17.05.2013
I met a man with seven wives… So the rhyme goes, but I suggest if you are going to St. Ives in Cornwall you should definitely check out the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. These are a few snaps I took of her studio when I was last there. The studio itself is a beautiful space and it has been preserved for visitors to see ‘as it was left’. We have long been fans of her work, and fellow sculptor Henry Moore, and her taste in salmon windcheaters!
15.05.2013
French vs English Hussars ‘pelisse’ tunics, although very similar in style, exhibit little continental differences, an extra swirl in the braid, astrakan trim, different buttons and intricate frogging. Our cross Channel cousins example has a certain panache, originally all black (of course) some of the braid has now faded to green, and the back calligraphy would make even Jimi Hendrix* jealous. The English version, an 11th Hussar’s Lieutenants tunic, tailored by Stohwasser & Co., exudes a certain ceremonial swagger, replete with heavy wire gold braid, in knots and swags, and a regal red satin lining.
* French Hussars Tunic.
Both however share the same genetic traits of 18th century Hussars jackets from middle Europe, when Prussian and Austro-Hungarian cavalry wore these distinctive short Dolman jackets, usually trimmed with fur and decorated with Tyrolean braid knots. Friendly rivalries aside these subtle design differences betray a long and lethal history, but are still undeniably beautiful.
13.05.2013
“Now, I’m liberal, but to a degree
I want ev’rybody to be free
But if you think that I’ll let Barry Goldwater
Move in next door and marry my daughter
You must think I’m crazy!
I wouldn’t let him do it for all the farms in Cuba”
From Another Side of Bob Dylan 1964, copyright Special Rider Music
26.04.2013
We have just received our latest printed matter, the 2013 Vintage Showroom lookbook. There is something inherently pleasing about opening up the boxes and being hit by the smell of repetitive stacks of fresh print on high quality stock. A nod to our printer at Aldgate Press for another fantastic job, we cant wait for them to get cracking on our next project – SHOWROOM PUBLICATION VOL II.
photos – NS
23.04.2013
A recent Vintage Showroom find – A 1940s running vest and wool warm-up sweatshirt from the University of Washington.
10.04.2013
The bad news is we produced such a fantastic book that we completely sold out. BOOOOOOOOOO. Good news is that we have just taken delivery of a fresh consignment. HUURRRRAAAHHH!
Available in our shop, all good book stores and online HERE.
25.03.2012
Shining a light on recurring design details. A reinforced shoulder is an obvious functional thing that has uses in work clothing, sports, miltary and motorcycle clothing, either to protect the shoulder or the garment (areas of stress and wear) or simply from the elements, sometimes all of these.
25.03.2013
So the rap goes in Salt N Pepa’s eponymous 1987 hit Push It. What we have here is an altogether different condiment though, salt and pepper fabrics from around the globe. Similar either just in colour, or in their workwear usage. Their global reach is interesting and show it’s International pedigree. For instance we have black flecked chambray from France, grey Italian prison issue, two melange fisherman knits from these shores, and the unique fleecy flecked weave known as Brown’s Beach Cloth* from across the Atlantic.
20.03.2013
Just unearthed a cache of Little League (literally) team baseball tops. Seems we got the whole team’s jerseys, all chain stitched numbers, woven labels, cat eye buttons etc. The title of course refers to the 1976 comedy film starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal, about a hapless bunch of teenage reprobates cobbled together to make an unlikely Little League baseball team.
What is it with this logo? We, and countless others agree it’s a modern classic. What better illustration of the home-made PUNK do-it-yourself aesthetic than a handmade t-shirt, scribbled on in marker pen. The best thing about it… the spelling mistake of Images rather than Image. ‘Doh!’
Words Simon/photos Nic Shonfeld
07.03.2013
A consignment of tie-clips. Silver, gold, initialed and bejeweled – all and each perfect for blinging up your kipper. In the Earlham Street shop as of the morning.
A wolf in sheepskin clothing, well almost in the case of the painted A-2′s below, but a sheepskin flight jacket in any other fabric, just wouldn’t be the same. 1940s design and functionality in perfect chrome tanned, veg dyed, leather seamed harmony. Designed to keep high altitude bomber crews warm at near freezing temperatures, this was the best performance pedigree fabric available at the time, until the introduction of lightweight quilted and nylon fabrics in the late forties superseded the days of sheepskin flight clothing, and some of the romance of the early days of flying disappeared forever.
Sometimes the medium IS the message….
USAAF A-2 leather jackets, ‘El Lobo II’ belonging to B-17 pilot Richard E Fitzhugh of the 457th Bomb Group, and the 1st Glider Provisional Group patch, both featuring Disney-esque wolves.
Words Simon.
Blanket wool tassels make an interesting textural landscape, not a million miles away from the Komondor dog on the cover of the 1996 Beck album Odelay. These belong to a stack of Scottish wool tartan blankets currently in the Showroom, we also have a nice selection in the Earlham St. shop (look under the table!).
Before the expression Type II became fashionable, denim afficionado’s and those in the know simply referred to this classic Levi’s 507XX jacket as a Number Two. Number One being the first model and having one pocket, Number Two being the second and having, you guessed it, two pockets.
Simple as that, 1,2, 3, bish bosh.*
Not dissimilar looking to a Victorian torture device, we recently stumbled across this leather coursing leash. The device is designed to quick-release sight-hunting canines (as opposed to scent-hunters) to capture and kill ‘game’. It is, oddly, rather intriguing and a perversely attractive form.
The collars of the leash are held in place by a split-pin attached to a length of cord which runs through the main leash, out the other end and attached to handle. Pulling the handle will pull the split-pin out of the fitting and thus releasing the two dog-collars (photo illustrations below), freeing the dogs to go off and do their worst.
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