The sunny days of summer are here….and there is nothing more I love than lounging at the swimming pool! Back in the day, ladies wore swim caps to help preserve their fabulous hairdos. Eventually these swim caps went beyond function and turned into straight up fashion, with little florettes and fun colors. These 1950s swim caps are faaabulous. C’mon, let’s take a look. I promise you’ll be searching eBay for your very  own….
{images from the life magazine archives photographed by ralph crane}
And then of course, there is this. The Punch & Judy Swim Cap Fashion Show. WHOA.
Elizabeth Taylor is such a beauty. I am in love with these 1951 photographs of her as a ballerina. She’s so gorgeous! I took ballet for years, performing en pointe (aka toe shoes) although I would totally bust my ankle if I dared try to stand on my toes! Did you ever take dance of any kind??
So a few weeks ago we had school photo day. Which is always a hoot. You get to pick the color background now, since it’s all digital, which is sort of wild. When it comes to a group class room picture, Wolfie’s school does them but it’s made up of all the little solo photos from the kids. Somehow it’s not the same as everyone sittin’ all proper on their little benches. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some classic Classroom Photos. I am obsessed with these, I think they are so cool. You just want to know the stories behind all these sassy little kiddos! OK, let’s take a look!
This first one is Mrs. Cliett’s Third Grade class, Shiver Elementary, 1963-64, Cairo, Georgia. Mrs. Cliett looks about a million years old, but I love her prim grey suit! You know she was the kind of crankster who rapped her ruler on those poor kiddos knuckles. Best dressed? bottom row, red polka dot dress and cat eye glasses. Aw yeah! Also, that’s a pretty handsome row of lads up there.
image: janet sumner
This next one is adorable. Grade 1 and 2 at Gray’s Lake Elementary, 1955. There’s a whole lotta plaid going on in this class.
image:Â takomabibelot.
On to the 70s….and COLOR, COLOR, COLOR. Mrs. Fujita’s Grade 1 & 2 class at Haskell Elementary in 1977. Best Fashions: where to start? bottom row, love the two pinafore girls but hellllo jumpsuit on the end! Please note how teensy Mrs. Haskell is on the end there behind THE JUMPSUIT. Also, middle row, middle girl with huge bow is awesome, but the the two guys on the top row ends (far left, denim vest and far right…little bad ass stance) rule!
image: C-Monster
Next, Eisenhower School Kindergarten class 1973, Fergus Falls Minnesota. Dig that crazy teacher’s suit. And is she wearing a fish pendant? Why yes she is. Best Kiddo Fashions: the two kids with the spex are amazing, but BOTTOM ROW WINS! red, white blue dressie and tights, FOUR cute pants set, a boy with tie…..and a crochet vest on the end. Brilliant.
image: Precious Kitty Kat
Miss Michelle Frenette’s First Grade Class at Eisenhower Elementary School, 1974, Fergus Falls Minnesota. Best Fashions: Love the middle row boys on the end (baby Joey Lawrence with bowl cut on the left and cutie cowby on the right) but again the bottom row takes it! This time with the Plaid-O-Rama pants suit, plaid maxi skirt, the baby blue maxi dress, boy with tie AND little girl in yellow pants and shirt with photo of a water fall on it. Huzzah! Feeling badly for girl in sweatshirt. I bet her mom forgot it was picture day. Also, i think that’s the same kid in the tie as above…. love Miss Frenette’s jaunty neck scarf too.
image: Precious Kitty Kat.
Mrs. Amundson’s Second Grade Class at Eisenhower Elementary School, 1975, Fergus Falls Minnesota.
image: Precious Kitty Kat.
I love this photo from the Catrine Primary School in 1970s Scotland. But uh oh, someone wore their jumper/ski sweater instead of regulation ties. Minus ten points, Gryffindor!
image: joevl,
Here’s another one from Catrine Primary School—and perhaps my favorite. Such a bunch of cuties. The boy’s all look like *such* rascals.
image: joevl
Miss Davis’ first grade class at Northside Grammar School, 1961. Hmm. That “Miss” Davis is looking a little long in the tooth…
Check out the awesome Miss Groob’s Third Grade Class at Sheridan Elementary School, 1973-74 in Ohio. “Groobie, baby!”
image: brian glass
Mrs. Thren’s fourth grade class at Landisville Elementary in Hempfield, Pennsylvania. 1974-75. All the kids are swell, but helllllo gams! Check out those minis on the teachers!
image: brechtbug
Let’s take a little jaunt across the pond and check out the “Preschool” (aka Kindergarten) class at the Princes Marijke School in Nieuw-Vennep, The Netherlands. 1974. Now this is a colorful crew.
image:Â christiaanV
Here’s the same school the next year in 1975, First Grade Class:
image: christiaanV
And finally, we head back to the states to Houston, Texas. This is Mrs. Dahlem’s First Grade Class Spring Shadows Elementary, 1972-73. Best Fashions: These guys win BEST SHOES all around. Go-go boots, mod little saddle shoes, and even t-straps on Mrs. Dahlem. Little girl on the top right is kind of fabulous, with her jaunty scarf!
image: Rowland Kodachrome
And finally, Mrs. Harper’s Second Grade Class, Spring Shadows Elementary, 1973-74.
image: Rowland Kodachrome
Mrs. Alford’s  kindergarten class at Spring Shadows Elementary, 1971-72. This whole class wins Best Dressed.  All the front row snazzers—esp little Cindy Brady on the end and those two pairs of gogo boots. Also love little boy in purple on top left….and dig Mrs. Alford’s crazy zig zag poly dress!
How fun are those? Sigh. I wish they still did those group photos. Does your school?
I’ve been meaning to share these wondrous photographs with you for a while now. Take a gander at this! A beautiful girl, impeccably dressed, suspended above the romantic cobblestone streets of Paris in a mysterious bubble. Part fairy tale. Part space age fantasy. And just SO stunning.
Melvin Sokolsky shot this iconic series for Harper’s Bazaar magazine in Paris for the 1963 Spring Collections. While many believed there was some trickery involved in these images, it was loooong before photoshop and model Simone dâ€
Aillencourt was indeed suspended in a giant plexiglass ball, suspended from a cable on a crane. Can you believe it??
“Simone, Bubble.  Seine, Paris, 1963.â€Â Ahhh.
And for those of you worrying about the model having breathing issues inside her magical bubble, never fear!
“The bubble in the series is made of Plastivew and is composed of two hemispheres with a 1/8-inch crack to allow for breathing room. Then the bubble was hung from a very thin, but strong cable. (It could have also held up a Cadillac!) This was probably one of the easiest shoots I’ve ever done in my life because there were no hair or makeup interruptions. No one could touch her in the bubble—so it was just her and I creating the images.” — Melvin Sokolosky
And then the Bubble traveled to New York….
Images via Melvin Sokolskyâ€s website
I had never heard of Louis Shabner until a few years ago, but now I’m hooked! Ol’ Lou was a noted pin-up illustrator. While he did lots of classic fresh face girls in the 50s, it’s his smokey eyed 60s/70s girls that have me transfixed. They look like they were plucked off the cover of a vintage romance novel (or maybe a Bossa Nova record album). Let’s a take a look at  some of them:
No.1 is a glamorous socialite! Those eyes! Those earrings!
No.2 is a southern belle and she ain’t foolin’ anyone with her little “i’m so innocent” bows.
No.3, is my favorite. What a vixen! (What a neck line…yeowza!) She’s like a European Baroness. And she definitely knows how to solve a problem like Maria.
No.4 is a young starlet—and she’s ready for an alpine holiday and fireside drinks.
And finally, No.5Â is a little fire cracker who is soooo pushing you in the pool for giving her man the eye.
I think I’m going to start calling him Lou FABNER….
Of course Independence day is always a blast. Parades, grilling and hanging with friends on this special day. But in 1976, it was so much more. It was the BICENTENNIAL!
It was a time when Betsy Ross became a fashion icon.
And everything was covered in red white and blue! Even beer!
And the parades! Oh, they were awesome!
But if we are going to talk about parades, there is one place that really rocks parades. That would be of course…
Every now and then you find wonderful remnants of this groovy time when people loved history! Like this great fire hydrant.
And if you are lucky, you’ll find a little reminder of the Bicentennial in your pocket.
I just can’t help but smile every time I find one of them.
Have a great fourth of July, friends!
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