Have you worn your bathing suit this summer?

In the history of bathing suit fashion, achieving the right balance of modesty, material, and motion has been a major challenge. Not to mention sex appeal.   Maybe you’d prefer one of these styles from the past…   Many of us without “perfect bodies” have experienced some degree of anxiety while parading — or should I say skulking — from the relative safety of lying on a beach blanket to the exposure one must...

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Vacationing in Lake George

That’s not retro, that’s real! No flea market, thrift shop, vintage store, or antique mall to be found in the village of Lake George, so I turned to entertaining myself with the motel and restaurant signs. Evidently a six-story Marriott hotel will be going up on right on the main drag of Canada Street, which means that three buildings will be bulldozed. Lake George is pretty run down and tacky, but part of what makes it worth...

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The Rise and Fall of Hats in Women’s Fashion

When did hats become a fashion statement for women? From the beginning of hat-wearing history, women were expected to have their heads covered by veils, kerchiefs, hoods, caps and wimples, but it was not until the end of the 16th century that structured hats were worn. The styles were based on the hats worn by the male aristocracy. In the late 17th century, women’s hat fashions finally came into their own. Just as hemlines have gone up...

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Vintage Book Covers

I’ve decided to post a bunch of book covers from my collection of vintage books onto Goodreads and Pinterest. They’re mostly young adult novels from the fifties and sixties and adult novels from the, how do you say it… onesies? (Meaning the first decade of the 20th Century, not a baby outfit.) Which reminds me of a joke I once used during my very brief time doing stand up comedy. “I’m so modest… when I was...

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