Femme Est Une Femme (1961) we watch Angela Récamier (Karina) living out her life as a exotic dancer. But there is more to Angela than pretty clothes and singing talent, she wants to settle down and start a family with her lover, Émile. To make things a little more complex, Émile's best friend Alfred professes his love for Angela. Angela who is torn between her love for Émile and her desire for a child gives into Alfred's pleas. She does not love him and eventually Émile and Angela repair their relationship long enough for Émile to say "Angéla, tu es infâme" ("Angela, you are horrid"), and she retorts, "Non, je suis une femme" ("No, I am a woman").

In the midst of all of this personal drama is an array of fabulous fashion designed by Jacqueline Moreau who also designed the fashion in two others films I absolutely adore, Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and Young Girl of Rochefort (1967). I love the way colors of red and cobalt blue are blended together with shades of grey, black, white. Everything Karina wears in this film is a delight to the eyes. I love the use of color blocking that Moreau used throughout the film and it completely inspired my outfit for my Une Femme Est Une Femme Recreates. This is the type of outfit you can wear anywhere and feel as though you are channeling your inner Anna Karina.

Outfit: Plaid Skirt from Modcloth, Red Turtleneck from J Crew, Trench Coat from Gap, Beret and Stockings from Amazon, and Black Gloves are Vintage 1960's

Stepping Out of Our Norm @Chiller

April 27, 2020

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Chiller Theater

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blogger, Vintage Blog, Old Hollywood Blog, Classic Film Blog. Retro Blog, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Retro Lifestyle, Unique Vintage, Creature from the Black Lagoon Dress, Retro Dress, Chiller Theater, Sixties Style, Modern Retro Fashion, Vintage Inspired Fashion, Disability and Fashion, Leg Braces, Universal Movies, Plus Size Retro Fashion

Around 2006-2007 my husband and I attended our first Chiller Theater Convention. We didn't know what we were getting into at first. After walking around a bit we ended up meeting the cast of A Christmas Story (1983) who signed a leg lamp for us, I got a smooch on my cheek from Peter Criss (Katman from Kiss), and I chatted with Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon) about education and kids (She is now a social worker). I didn't realize that this convention of past and present actors, musicians, etc would bring such delight to either of us.

After our first Chiller we would try every year to attend one. Both my husband and I are big movie, tv, and music aficionados. Music and movies played a huge part in our childhood and in our generation. For a few years we attended with my brother and his family. My brother and I are very different in many ways but the one big thing we have in common is our love for the visual medium of film and television. This past October my family and I attended our first Chiller without my brother because he relocated to another state. It was bittersweet but it was still fun to share with our children and show them little glimpses into our own childhoods.

In ode to The Creature from the Black Lagoon's (1954) 65th Anniversary I wore a dress from Unique Vintage's special line of Universal Studios Monsters inspired clothing. I absolutely love this style of dress and it was a Mother's Day gift from my husband. I felt like a vintage dream in this dress and I got so many compliments from people at the convention. There is no better feeling then when you are wear a style you love and are comfortable in.

My family and I had the best time talking to all sorts of interesting people and we even got in some vintage shopping from the vendors there. Afterwards I was able to meet Ann Robinson who starred in the original War of the Worlds (1953), tell Kristy McNichol how much her film Just the Way You Are (1984) meant to me (her character wore a leg brace), share with Hayley Mills how much our family loves her films, and talk art with the great Frank Romano who was the head artist for the Ben Cooper costume company.

I think its so important to step out of your norm and do something different and attending Chiller Theater Conventions is just that for us. We get to meet and talk with people who we have long admired their work and have good fun with our children too. What do you like to do that is a little out of your norm?

The Twilight Zone Inspiration: The Masks

April 22, 2020

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Twilight Zone Inspiration

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blogger, Vintage Blog, The Twilight Zone, The Twilight Zone The Masks, Rod Serling, Sixties TV Shows, Retro Scifi, The Masks, Rod Serling TV, Scifi TV Shows, Twilight Zone Inspiration

The Masks was the 145th episode of The Twilight Zone and the only one directed by a female director, the iconic Ida Lupino. Lupino not only directed an episode but also starred in one called The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine (1959). That makes Lupino the only person to star in one episode and director another.

The Masks tells the story of a wealthy, dying man during Mardi Gras who welcomes his estranged relatives into his home only to coerce them into wearing hideous masks. He tells them to wear these masks until midnight if not they will not receive one penny from his fortune after his passing. The matriarch, Jason (Robert Keith), also wears his which is a skull mask representing death.

Little do these scheming relatives know that the masks themselves reflect who they truly are on the inside. When the bells ring after midnight they are all relieved that can finally take the masks off. While they had them on they ironically found them to unbearable to look at. What happens to them afterwards can only be attested to the stuff of magic or karma even.

I'm sure you might have heard of the saying, "It is what is in the inside that counts." When everyone takes off their masks they finally see who they really are on the outside. This episode reminds us that the beauty goes beyond the physical and that our individual personalities are what make us fully who we are. I remember learning this exact lesson in college when I met someone who was super cute on the outside but the more I got to know them the uglier they became to me. Their personality was vapid, narcissistic, rude, and down right unpleasant. They same can be said with someone I didn't think was super cute but their personality was so kind, funny, bright, and warm that it made them look cuter than I originally assumed they were. It was a powerful lesson for me to learn at nineteen.

Similar to the episode Eye of the Beholder, this episode reminds us of where true beauty comes from. It comes from inside of us and when we allow the best of ourselves to shine it makes our physical selves look even more beautiful. When we are jealous, greedy, and vain, it takes away the beauty that we could have had and instead makes us look just down right ugly.

Rod Serling says it best when he ends this iconic episode by saying, "Mardi Gras incident, the dramatis personae being four people who came to celebrate and in a sense let themselves go. This they did with a vengeance. They now wear the faces of all that was inside them—and they'll wear them for the rest of their lives, said lives now to be spent in the shadow. Tonight's tale of men, the macabre and masks, on the Twilight Zone.

By the way, did you know the actor who played the matriarch Jason, Robert Keith was the father of actor Brian Keith. This was also Robert Keith's last role before his passing on December 22, 1966 at the age of 76.

16 Breakfast at Tiffany's Quotes

April 19, 2020

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Classic Cinema

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Vintage Blogger, Retro Blog, Old Hollywood Blog, Classic Film Blog, Classic Films, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey Hepburn Movies, Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's Quotes, TWA Hotel, Sixties Fashion, 1960s Hat, Vintage Books, Movie Tie-in Books

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) is one of those iconic films that you can always find something new to be inspired by every time you view it. Whether in the book or in the film, the talents of Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn, and George Peppard bring to life a story of a young woman who was simply trying to find her way through life. There are so many quotes in both the book and film that are inspirational or just down right fun. Holly Golightly's story resinates with so many because it is about someone who in order to move into a brighter future needs to embrace her past and accept her present. What films do you find inspirational?

“You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”

“It may be normal, darling; but I’d rather be natural.”

“The answer is good things only happen to you if you’re good. Good? Honest is more what I mean… Be anything but a coward, a pretender, an emotional crook, a whore: I’d rather have cancer than a dishonest heart.”

“Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.”

“It’s better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes.”

“You can love somebody without it being like that. You keep them a stranger, a stranger who’s a friend.”

“It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.”

“I loved her enough to forget myself, my self pitying despairs, and be content that something she thought happy was going to happen.”

“I’m very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away.”

“Reading dreams. That’s what started her walking down the road. Every day she’d walk a little further: a mile, and come home. Two miles, and come home. One day she just kept on.”

“I’ll never get used to anything. Anybody that does they might as well be dead.”

“You’re wrong. She is a phony. But on the other hand you’re right. She isn’t a phony because she’s a real phony. She believes all this crap she believes. You can’t talk her out of it.”

"People do fall in love. People do belong to each other, because that's the only chance that anyone's got for true happiness."

I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together.”

“Maybe the older you grow and the less easy it is to put thought into action, maybe that’s why it gets all locked up in your head and becomes a burden.”

"The average personality reshapes frequently, every few years even our bodies undergo a complete overhaul-desirable or not, it is a natural thing that we should change"

A Heap of Classic Films to Brighten Up Your Day

April 17, 2020

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Classic Cinema

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Old Hollywood Blog, Classic Movie Blog, Vintage Blogger, Retro Lifestyle Blog, Feel Good Movies, Movies That Brighten Up Your Day, Fifties Musicals, Happy Movies, Classic Movie Recommendation

I don't know about you but I have to be in a specific mood to watch certain movies or television shows. Sometimes I'm feeling calm so I watch a British murder mystery and sometimes I am feeling tired so I watch a guilty pleasure like a baking show of some kind.

These days many of us have been under a great deal of stress filled with worry, dread, and sadness. A little pick-me-up is always a good thing and since we cannot head outside the way we would like to I put together a heap of classic films that could brighten up your day. They range from the 1930's to the 1960's. I choose many I have seen before and some that I plan to see someday soon.

There's something magical that happens when you're watching something good on your television set. You get transported to another world where people are dancing, singing, solving murders, falling in love, or having an adventure. When we join them we get to experience their triumphs and losses. The films I chose have as a happy of endings as I could find. Of course I am sure I missed some good ones so if you know of more I would love to hear about them.

It Happened One Night (1934)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

The More the Merrier (1943)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Three Wise Fools (1946)

Harvey (1950)

Three Guys Named Mike (1951)

Singing' in the Rain (1952)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Funny Face (1957)

The Pajama Game (1957)

Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)

Auntie Mame (1958)

Houseboat (1958)

Gidget (1959)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Bells are Ringing (1960)

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)

Mary Poppins (1964)

The Swinger (1966)

The Singing Nun (1966)

The Trouble with Angels (1966)

To Sir, With Love (1967)

Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)

The Party (1968)

Barbarella (1968)

Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968)

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

Hello, Dolly! (1969)

A Vintage Nerd Book Club: Movie Tie-in Books

April 15, 2020

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A Vintage Nerd Book Club

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Vintage Blogger, Retro Blog, Retro Blogger, Old Hollywood Blog, Classic Film Blog, Movie Tie-in Books, Vintage Books, Classic Film Books, Movie Books, Vintage Collection, Retro Lifestyle Blog

I love reading Old Hollywood biographies and autobiographies, but today I would like to introduce you to another type of book I enjoy reading. They are called Movie Tie-in books. Basically a movie tie-in book is an edition of a book which is produced in conjunction with a movie which is usually based on the book, often with a cover image taken from the movie.

They make great collector's items but they can also give you a deeper insight into some of your favorite films as well. For example, did you know that if you compared the book and film of West Side Story the book is identical to the film word-to-word except when Riff and Tony repeat an oath of loyalty to each other: Riff says "womb to tomb" and Tony answers "birth to earth." In the movie tie-in book the answer was "sperm to worm," but this was changed for the movie because it was beyond the censorship standards of the time.

Another example is from the book Pretty in Pink which was written before the film finished. It actually shows you what the original ending of the film was supposed to be which was that Andie was supposed to end up with Duckie. For those of you who always felt like the pairing of Andie and Blane was forced and that the ending just didn't make any sense at all, well it was because they changed it. If you are interested you can see the pages HERE to an old blog post where I share all about my findings.

Movie Tie-in books are super fun and quick to read through. If you want a taste of a film you love in a different format, I couldn't recommend Movie Tie-in books more. If you want to find your own copies of your favorite films all you have to do is search on eBay, Etsy, or Google and simply type in the words, "movie tie-in books" and you will find a treasure trove of new books to read.

Vintage Easter Hats

April 12, 2020

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Fashion Inspiration

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Vintage Blogger, Vintage Hats, Vintage Easter Hats, Easter Hat Inspiration, Audrey Hepburn Hats, New York Easter Parade

Dressing up for Easter seems to always have been a big deal. I still remember as a little girl everyone making a big fuss about dressing up for Easter. My mother would make sure my shoes were shining and that my hat matched my dress perfectly.

Here in New York we usually hold an annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival that started around the 1870's-1880's. It's safe to say that dressing up for Easter and wearing a fabulous hat has been an important part of people's Easter traditions for some time.

Easter hats can be anything from sophisticated to outrageous, classic to floral, or political to down right hilarious. Any which way you go you are sure to make a statement with your Easter bonnet. If you could doll up for Easter what sort of hat would you wear?

4 Tips on How to Take Care of Your Vintage Magazines

April 06, 2020

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Helpful Tips & Tutorials

A Vintage Nerd, Vintage Blog, Vintage Blogger, Retro Lifestyle, Vintage Magazine, Teen Magazine, Sixties Magazine, Vintage Lifestyle, Cat Eyeglasses, Vintage Gloves, How to Care for Vintage Magazines, Vintage Magazines, Old Paper

I always get asked how do I take care of my vintage magazines. I have magazines that range from the 1930's to the present. I even have all of my teen magazines from the 1980's. Sadly, a lot of magazines are no longer being published. Because many of these magazines are rare and very old, we should try and take care of them. I feel like vintage magazines are pieces of history and they should be preserved as best as possible.

So how can you take care of your vintage magazines? Here are some tips that helped me:

Keep them in an organized manner. I tend to stack each of mine right side up then right side down until I have all of them stacked.
Store them in a cool, dry area. A good place would be your basement or a closet.
If they are not on a shelf, store them in a plastic bin. A cardboard box would be easily penetrable to insects and dampness.
Place them in clear plastic dust jackets.

If you are looking for some good vintage magazines these are my recommendations; Good Housekeeping. Life, Teen, Seventeen, Women’s Day, and Photoplay. And if you are looking for places where you can buy some vintage magazines other than Etsy and Ebay, check out Wolfgang's and Joe's Paper Shack.

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A Vintage Nerd Recreates: Une Femme Est Une Femme (1961): Angela Récamier

Stepping Out of Our Norm @Chiller

The Twilight Zone Inspiration: The Masks

16 Breakfast at Tiffany's Quotes

A Heap of Classic Films to Brighten Up Your Day

A Vintage Nerd Book Club: Movie Tie-in Books

Vintage Easter Hats

4 Tips on How to Take Care of Your Vintage Magazines

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