My Vintage Living Room

Last week I was honoured to join the renowned fashion writer Maggie Alderson and my local vintage clothing guru Nicole Jenkins, in a panel discussion on Paul Barclay’s show Australia Talks on ABC Radio National. While for many of you, like me, we are so immersed in vintage culture that we often forget that for the mainstream consumer, this influence is only a recent development.

Having been a treasure hunter and collector for the most part of my life, I’m one of the fortunate few who have amassed a collection of vintage paraphernalia before this recent trend took hold, pushing many pieces out of our reach financially.  But before the advent of this wonderful thing we like to call the World Wide Web, finding others who shared the passion only really occurred when at swap meets, or when I got chatting to antique store owners and ladies at the CWA.  Now, we’ve become a world wide community of crazy people obsessed with beautiful old things. Their collection, display, restoration and all consuming pursuit. What a wonderful thing it is.

It is because of this amazing community that we have the chance to share our stories, to have someone who understands the rush of finding that missing coffee canister to your Nallyware set. (N.B: I’m still looking for one of those…) It is this community that opens up a whole new world of treasure hunting possibilities as we trade 1930′s girdles across the Pacific, and trade those heartbreaking stories of love and loss.

While there is indeed a strong commercial element to the new ‘Vintage’ craze, (the bastardisation of the term simply for profiteering boils my blood) there is a silver lining. You won’t find me in high end vintage furniture stores eyeing off labels and forking over a months salary for something that is, at present, the height of chic. But you will find me, tape measure in hand, rummaging through boxes at a car boot sale in the country. You’ll find me with a dust mask and bug spray at the clearing of an old warehouse. And you’ll most certainly find me always up for a cup of tea and a chat to discuss the merits of a little old hand knit.

And that is why, oceans apart, Maggie, Nicole and myself all knew a kindred spirit when we heard one. Just as I recall dressing in my grandmothers knee high, hook and eye red suede boots as a 12 year old girl; I could imagine Maggie doing just the same and knew at that moment, exactly the measure of her passion.

It is these moments when you talk with someone, or when you leave me comments to tell me the stories of your finds and treasures, that bring to light that special warmth that is to be found in marvellous vintage. A pleasure shared in a pleasured double, and even though we now compete with many more for our special finds, I like to look at it as if our neighbourhood is growing. Fancy popping over for that cup of tea now?

To listen to Candice DeVille, Maggie Alderson and Nicole Jenkins on ABC Radio National talking vintage, just follow the link to the official podcast. Or you can download the podcast to listen to later here.

It is possible that I sat up last night watching clips like these for four hours. Clips on “Being Popular” (tip – don’t park in cars), “Being a good housewife” (tip- don’t talk too much), “Being a good female employee” (tip- do what you’re told and shut up).  As amusing as the clips are, the comments left by viewers are just as hilarious at times. But I particularly liked this one about the habits of good grooming and it made me wonder, just where are children taught things like this these days?

For many of my generation these things were still learnt at home where we were fortunate to learn by good examples.  However, a visit to any local shopping mall will leave you in little doubt that there is a big, gapping, badly groomed hole in the education of today’s teenager. The things I take for granted, like knowing how to use an iron, have become rare and exotic skills in today’s teenage repetior.  And taking a clean handkerchief out with you? Well the only handkerchieves I see on most teenagers are the ones masquerading as skirts.

Perhaps if the cast of Glee did a version of this film we’d have more luck guiding the next generation on the path to ‘keeping it nice’.

This clip is from the Prelinger Archives.

My lovely friend Mistress Chrissy of  The Lindy Charm School for Girls was interviewed by ABC radio in Brisbane over the wekend to talk about vintage fashion and the upcoming heritage calendar.  I had to share this one with you.

Thank you to ABC Radio and Peter Scott for this piece.

“Remember the clothes you, your mum or grandmother wore in the fifties and sixties? What was worn on the Gold Coast?

It’s becoming more and more popular for people to collect or wear vintage fashions. The old clothes will be a feature this weekend at a fashion parade and next weekend at a fashion fair.

Christine Keepence (pictured) talked about what was so good about these fashions. Looking very striking in her forties maternity wear, she says one of the most important features of these fashions was that they were made to last.  Listen to Chrissie here, especially for the story she tells about the blue and white denim full-piece swim suit that can be seen hanging over the rail in the picture.

You can see the parade of vintage fashions at this weekend’s “The Way We Wear Fashion Fair” will be at the Greek Community Centre, Bundall on Saturday 15th May (12 noon – 6pm) and  Sunday 16th (10am – 3pm).”

Listen

chrissie-keepence-vintage-fashion

As a rule I wouldn’t give you two cracking interviews in the space of one week…. but this is an extra special one. Today I spoke with the author of the new Australian book about to be launched tomorrow - Our Girls. Our Girls looks at the unique and poignant stories of Australian Pin Up girls from the 1940′s – 1950′s.  These women and their stories are unique to our country, our history and sense of who we are.

Meet Madeleine Hamilton Phd. – The Dr.of Dames!

Tell us a little about yourself. When did you first become interested in Pin Up culture and the stories behind it?
I guess I first caught the pin-up bug when I got short bangs cut 10 or so years ago. A work colleague said I looked like Bettie Page. I didn’t know who she was, so looked her up. From that point I was hooked on 50s pin-up queens. At the same time I was doing my Masters thesis on the Melbourne Truth newspaper in the 50s and it was chock-full of Australian swimsuit models. I thought, ‘Who were these women; what happened to them after they appeared in a major tabloid in their bathers; what did their families and friends think?’ When casting around for a PhD thesis topic, I decided to track down some of Australia’s forgotten pin-up babes and tell their stories.

Is it a purely academic interest or the more personal passion of a vintage-o-phile?
A combination, I’d say. I’ve long had such an intense yearning to just be able to step back into the 1950s. For a period I wanted to open my own vintage homewares store and started acquiring stock, but then I did a business plan and rapidly lost interest (hehehe). I am a devotee of vintage fashion, but a bit too lazy to search for it, care for it, do the grooming, etc. To have the discipline to complete a PhD thesis you have to have a strong emotional attachment to the topic, so I’m definitely passionate in terms of the looks, characters, style and ideas of mid-century Australia. Taking an academic approach also enabled me to investigate some of the complexities of pin-up culture – such as the idealisation of whiteness in Australian popular culture, Australian-American relations, and how men have historically used sexualised images of women to bond with one another.

Adelie Hurley (sitting with legs displayed gorgeously), early 1940s

What prompted you to focus on Australia’s early pin up culture as opposed to the better publicised American version?
For my PhD – on which ‘Our Girls’ is extracted – I needed an original research topic. American pin-ups have already been covered thoroughly and, as you say, very well publicised. Much to my surprise, no historian had researched or written about Australian 40s and 50s pin-up girls. I originally wanted to do a comparative study of American and Australian pin-ups, but quickly gathered enough fascinating material to be able to focus on the Australian side alone.

When you first began advertising for anyone with contacts or stories about Australia’s pin up girls, what was the initial reaction?
I got a very good response from the Australian media and did lots of radio and newspaper interviews. So it was obvious very early on that there was widespread interest in the topic.
About 30 people responded to my requests for interview participants, including former models, relatives of pin-up girls, and former servicemen. To my disappointment, I didn’t get any responses from men who photographed pin-ups.
Of course, as probably anyone doing a PhD thesis will find, there are always people who are bamboozled as to why you are spending 4 years researching such a narrow topic. Then there were people who didn’t like the approach I was taking, particularly some feminist historians who thought I should be more critical of mid-century pin-up culture. But generally I got lots of support and interest.

You mention in your book that upon meeting your contacts you became aware that the journey in writing this book was to be more emotional than you first anticipated.  How have these encounters moved or changed you?
The main thing, which I wasn’t expecting, was that my affection and respect for Australian men increased greatly. The wonderfully warm and polite tone of Australian diggers’ letters to pin-ups was just delightful. I was expecting them to be suggestive and explicit, but they showed great vulnerability. It was just heartbreaking – as I checked their service records in the National Archives – that so many subsequently died. It really was a great honour to Australian pin-up girls that their pictures were so treasured by men enduring such dangerous circumstances.

Linda Browne (standing in lovely white swimsuit with matching high heels) photograph by Reg Johnson, c. 1943-4

What were some of the common qualities and traits you encountered when meeting the various “girls”?
From when they were little girls they were performers and exhibitionists. They loved the attention their performing talents and looks brought them. They danced and sang, and loved showing off their figures in swimsuits at the beach. As older women, they were still immaculately groomed. For many of them, having to give up performing, modelling and travelling to start their families at usually very young ages was a source of some regret. Motherhood and marriage, while they had their pleasures, were hard work and lacked the glamour and excitement of their earlier years.

Pin up culture has become much more wide spread and acceptable these days, however it seems that things considered controversial in the modelling industry now, were less so then. For example, your book talks about two young pin ups, the youngest of whom was eleven years old and gracing the cover of PIX, yet these days models as young as 15 are being turned away from catwalk work at Fashion Week.  How and why do you believe these standards have changed?
I think once advertising became overtly sexy after WWII, both fashion and pin-up models were read as representing sex and thus as promiscuous. Now there is the idea of protecting teenage models from what is understood as an adult industry revolving around sexual fantasy and desires. During WWII, these concerns don’t seem to have existed, so PIX could un-self-consciously present a pin-up pictorial featuring an 11 year old who looked older, and a respectable mother could encourage her 15 year old daughter to be a mascot for a group of older men.

Today’s pinup culture has moved past simply sexualising the culture (as we saw happen in the 1950’s) and into a darker territory with the invention of websites like Suicide Girls.  With the benefit of having studied society’s values / zeitgeist reflected at the time through pin up culture, what do you believe this trend says about us in the now?
I do find some borderline imagery, such as the Suicide Girls, somewhat disturbing because these models – often no older than 18 – don’t seem to have a good understanding of how their images will be received. They also don’t seem to comprehend that once their frankly soft-porn photograph is published and disseminated on the internet, they have no control how it will be read/received by the audience. Some then express horror/surprise when their image is altered or used for an unintended purpose. I’m thinking of Lara Bingle’s attempt to sue Zoo Weekly for adding a speech bubble reading ‘I’ll make you come’ to one of her early sexy photos which she didn’t given permission for them to use. So I’d say that while we all think we know all about sexuality and fantasy, there is really a great amount of ignorance.

Joy Power - promotional pin-up for Perth Tivoli c. 1946-7

The pin ups of the past evoked a more romantic and glamorous notion of womanhood. Do you believe that these qualities have been lost in the modern version of the pin up – and what lessons can we learn from “Our Girls” to help every woman rediscover her inner pin up?
Yes – modern pin-ups are so hard! Really – they look like adolescent boys with huge artificial pumped up tits. It really worries me that boys and men’s definition of sexy femininity is the Ralph centrefold – who is definitely not the ‘girl-next-door’ of the 40s and 50s. Women and girls (and men!) would greatly benefit look back to this earlier era for a more realistic and achievable version of Australian femininity. The emphasis then was on healthy, wholesome womanhood. Beaches rather than stripper poles; bare feet rather than hooker heels; flattering two- or one-piece swimsuits rather micro-bikinis, and natural hair colour, not bleached extensions.

Congratulations on creating an enlightening, entertaining and engaging read. This is one I’ll be keeping for my daughters to help keep the spirit alive. Oh, lovely! They were – and are – amazing Australian women.

*****

Our Girls is an extraordinary work, both for the heritage and for the amazing pictures of our very own, original pin up girls. You’ll love their stories and if you are anything like me, will greatly appreciate the gorgeous, un-retouched women they are! Buy it, read it, share it with your friends and show your daughters – Our Girl’s brings home what it is to be beautiful, glamorous and real!

I’m also very excited to tell you that I have a special interest in this publication as I have the opportunity to attend the launch tonight… as a pin up girl myself! I’ll be walking the catwalk in swimwear from the 1950′s and actually getting to meet some of these amazing people. Yes I’ll be taking loads of photos and will have a choice selection of shots of all the fun and frivolity of the evening!

So once again… stay tuned for more adventures!

*Please Note: All images used in this story have been used with the permission of the models and the author of the book. Please do not use, or reproduce in any part, these photographs or interview, without express written permission from the appropriate parties.*

How often do you get your knickers in a knot?

If I can go by the number of emails I receive on this topic, it is A LOT!

It seems that even with all the technology, fancy fabrics, multitude of designs and brands names at our disposal, we still can’t find the perfect pair of knickers. Well I’m tired of a drawer full of underwear I never wear, tired of them creeping where they don’t belong, leaving nasty red marks on my body, and VPL’s.  All those ones that promise no VPL’s only work for me because they disappear to where they aren’t meant too! Seriously, it can’t be that hard right?
Over the last few months, I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect pair of everyday underwear.  I’m not looking for fancy, I’m not looking for overtly sexy, and I’m certainly not looking for something that will break the bank.  What I had in mind was something that hugged and supported my body nicely, and didn’t leave me tugging at them. Something I could just throw in the machine and know that wouldn’t kill them, and something that had a great retro vibe.
I do own a few pairs of some very fancy, high waisted vintage styled numbers; and while they are beautiful, their prices tags weren’t.  Yes, worth it for what they were, but certainly not something you’d fork out for ten pairs of just for every day.  I had a picture in my mind of pants that looked great with my vintage long line bras.  Something that covered my butt properly, and were cute enough to wander around in while getting dressed.

Then Bonds came out with a cracking ad campaign featuring Sarah Murdoch looking all 50’s glam. It wasn’t just her look that made my heart skip a beat, but what she was wearing! Was it my holy grail of undies? It was the Bonds Cottontail –revamped. Ohh, maybe this was it!

I raced out and promptly got myself a pair to try, and here are the pro’s and cons I came up with.

Pro’s: Good fabric composition, nice stretch, fabric memory, more “body” space.
Con’s: Not really high waisted enough for a full retro feel. The big wide branded elastic waist band – well, I’m not a fan.  I like a nice flat stretchy waist band, and I understand the trend, but putting this on women’s pants gave them a strong masculine vibe that was contrary to the whole retro, girly styling I was looking to achieve.
Okay, so they weren’t a total winner, so I decided to revert to the originals. I’d never worn Cottontails before, as they seemed to be marketed to a very different demographic, but what the hell – it was a quest right?

So I got my white cottontails home, irrationally excited by the prospect of trying out a pair of undies that have been Nana’s favorites for years. I held them up, marveling at their size – what the hell would the neighbours think seeing these on the washing line?? But you know what, I put them on and my doubts melted away. I was instantly transformed into a 1950’s saucy housewife type; a Betty Draper getting ready for a day with the kids.  There was nothing in the least revealing about them, but it was the way they looked like a pair of retro shorts that made it work.  The cut was high enough to reach my belly button (no hipsters for me), and the legs actually fitted under my butt, giving it a nice perkiness.  (Stop me if this is too much information).  In fact I was so pleased with the overall styling, that that evening, while watching T.V with the Mr., I decided to hang out in my underwear and sheer robe to see what kind of reaction they got. Let’s just say – A Big Thumbs Up!

So, all is going well, but being the perfectionist I am, I wanted to test how they would wear after a wash or two.  The original Cottontails are just that, Cotton. So the fabric memory wasn’t the best, and while they still fitted, they didn’t have quite the snap back I was looking for to keep a nice smooth silhouette.  But would that stop me in my tracks? No, I hopped onto the Bonds website and filled in a customer feedback form.  I don’t know about you, but when I send those things off I always imagine them ending up in a virtual trash bin and only an auto response ever being sent.  But kudos to Bonds, not only did they answer my email, they organized a phone conference with their development team to get my feedback!
The team was brilliant, filling me in on all the details of the whole Cottontails range.  I had no idea there were so many to choose from.  So we chatted about what it was I was searching for, the pro’s and con’s of those I had tried; and they decided to send me out samples of the whole range to trial.  I have to hand it to them, that is dedication to customer satisfaction and I was infinitely impressed.

Here is what I’ve learnt.  Cottontails were designed in 1955 and their design has not been altered since.  There are variations in stores with different finishes, lace trim and extra lycra, but essentially the pattern remains the same.  Bonds has kept with tradition (unlike so many other companies) and provided a product that is unchanged from the design that Nana wore as a little girl.  And while the technology may be shy of what I have come to expect from modern lingerie, you couldn’t get a more authentic piece of vintage underwear on regular supply if you tried!

So taking into consideration that Cottontails are made to fit a certain size range (I was in the smallest size) and reach a much older demographic than myself, I had to understand what was happening with each pair.  The pedantic scientist in me even made charts for comparison!
The results are this: For me there was one clear winner in the group.  It fitted my body shape, size and stood up to all the washing, the wear and tear and still looked Retro Sexy at the end of one months wear.  The Cottontail with Extra Lycra comes out on top.  It has a nice wide banded leg that fits under your butt in a way that means it will not disappear inconveniently. The waist is high for extra retro points, and it comes in basic colours with no fancy trim so it is easy to wash without fear of fading, tearing or losing some delicate piece.

Yes, I’ll still be forking out the big money for the special occasion pieces, but for a day to day, vintage underwear look I think I’ve found the best solution currently on the market.

That is until Bonds and I collaborate on the Candice DeVille Cottontail range! (have your people call my people)*wink*

Update: You can find the range of Cottontails with Lycra at Big W stores. Sizes 14 – 26, in Black, White and a light beige for $10.32. I went and checked personally today as it seems their marketing department is not interested in getting back to me.  If I find a US or UK supplier, I’ll let you know!

N.B: This post was in no way sponsored by Bonds.  They were kind enough to help me in my quest and give me full permission to reproduce their images here. Please do not use any of these images without their express permission.