This is NOT Fashionable.

We tend to keep our topics "light", but this is important...

Please be responsibly fashionable.
There are some things that we just don't "need' in order to be fashionable.
Radical hate message do no good. Please instead "vote" by using your purchasing dollars on alternative items to stop the demand, or with other manufacturers, and by using your voice, your pen, and your keyboard.

The following information comes to us with thanks from our friends at Recy_Vintage.

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Designers Who Use Seal Fur and Skin

A number of well-known fashion designers have used seal fur and skins in their collections during the past several fashion seasons. By using seal skin and fur in items such as coats, tunics, dresses, shoes, vests, jackets, handbags, pillows, and even lamp shades, these designers are providing the Canadian government and sealers with an economic incentive to continue the hunt.

The hunting of baby seals has been outlawed in the US. Seal hunting is allowed to indigenous people

Send a letter to these designers and politely request that they make their fashion more compassionate by ending the use of seal fur. Though the use of seal fur and skin is banned in the United States, these designers use seal products in their European and International Collections. Here are some points you can make.

Send your letters (if you live in the United States and you send your letters to Italy, postage will be $0.80) to the following design houses:

Gucci

685 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10022
212-750-5220
clientservice-europe@gucci.it

Versace
Donatella Versace
Versace S.P.A. Headquarters
Via Manzoni, 38
Milan ITALY 20121
Phone: 39 02 76 09 31
Fax: 39 02 76 00 41 22

Prada World Headquarters
Prada S.P.A.
Via Andrea Maffei, 2
20154 Milan, Italy
Phone: 39 02 54 67 01

Prada U.S.
Katherine Ross, V.P. of Communications
610 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212 307 9300

Birger Christensen
Ostergade 38
DK-1100 Copenhagen K Denmark
Phone: 45 33 11 55 55
Fax: 45 33 93 21 35
Email: bc@birger-christensen.com

The Odette Leblanc Collection
022 de l'ecole Rd., Pointe-aux-Loups
Iles de la madeleine PQ. G4T 8B1 Canada
Phone: 418-969-9385
Email: oleblanc@sympatico.ca

Petit Nord OU
Pikk Tn. 67-1
10133 Tallinn
Estonia
Phone: 011 + 372 372 6411211
Fax: 011 + 372 6411212
Email: Use the form at http://www.base-1.com/petit.html

Annika Heinadottir
Oehlenschlaegersgade 30
Copenhagen, Denmark
Phone: 45 26192611
Email: annika@dottir.dk

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The annual massacre started today at 6 am and will go on until the Canadian Government's quota for 325,000 dead baby seals!!!!! (And probably many more as the government doesn't do a count on the dead seals.) It's barbaric beyond words and those baby haven't done anything to deserve this!!! Their misfortune is that they are born with this skin that humans INSIST on wearing as coats, handbags, hats and shoes.

Please don't stop fighting the Canadian Government!!!!

Start by letting the world know, inform yourself fully so you have the answer when people ask you questions. Remember information is power!!!

Repost this bulletin and sign the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/566342047?z00m=76043&z00m=76043

Together we can do this. Never lose hope. never stop fighting.
As hundreds of innocent baby seals are getting butchered in the most horrific ways, we must keep fighting, protesting, calling, boycotting.

Keep fighting Canada. Keep fighting cruel minds.
Never, ever give up!!!!!!

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Here is the email address for the Prime Minister Harper of Canada.

pm@pm.gc.ca

Email and let him know how senseless and brutal the slaughter of the seals is, but be diplomatic about it!

Radical hate messages do NO good!

And please repost this bulletin!

More about the story:

http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html

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Here is the direct link to THIS posting if you wish to share it.
http://vintagegent.blogspot.com/2006/03/this-is-not-fashionable.html

Patent Leather: Real Leather?

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From Film to Fashion

There is a brand new article on the Vintage Fashion Guild site that is definitely worth a read for anyone who was ever smitten with the classic Hollywood screen sirens and Girl Fridays, or loves vintage fashion in general.

"A noteworthy event of 20th century American fashion was the emergence of the film costume designer as an influence on everyday fashion. Prior to the 30s, Hollywood imported European fashion designers to bring some much needed style and class to their offerings after the excesses of the 20s. When the Paris designers returned home, Hollywood designers came in to their own designing both period epics and modern fashion features."

~ Hollis Jenkins-Evans

Read more "Film to Fashion" by Clicking HERE

You will be happy you did!

Mark Spitz Swimwear

I recently became aware of a pair (is it called "a pair"?) of authentic Mark Spitz swimming trunks that will be on the auction block from our friends at VintageClothes-Line. They have the original hang tag from 1972 and are a licensed product by Arena. After winning his Olympic medals, it was quipped that Spitz was "Superman in a Speedo."

The swimsuit is made by Arena.
Spitz's face is even on the label. Once a gent clipped the tag, and summoned their own inner Olympian on the beach, they would have a constant reminder of who the suit was inspired by.


The tag might read a small size, but check the listing (read below) for measurements for your desired level of stretch. This would also be great for someone who collected Olympic memorabilia or sports advertising and wanted to add it to their collection. A woman could also use it for a mix and match bikini ensemble.


Did you know that Mark Spitz made $10,000 (which is about $50,000 today), selling the poster that is shown on the hang tag after his medal wins? At .15 cents a poster, that's a lot of posters! Before the days of saturation marketing, that is impressive.


The photo brings back an odd memory for me...

In grade school, I took swimming classes one summer at the local swimming hole. In the midwest, we had those. There were actually two swimming holes...the natural one which closed often due to infectious outbreaks and the manmade one where you had to get out of the water at a certain time everyday for them to check the bacteria levels of the water.

The teacher's name was Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor wore shades to swim class. And he had curly hair. Longer/bigger than Mr. Spitz in the picture as this is several years later during the hair band years. He would talk about various swimming strokes and techniques. He would talk about doing the breaststroke for a long distance and taking a breath on alternating sides with the strokes. But he never really showed you. He would get into the water, of course, maybe about waist deep. But he usually held his head parallel to the water, shielding his hair with one hand so it wouldn't get wet, and mimed it, out of the water. He would always say "I'm not really going to do it. I have a date later and don't want to get my hair wet." We never really bought that. His hair would have been okay, but it certainly wouldn't be romantic for a lady to have your date smell like unwashed off local swimming hole.

Visit the auction.

As far as Mr. Taylor, I hope his dates worked out.

~ The VintageGent-ette

And the winner is...

We salute Nick Park and Steve Box at last night's Oscars ceremony. They won for best animated feature, Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

With their floppy bow ties - and matching bowties brought along for their Oscars - they were an original standout. Most men last night played it very "safe" with lots of guys cleaning up well, but no one being truly fashionably memorable. We will definitely remember Nick and Steve! be sure to check out more images at gettyimages.com, where they are available for purchase.

ALWAYS on a Monday...

Harriet, of TastyVintage presented the following quotation from "The Art of Window Dressing" on the public forum at Vintagefashionguild.org that we found rather interesting...

"A certain draper in a large provincial town had for very many years alays changed the neckwear window on Mondays, and it was not until recently that, on account of his window dresser being called away, he had occasion to leave his display in over Monday.
He then discovered that he sold more better-class neckwear on that particular Monday than of any other day of the display. Monday is now the best day for neckwear, and the window display is never changed that day."

Have mondays been "mondays" throughout time and they could use a new accessory to lift their mood, just like it is said more stereotypically of women? Are men more "refreshed" on mondays? Were more men "in town" on mondays reporting to the office before the rest of the week took them away to meetings uptown or in another city? What are your opinions?

You may not live near a place like that, but do you find yourself in a buying mood out of necessity or fancy any particular time than others? I think it would be an interesting discussion.