Monthly Archives: July 2012

Vintage Olympics // ¡Viva Mexico 1968!

The year was 1968 and the Summer Olympics (or the Games of the XIX Olympiad, as they were officially called!) were held in Mexico City, Mexico. The Mexican Olympics were notable for many things: they were the first Games hosted by a Latin American nation, they were the first Games to feature a woman torch-bearer lighting the Olympic flame…they were the Olympics where more world records were broken than in any other prior Olympiad and they were the Olympics where two African-American athletes took a stand for human rights by infamously raising their black-gloved fists. But perhaps one of my favorite things about that Olympics? The innovative (and crazy excellent!) graphic design system created to celebrate these Games. The bar had been set high by Tokyo in 1964, and the Mexican Olympic committee wanted to make a similar splash.

Pedro Ramirez Vázquez, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and an important Mexican architect, took the lead on the design committee and eventually selected Lance Wyman as head graphic designer (USA) as well as Eduardo Terrazas (Mexico) as the lead on Urban Design.

Sketches and color explorations from inside Lance Wyman’s studio:

“As I recall there were only two mandatory requirements; that we use the official five ring Olympic symbol to identify the games, and that we use three languages—Spanish, English and French—for all written communication. The Mexico 1968 logotype, which was based on traditional forms from Mexican culture as well as being Sixties pp-art kinetic typography, set the tone for the entire graphics system. It was designed by integrating the official five ring Olympic symbol into the number “68” to create a parallel line typography that suggested imagery found in Mexican pre-Hispanic art and folk art. The logotype powerfully expressed a sense of place and culture and visually exclaimed the Games were in Mexico.”  —Lance Wyman

from The Olympic Image: The first 100 Years, Compiled & Edited by Wei Yew  © 1996

Ahhhhh! I just love everything about this look. That lettering is so terrific. And that hat?? Man. What a souvenir, eh? It’s so clever—combining traditional Mexican imagery with 1960s op-art. No wonder it’s so legendary!

They also created a simple but bold icon system to help code all the various events. And then, of course, there was the color.

“Colour and Mexico are synonymous. We used bright colour to code the sport events, the motor routes, the entry tickets, and the seating sections in the venues. We applied colour liberally to postage stamps, publication mastheads, souvenirs, and stadium plazas. Colour helped transform the 1968 Summer Olympic Games into a Mexican fiesta!” —Lance Wyman

The amazing thing was how the logo and graphic system was integrated into every visual aspect of the ’68 Games, from tickets to events, to stamps, postcards, signs, programs, even clothing!



I just love it….it’s still as fresh and modern today as it was back then. What do you think?

My 100th Vintage Round Up!

 

Well, hot dog! This is my 100th Vintage Kiddo Retro Round Up! YEEHAH! Wow! That went fast! And let’s not forget that Alix started this and I took it over, so we’ve featured more than 100 to say the least and every one has been a blast. I’ve enjoyed spending my weekends looking through Etsy and Ebay for just the right bits of vintage goodness to share with you, my friends!

So, without further ado, here is the 100th round up. Enjoy!

Let Barbie get into the vintage clothes fun as well with these terrific outfits. Did you see that top! So summery! From Etsy seller, 1 Sweet Dream Vintage.

Give your future Olympian a bit of vintage style! What little running wouldn’t love to get his or her start with these great vintage sneaks! From Styling Vintage.

Get your little Michelle Phelps in the pool with Ms.Tip’s wonderful yellow swimsuit.  Perfect for doing the butterfly!

The front of this vintage romper has a large red star on it, but the bottom.  Oh, the bottom–just the most rootin’ tootin’ lil deputy around.  Awesome! From Etsy seller, Fuzzymama.

I totally would have rocked this shirt with a prairie skirt and clogs!  Maybe your little one can!  From Etsy seller, Ladidottie.

Let your kiddo rock the mocs!  From Etsy seller, Sink of Swim Treasures.

You know those babies that look like old men? I love those babies something fierce. And if I knew one right now, I’d buy this little outfit for him–with watch! From Etsy seller, My Sewing Parlor.

What a great book to read on one hot night next month. It covers all the wonderful things we love about summer. Perfection. From Etsy seller, Callough Callay.

Etsy seller, Hart & Sew found some amazing bow ties last week and a couple beauts are left in her shop, like this one! Please someone grab it!

There is so much to love in this picture. Her look, her shoes, that perfect pink background and of course this wonderful yellow and gold plaid skirt. My old high school colors too! Shish boom bah! From Etsy seller, Shop at 851.

Kiddo Fieldtrip // Renegade Crafts fair with Wolfie

Soooooo….the Hootenanny. I’m so sorry I haven’t done one in the last 2 weeks but I’ll tell ya why. I just haven’t been online much. Which means I haven’t been stockpiling cute things for you. Which is highly unusual for me….but life has been busy aaaaand so it goes! But here’s something fun. Last weekend Wolfie and I hit the Renegade Craft Fair!

If you’ve been to Renegade before, then you know how much fun it can be! If you haven’t been…well, imagine tons of hipster crafty arty goodness all crammed under one roof. To be honest, it probably wasn’t Wolfie’s idea of a dream day. He’s such a sweet little fella, but shopping for crafts and jewelry isn’t really a Top 10 choice for little 8 year old boys. He’d rather be playing kick ball or checking out the Lego store. But I always think its good to expose kids to things they might not choose themselves—I’m  always encouraging Wolfie to try and find the unexpected fun in situations. And hey, some things just might surprise you and be better than you thought! OK…I admit, I also told him I’d let him pick out something fun to buy. Hey, a little bribery never hurt anyone, right??

SF Renegade is always at Fort Mason, and it’s SUCH a pretty water-front location. The weather was just glorious! {Oh you might notice Wolfie in two diff shirts in this post….the Cali shirt was under the stripey one…..it got a bit hot, so he took the striped one off!}

We loved these super cute pencils (like these Classic Hip Hop ones!) from One Up Designs.

Wolfie picked out this cool artwork from artist Annie Galvin, from 3 Fish Studios as his item. We love animals. We love bears. We love California. And we love color. Yup. This one was a no brainer!

Heh. This little hipster teddy bear had me cracking up—and swiping a swig from his little felt PBR. He even has a little mini mole skiene notebook. From LetsBeFriends.

It’s fun to run into pals, and we loved chatting with Robert Mahar (Mahar Crafts) and Cathy Callahan (vintage crafter extraordinaire cathy of california)! They’re both so talented and super sweet. Robert is making new party popper kits that are really cool and Cathy has some really fun new necklaces.

We also ran into cute Lisa, from Zelma Rose—I love her constellation pendants.

I was really into these book safes, made from old, recycled books. There was a version that hid a flask too. hee. From pomme frites charming home decor. I forgot to go back and get one. Gotta remember them. It’d be a fun gifty!

Wolfie especially loved this Super Mario “Power Up” mushroom poster from Row Boat Press.

There are always tons of fun graphic tees at Renegade. Because we were having so much fun, I told Wolfie he could also pick out a tee shirt and this “Make Me a Taco” one was a big hit! From the kooky guys over at Seibei.

We also poked around the Gnome Enterprises booth. They have great stuff for big folks, and the little ones too!

I spied lots of fun Midwestern goodness from The Social Department. Go Michigan!

The guys at Seibei gave Wolfie a free tote to carry his goodies in….which was SUPER nice.

Wolfie really threw himself into the day and was so cute and charming and polite, I was SO proud of him. We also cracked up the entire day. We kept giggling because there was a sauerkraut vendor (which was a BIG mistake, friends!) and the whole area near the food smelled like one big fart. It’s true. And folks, nothing is funnier than a toot. OK, back to the goods. I always love looking at jewelry. I didn’t snap many photos but I loved this felt stuff from Homoko. So pretty!

Oh, and these plush guys from Mimi Kirchner were SUPER fun. The tattooed man was very clever, but I loved the Fantastic Mr. Foxy.

Sooooo even my special little awesome shopping buddy reached his limit….and despite all the laughing and fun we had, he finally said, “That’s enough! No more quirky hipster goodies, ironic moustaches and wooden ties mama!!!! I’m over it!” OK fine, maybe what he really said was closer to “My feet hurt!! I’m not walking any more. Let’s call daddy!!” I asked him to pose for one last photo and this was what I got:

Hahahaha. He’s a ham, my boy. And really we had the best time together….have you guys been to Renegade? How’s your weekend going?

 

Chairman of the Board :: Vintage CLUE


Meet my favorite board game. Clue. This charming lil “murder mystery” detective game is really one the whole family can get into. The premise? Someone has killed Mr. Boddy and you must deduce WHO DONE IT! Players get to choose from 6 different “characters” (aka suspects) and you travel around Mr. Boddy’s mansion, collecting clues. The ultimate goal is to figure out who was the murderer, in what room he (or she!) killed Mr. Boddy and with which weapon. Sounds grisly but I promise ya, it’s not at all! The feels a bit like an Agatha Christie Miss Marple mystery—and because it’s not scary, its great fun for kids. Over the years they’ve released several different versions of the Clue board game, with the graphics updating to reflect the design of the time.  We love it so00 much we have four different sets! You might recall we also took it camping with us.


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Clue first got its start in 1944 in Birmingham, England when solicitor’s clerk Anthony E. Pratt filed a patent for a game called “Murder!”   It was eventually licensed to Waddingtons (in the UK ) and to Parker Brothers (in North America, where it was renamed it simply “Clue”). Pratt’s original game was slightly different from the version finally released in 1949. Originally he had ten characters who would become suspects and eleven mansion rooms as possibilities for the scene of the crime—including a gun room and cellar.  Most intriguingly he had nine murderous weapons, including such gems as the axe,  a syringe, poison and the mysterious shillelagh. (!!!!)

Let’s take a look at one is one of my favorite versions, the 1963 edition. Just look at the cute illustrations!

Cuuuuuuuuuuute, yes?? I bet Mr. Green did it. With the shillelagh. Hee.

But as cute as this is, I have to confess my REAL favorite is the one I grew up with. That’s THIS 1972 version. And oh ho ho, is it different. You don’t get the same charmingly sweet drawings, but this version has the added layer of mystery and drama by showcasing actual actors as the characters. And oooh the drama!

I mean, look at that mysterious spray of broken pearls!  The cream colored princess phone that’s off the hook (literally and figuratively).  Amazing! I love the design of this edition so much…

I was always Miss Scarlet….and I was verrrrry transfixed by The Lounge. And The Ballroom. And ze candlestick. We played this game alot growing up. I still can hear my favorite aunt, Tante Maria counting out her prediction in her cute German accent, “It vas Mista Green, in de conservatory….mit de leadpipe!” My Uncle Max was always sneaky and would try and spy on us to see which portion of the notepad we were marking off when we got our clues (top portion meant person, middle was weapons, bottom was rooms!).

I love to see how they have updated the game over the years. The latest versions I’m not too keen on, but just look at these two. SO MUCH FUN!

OK friends. Do you love Clue?? And did you know there was a CLUE movie? I haven’t seen it in years but I remember loving it. I wonder if it has stood the test of time….hmmm. Perhaps I will cozy up in the Lounge with my candlestick and a copy of it this weekend!

Real life :: I bought a sofa off the streets of Oakland

We bought a new sofa.

Well, not a new sofa. An old sofa. Off the streets of Oakland. For 30 dollars.

Here’s the story.

I was looking for parking to meet my friend for lunch at the best Ethiopian restaurant in Oakland. As I was driving around looking for parking, I spied with my little eye this button tufted beauty. Now, I can’t lie, it was clearly “loved” by its past owner.  Covered with animal hair and the cushions were worn nearly flat, this sofa had lived a good life. But I thought that tired old piece of furniture could have a bit more life with the proper love that I knew my family could give it.

I sent a picture of this worn sofa to Eric and he replied with a quick yes and drove over in our big old vintage station wagon hoping this eight foot sofa would fit.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure…

But thanks to some rope and strong knots we did get it in!

We delivered the sofa to our garage where it patiently waited until we found a good upholsterer and the right fabric.  Every now and then, I’d visit the sofa and let it know that soon, it would be inside and loved. Patience, friend.

At last we found a great (and relatively inexpensive) upholsterer and some lovely indestructible super soft charcoal faux velvet. We sent our sofa to the furniture spa where it had its cushions re-stuffed and a fancy new outfit. It was returned to us looking quite changed.

This sofa was meant for us. Get ready to see a lot more pictures of this grand dame in a lot of future pictures.  It looks so lovely in our living room like it was always meant to be there.

The old girl clearly has a lot of life left in her to give to our family. And we are so grateful for it!

Have you ever reupholstered any items?