Pretty Link Roundup {August 16, 2009}

The air, warm and humid as the kitchen of a bustling restaurant, has been keeping us up at night and running for a third shower during the day. Sweet Ms. Stella – clearly a Canadian kitty to her very fur lined soul – has become a whiz at finding any spot in the apartment that is even a degree cooler than the rest of the house (such as at the base of the entryway door, sinks, in the “shade” of a bookcase, under darling hubby’s desk, etc). Though, despite the seemingly tropical heat, I can’t help but find myself a little more in love with summer year - or rather, with Ontario’s spin on summer (I never had a problem with the pristinely fantastic, dry as a bone ones I grew up with on the west coast).


{While the heat can certainly get under anyone’s skin after a while, there’s no denying that summer brings with it a massive dose of unparalleled beauty, too. 1950s postcard via StevenM_61’s Flickr stream.}


On Friday this blog hit its 100th post! I can scarcely believe it myself, but it’s true! Over the past four months I’ve written one hundred entries and had the most amazing time sharing in my love of everything vintage with all of you. To celebrate this milestone and also kick off the next hundred posts, I’m holding a giveaway contest in conjunction with the lovely people over at AllModern.com. Be sure to swing by yesterday’s post and enter for your chance to win an absolutely adorable, stylish Alessi kitchen timer.

On the subject of blog posts, I wanted to quickly mention – and apologize for something. In a recent post, I encouraged readers to send me your emails about vintage items that you’re on the hunt for. What I didn’t realize at the time of that post’s writing though, is that the email address I provided (in the post) is currently haywire! It doesn’t seem to working at all (“configuration issues”, according to tech-smart hubby), and so I’m dreadfully afraid that I haven’t received any emails sent to the address Jessica [at] chronicallyvintage.com whatsoever.

If you’ve recently tried to send an email to address and haven’t heard back from me, it is because I didn’t receive your message. I truly apologize about this and please ask you to resend any correspondence to my personal email address, jcangiano [at] gmail.com. Thank you for your understanding in this matter, and again, I’m very sorry if you wrote to me and haven’t heard back yet. Please forward your message and I’ll get back to you on the double!

To help keep the heat off my mind this afternoon, I’ve been diving into a pool of marvelous blogs and have put together a delightful array of wonderful vintage related links, that I hope you’ll all enjoy – and which, if you’re similarly sweltering, will aid in distracting you from the broiling heat for a while, too!


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* Finding Your Vintage Groove: From the always insightful Super Kawaii Mama, comes a well-written post about examining your own personal sense of vintage style and then finding ways to get the most from your chosen look. Whether you’re new to vintage dressing or a seasoned, dyed-in-the-wool pro, this article is definitely worth reading.


* Hair Inspiration: Bangs, but not Bettie Page: These days when we think of bangs (fringe) and styles of the mid-twentieth century, the hair that lined Bettie Page’s forehead often springs to mind first. However, then as in now, there were many diverse looks one could sport in the bangs department, some of which have been beautifully highlighted in this photo filled post.


* Good Housekeeping, 1955: Box Lunches Part 1: Straight from the pages of a 1950s edition of Good Housekeeping magazine, the terrific blog Haven of Home brings us a list of practical, useful tips on ensuring that lunch box monotony does not set in when you pack meals for your loved ones. (And for the second part of this article, be sure to click here.)


* Summer Travel coast-to-coast, 1949: A wonderful collection of colour images hailing from 1949 of some of the fashion styles that were popular all across American for women sixty summers ago.


* Mad Men wedding styles: From the people who bring you Bride magazine and its online sister site, Brides.com, comes a list of ten ways you can inject a beautiful dose of Mad Men inspired vintage style into your wedding day look.


* Tea Party Chic: This week Wicked Frills brings us a selection of deeply gorgeous tea party worthy vintage dresses. Just the post to inspire anyone who may have a tea – or garden – party or two still to go on their summer calendar.


* Clothes For You – A Pictorial Fashion Show 1954: I really enjoy and appreciate it when people scan (and/or type out) pages from vintage books that I might otherwise have never gotten the chance to see or learn about. Such as in this post which takes a look at the 1954 book “Clothes For You” by Mildred Graves Ryan and Velma, a title that dealt with helping to ensure young women of the time were as fashionable as possible. Along with snippets of text, this post includes some very chic photos showing exactly what ladies of the day were sporting from the pages of that book.


* Not circle skirting – The origins of the circle skirt: Here’s Looking Like You, Kid digs into the humble origins of one of the most iconic looks of the 50s, the circle skirt, in this lovely and informative post.


* Fall college fashions: While the telltale nip of autumn’s breeze may still be a distant dream for many, there’s no denying that summer is winding down and with its end nearing, a return to school is on the horizon for many, including college students. Travel back in time via this Sally Jane Vintage post and take a peek at some pretty collegiate appropriate styles from yesteryear.



A very dear blogging friend of mine, Cait (from in company with sparkles), recently bestowed a most lovely award upon this site (thank you so much, sweet heart!). The premise behind this accolade is that it is to be passed along to blogs which continually inspire you. To this end, the thought occurred to me that instead of simply writing one post and listing a number of inspiring blogs, I would take the spirit of this award and pass it along each weekend to one blog that never ceases to amaze and inspire me, as part of the weekly link roundup post.



There are literally countless blogs that inspire and delight me with their fantastic images, words and themes, so I see no trouble in passing along this award to a great many sites over time.

This week, I would like to bestow the Inspiring Blog award upon Tales of a retro-modern housewife, whose pages are bursting at the seams with vintage fashion, hairstyling, home decor, art and lifestyle information and photos. Retro-Modern Housewife, please feel free to pass along this award to whomever you like or simply accept it with my gratitude for the incredible inspiration your always blog provides me with.


In last week’s video clip we took a gander at elegant ladies fashions from the 1950s, this time around the focus in on the gents, in this short 1954 newsreel piece highlighting some of the latest work and sportswear men’s styles of the day.


{Men’s Fashions 1954}



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Before this post wraps up, I wanted to extend a heartfelt thanks to a wonderful new Flickr friend of mine, Georgianna, who recently wrote about a Chronically Vintage post in which I highlighted one of her resoundingly beautiful photos. If you’ve not had the good fortune to chance upon this lovely lady on Flickr, I really can’t encourage you enough to check out her stunning floral and nature themed photography, which is blended expertly well with artistic flourishes.


{This piece, entitled "Signs of Summer", is just one example of the dazzling, charmingly beautiful photographic work Georgianna creates.}


What have you been up to this weekend, my dears? Have you been soaking up the rays or doing your best to avoid the heat as much as possible? With many weeks of this season behind us at the point, I finally feel like I’ve hit my stride in terms of finding a happy middle ground when it comes to both embracing and contending with summer’s sizzling temperatures. Still, even if summer and I are better friends this time around, like many of us, I’m bursting at the seams with excitement just thinking about autumn’s arrival, whenever it occurs.

Wishing you each a gorgeous, serene and wonderful week ahead!




*PS*

Be sure to keep your evening free tonight, the third season of Mad Men kicks off at 10pm EST (9pm Central) on AMC!