Lee Miller

In  New York City in late November, I happened to walk by the Rizzoli bookstore and wandered in. It's not in its original location, but it still feels very much like an old world bookstore, the kind of space in which one wants to linger and finger the pages of books. I picked up a book on photographer Lee Miller, which I thought my younger daughter Clara and I could share.

Clara has read it and now it's my turn. The question of female beauty has arisen, I see her as athletic and wholesome, but also a cross between Catherine Deneuve and Greta Gerwig. But what I like the most of course are the clothes and the poses. 

The fact that she was both in front of the camera and behind it is also intriguing. 

  in front …  

… and behind the camera

                                                                                                   

Becky Conekin, the author of the book on Miller and fashion, attempts to analyze this paradox, and attempts to understand the possibility of a woman making herself the object of the gaze.  I'm not sure that Conekin succeeds in her interpretation. But it doesn't really matter. This book is a fun fashion book and a biography of a woman who had an extraordinary life. 

This photograph, taken during World War II to promote the use of safety gear during German bombings of London, summarizes for me at least the disappearance of a border between aesthetics (surrealist inspired in this case), commodification (of clothing, not just as practical but also as fashionable and trendy) and propaganda (we can defend ourselves against the enemy). Furthermore the photograph is very modern. By modern I mean that it is not only timeless, but it sets the style for fashion photography for decades to come. Fashion photography is attractive not only because it commodifies the clothes. That would be predictable and boring. But because it also surprises the viewer with poses, accessories, lighting, backdrops and special effects (with the advent of photoshop) that make the viewer dream of another reality. At the risk of sounding like a Roland Barthes wannabe, I will stop and let the images speak for themselves.  

Back and foreword

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in New York City, as mentioned in a previous post. I finally uploaded the photo of my friend Laure in a consignment shop on West Broadway in Soho. I don't have a photo of the skirt she ended up purchasing, and this sweater, albeit lovely, had a tying system that became too complicated.

The end of a calendar year is a good time to purge -- which means cleaning out closets and filling bags with stuff to bring to consignment shops and thrifts stores. It's also a good time to look back and look forward. I look back on a tumultuous year for many people, and I look foreword to a more peaceful year, pared down to its most essential elements.

young bohemians

Another blog I just came across via Sally Jane: It Girl, Rag Doll
Great clothes, inspiring outfits!

New thoughts on old clothes

I just spent Thanksgiving in New York City where I reconnected with my daughter Clara whose clothes come mainly from the Salvation Army.

This outfit is made up of hand me downs and aforementioned finds at a West Side Salvation Army store.

I visited her in her new neighborhood in Bushwick, Brooklyn, reachable by M train, an elevated subway train that harkens back to the New York of the 1940s and 50s, including, free of charge, a slow and slightly bumpy ride through Williamsburg and Bedford Stuyvesant.

                                 

I also went to the New Museum on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan where I couldn't help but notice the number of men wearing colorful sneakers,  suede shoes and leather booties. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this male fashion statement. Perhaps I just need to get used to it. 

It's December, drab, grey, cold, and depressing. Back home in New Hampshire, when I'm feeling bored and blue, I cruise ebay looking at Coach bags. Harlow's vintage web site popped up, with a lovely red bag

 as well as  this wonderful little video…

a very inspiring documentary about older women in the UK

fabulous fashionistas

what is vintage?

Here is somebody who wrote a nice piece on that very question. Well worth a read...

http://sociallifeof2ndhandclothes.com/2013/05/27/is-it-vintage-retro-or-secondhand-identify-that-retrorama-dress/

Guys like used clothes too

I have not deliberately excluded men from this blog. Men who take their time shopping for clothes have only just recently surfaced into my life. One is my office neighbor Scott who one day was wearing this lovely tweed jacket.

The lining on the jacket is a wonderful golden silk, and the pink tie goes beautifully well with the sylvan green.
Another male friend who enjoys shopping for clothes in second hand shops is Davide from Italy. On a recent trip to Montreal, he ended up in the exact same shop as I had, in Outremont, where he purchased this coat, made at the Woonsocket woolen mills in  Rhode Island.

On his final day of his visit to New Hampshire, I asked him if he would be interested in my old Barbour raincoat. I loved that raincoat, but because it was a man's size, the arms were too long and I always had to roll up the sleeves.  He tried it on, and it fit him to a tee. I was so pleased to pass that Barbour on to somebody who clearly was very excited to become its next owner!

People travel, clothes travel too. I wish people would place a map inside the pocket of a coat that they have traveled with and are leaving at a consignment shop, just to keep the story going. Woonsocket to Montreal to Italy. England to New Hampshire to Italy. To...….?

 Finally, there is my new "coinquilino" and colleague Jonathan, in a Filson jacket he found on sale in Italy. Not used, but still a classic find that he will likely wear for a long time.