LACMA Mid Century Design Exhibit pt 3

The last installment of this amazing exhibition. Really, these photos are just a fraction o f the goodies that show has. You have until June, go see it!

LACMA Mid Century Design Exhibit pt 2

More from the amazing exhibit. I think this is going to be split up into three parts. 

LACMA Mid Century Design Exhibit pt 1

This evening I traveled to LACMA for the California Mid Century Exhibit.

It was a Thursday and the museum was open late. We met up at 6:30 and I was surprised that if you were an LA resident, you got in free!

You walk into a large breath of space where it has been transformed into a kitcky 50s tasting space itself. It's wavy gravy, man.

My weekends of Vintage fun.

These past two weekends have been a big batch of fun.

This past Saturday was the opening of a new vintage themed club, The ChitChat Club. Apparently they had a previous location but had to close down. It was a buzz all over the vintage 'scene' about this place opening, so I decided to check it out.

I decided to wear my brick wool crepe dress. It's 40s, and not too flashy for public transit. I used to live in the neighborhood of the new location, so I took the subway there.

*This is the post cubby wall from the old reception desk.*

Apparently the old building is being restored and this club is located in one of their three ballrooms. The space was beautiful and the club was located on the lower floor. What I couldn't quite tell was if this space was permanent or not, because the bar was just a tiny corner in the back.

Oh the bar...Not only was the line a mile long, there were only 2 bartenders AND NONE OF THEM KNEW THE DRINK MENU!!! I mean the menu was filled with special concoctions, and they didn't know any of the recipes. I mean there were owner created recipes and the bartenders were reading off sheets.

How tacky is that?

The night did have some fun parts even though it opened an hour late. I almost wanted some of my cover charge back for that. There was a projectionist who played some vintage jazz shorts from the 20s and 30s. Those were great. Also, the band Stompy Jones was a hit. Honestly if it were not for the band, I think the night would have sucked. As far as openings goes, it was so much fun, but I wish it had been planned better.

The night did have an added bonus for me. A friend of a friend gave me a ticket to the Vintage Clothing and Textile show happening in Burbank the next day. Cool!

The event was being held in a big complex that housed a dining hall, an ice rink, a bowling alley and a few other things. And it was busy. Our event was in a few rooms in the back of the complex and we managed to find it not from the lamely posted sign on the outside wall, but by a side door. A poorly guarded side door after walking nearly completely around the complex....in the rain.

It was nice just walking around and looking a much of the stuff that ws overpriced. One booth had these lovely fabric sample cards and one card had nearly 30 3x5" sample swatches on it. It was cool, but their price was $50 and I was not gonna pay that. Plus the lady looked at me like I didn't have any money, or didn't know what I was looking at. I hate when vendors try and size me up like that.

I didn't buy anything, just looked. I had never been to that textiles show and frankly I thought there would have been more textiles. It was mainly vintage clothing and quite a few sellers that I know were there from the other big vintage show in Santa Monica. I'm just glad I didn't pay to get in.

A friend called me and picked me up and we went to a local vintage clothing store called Playclothes. My friend had wanted to take me there for a while. It is indeed a wonderland. There are a lot of real good things there, fairly priced. I looked through their patterns, mostly 60s and their fabric, which was quite nice. I bought a couple of pattern and some flowered seersucker. Its already cleaned and ready to become a dress soon.

From there we went to a local vegan bar and I had beer and a 'sausage'. We both like that place.

This weekend was our monthly visit to church.

Well, Church of Sinatra. Its a monthly vintage cocktail party that around here is hosted by a friend of mine. Sometimes they are fun, often depending on the mood of the host. You know how drama can be. This time was more fin than usual because not only was the host in a good mood, it was also the 4 year anniversary of the LA branch, and he pulled out some great spirits.

I wore my newly finished 30's sport blouse and a RTW black linen skirt. I looked lovely :)

A real nice rum, and two types of absinthe. We ended up calling that 'bottle study'. It was great. There was just a good mood of all those gathered, so we all just went with it.

Today was the Santa Monica Vintage Expo, but I'm opting out of this go round.

I'm broke and because I went to the textile show last week, I feel like I've already seen most of what's there.

*whew*

I'm beat.

I'm just gonna chill the rest of the weekend and sew. Yeah, that sounds nice.

Expo Expo Expo!

This past weekend I went to the Santa Monica Vintage Expo. Its a quarterly expo showcasing vintage goods from all over California. Ive been before, and its fun.

I have no cash, so I mainly go to look. There are some amazing pieces, and I often check the garments to see if Im using techniques that were used in the past. I squee like a kid when I find I do. Like one blouse that a friend of mine bought, it had snap fastener spaced on the bottom after the last button. I often do that to keep the bulk of a fourth button from bulging when I have my shirt tucked into my slacks. Well, I guess thats so vintage because I found that a lot. That, I guess would also explain the reason for button cards that only have 3 to 4 buttons. Mystery solved!



Saturday I wore the navy linen suit I had been working on. I got a lot of compliments on it. More detailed final shots on NVL. After the expo, I went to 'church' and met the lovely proprietor of the etsy store FabGabs. She had a booth at the expo, and a rather nice plus size section, I might add.

On Sunday, I didn't want to endure another day of the garter belt, so I was casual with 40s cut slacks I made and a blouse I made. People loved the blouse. It got a lot of stares, I think the buttons drew people too. They are vintage ('40s) and SO cool.

On the second day I did buy one thing. 2 1/4 yards of vintage fabric. The lady whom I bought it from had mad stashes of rayon, so I picked this up for $8 a yard. Turns out its silk, ha! Aw well, Ill still use it. I plan on making a blouse. Im going to use my repro pattern.

I do hope I have enough material, and if not, Ill get creative. Seems Im branching into more dry clean fabrics lately. Im getting fancy!

Depression Era Expo

Today was a fun day. I went to the Santa Monica Vintage Expo with some of my vintage friends. I knew I would be going for a few days, and having been last year, I knew it was going to be cold. My entire thought process on what I was going to wear was 'I want to be comfortable and warm'.

I didn't have a solid era in mind, more a feeling. I did want to make the outfit mid 30s in feeling, but looking at my criteria, comfortable and warm, my options were limited.

I went through 3 outfits, finally choosing a wool tweed skirt I made, a rayon blouse I made from a modern SImplicity repo pattern, some 20's cotton lace stockings I got a few years back, my good ole 40's shoes, a tan wool button up I got at the thrift store 5 years ago (love that sweater), my NRA MOP pin that was a gift, and the 20's inspired cloche in my etsy store.

I was very comfy and warm. I was also surprised by the compliments on my outfit. Someone even said, "Wow, you look very depression era today." YES!!!!!! I got a lot of compliments on my cloche, even a designer pulling me aside and saying I should sell them. Good idea!

There was a lot of 80s stuff at the expo this year, and tons of 20s stuff priced too high for the average person to buy. I did see one silk shawl from the late 20s that was in beautiful condition. The seller was even asking a fair price for it, but alas, I am not 'depression era' in look only. I even helped my friend Jen 'approve' a lovely lawn dress from the 30s for the depression era picnic later in the month.

She bought her dress from the Woodland Farms Antiques booth. I was able to tell the lovely lady how much I and some of my friends adore her online store. She is a real nice lady.

After a lot of fun looking and running into a lot of vintage folks, a gang of us went to the bowling alley behind the expo hall and had lunch. It was fun.

Then, a small group of us went for a cocktail at Tiki-Ti.

Where I discovered Jen was a hard core regular there,over 10 years, and even had her own cocoanut cup. Very classy.

It was a fun day, and Im tired. But now I have to get ready for tomorrow. Im going to the Cicada Club.

Oh the fun life of a vintage gal.