Gone Bowling: In Remembrance of Mushroom Hair Past

When I was little, in the 1970s, I loved reading the ad pages in my comic books as much as I loved the comics themselves: Archie, Millie the Model, horror comics, romance comics.

My favourite ad was for a mushroom wig, which I thought was the dernier cri in chic. The ad I remember featured that wig among a bevy of other wigs; current research turns up this singleton version, in its full bowl beauty:

Last spring Gucci reclaimed the mushroom via model Peyton Knight, who wears it in the top right image.




I recall also loving this look on Toni Tennille, here with her glorious bulldogs:

on Joanna Lumley's Purdey:

but not, alas, on me. And I should have know; I never eat mushrooms.

By the way, I also thought that Marie Osmond, circa 1976, wore a cropped mushroom / bowl, but I was wrong:

I did realize, however, that Taylor Swift, circa 2016, is wearing Marie's hair.

Carolina on my Mind

Mr. C bought me a vintage arts and crafts dining table, with wonderful, thick, carved wood legs. It comes with six chairs, which I have not yet seen(!) but which, he assures me, will need to be reupholstered.

I've thus been losing myself in furnishing fabrics on the Internet, imagining what would suit my unseen chairs.

My first inclination was to buy fabric from Liberty, but curiously enough, I could not locate any home fabrics in the United States, and I am too impatient to order from England.

Then I thought I would try William Morris, C. F. V. Voysey fabrics, or classic arts and crafts fabrics, but they looked too old and too dark.

So I turned my eye to more youthful fabrics, and rediscovered Carolina Irving. I'd swooned over her textiles in Vogue a while ago, but had forgot about them as I didn't have anything to be covered!

I adore, of course, the beautiful Aegean Stripe, shown here in two colourways, and also Indian Flower.

James Corden's Carpool Karaoke with Britney Spears: Auto Tune Edition

Someone had to make that pun, right?  It came to me the second I saw that Britney Spears was singing along with James Corden.

The first auto tune they crooned is "Oops! I Did It Again!", a song I had happily ignored until I took a trip to London and wandered into a high street shop--maybe Zara, maybe Topshop; I don't remember.

Anyway, when I walked over the threshold, into the shop, this song was blaring at discotheque levels, and it suddenly seemed SO RIGHT! But then I left the shop and the song returned to so wrong.

In the video Britney is wearing a choker,

and so I present a few favourites from Manet.

Farewell, Sonia Rykiel

Polaroid by Andy Warhol

Slip of the Tongue? Gucci's New Furry Slipper / Mules

After the 1990s I vowed I'd never wear a mule again.


But they've returned, in these examples from Gucci, looking absolutely appealing if one looks straight down, though maybe not to the side.



There's an abundance of florals, with fur . . .

. . . or without

 

There are flames to throw . . .

T

 and even hipster goathair, with its own ponytail / palm tree.

The last slipper is too lifelike for me, but I do think that the others are charming. Or maybe that's a slip of the heel.

Miss Cavendish's Olympics Quilt 2016

One strategy I have for amplifying my enjoyment of the Olympic Games (and for avoiding commercials if I'm watching "real time" TV) is to make something.

Most memorably, during the 1994 Olympics I knit a lopi pesa with wool that Mr C sent me from Iceland, where he was spending a year as a Fulbright fellow.

This summer I engaged in my own 400m dash by handpiecing and handquilting this quilt in just over two weeks.

I bought all the fabric in New Jersey. I'd popped into a local shop to get some thread, and the map-of-the-world fabric caught my eye. Soon I was walking out with mismatched fabrics for the quilt top and returned a few days later to purchased some more mismatches for the back.

I quilted half-chevrons along the pink/gold stripes; circles on the toile (unintentional souvenirs of the Games?), and traced the lines of the map. The binding is my beloved Liberty of London.

Dr. Martens, Dean Martin, Famolare, and the Cavendish Shoe

When I was in grad school in the 1990s I spend many of my days in my beloved Dr. Martens: black shoes, yellow stitching, with flowy floral dresses, shorts, and back cigarette pants.

These days I'd be interested in updating to the Union Jack boots, but have been temporarily diverted by these Cavendish shoes, for name-recognition reasons. Vanity, thy name is "Cavendish."

These shoes appear to be an update themselves, but if I were to get them, I'd want a different sole. The wedge is too Famolare for me--and if one goes Famolare, why not go all the way?

On Docs I prefer a traditional arch and heel, as in these Vintage 1461s:

By the way, back in the 1970s, when I was a wee lass on Prince Edward Island learning about Famolare shoes in Seventeen Magazine, I pronounced the name Fam-o-lair. Today, after visiting the new website, I realized I'd been saying it wrong ALL these years.

It's more like in this Dean Martin recording of "Volare":

The same can happen with literary characters--how many young readers mispronounced "Hermione" when they first met her in the HP series, or call/ed St. John Rivers from Jane Eyre "Saint John" instead of "Sinjin"?

The most recent Jane Eyre with the most recent St. John. 

Pink Planners, a Phone, and Platforms: The Kate Spade Influence?

There's a particular shade of pink that I love--it's sort of the creamy pink of Canadian Smarties; sort of something else.

I see bits of it here, in these three different pinks.

The first is a notebook by Kate Spade. Its cousin, an agenda in a redder floral, has bloomed all over the Internet, but I saw, in a local shop, an agenda in this pale peony pink and am going to scoop it up tomorrow.

Detail from the red floral agenda

The second is a witty pair of platforms by Minivog (Who? Fluevog's mini me?). I've been feeling my 1990s graduate school roots lately (it's been a quarter century since I wore my Doc Martens) and these remind me of those days.



And finally, what's a good pink without someone to tell about it? So this phone directory would do nicely, with its retro silhouette and shade.

The 340d Fly; or Butterflies Are Tea

In the Olympic Games, the butterfly aquatics event is usually abbreviated as such: the 200m fly; the 100m fly, etc.

I have discovered, however, a new event, which involves pouring tea and might well be called the 340d fly.

In lane one is this Christian Lacroix butterfly teapot, valued at 340 dollars, hence the name of the event.

A worthy competitor in lane two is this Mackenzie Childs teapot, which is more of a rookie, as it is worth a "mere" 90 dollars. A 90d fly, anyone?

Although this event seems like it could be stimulating, I'd rather focus my attention on the medal podium, this charming pedestal, also adorned with butterflies, but in blue, also from Mackenzie Childs.

Or do gentle readers think that these butterflies are twee?

Who Wore a Turtleneck Better? J.Crew or Sue Heck?

Today I received a Fall 2016 teaser catalogue from J.Crew and noticed the retro prep style that's being promoted as the company attempts to make itself relevant again.


One style in particular caught my eye, as it reminded me of my undergraduate years during the early 1980s when students wore turtlenecks under collared shirts.


I really haven't seen this look surface since (for good reason?), but there's a variant of it in the TV character Sue Heck's wardrobe from The Middle.



Gentle readers may know that Sue is the eternally optimistic, striving middle child who sees the world through unicorn-colored glasses.

And since Sue is knowing for cheerfully writing herself into slogans (like her patriot scholarship essay "Red, White and Sue" [she didn't win it]; or her "Sue-mometer" to measure funds raised for university), maybe I'll call this look the

J.Sue

Ryan Lochte's Pistachio Locks; or: Shamrock Shakes Leave Wakes in the Pool

Over the past few days Ryan Lochte's hair has perhaps overshadowed his swimming. Lochte began the Olympic games with a silvery planetary hue; he leaves as if the moon were made of green cheese.

I like the unintentional new chlorinated colour, as it reminds me of both artifice (Shamrock Shakes, anyone?) and nature (the humble pistachio).

Tim Walker's dreamscape fashion photography also often reminds me of pistachio, as in these images:

But back to Lochte's hair and the Olympic water, which was not as murky as this Walker image, despite concerns about the diving pool:

Did a breakfast of champions cause Ryan Lochte's change of hair color?

Nah--Ryan just ate green eggs and swam.