If you've followed this blog at all you might know I have a bit of a thing for the incomparable Fred Astaire
He's my favorite singer, my favorite film star, and though he may be nearly thirty years in the grave my number one celebrity crush. Basically if it involves Fred Astaire I can' resist it. Fred Astaire introduced dozens of popular songs during his decades long career, many of them written by Irving Berlin.
So when I first saw the aptly name Irving blouse
in Jitterbuggin's Etsy shop it was the Fred connection that caught my eye, Fred introduced many an Irving Berlin song in his films, but one good look at the lovely 1930s style blouse with a bow at the neck and the music note print and I was as smitten as when I first saw Fred and Ginger dance as a pre-teen.
I immediately ordered the blouse and like all my other Jitterbuggin' pieces its quickly become a favorite staple in my wardrobe. This blouse looks equal good paired with jeans, skirts, or pinafores.
It is a 1930s style blouse but I like to mix eras and my favorite way to wear it is with my 1930s style skirt from Time Machine Vintage and a red 1940s hat I got during an awesome clearance sale at Poppycock vintage. To accessorize I added sparkly red miss l fire shoes, some thrifted bakelite bangles and a lovely reproduction 1940s heart pin from MerriWeather.
I've written before about Brooklyn Farmacy, the picture perfect vintage style soda shop that is my all time favorite New York city restaurant. Seriously, this place isn't just a restaurant, it's a period perfect time machine, right down to the paper hats on the soda jerks and vintage fridge in the back:
It is also a rarity, authentic soda shops are like affordable, pristine 1920s dresses, unusual. However, the good news is the craze for artisan food is brining about a home made soda comeback, the New York times published this article on the trend back in 2011. As someone who loves ice cream and history I couldn't be happier about the rebirth of this forgotten American institution.
This Sunday my husband and I decided to make the trek from Jersey City to the Brooklyn Farmacy, the trip takes a bit longer then an hour but is well worth it. Since it was a lovely warm day on Sunday I decided a summery outfit was in order, and since I'm always trying to keep the wrinkles at bay I brought my parasol along as well.
Like the other Hey Day trousers I've tried these pants are super comfortable and the perfect weight for summer. In general I'm not much of a pants person but these and my Freddie's are making me into one. They also pair well with a number of tops, and while they are 1940s style trousers I think they are also reminiscent of the 1930s, my favorite style decade. For our outing I wore them with my yellow Jitterbuggin' blouse, one of my favorite items.
I'm a Sundae fanatic and as I've been to Brooklyn Farmacy several times I've tried quite a few of their sundaes. I'd never had the Elvis though, and I decided today was the day.
It was a decadent concoction with all of the King's favorites peanut butter, banana chip ice cream, caramel, candied bacon, whipped cream, and a pickle on the side! Yes, it was as good as it looked:
I also had a cherry soda, all their sodas are made with old fashioned syrups that use real fruit and seltzer,
Isn't the color lovely? John had an egg cream and an egg salad sandwich. He was feeling shy and didn't want to be photographed.
If you don't live any where near Brooklyn there is no need to despair for your Soda Shop dreams. Brooklyn Farmacy just published a cookbook.
It is available from Amazon for $14.95 . I pre-ordered it in March and received it in May and I love it. In addition to recipes for all the Farmacy's treats there is a detailed history of soda fountains in general and tons of fun facts. So far I've tried the recipe for marinated pineapple and the egg cream and both were delicious. I don't want to give away the books secrets, but as its a well known classic I think I can safely share the recipe for the egg cream.
Classic Egg Cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cold whole milk
3/4 cup cold plain seltzer
3 tbsp Fox's U Bet Syrup (Vanilla or chocolate its up to you!)
Pour the milk into a tall glass and add the seltzer slowly until the froth comes to the top, if you are like me it will always overflow a bit so have paper towels handy. Slowly pour the syrup into the center of the foam and then very gently mix the syrup in using a long handles spoon in back and forth motion. Don't overdo it or there goes your foam!
There is something charmingly vintage about Christmas outfits. By this I mean outfits in red and green with sparkly details or novelty decorations. These days people may get a new outfit for the Holidays but I think its not as common to see Christmas colors. If the advertisements of the past are to be believe it seems that people were once unafraid to dress, without irony, for the season
Nowadays dressing in a Christmassy outfit is usually seen as a joke, which I think is a shame. I haven't worn anything Christmassey myself since I was a little girl 30 years ago, but this year I decided to put together a vintage Christmas look (sorry for the indoor photos it was too cold the day I took them to go outside)
The shamrock green jumper is from Jitterbuggin'. Their clothes are perfect replicas of 1940s originals but with the durability of modern clothing. This green jumper is one of my favorite articles of clothing and I wrote about it previously in this post. Its made of really thick good quality cotton fabric so you can wear it in any season. I actually have two jumpers one in navy and one in green, but the green is my favorite, both are totally worth the price.
My 1930s sweater is from Vintage and Cool Knitting . Its made from an original 1930s pattern and its another one of my favorite pieces of clothing. I wrote about it in this post. Regiane's prices are very reasonable and I'm already thinking about my next sweater.
The cherry pin is from Lilyashlys on Ebayshe makes really nice 1940s style jewelry for very reasonable prices.
I made one new purchase for this outfit, everything else I already had, I wanted to be able to do some vintage Holiday hair and since mine is short I decided a barrette was the way to go. I got this 1950s candy cane barrette from Rose Bud Cottage on Etsy. Enjoy your Holidays and don't be afraid to dress up and be festive, it will brighten your day!
Since my husband and I are lucky enough to share our lives with five wonderful dogs and 3 lovely cats, who I write about on my blog Urban Hounds, we rarely go away for vacations. Its simply to hard to find reliable people to care for so many animals or to pay that many pet hotel fees, plus we would miss them to much. As a result nearly all of our vacations are staycations in the New York area. During our last staycation in August we took a day trip to Philadelphia a city I'd never been to before. My primary reason for going was to visit the Franklin Fountain. I had read of its relentless authenticity in this New York Times article and as a vintage lover and an ice cream lover I couldn't resist playing the place a visit. I've always been fascinated by the history of Soda Fountains and think its very sad that the invention of the twist cap and supermarket soda has pretty much eliminated these charming places.
It seemed a little gluttunous, though I can most definitely be a glutton, to go all the way to Philadelphia just for ice cream, so we visited the art museum as well.
I was lucky enough to have a nice Jitterbuggin blouse and skirt to wear to the museum. They make really lovely and comfortable clothes.
I was happy to see that the museum had a few paintings with dogs in them. I love looking at old pictures and paintings of dogs and seeing the role they played in society at that time.
My favorite is the bottom one, I love how the ladies dog is inviting her to play as she heads out the door.
The museum also had a very nice collection of Medieval armor and art.
In my opinion though the best part of the museum was outside it. In a garden across the street from the entrance was a sweet statue commemorating a Mastiff who had served as a guard dog for the museum. I couldn't resist taking a picture with him. I love the sweet expression on his face.
I got a lot of nice compliments on my 1940s coconut purse. Its definitely one of my favorite accesories.
The best part of the trip definitely was the fountain. It was just like going back in time with a terrific collection of fountain sodas, ice creams, sundaes, and even phosphates (fancy soda drinks made from a careful blending of photos.) Every detail of the place is perfect and you really do feel like you are going back in time.
These sodas are not like ones from a store. The lime soda was really tart and fizzy delicious. I've never even liked soda until I had it from a fountain.
The sundae I got, the Southern Sympathizer, was definitely one of the best things I've ever eaten.
My husband and I even managed to get one picture of us together, a rarity, before heading back to Jersey City on the train.
During the 1930s and 40s when air travel was still relatively new and novel, and when the military's success in WWII depended on air combat, pilots where heroes admired by all. One group of particularly impressive pilots where the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP).
During WWII these amazing women where trained to fly military aircraft in noncombat missions. 1,074 women served in the WASP and 38 young women lost their lives flying aircraft. However, the WASP did not receive veteran status until 1977 and their efforts where overlooked for many years and are still a sadly obscure part of US history. In 2009 the WASP received the Congressional Gold Medal.
One thing I love about vintage clothing and vintage style clothing is its connection to history. When I got my Jitterbuggin aviaton print blouse and navy jumper and a gift from my sweet husband it reminded me of the contributions of the WASP. Every time I wear the outfit I remember these amazing women and the contribution they made to our country.
I've always admired the pinafore dresses worn by women in the 1940s:
but since I can barely sew on a button I wasn't going to be able to make my own. Thanks to Jitterbuggin my pinafore dreams came true and I got this beautiful green one and a lovely feed sack print blouse to match (this is actually my second pinafore and blouse from Jitterbuggin, I'll share pictures of the other outfit another time.) I'm kind of new to having pictures taken of myself, and I never would have done it in my twenties. My husband and I started being in pictures because it made it easier for us to photograph our dogs and as I've gotten older I am more comfortable with it. The nice outfit sure helps!
Kim, who designs for Jitterbuggin, is so nice and helpful. She helped me choose the right size and when I messed up my check out she helped with that too. The outfit arrived super quickly and I was able to wear it for a nice mother's day bike ride in the park with my dog Ping who just turned ten. She is wearing a dress from pug possesed on Etsy for the occasion. We had a lovely time.
The brooch I am wearing is from ebay seller lilyashlys she makes really pretty 40s style jewelry for very reasonable prices and it came very quickly too.
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