Over the last two days I’ve spent a lot more time than I should have going through old silent film fan magazines online, thanks to this list of old movie and theater publications that have been digitalized by Google. Honestly I had no idea Google was putting the archives of old magazines online, and when I tried to search their database I couldn’t get anything good to come up, but no matter. There is more than enough here—everything from Motion Picture issues from 1915, to early 1920s Photoplays.
There aren’t too many issues from the years in between 1915 and 1920, so it’s interesting to see how much the movie industry changed in just five years. The 1915 Photoplays and Motion Picture issues are still really theater-based–there are less starlets and more theater grand dames, less celebrity gossip and more literal play-by-plays of films. They may not be as interesting, article-wise, as the ’20s magazines, but I think I like the older pictures best. I like the film stars’ long hair (pre-1920s bobbing), the flowers they put in it and the dresses that they wear. Everything is so soft and nostalgic, and it’s amazing how quickly it all would change.
I haven’t been the least bit fancy with my clothes this summer, thanks partly to my broken elbow (no too-tall shoes or complicated blouses for me), partly because I’m lazy, but mostly because I’ve just liked simple dresses and sandals best. They’re the easiest, and they make the most sense for my lifestyle, which is about as un-fancy as you can get. It’s weird to think that I used to walk around in five inch heels on the regular; now it’s usually old lady Worishofers all week, and sensible three inch wooden heeled sandals on the weekend. (Atlanta’s so fancy that three inch heels practically count as flats here.)
Looking at Charles Anastase stuff always makes me wish I could dress up more (and had the money to do it). In a perfect world I’d be spending the summer (straight-elbowed) in pastel silk Charles Anastase dresses and stumbling around in those platforms of his that would be extreme even in Atlanta.
Photos: Charles Anastase SS 2011 Pre-Collection, by Jessie Lily Adams . . . . . . . . . Bernice Shirtdress . . . . . . . . . . . Lula Dress .
1. Pink Silk Daisy Blouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1970s Florence Wrap Skirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Denim Mina Smock Dress . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1970s Ettie Smock Blouse.
5. 1970s Violet Midi Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. White Hazel Sun Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 1960s Lavender Kate Day Dress . . . . . . . . . 8. Pink Silk Stella Skirt. (Photos: Jamie Hopper. Model: Haley at M Management)
Photos by Drew
Dress: Paint the Roses Dress, c/o Modcloth
Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Bag: Ebay
Necklace: Madewell
Sunglasses: Karen Walker
It seems like there’s a heatwave all over the country, but here in Atlanta it’s pretty much just summer as usual, hot and humid, stay inside as much as you can kind of weather . . . I’ve been wearing sundresses every single day, including this one that I originally got to wear to Mississippi. It’s sleeveless and cotton, and the print on it kind of reminds me of one that was floating around in New Zealand collections last season, which of course is a bonus.
I didn’t do a whole lot this weekend. On Friday night we were social and hung out with friends, but on Saturday I was indecisive and sort of sick and the only thing that sounded fun to me was eating chocolate and going downtown to the library. I had some overdue books to take back and fines to pay (like usual), but I can still check out books so I got a book called The Romantic Comedians, by Ellen Glasgow. I’ve read good things about Glasgow in southern literary history books but haven’t read anything by her until now, so I figured it would be a good late summer novel to read Also RuPaul’s autobiography was already checked out.
On Saturday night we ate tacos and then went out for drinks at Octane for the second night in a row (I had an iced Irish coffee, copying what Jamie had the night before), and today Drew finished watching the Tour de France (his favorites got 2nd and 3rd) and then we went to Bakeshop (more chocolate) and then to the farmer’s market. Salad for dinner, reading books later on, maybe I’ll make (chocolate) muffins. Sometimes it’s good when weekends are slow and boring because it makes the idea of work and weekdays seem exciting by comparison. This week I want to brainstorm and work on store things and work on elbow exercises, and on Thursday I’ll even get out of town to go visit my mom in the mountains, where she’ll be going to a history conference.
New Zealand label Sunday’s collections always make me think of summer; if designer Miriam White’s silk dress/peter pan collar crop top filled fall collection was a big inspiration for me this spring then you can bet that I’m excited that her summer lookbook is now out, just in time for dog days of summer heatwaves. Pale pink sun dresses and white maxi skirts look just about perfect to me now, and even those espadrilles look pretty good, which is saying a lot since I can’t pull off an espadrille for the life of me.
