Today Albert took me out to lunch & junking (vintage shopping) afterwards for an early birthday celebration as he'll be in NYC this weekend. To toast my birthday and the nearly 70 degree weather I wore a 1950s dress acquired from Knee Deep Vintage's 30 percent off sale. The print is of yellow roses and it's hard to tell in these photos but the it has rhinestone buttons and also tiny rhinestones sewn into the bodice (kind of bedazzled style).
I'm posing in the side drive of someone's home near where we parked the car, you can see the gutter on the righthand side. It was sadly the most 'natural' spot in the area we were in, there isn't much green popping up yet in Chicago. I'll definitely be wearing this dress again in a few months to a lush garden or on a picnic!
We decided to go to Tre Kronor, a cozy Swedish diner/cafe for lunch. Despite being Swedish they are known for their Quiche (a French egg dish) and we both ended up ordering the asparagus and ham variety pictured below. There was also a salmon variety that sounded tempting. I also ordered a yummy cinnamon roll that also tasted like it had orange in it, quite unusual!
The interior has a kitschy Swedish mural but unfortunately the table in front of it was occupied. Here I am instead outside the restaurant. I'm actually wearing a 1950s crinoline under my dress to make it 'poof' out more... I rarely wear crinolines but instead opt for wearing a contemporary cotton full skirt underneath my '50s frocks. Since this was a special outing, however, I thought the crinoline was called for-- it crinkled when I walked and made me feel ladylike. Or like Betty from Mad Men.Outfit Details:1950s Cotton Dress: Knee Deep Vintage, ChicagoT-Strap Heels: Village Thrift, Chicago1950s yellow beaded necklace: ?? Had it a while, probably the Brown Elephant, Chicago1950s Yellow Coat: Salvation Army, Chicago
Down the block from Tre Kronor is The Swedish Shop, for all your Swedish and Scandanavian needs! While it's mainly newer items they do mix in Midcentury Modern furniture and decor like the above poster.
It's a surprisingly sprawling shop and one room is entirely devoted to Marimekko fabric!! There were bolts and bolts of the colorful goodness, unfortunately at over $40 a yard it's way out of my price range.
Ah, Marimekko curtains, how unobtainable you are! The design I'm posing with looked similar to my dress. Of course I was attracted to many of the items in the 'kids' section including little stuffed wool dogs in little jackets and the cardboard chicken mobile. I should have checked the price of the mobile as I'm sitting here wishing I'd gotten it.
After teasing ourselves with all that extravagant Scandanavian design, we hit up 2 junk shops, one which we'd never been to before. It was definitely a mix of new junk and vintage items. We pretty much dug around, brought a pile up to the counter and the man told us a price. I got a pile of vintage ephemera (explained below) and a pink needlepoint purse. One of the items I found was a 1960s Swedish rail map, it's a tri-fold brochure that also folds out into a 3-foot tall map. If I can find a frame for it I'd like to hang it in my living room.
Watch out, it's the attack of the killer nuclear flowers & fruit! I picked up this 1960 gardening guide for practical purposes and for the graphics. Upon perusing it further at home I was pleasantly surprised to find a section entirely devoted to the new Ford models of 1960 including the Ford Falcon and the Galaxie. I have dozens of cooking pamphlets/booklets in my collection, usually sponsored by Crisco/a dairy company/kitchen appliance manufacturer but have never come across a piece of Ford propaganda masquerading as a gardening guide. Kind of odd.
Yes, I doubt we'd be able to have such a fabulous pool/water lily pond here in Chicago. I'm kind of in love with her strapless red bathing suit too.
Here is the Milwaukee Gas Light Company propaganda booklet disguised as a cookie recipe pamphlet. It actually contains some delicious-looking recipes that thankfully don't contain lard or any other scary ingredients typical of the 1950s. At first it seemed bizarre for a gas light company to sponsor a cookbook but the tie-in is that they also produced gas ovens.
More ephemera was found at the second, much smaller junk shop that is actually within walking distance of my apartment. Albert got me a few things including the little writing tablet pictured above. I'm not sure why I'm so enamored with the design of vintage office supplies, there's something so appealing about good graphic & typographic design.
A photograph also found at the second junk shop. The large orchid in her hair drew my eye, my father (a botanist/horticulturist) had an orchid plantation when we lived in Maui, Hawaii. Yes, I lived in Maui until I was 12.
Another fun find, not sure how old it is but figure it's from the 1960s as the rest of the items I got were at least that old. It's a laminated card and will likely join the other nautical goodness in my bathroom.
This is a real photo postcard of a family on some sort of boating expedition. I'm wondering if it's a parade or special occasion as the name "Yolanda" looks like it's made out of flowers. Any ideas?