I'm Not One for Pop Music...

... but I must say Lily Allen is pretty awesome with her sarcastic assault on pop culture,  and she's adorable to boot.  I'm afraid a lot of people aren't gonna get it, especially young people.  I might be an official old lady for saying that.

Fair Warning: video is NSFW.

Oh, and newsflash:  If you look like the Invisible Man is givin' it to you good, you're not "dancing".  That's just a blatant public display of bedroom skills. 

Sinead O'Connor is a Badass.

Just sayin'. As if her musical talent didn't provide enough proof, she writes up some wisdom for the misguided.

Another One Bites the Dust!

So this week, Terry de Havilland Transmuters became a little more rare.  Once upon a time, I bought a pair with red rubber spike panels and metal "allycat" spike panels on eBay.  I ended up selling both sets of panels, but the boots didn't meet the reserve price, so I kept them.   I continued to use them for gogo dancing, as my evolving fashion tendencies no longer involved being 5 inches taller on a daily basis.  They were relegated to a box in the top of my closet labeled "fetish boots", along with my Magic boots. Another pair with black rubber spikes came into my possession, which I passed along to a lovely gal who modeled and gogo danced alongside me on a few occasions (she would need them for future gogo gigs anyway).

And so, I laced up my Transmuters (we old-skoolers considered anything with a zipper "cheaterboots"), buckled all the buckles, took about 5 steps, and walked right off of the platform of the left boot.  As I took off the right boot, the entire platform came off of it, too.  I evaluated the situation the next day, and having already E-6000'd weak spots on the outer sides years ago, was prepared to hot-melt-glue-gun the holy hell out of them in an effort to Frankenstein them back into wearable condition.  I found that the entire rubbery-foam platform on either shoe was disintegrating.

I guess I'll be vacuuming again, with the rotted bits of what were once bouncy platforms having disintegrated all over the carpet an' all.  

And so, I bid my old faithful Transmuters "adieu".  The moral of the story is: while you're under a rock, your crazy shoes are disintegrating, so "Dance as if no one's watching, sing as if no one's listening, and live each day as though it were your last." (Irish Proverb)  I've had too many people become seriously ill and/or die this year, and tomorrow is promised to none of us.  And on that note, to quote Rufus (as my parents often do) "Be excellent to each other."

And to my Transmuters, Rest in Pieces. :(

Photo circa 200...5?

It's My Lucky Lucite Day!

Soooo, every other time I see my friend Erica, she has a cute barrette in her hair, and it's vintage, and I never seem to find any like them... until today.  It's my lucky day for barrettes and the like!

First, I found this lovely hair pin- red, pink, and clear ombre' lucite with rhinestones all along the arc- not a single one missing either.  I will be skewering it through a bun or twist the next time I get super fancy.

 I'm more excited about the barrettes though- a whole lot of them (literally).

Keeeep a'goin'...

 But wait, there's more!

 

And so, now I have a whole bunch of the type of barrettes I've been looking for in the past ten years (longer, really).  I'm sure I have a vintage box of some kind around here in which to store them.

Until next time- I may have to have Tiki Week for my more recent tropical finds.  One of the local coffeehouse/bars in these parts has started a monthly Tiki Night, and that's cause to celebrate.

Beauty and the Beach

This weekend, I participated in the 5th annual Galveston Beach Revue Bathing Beauties Contest.  I kept my swimsuit project pretty top-secret, as usual, so now you get to see what I've been working on whilst under my rock.

Photo courtesy of the lovely Formica Dinette (Alice) <3

That's me on the left, in a 60's inspired fringe bikini with clip-on seashell accents, a shell fascinator on my beehive, and shell shoe clips.  My mancreature and I scavenged for shells at one of my favorite beachcombing spots.  The top is made from a vintage pattern, and the bottom pattern was drafted and further modified by yours truly.  Karen (center), who works for the National WWII Museum, is in a 1940s chenille two-piece, with which she wore an adorable multicolor-striped chenille beach cape and orchids in her hair.  Alice (right) is in a late 50s/early 60s sea fan print sarong swimsuit, accessorized by her handmade sea fan, coral, and pearl tiara and a hand-painted hand fan.   My friend Alex's wife Amalie in the background is hiding her 40s-inspired suit (we had to be in robes until the contest started).

Every year, whether I place or not,  I have a lot of fun.  The best part of the whole thing is meeting some nice ladies, some with extraordinary stories, and helping each other behind-the-scenes.  One lady had battled scoliosis and had bionic-woman rods in her back.  One had lost a tremendous amount of weight and looked fabulous.  Some had recently given birth (I couldn't tell!).  A few were over 50 and were still super cute.  I met several new ladies, reconnected with friends from years before, and got to know a couple of ladies that I hadn't gotten to know in the past events.  

Some ladies were shy or anxious, but I really think we all get at least a little nervous back there, so some of us Beach-Revue-Veterans reassured others and encourage them to just have fun with it.  The bottom line is we all work hard to make ourselves into our own ideas of beauty while working within guidelines of certain fashion eras, and everyone would like to win.  There are so many final touches and detail-tweaks (and sometimes small wardrobe emergencies) that happen in the dressing room and in the contestant tent, and girls always help each other.  We're all girls.  We're all pretty and doing our best.  We all want the same thing. My favorite thing about participating in the event is the camaraderie that develops as these women help, reassure, and encourage each other.  Nothing is more beautiful than kindness and love.

However modest any given suit may seem, however pretty any of the ladies may be, just about any woman knows it's not easy to get out there in a swimsuit.  In daily life, women are self-concious about random people judging them; on days like these, we literally walk past actual judges.  Even the youngest and prettiest and most physically-fit girls have things about themselves that make them think twice.  None of us are perfect, and we're all our own worst critics.  

The effort each lady puts into her entire look and the confidence and poise one must conjure up to get out there in a swimsuit all goes into making the event fun for locals and tourists alike, and benefits the island by officially kicking of the tourist season that is so essential to Galveston's economy. I'm so glad IBC revived the Bathing Beauties Contest, and that it has grown every year, thanks to their efforts and the benevolent help of sponsors.  I'll be back again next year, supporting the event and my beloved hometown.

Fancy Seeing You Here...

...or should I say me?  It's been a while.  I know, I knowwwww...... focus, Dana-san, fooooocus!  Sometimes change just happens, and sometimes change takes a while, and "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans" (John Lennon was right).

In the time I've been under a rock, we lost Nick Curran too soon, the Jungle Rockers got back together, one of my best friends visited from New York, Justine taught me the best way to prepare a grapefruit for proper devouring, and a beautiful mancreature returned, among a multitude of other things happening.

Along my recent adventures,  I caught up with my friend Shana (one of two Shanafriends).  She recently started Pin Up Perfection Magazine, in addition to working her regular job and everything that happens in between.  I'm so proud of her for cultivating her ideas and making them happen! :)

And so, after being underground again, I'm going to blog more... again.  But in the meantime, I'll be working on mending and alterations, and a project for the Galveston Beach Revue.  Break time is over, and I leave you with this.

Until my next blog (soon- I promise!), check out The Lone Star Deluxe Car Show this coming weekend.

Panty-Girdle-a-Go-Go

So it's been a while... Happy New Year. :)  It's been about time for a while now to get a few things rollin', and a few things are in motion.  I should still probably "trim the fat" and focus on fewer things.

At any rate, I've resolved to list things online constantly, even if only a few at a time.  I've finally listed some new old stock panty girdles (keeping bidder identities private, of course), although it's tempting to keep them for myself.

There's more where that came from.  I suspect these were only worn once if at all:

I have more vintage and repro (particularly some awesome Betsey Johnson dresses) listed, and more to come.  I'm off to both jobs today, with a vintage birthday present in-hand for someone dear, and so I bid you "adeui" for now.