Vinspiration Tuesday Goodness and some ARRRG

Vinspiration Tuesday is here again! And today is 1930s Day! In color! There absolutely was color photography in the 1930s. It was primitive and outrageously expensive at the time, but it did exist. The photos I'm sharing today are mostly from Print Ads. I borrowed the images from George Eastman House's online collection. They are all by Nicholas Muray, a great american advertising photographer. These are some of his earlier works. He later goes on to take some AMAZING photographs in the 1940s which I may do a Vinspiration Tuesday on later, but what we're all interested in today is the 1930s fashion! So away we go.

Starting off today we have an image that's just perfect for summer. Yes, yes, smoking in the picture. Just ignore the cigarette. It's the 1930s alright?  Instead enjoy her adorable swim cap. Do you think those leaves and petals are made out of rubber like the cap? Probably. I am also gushing over her cute yellow knit swim suit. I haven't run across many 1930s swim suit photos or patterns so I'm not completely sure what this would look like out of the water, but it's just darling in this photo! The photo was taken in 1936.

Another Camel Ad. Apparently it's from Camel Cigarett's "Magic Campaign, Fun to See - More Fun to Know, 1931" Not quite sure what is going on here other than the fact that there are belly dancers dancing in a box full of broken glass? What? Well, much more interesting than the dancers are the frocks! I love Miss Red Floral Print on the far right with her smart red cardigan. A close second favorite is Miss Green Frock in the back towards the left. She has a fabulous belted minty green print dress with scarf accent. Yummy. And the hats! Wow, those hats just make me swoon all over. Pink hat in the front is my absolute favorite lady's hat, but Miss Haughty Red Scarf to the right has a darling tan hat with dark band. Beau would look fantastic in the men's hat to the far right there, between Miss Red and Miss Haughty.

This one I picked especially for the Vintage Baroness. How fashionable is this lady? Be still my beating heart! The image's name is "Lucky Strike Girl 1936." (Sensing a theme with these photos yet? I told you the process was expensive and rare.) This dress might be one of the most fabulous 30s outfits of all time. I'm head over heels for the flowy blouse with red triangular detail. Her matching hat and gloves are to die for! I wondered to myself if her outfit might be couture, but after looking at the image further I think she's just highly fashionable... times 3. 

And now we enter the land of "what the heck are you wearing, Joan?" She looks like she should be leaving for marching band practice. Still I suppose that Joan Crawford was a very fashionable lady in 1939 so she must have known what she was doing. Her outfit is another great example of cyclic fashion. Don't you think this would look right at home in a 1970s magazine? Or even a 1980s one with those shoulder pads. So you can probably all look forward to wearing this look in the future.

This is a photo of Bertha Case taken in 1932. I'm not sure if this is the Bertha Case, American artist or just someone named Bertha Case. I was only able to find one photo of the Bertha Case on the internet to compare this with, but that photo had been taken in the 1910s and it was hard to tell. I'm leaning towards this actually being her because it is a color print from the 1930s. I am very much enjoying her elegant gloves with the scalloped edging and her hat. Bows nowadays seem to make hats very childish, but this hat is nothing but tasteful. 

And lastly the beautiful Marlene Dietrich in her wispy evening gown circa 1935. Marlene was just so gorgeous, truely one of the timeless beauties. She always looked a little miffed in her photos, but that was her style. Not my favorite dress of today for sure, but it's certainly interesting and dare I say- racy? I wish I knew what the fabric of that dress was. It reminds me a bit of chalk lines on a paper bag. Anyone else have any ideas?

So there's your Vinspiration for the week and now for the Ruby Shorts and rest of Nancy's life update...

Sooooooo, it is one thing after another around here. Today as I was snapping some pictures of my newly completed right Pink Ruby leg my Point-and-Click camera decided to call it quits. My first thought? Needs new battery, so I popped the battery out and plugged the camera into the wall. This worked for like a second, then the camera took some weird grainy liney pictures and decided to DIE on me. I can't even get it to suck its lense back in...

So instead of showing you my nifty button holes (thanks to my awesome automatic button-hole attachment) you get these grainy cellphone pictures. Enjoy... if you can.

Yes, that is my bathroom. Yes those are my cleaning supplies. Yes those are my panties for all the world wide web to see.

I also had some photos of the nice fit I've somehow managed to achieve despite all the troubles people have been having with the Rubys, but you don't get those. They're on the dead camera. And yes, I am wearing a shirt, I pulled it up to take the photos.

So one leg down, the other should go together fairly quickly now that I know what to expect. I don't think anyone from this sew-a-long (SAL?) has actually finished their shorts.The Rubys are definitely a beast, but I hope well worth it. BurdaStyle seems to like to take the simplest directions and twist them around so it seems insanely difficult. These shorts really are not too bad, once you can translate the pattern. I know Purple Rubys will be a breeze now that I know what the pattern means to say. Lisette has an ongoing translation over at her blog Vintage or Bust.