Starlet Showcase

5/24/09

The Retro Feminine Mystique

Vintage Vixen
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I'm not sure where we get 4,000-plus visits per day here, but I know that a goodly number of them are women (and ambitious cross-dressers) who are very interested in the retro fashions, pretty shoes, shiny dresses, cool earrings, groovy hair styles, massive eye shadow, and so on that we regularly feature here at the Showcase. At first I was kinda surprised how many women visit this blog and send me comments (and they are some of the sweetest and funniest comments), but then I realized what a wise person once observed about women-watching-women. Men, of course, like looking at women. Duh! And women, whether or not they admit it, like to watch other women. (And I'm not talking about some crude "lipstick lesbian" fantasy.) I think women are constantly picking up hints, tips, clues, cues, styles, and vibes from other women, which they evaluate and modify to suit themselves (while we dudes are watching NASCAR races, arguing about Ultimate Fighting matches, and playing Xbox 360's Burnout Paradise). So, naturally, women interested in vintage fashion and retro styles might find this blog enlightening. And not just because of the long, rambling, demented rants and verbal meanderings that frequently crop up. No, boys and girls, they're picking up hints, tips, clues, and cues from the photographs here. These women are seamstresses, shoppers, models, dolls, girlie girls, and "retro housewives." They have full-color web sites and busy forums and friendly guilds. They swap patterns, take color photos of themselves in cute vintage outfits, and share things. While we modern guys are watching murderous sports, playing mass murder video games, and basically maiming everything around us, the vintage fashion ladies are sharing things, making friends, and comparing notes. (As if there were any doubts why this Man's World is so incredibly violent and phuctup, right?) So, in the spirit of endless sharing, I thought I'd post some links to vintage fashion sites, which I got from the huge list at the Chronically Vintage site.
It seems only fair.
A Dress A Day
A Fanciful Twist
A Suitable Wardrobe
Alana's Vintage Collecting Blog
All the girlie things
Betty Lou got a new
Bohemian Vintage
Circa Vintage Clothing
Classic Forever
Classic Maiden
Destination 1940
Diary of a Vintage Girl
Fantasy Fashionista
Le Vintage
Liebemarlene Vintage Look Book
Only Shallow
Oolala Vintage
Perpetual Flapper
Pinup Girl Clothing (blog)
Pinup Tales
Retro Vintage Romance
Retromodgirl
Super Kawaii Mama
Swell Vintage
The New Vintage Wardrobe
The Vintage Fashion Guild
Time Warp Wives
Vintage Clothiers Boutique
Vintage Clothing Love
Vintage Fashion Guild (blog)
Vintage Goddess
Vintage Indie
Vintage Portalen
Vintage Rose Collection
Vintage Shop of the Day
Vintage Starlet
Vintage Verve

Vintage Girl

Bobby Pin Blog

Kitten

Chronically Vintage

Lady Melbourne
(I hope their husbands and boyfriends appreciate them.)

5/23/09

Darling Dale Strong

Las Vegas showgirl Dale Strong was not exactly a
starlet, but Life magazine did a story about her in
1952. God bless them!

(She was here once before briefly.)

Starring Nancy Wolfe

Actress Nancy Wolfe portrays killer Susan Atkins in the highly acclaimed 1976 two-night TV movie Helter Skelter, which was made seven years after the crimes. If you watch it, make sure to get the 184-minute or 194-minute version. For years, there was only a 2-hour video available, which missed a lot of the details of the Tate-LaBianca murders. The film and the book on which it is based tell a compelling horror story.

Happy Birthday, Dorothy Lee (2009)

May 23rd is Dorothy Lee's birthday, just like it
was last year. Here she is with Bert Wheeler,
celebrating the end of Prohibition.
Cool idea for a party, no?

3 Graces

Grace McDonald appeared in Give Out, Sisters (1942), Strictly in the Groove (1942), How's About It (1943), and Flesh and Fantasy (1943), an interesting selection of movie titles.

5/22/09

5/21/09

Miss Trish Van Devere

Good photographs of lovely Trish Van Devere
are really hard to find.

I just saw her in Harry in Your Pocket (1973) on TCM,
the best darn channel on all of television, and I couldn't
take my eyes off her. (See upper right corner photo.)