The Thrifting Anthropologist

My mom, queen of hats Yes, this is an article about my true love: all things vintage—and of course I’m doing the rah rah for buying vintage clothes and accessories, but suddenly it’s really important to consider your clothing.   I’m not talking about just what reaching in your closet does for you. Everyone wants to look cute/sexy/classy/put together/make a statement or whatever, with our choice of attire  before we step out the door, but clothing has consequences. ‘Fast Fashion’ is the newest catch phrase for America’s all-consuming urge to consume, in this instance to consume the newest trendiest clothing to get belched out of polluting factories in 3 rd world countries like Bangladesh.   Some companies are so determined to stay ‘on trend’ they are releasing a new ‘collection’ a week! This clothing is quickly and often badly made, cheap and discarded almost immediately, one wash and its toast, so back to the store for more. 1970s Pop Art Dress So...

This. Is a Bow-tie clock. It's so mid century and actually dates to the early 1950s. It took me awhile to figure out what it was called so I could look for information on these amazing pieces. It was  made by United Clock Corp., out of Brooklyn in the 1950s.  United made objects under their own name and in the early 60s they bought out Sessions Clock Co. after the company lost a million dollars. Their fanciest clocks were called Carnival Clocks and they were the fancy impossible prize no one could win at carnivals. Sailing ships, stage coaches, ballerinas and bowlers plus the usual atomic wall clock with spindles that are so highly collectible these days.  United was not a high end company like Westclox or Elgin; think of them as the Walmart of mid century clocks. Affordable and lots to choose from. United folded late in the 1960s and although the clocks are still around they are getting rarer 50 some years later. This clock, the bow tie...

Classic 1930s Deco Living Room Art Deco: 1920s-1940s Disclaimer number 3: this 3 part series is to help folks who want to know what exactly is the difference between the big 3, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. It is by no means a deep scholarly dissertation. You can hit the internet and dive down any part of that rabbit hole you fancy. This is my overview. Max La Vernier cast bronze 1930, classic Deco style Art Deco design exploded on the scene in a big way Paris at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels.   Art Deco is much easier to remember and pronounce but no matter how you say it, that was the beginning of the modern age of design. It was celebrating a new age of posh for all, post-World War I, taking full advantage of materials and mass produced high end goods and handmade luxury goods. Marketing could be tied to advertising on the new medium of radio and in magazines and print; mass marketing was now a thing. N...

An art nouveau exterior I shot in Paris, Yes, it's an apartment building Art Nouveau:   1880s until about 1912 Disclaimer: This 3 part series is simply an effort to help those who want to know the difference between three of the major art movements of the  late 19th and early 20 th century, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, in a nutshell. Lots of reading available out there for those want to know more. To Keep them straight A N D, Arts and   Crafts, Art NOUVEAU, and Art DECO. A romantic Nouveau interior Art Nouveau rose out of, and in some instances, at the same time the Arts and Crafts movement. Designers, architects, artists and artisans resonated to the free and extravagant movements of nature found in sinuous leaves, “whiplash curves”, birds, flower and feathers. Vican deco jewelry Art Nouveau artists and designers were looking for a new way to join art and design in a new vocabulary of making. Art Nouveau was romantic, and look...

Teco Pot, with a simple form and matte glaze This topic is so gigantic I've broken it into three parts and here's a handy remembering device to keep these styles straight:( Please note, this is not an all encompassing article on a massive and well-known subject, it's a peek through through a keyhole for those who are not experts but would like to know more.) A=Arts and Crafts N=Art NOUVEAU D=Art DECO The Arts and Crafts Movement encompassed the years 1880-1920, and it's designs and pieces  are still widely sought after. This movement was as much about changing society as it was about changing interior design and leaving the heavy over stuffed, over decorated Victorians behind. Arts and Crafts was intended to be a criticism of industrial society and what its founders perceived as cheap, mechanized soulless pieces churned out of factories and vastly over-decorated. The Victorian public was enamored of the new access to cheap quickly fabricated goods,...

Easter basket postcard, circa 1900 Long before Christianity celebrated Easter, and with it the spring equinox, it was a pagan celebration in almost every culture. As Christianity moved from the east to the west, it was easier for the church to rearrange their calendar to fit traditions that might date back a thousand years than to force new religious traditions and beliefs on a resistant populace.  Postcards! The perfect Easter collectible. This one with the rabbit and his eggs. Originally a celebration of the equinox, signaling a new beginning to the year of growing things and the end of winter, the holiday became what we now celebrate as Easter.   Baskets would have been used to transport offerings from one place to another, or to shared meals, or just as a means of moving goods. wicker and grass baskets are after all lightweight and easier to carry and make than either clay or wood. They  resemble nests in their shape and they are made of...