It should come as no surprise that I love poodles:
Both the in the fur variety, like my darling Mr. Tuvok, and the collectible 1950's variety as seen on the purse. The 1950's might not have been the golden age of everything, but they where definitely the golden age of the poodle. Poodles where everywhere. In advertisements,
on skirts, sweaters,
knick knacks, purses, book ends, mirrors, lamps
even toilet seat covers!.
There is a whole book devoted to the mid century poodle collecting obsession. I've never read it but you can buy it used on Amazon.
Maybe there not everyone's cup of tea, but to me these delightfully kitschy 1950s and 60s poodle images just put modern dog graphics to shame. So ubiquitous was the mid century poodle that I was actually shocked to learn that according to the AKC poodles where only the decade's 7th most popular breed. Regardless of the ranking, the poodle and the 1950s are forever linked.
Sadly today, I feel the poodle has fallen a bit out of favor. Doodles are popular but poodles don't seem to get the same respect they used too. I am also troubled by the modern trend to groom a poodle into looking like some other breed of dog. I have written before about how I want Mr. Tuvok to be groomed in a traditional pet poodle style, and that can be a challenge. Groomers have told me that most people tell them to make their dogs look less like a poodle. A sentiment that really kind of angers me, poodles are a wonderful breed, why would you want to disguise that? Smart, companionable, athletic affectionate, and in a range of sizes, they really are fantastic. Let's have some poodle pride! With my love for dogs and vintage I can't get enough of dog themed vintage clothing, so when I saw that my favorite novelty skirt designer, Girl In A Whirl, was adding 1950's Mexican style tourist jackets to her wares I knew I wanted where my poodle pride on my sleeve with a poodle themed jacket. I messaged Girl In A Whirl designer, Rebecca and told her I was dreaming of a jacket with little black poodles on it. I wanted the poodles to have the classic well groomed 1950's look and to be wearing red berets. Rebecca understood exactly what I meant and my new Girl In A Whirl jacket is perfect!
I've been wearing it at least once a week since I got it and I never get tired of it (and yes Mr. Tuvok has a red beret, it was actually part of his pug sister Ping's halloween costume a few years ago.)
The picture's here are from two different occasions. First I am wearing the jacet with Freddies of Pinewood jeans and a striped top. The second time with with my Marie Guye western jumpsuit. Both time's I wore my red Chatterblossom hair flower and of course my poodle purse.
I also added gold tone poodle scatter pins to the neck of the jacket. I have had these forever and I forget where I got them but they only cost a couple of bucks and they are perfectly at home on the jacket. Proof that it always pays to take advantage of a vintage deal even if your not totally sure what to do with the item.
Because Rebecca is so talented the details of jacket are incredible.
The front of the jacket has red whip stitching and the poodles are wearing red bow ties to match their berets.
The pocket's have red whip stitching and pom pom trim
There is even a little K on the collar!
So the front is perfect, but the back is even better. The poodles on the back are playing with a red and blue ball.
They have little sparkly blue eyes and light blue bows, as well as berets:
I really think they look just like Mr. Tuvok! Even the red ball is carefully stitched with blue ribbon to match the poodle neck bows.
I'm just so happy to have this jacket in my collection and so grateful to Girl In A Whirl for making it for me. I know Ill be enjoying it, along with all other things poodle, for years to come.
It's Castiel from supernatural. Though I messed up his eyes a bit.
In other news we took all 5 dogs to the vet so we could renew heart worm meds. It was crazy
And Mr. Tuvok got his teeth cleaned. We had made an appointment for Weasley to do the same but our vet said his teeth weren't that bad yet and we could wait a year. I love my vet he's very honest and saved us 800 dollars. He did say Tuvok had lots of tartar for a two year old dog and would be needing lots of dentals over his life time. We expected that though since he is a toy poodle. Tuvok isn't happy about it though.
It's taking me a while to get around to writing this post, and not because I don't love the products I'm reviewing but just due to be being busy. I ordered 3 bandanas from Electrolucy back in September for Fry's second birthday.
I found the shop while doing a search for two of my favorite things on etsy Star Trek and dogs. Electrolucy makes awesome geeky dog bandannas and collars with themes such as Harry Potter, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Sherlock Holmes and of course, Star Trek. I ordered three Star Trek themed bandannas. A Star Trek Dr. McCoy themed bandanna:
A Star Trek The Next Generation Wesley Crusher Bandanna:
A tribble themed bandanna:
The bandannas are all made of nice sturdy double sided fabric, with the design and wording stitched on. and a tie around the neck,. I really like the neck ties as I find them quicker and easier to take on and off then bandannas that slide over a collar. Each bandanna comes in sizes small, medium, and large and retails for ten to 14 dollars, depending on size. I ordered smalls and found them to be generously sized for the pugs, and perhaps a smidge to large on Tuvok. These bandannas are too cute and I definitely recommend checking out Electrolucy.
Where did the time go! Anyway, Mr. Tuvok had a great time opening presents on his 2nd birthday, as did his pug brothers who seemed to think it was there birthday too.
Since Tuvok's birthday is in November we gave him gifts with a Thanksgiving theme. The best was the beautiful sweater from Pug notes, Melissa did an amazing job again.
He also got a set of cute Thanksgiving bandannas
and a Tyler talking turkey from multipet.
Sadly, Tyler Turkey is already no more. He survived all of four hours before a post bath Weasley and Fry tore him to bits. Despite Tyler Turkeys unfortunate demise, Tuvok seemed to enjoy his birthday, though he didn't love the party collar he is wearing in these photos.
He loved the burger from White Castle for his birthday cake, but there are no photos because for the 2nd time my Samsung Galaxy 6 overheated for no reason and had to be wiped. I really don't like this phone but am stuck with it because of a contract. I just purchased a digital camera with wi-fi from Amazon for blog photos and I'm hoping that will work better and improve the photo quality on the blog, which I do think is lacking.
Many of my favorite mid century images involve picnics and barbecues
So its not surprising that when I saw the Bernie Dexter BBQ print last year I feel head over heels. Bernie Dexter is one of my favorite repro companies and a big part of the reason I've been moving towards more 1950s looks. Her dresses are always comfortable and you can't help but smile in the fun prints. They don't come cheap, but they are very well made and if you join her mailing list there are tons of coupons and sales. I watched the website for some time and shortly after Christmas I was rewarded, I scored my dream dress for 50% off. I had to wait all winter to wear it, but it was well worth the wait. This dress is divine!
It can be casual or a little more dressy. The day these pictures where taken I wore it to an afternoon wedding. I dressed it up with a Daisy hair band from Chatter Blossom and one of my Amazon petticoats. I love how a petticoat can completely change the look of a dress.
I also wore my Remix penny sandals, some bakelite bangalls and a 1960s novelty purse that has fabric flowers beneath the clear plastic. I'm crazy about these purses.
I finished the look with one my all time favorite mid century pieces my white rhine stone cats eye sunglasses. They always make me smile:
We even got a rare shot of my husband and I together at the wedding, he is usually behind the camera.
