Jacob Olie

Aren't these old photographs of Amsterdam by Jacob Olie really something?
Jacob Olie was a dutch photographer from the second half of the 19th century. I don't speak dutch but from the dutch Wikipedia page I managed to understand that photography was only a passion of his, not his real job, yet Amsterdam's City Archives are now full of his photographs; what a wealth of information he must have offered those who are now studying the city's history!
I love how everything seems quiet and still, yet you get a glimpse of the people working on the boats and in the streets...

Mi sto perdendo a guardare queste vecchie foto di Amsterdam di Jacob Olie, stupende nevvero?
Jacob Olie era un fotografo olandese della seconda metà dell'ottocento. Non parlo olandese ma dalla pagina olandese di Wikipedia son riuscita a intuire che la fotografia era solo una sua passione, non il suo vero lavoro, eppure gli archivi cittadini di Amsterdam sono pieni di foto sue; che patrimonio deve aver lasciato per gli studiosi della storia della città!
Mi affascina il fatto che tutto sembri silenzioso e  tranquillo ma si riescono a intravvedere i lavoratori indaffarati sulle barche o nelle strade...

 All images via.

Can we please take a moment...

...to admire the sheer perfection of Tippi Hedren's suits in the movie The Birds?
Unlike in the movie Marnie, where she wore an array of beautiful clothes, in this 1963 classic she only really appears in two outfits, but man were they flawless! (Even though the green suit gets beat up pretty badly towards the end of the movie...). I love the length of the sleeves and the stand collar of the gray suit, and the green suit is perfect in its clean lines. Read more about them here.

Image via.

Image via.

Image via.

Image via.

Image via.

Hope you had a fun Halloween! I spent mine curled up on the couch watching a war movie with wine, boyfriend and cats. I'm an old lady, I know, (only three years ago I was in NYC with some friends, walking around in a half-assed Salvador Dalì costume and admiring the creativity of everyone's costumes in that incredible city!).

Inspiration: Vintage Riviera Posters

In keeping with the theme of the last post (and adding a sprinkle of French Riviera to the mix)...

Rimanendo sul tema del post precedente (e aggiungendo un pizzico di riviera francese)...

Via

Via.

Via.

Via.

Via.

Greyhound

I heard in the news today that the Greyhound bus line is turning 100 years old. As a lover of all things american road trip I have always been fascinated by these busses and will never forget when I got to ride one myself. It was summer of 2009 and it was a trip from Vancouver to Seattle (and back) with one of my best friends. The trip involved, among other things, a very early rise, a young junkie who was looking for some company, a border agent telling us about how Italy had recently lost a few square meters of land to Switzerland (apparently the underwater border between the two countries at the Lago Maggiore had been recently moved, we had no clue), and lots and lots of beautiful landscapes.
It was definitely a memorable trip and these are the only two photos I took...

And look at how beautiful the old busses were!

Via.

Etsy love: The Arbor Vitae

As you probably know already, etsy is a great source for vintage clothing. A lot of the vintage pieces I own come from etsy (a lot of other pieces come from my Grandma's closet, which I raided a while back) and a store I particularly love and love buying from is The Arbor Vitae. The lovely owner, Monika, updates it constantly with new items (which she divides in eras: from the 1940's to the 1980's) and she has such an eye for beautiful things! Beautiful dresses and skirts with incredible patterns, cardigans, jackets, etc. and in such great conditions!
Even though I never buy shoes online cause I'm afraid they might hurt I always browse through her shoe section too which has some really pretty flats and pumps (go take a look!).
This store is definitely the perfect place for quality vintage shopping!

Come probabilmente saprete, etsy è un'ottima fonte di vestiti vintage. Molti dei pezzi vintage che ho vengono da lì (molti altri arrivano dall'armadio di mia nonna che ho assaltato parecchio tempo fa) e un negozio che mi piace particolarmente e dal quale mi son trovata benissimo a comprare è The Arbor Vitae. La padrona, gentilissima, si chiama Monika e aggiorna il negozio costantemente con pezzi nuovi che divide per epoche (dagli anni '40 agli anni '80) e ha veramente occhio! Mi piacciono in particolare i vestiti e le gonne (ce ne sono con delle fantasie stupende) ma c'è un po' di tutto, dalle maglie alle giacche ecc. 
Anche se non compro mai scarpe online per timore che mi facciano male, do spesso un'occhiata alla sezione scarpe, ci sono delle ballerine e decolletè niente male.
Questo decisamente è un ottimo posto per comprare vintage di qualità (i pezzi son in ottima condizione!).

A little vintage knitting inspiration...

I love this site...you can find all sorts of vintage knitting patterns that are no longer covered by copyright, all in one convenient little spot on the web. Even though I don't actually use the patterns (because I don't know how to read patterns in english, hehe, and because I prefer making patterns up myself anyways) I often take a look for a little inspiration...

I love how most of the patterns are still wearable today (if one likes vintage or vintage-inspired styles of course)...

Questo sito è fantastico...raccoglie tantissimi modelli vintage che non son più coperti da copyright (e che quindi uno può usare a piacimento). Anche se non li uso (perchè non son capace a leggere i modelli di maglia in inglese, e perchè comunque preferisco crearmi i modelli da sola) dò spesso un'occhiata per farmi venire qualche idea...è davvero notevole quanto molti di questi modelli siano ancora attuali (se uno ama lo stile retrò ovviamente)...