Quite Slow, but Lovely

If someone tells you that you have a face made for radio, slap him/her upside the head and then go wrap yourself into the fetal position and sob. If someone tells you that you have graphic design sense made for radio hug him/her and then pitch a major feature piece on yourself to Print Magazine.  

In a process that would send chills down the spine of any ADD-afflicted technophile today, people used to confirm radio transmissions with Bauhaus-y post cards, or in more proper terms, Quebec Sign Language (QSL) cards.  

May Day! May Day! Two months later: Message Received. 

Not efficient. Very beautiful.

The examples here are all for sale on ebay for less than $10.

Late Breaker | May A Miracle Occur in Americus, Kansas...

If you live in or near Americus, Kansas and have an extra $45, bid on these cast iron theater seats right now!!!  Only an hour and a half left in the auction.  You have to pick them up.  Go, go, go!!!

Puppet Masters

Today's New York Times takes us beneath the incredible horse puppets created for the London production of "War Horse," a play about a poor boy who loves a horse that is sold to a British officer who rides it off to WWI battles.  The poor boy, shattered, enlists in hopes that he'll find his dear friend.  It's supposedly incredible and heart wrenching and full of never-before-seen puppet mastery.  It's expected to hit New York in 2011. Giddy up.

Photos by Simon Annand

Pedaling Perfection

I had been riding my bike to Queens in the morning, but then some fellow rider left a sticky note on the seat saying something along the lines of: "Someone's gonna getyer pretty little bike if you don't learn to lock it up properly. I've been watching it all week and you're just asking for it to be stolen." I think it was meant in kindness or at least as a public service, but it read like an attack, something written out by a threatening bike villain with a disposition like the Wicked Witch of the West (a woman who certainly used her bicycle to pedal evil).  Fearing the depths of my bike locking inadequacies and the tendency of a stranger to eye my bike for a whole week, I now only ride it when I know I'll be able to watch it.  So much angst over a slightly rusted 1967 Raleigh folding bike that looks like something from the circus below me!  That said, riding this handmade beauty from Ateliers d’Embellie might give me a heart attack...but maybe that's why it comes with a flask.

Back to Your Root

Back in the day, root beer floats had a helluva lot more kick. From the 1700s on, Root Tea (as it was called) came heavy in spirit. But then the Temperance Movement rolled into town and a pharmacist in Philly removed the booze and ironically called it beer. 

The folks who gave us Hendrick's Gin are returning to the roots of root beer via their unit Art in the Age (of Mechanical Reproduction). They're now pumping out the "first true American Liqueur in nearly 100 years" - 80 proof ROOT. It's all organic - and damned tasty (just like the more innocent stuff you're used to). It's still only available in Pennsylvania liquor stores and online in 28 states.

Ebay Shopping | Lobb Jodhpur Boots

They're still wildly pricey at GBP950, but what better way to dress up $50 Levi's? Auction ends on the 15th.

Gone Fishin'

Well, sort of. We're down in Maryland for a few days visiting our aunt and unc...

Porter got a new dress (Bottega Veneta!) and wore it to check on tomorrow night's dinner (blue crabs).

Sweet (Mary) Jane

Mary Jane espadrilles, $14.95 at Pearl River.

Adventures | Westhampton

Growing up, we spent all of our July 4ths at our Grandpa Pete's house in Lincoln, Nebraska. Amazing fireworks over a lake, sparklers, BBQ, the all-American works.  But I've been an erratic patriot during my New York years.  The first year we lived in Brooklyn, roughly 1,000+ people filled our rooftop and one neighbor picked up an $18,000 fine (quite fun).  The next year, I stayed home, noticed the booms, but didn't bother to leave the couch (quite pathetic).  This year, one of our dear friends invited us out to the Westhampton beach house her parents rented for July.  Talk about an upgrade!  Some photo evidence of this sinfully amazing treat...  

  

The view from one of the front balconies...

...the view down to the pool...

...the view from the back.

Photos by Porter Hovey

Family Stories | The Hamptons

My dad spent many of his teenage summers in East Hampton as a counselor at Anthony Drexel Duke's camp, Boys Harbor, a place that gave him some of his greatest adolescent memories.  But my favorite stories of my dad's New York beach experience happened in his late teens/20s, in South Hampton:

(1) One day he hitch hiked home from the movies. "A little man in a big convertible" pulled up and offered him a ride. He took it. He later realized it was Truman Capote.

{2} George Plimpton would pop by the house and wait until someone offered him a drink. "Someone always did because he was Geroge Plimpton," dad said. (George started the Paris Review in the offices of one of my grandma's closest friends, Eddie Morgan. Eddie and George had the same accent, which some say came from Eddie).

(3) He attended the Fernanda Wanamaker's Coming Out Party (along with scores of other preppies, including the man who, decades later, married my mom's sister).  Below, I reproduce what may be the greatest news story Time Magazine ever printed:

Friday, Apr. 24, 1964

THE LATE SHOW

"Some Harvard gymnasts had been doing stunts," said Sophomore Eaton Brooks of the University of North Carolina, nervously fingering his smartly striped tie. "The gentleman from Harvard who was on the other gentleman's shoulders was swinging the chandelier back and forth. I was up on the mantelpiece, watching people crawl on the rafters. One of the other boys up there swung to the floor on the chandelier, and about ten minutes later I guess I wanted to be a gymnast, too." That was when the chandelier collapsed and dumped Tarzan Brooks on the floor.

 Suffolk County Court House at Riverhead, Long Island, was hearing a repeat of one of society's best late late shows: the house-wrecking escapade of some 65 young bloods after the Southampton coming-out party of Philadelphia Debutante Fernanda Wanamaker Wetherill (TIME, Sept. 13). Seven combat veterans of the after-party brawl were hailed to court on charges of "malicious mischief" in causing $6,000 worth of damage to a beach house Fernanda's stepfather Donald Leas had rented to put up a bunch of the boys for the weekend.

 All seven were released because of legal technicalities and insufficient evidence—such as lack of proof that the chandelier had been damaged "consciously and deliberately with a wrongful intent." In the process of clearing themselves the natty young witnesses added some filigrees and footnotes.

 >Stepfather Donald Leas Jr., a "reluctant" prosecution witness, quoted Defendant Granville Toogood, 21, of Philadelphia, as explaining: "I was dancing on a table when someone body-checked me and I went through the French doors. That's all the damage I did."

> Stepdaughter Fernanda remembered seeing about five boys on the mantelpiece. Some were dancing, and some were playing "yacht" with a ship's steering wheel on the wall. Everybody thought this was "very funny."

> Witness James Curtis III of Glen Head, L.I., explained why he had not slept at the house: "I passed out."

> When Curtis came to a couple of hours later, he said he saw Defendant Samuel Shipley III, of Philadelphia, on the beach "taking his date home." The prosecutor asked what Shipley was doing. "Sam was crawling across the sand," said Curtis, "and he was being called Lawrence of Arabia."

Debutante Fernanda, in a fresh Nassau tan, a blue dress and a double strand of pearls, told reporters afterward that she had something more important to think about: the offer of a four-year movie contract from Producer Kevin McClory, beginning with the next James Bond thriller. "Frankly," confessed Fernanda, "I'm still toying with the idea. I guess a lot of girls would be excited. But at this point, I'm really not." She hadn't been very excited about her old job, either. "I never really had any enthusiasm for deb parties. I really didn't get any pleasure out of them at all."

Chandelier-swinger Eaton Brooks said that he was "not ashamed of what I did," went on to explain. "We had been drinking for two straight days, with no sleep and a liquid diet. We weren't the same people we are today. I agree that someone has a moral obligation about this damage, but I don't know who is responsible for the atmosphere that caused what happened at the party."

(Dad tells me that the house had actually been on the market for years...it only sold after all the publicity from the party).

(Years ago, I saw photos of this mess in a magazine - I believe it was LIFE - but all visual evidence seems to have been wiped off the face of the earth/internet.  So, I used an absolutely unrelated image of The Dunes that illustrated this nearly-as-good article from New York Magazine). 

Update: Jerry, super sleuth from the Architecturalist, came across these shots of the aftermath!

Greatest Website Ever | British Pathé

YouTube, SchmooTube.  You ain't seen nothing until you've clicked around on British Pathé.  Above we have Tubnik from 1961...and there's Princess Anne grooming horses while the Duke plays polo in 1959...little kids rowing in 1930...

All told, it's 3,500 hours of video, 12 million stills and 75 years of British Pathé. 

(Yes, I've gone on a mad British run leading up to the 4th. Very unpatriotic of me).

Revolution!

Sparklers are fine, but why not use the 4th to play full on George (Washington) v. George (III) games. To do it properly, you'll have to pop to Ede & Ravenscroft in London (a decided advantage for the George III player and a bit heretic for the GW, though he probably got his wigs there, too).  Have about $1,200 handy for starter models at England's greatest wig tailor.

Top image courtesy MykReeve's flickr site.

Bars | Derrière (Paris)

Catherine Martin, costume designer and wife to Baz Luhrmann, fantastically curates the May/June issue of Vogue Living Australia.  It's billed very accurately as a collector's issue.  They pop in on Derrière, the new Paris bar/restaurant/club from Mourad Mazouz, the guy (excuse the pun) behind Momo and Sketch in London. He wanted it to seem like popping over to an incredibly lived in apartment.  Looks like he did the job.  (Photos of Derrière by Andrea Ferrari for Vogue Living Australia).

Porter's Possessions Pt. II: '20s Dress, Turquoise

Once we actually reached the Brooklyn Flea in Dumbo, Porter picked up this great '20s-inspired cotton dress and the turquoise bracelet (the feather bracelet was a gift from our dad a few years back).

Porter's Possessions | Cormac, the Highland Bull

Yes, we really, really thought the swans were it.  And yes, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record.  But Porter and I biked to Dumbo yesterday (no rain!) and stumbled upon this Highland Bull at the great little shop Re-Pop by the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Porter had to have him.  This purchase, named Cormac, has inspired some wall painting and a taxidermy shuffle. Photos of the re-org/re-paint pending!

Note 1: The Swans have been named Daedalus and Icarus

Note 2: Porter's Possessions was the name of the store our parents owned in Lincoln, Nebraska during the early '80s.  They were the first in town to carry Esprit, along with vintage kimonos, elephant hair bracelets and clothing made of natural fibers.

Re-Pop

68 Washington Ave.

Brooklyn, NY 11205

718-280-8032

Polaroid by Porter Hovey

Shops | Hollander + Lexer (Williamsburg)

The guys behind Hollander + Lexer (and Darr) opened a beautiful Hollander + Lexer Williamsburg outpost yesterday. It's much like the smaller original on Atlantic Ave. in Boerum Hill - dark walls (the original inspired us to paint our walls black), Santa Maria Novella colognes, Côté Bastide bath products - but offers a larger selection of menswear, including the in-house label and many great Japanese brands (and others).  

I love this linen shirt from Andrew Mason's Survival Equipment...

...and the wildly soft leather jackets from Japanese line Sisii.

(Photos by Porter Hovey)

Hollander + Lexer, 103 Metropolitan Ave. at Wythe

Unsolicited Advice | Vogue

ELLE has trumped Vogue in ad sales for the first time.  So, I, a gal who spends countless hours a week on a non-revenue generating blog, have decided to weigh in.  I do realize that most of these ideas go against the principle of appeasing advertisers and actually making a profit, but I type nonetheless...

{1} Deceptively Simplify the Covers |  Someone, around 1991 or so, must have sent a massive memo to American and British magazine editors explaining that no one will read their publications if they don't splash ghastly hot pink or red words all over the cover. Let the picture tell the story -- like this or this.

{2} Go on Location | Traditional travel guides are generally terrible, so why not use your great taste and artistry to inspire us to flee (physically or just imaginatively) to far away lands (or Boston...or Cheyenne).  Dedicate each issue to a specific city and really delve in.  Every town provides a thousand different backdrops for editorial spreads. Tell us about the tiny boutiques and local labels like Domino did so wonderfully (yes, the Domino that went out of business), the places and lines that keep things interesting in the shadow of the ubiquitous megastores (yes, the ones that belong to your advertisers). Each issue will be a collector's item.

{3a} Give us the dirty details | There's one thing to creating the fantasy, but now that runway shows are online within hours, it's not enough to show key outfits from each collection. If you want us to invest in your advertisers' clothes, help explain why they cost what they do. Show us how they're made - one old woman's blood sweat and tears does justify $8,000 for a Birkin or a Balmain jacket. Couture gowns look beautiful, but they really look beautiful up close. Show us that hand stitching and a little of the process. You have access that we plebes could only dream of - and that no blogger will ever have. 

{3b} Go behind the scenes | Japanese hairdresser Katsuya Kamo (the guy who made all these phenomenal head pieces) created completely spectacular paper hats for the Spring 2009 Chanel Couture show. You pointed this out - and it was wonderful. We're not going to run out and buy paper (or bird) headdresses, but it's wildly interesting and inspiring nonetheless. More of that, please.

{4} More of the affordable stuff | This goes without saying, but if we're not treating ourselves to presents, it's nice to get a stocking stuffer or two.  Your shopping picks section at the end is great - expand it.  But when offering up bargains, make sure they're bargains. I treat money like VD - something to get rid of (I paraphrased that from something I read and loved), but I don't think I've ever spent more than $300 on an article of clothing. Bags and shoes, yes. Clothes, no.

The Natives | Karl Bodmer Takes on the West

German aristocrat Prinz Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (“Prince Max”) contracted the young Swiss-born Bodmer to accompany him on his 1830s era adventures along the Ohio and Missouri rivers with huntsman and taxidermist, David Dreidoppel.  Bodmer helped Prince Max overcome his frustration at the lack of legitimate, accurate images of a native people, images previously only associated with European aristocrats.  Prince Max used them to illustrate his famous book, Travels in the Interior of North America (re-published beautifully by Taschen). The North America Native Museum Zurich has also compiled many of Bodmer's 400 watercolors and sketches into the book, Karl Bodmer: A Swiss Artist in America 1809-1893. It's a beauty.

Well Hung (A Gallery/Museum Update) | Anglo Spainophiles

British appreciation and love of España are on display at the National Galleries of Scotland in the show "Spain: Goya to Picasso."  The exhibition explores the work of 19th and early 20th c. British artists like Sir David Wilkie, David Roberts, John Phillip and Arthur Melville who let Spain play a role as muse and collectors who used Spanish artists as a great excuse to spend money.  Up until Oct. 11.

(Above: El Greco's Lady in Fur Wrap) 

HHH Shopping Guide | Additions to the Sidebar

I've added a few destinations to my International (and/or online) Shopping Sidebar.

{1} James Purdey + Sons (England)

{2} Pearl River (New York)

{3} Parbuckles* (USA/online)

{4} La Manual Alpargatera (Barcelona)

{5} Wunderkammer (Melbourne)

{6} Hawkins + Hawkins (Edinburgh)

{7} Monkey's Paw Book Shop (Toronto)

* The photos on the site are styled badly, making this a somewhat odd choice, but individual pieces look quite great.

Friends and Fam | Ryan Matthew Cohn's Workshop

Here's a peek into the Greenpoint, Brooklyn workshop of my friend Ryan Matthew Cohn, silversmith, leather man, osteologist and taxidermy collector (he's the one who scored the five peacocks and the reason why two swans are flying in my living room).  He bought that skeleton off a woman upstate.  It belonged to her father, an Odd Fellow and Free Mason. She dismantled it and stuffed it into a duffel bag, which Ryan carried home, innocently, on the bus back to the city.

He learned Native American-style silversmithing from one of Ralph Lauren's first clients and later taught himself how to distress leather.  He made all those belts and the bandolier bag hanging on the left, as well as the canvas and leather one above the vintage all-leather postal bag. He recently launched an accessory line - Ryan Matthew - which he'll be selling through Against Nature, a men's shop he's starting with his friends. The shop will also offer custom tailoring from Amber Doyle and Jake Meuser (under the Doyle Meuser label) and SPJ denim.

Against Nature

Set to open in early August on Chrystie between Rivington and Delancey.

(Friends and Fam - a new series offering a peek into the homes of my friends and family)

Little Edie, The Early Years

The incredible book, Edith Bouvier Beale of Grey Gardens: A Life in Pictures, shows Little Edie before the mess, the infestations and the Maysles. It's the glamorous girl we sort of saw in HBO's rendition, displayed through poems, notes and photos. It's sweet, divine and heart breaking. (Above, Little Edie in a gypsy costume shot by an unknown photographer in 1927). 

The cover of Little Edie's 1929 sketch book.

Little Edie and her friend Eleanor Maloney in 1933, East Hampton.

My uncle, a man whose mother annually posed him and his brothers into utterly perfect Christmas photos, always says, "The more perfect the Christmas photo, the more dysfunctional the family." I've always felt that way about letters. More letters, more dysfunction. 

Phelan Beale was a letter writer. And when he told his wife he was cutting her allowance, he let his secretary do the typing.

Modeling at the Lady's Village Improvement Society Fashion Show, East Hampton, 1940

East Hampton, 1951

1938 on the stoop of Grey Gardens with Spot

East Hampton, 1940 with Spot

East Hampton, 1951

East Hampton, 1951

Acquisitions | The Taxidermy Swan Song

I honestly thought the last round was the end of it. No more, I told myself on Friday. Things have gotten out of hand. I did promise my friend Ryan I'd wake up early and hit the flea market with him - just to look! - (he and his friends are opening a bespoke tailor shop around the corner from Freeman's and he needs decor).  But it poured rain.  Saved from temptation! But then he called....  

"Get to Bushwick."  

Porter and I got there.  A stylist was selling his loot and damn, was it treasure.  Ryan picked up two taxidermied albino peacocks, three more generic turquoise peacocks (you know, the kind everyone has hanging around the house) and loads of other ephemera.  All for pennies.  I got the taxidermied swans.  Only $80 for the pair.  They once graced the window of a fancy store on Fifth Ave., positioned as if they were trying to poke each other's eyes out. Now they're flying slightly friendlier skies (albeit ones that are difficult to photograph -- it looks much better in real life, almost delicate juxtaposed with the flowers). I think this really has to be my last taxidermy purchase (although there is an empty space by the "office" - hum).

That wasn't all though.  We got this old sword...

and this vintage suit form (that almost caused a rumble)...

and this Austrian Victoria Blue Bird Box from Barneys (at one time).  

Acquisitions | Rope, Bag, Gloves, Room Spray

{1} Rope from Home Depot to wrap around my banisters, {2} New-to-me Prada purse acquired at the great consignment shop INA on the walk home Wednesday, {3} Diptyque Choisya room spray (among many items) acquired at yesterday's sample sale at steep discounts, {4} New gloves! Gauntlet gloves for my Dances with Wolves days and the driving and crochet versions for all activities but driving. All from leatherglovesonline.com. 

(Changing the title of this series to Gluttony very, very soon).

Mad Hatters and Horsemen

LIFE staff reporter Mark Kauffman captures the debutantes of 1950s England as they chum around within their tiny dating pool at Ascot, which, for a new generation in a similarly small dating pool, began today.

 

Green Mould(ing)

After an initial round of peach (I always try peach and then, facing utter regret, decide on something much more feminine - like black), I went with Behr "Scallion" for the bathroom moulding.  Inside view with subway tiles pending proper faucet installation (estimated to occur in Nov. 2013 at this rate).  The door is one of those cheap hollow jobs, but I added a fairly substantial chrome knob to create the illusion that it's more than cardboard separating you (as the bathroom visitor) from Porter's bedroom (or vice versa, if we're being mindful of Porter). 

(Other items include: Watercolor portrait of me around age 1; mom's bamboo rack; bangle collection; Ralph Lauren towels).

Acquisitions II | Trophy, Towels, Photos

We picked up the great old baseball trophy and the '20s photos from the Brooklyn Flea (Fort Greene) and the hemp hand towels (which I hope will feel less like burlap after a wash) at Moon River Chattel. The bathroom project is almost done - minus official running water in the sink (still can't get the old faucet off). The towels may take off the entire epidermis, but they will sure look great.   

Acquisitions | Fleas, Junk, Field, Ebay, Darr

A collection of purchases from the past month or so (clockwise from left): {1} Wood Handled Industrial Hanging Lamp from the Ft. Greene Flea Market, {2} Panamanian Embera Alligator Mask from the Field Museum Gift Shop , {3} Fencing Helmet from the Ft. Greene Flea, {4} Indian Scissors from Darr, {5} Military Stripes from the Ft. Greene Flea, {6} Leather and Crochet Gloves from the Ft. Greene Flea, {7} Handgun Pin from the Ft. Greene Flea, {8} Old Abercrombie + Fitch Pedometer, Ebay

Oil!

This incredible silent film depicts a 1926 oil lease signing between the Blackfoot Indians and Fulton Petroleum at the Blackfoot camp in Browning, Montana.  The woman who posted this on YouTube found the original 16mm footage in her grandma's cousin's attic.  

Books | History of the Indian Tribes of North America

Thomas Loraine McKenney (1785-1859) - Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1824-1830 - also commissioned some artists to paint portraits of Native American tribe leaders who visited D.C. to have a record of these vanishing peoples (who ironically would've been doing a much better job thriving without organizations like the Bureau of Indian Affairs).  The clothing is just extraordinary - and, surprisingly, much more European than we see in the movies. Whole houses should be decorated in this color palette -- and my god, you have no idea how much I want an ivory blanket with a fur collar (which, upon closer inspection and clearer thinking, is much more likely a reversed buffalo skin, but I still like the idea of a fur collar on a camp blanket).

McKenney and James Hall compiled all these images and descriptions into a big three-volume set of books - History of the Indian Tribes of North America - which sold for a reported $120 when first published (so expensive that only libraries snapped it up).  You can read the whole thing online for free here (god, the internet can be so cool) - or make of game of this history with these.

Tunes | Wang Dang Doodle

Blues Queen Koko Taylor died Wednesday in Chicago at age 80 (from complications of GI bleeding; it's so sadly ironic that all of the world's top gastroenterologists were there that day). Here's to that amazing holler.

Things Over Which You Might Gnaw Off Your Hand | Rattan Canopy Couch

I. WANT. IT. NOW.

Getaria Canopy Sofa with Poles, Emerald Orchid Furniture, price upon request

HHH Shopping Guide | Your First Studio Apt.

My first New York apartment at 85th and 3rd Ave. consisted of a 100 square foot living room (10x10), an oddly normally sized kitchen and bath and a "bedroom" that measured in at 6'x8'.  A radiator hogged one corner, so my twin bed frame wouldn't fit - just the mattress.  There was no closet.  That was the biggest, most glamorous pad I could find for $1450 a month.  I loved it and I filled it with miniature furniture: a tiny pale yellow love seat, camel-shaped plant stands as my coffee table/dining room, bamboo folding chairs. With tight squeezes (and budget) in mind, I suggest the following.

{1} Bamboo Folding Chairs, Richwood Imports, $24.95

{2} Clairmont Mantel, Mantel Market, $480 (If you get stuck in some brand new, non-crown molded joint, faux fireplaces soften things up a bit. Porter and I have three in our loft. The one in our living room was only $100 at a junk store).

{3} Butler Tray, Bernhardt, price upon request (Excellent for makeshift bars so the two friends who fit in your apartment have something to drink when they pop by). This one here is even more amazing).

{4} Zebra Bolster Pillow, Wildlife Etc., starting at $215 (If you don't have room for a couch, use these on your twin bed to create a couchy/daybed). 

{5} Paris Laundry Basket, Emerald Orchid Furniture (my new favorite online shop), price upon request (It's actually quite gigantic - and a perfect place to toss the dirty unmentionables when those two friends come over).

{6} Breakfast Tray Table, Emerald Orchid Furniture, price upon request (No need for a dining room when you just eat in bed!).

{7} Cardboard Attache Case, Manufactum, EUR 23 (If you can't afford Globe-Trotter, why not store your sweaters in this nearly free version?).

Field Trip

I spent the last four days in Chicago with 15,000 gastroenterologists and surgeons at Digestive Disease Week. One morning before all the utterly serious talk of guts and BMs commenced, I popped over to the Field Museum to see their collection of spectacular animals that haven't pooped in decades.  My own taxidermy habit clearly has a long, long, long way to go.

This guy, a Russian native, had a big nose so he could warm up his air before it hit his lungs.

Makin' Daily News

The Hovey sisters were lucky enough to grace the pages of the New York Daily News today. Reporter Leah Chernikoff and photographer Linda Rosier stopped by on Saturday to have a great chat about their story on New Yorkers with some crazy collections. So, ok, we weren't as fortunate to be like Herb and Dorthy Vogal who have one of the most impressive collections of contemporary art, but we love our taxidermy and other oddities just the same. So, stop by your local newsstands this morning!

Natural Protection

The future, if Star Wars is to be believed, will be as much organic fibers as it is plastic and chome.  We need a few naturey bits to keep us down to earth when computers run our lives. This should help the initiative.  A $30 grass "folder" from ABC Carpet & Home. It works so nicely as an iBook sleeve.  

Porter Hovey, Teenage Silversmith

Porter and I went to a pretty great high school. Of course there were the normal tortures, but if you look back with nostalgia, it's a place where boys with shaggy hair and Vasque Sundowners would climb on desks to scream and argue Hobbes and Hume, we read - and understood - Toni Morrison, we challenged our rival school in an annual charity can drive so overwhelmingly successful that they had to bring in engineers to make sure the floor could support all the corn and beans...and we had Mr. Crawford, master silversmith.  It's quite wonderful when you can make your own sterling silver jewelry in high school - and Mr. Crawford helped make these projects shine.  He'd had polio as a kid, which affected one of his hands, but it didn't affect his brilliant craftsmanship.  Porter took his class for five semesters (I, shouldered with the academic expectations of a first born child, was forced to take Calc 2 and AP physics and chemistry, while Porter spent her time at a buffing wheel).  By the time you'd reached Jewelry 5, lost wax rings were a thing of the past - replaced by box construction and hinges.  These were her two masterpieces - a zebra cuff and an envelope box.  Just beautiful.

Oui! The Two of Us Sisters Do Appear Together in Photos

And, oui, the blinding patch of light (the pharmacy cabinet) desperately needs shelves and booze! 

Photographer Valérie Dray shot a few "Creative New Yorkers" including our good friends Joanna Goddard and Alex Williams -- and us -- for www.menstyle.fr.  So fun!

There's that black wall I show you all so much.  In other news that would make a landlord cry (besides painting gigantic walls black), I went to Home Depot to get some paint for my bathroom door on Wednesday and came home with a new door knob and a faucet.  Being overly confident from the knob installation, I attempted the faucet, but after unhooking the water supply, I discovered that the plastic bolts holding the old one on must be glued into place.  So, I tried to reconnect the water lines to the old faucet - and now no water will flow. So much for being handy.  I'll figure this out. Just don't tell my landlord.

Aesthetic Perfection Campaign | Best of Schotten

More follow up on the Aesthetic Perfection Campaign, these are some of my favorites from Manfred Schotten's sporty shop. Add stripes to a car - you'll ruin it; add them to a luxury bag, you'll make it marvelous. The first Gladstone I've seen with these spectacular accoutrements.  The tasteful "BWM" was Bertram Wagstaff Mills (August 1873 – April 16, 1938), a British circus owner whose circus became famous in the UK for its Christmas shows at Olympia in West London. His troop were the last to perform with live animals on the Drury Lane Theatre stage. (Sold - grrrrr).

A circa 1900 cast iron umbrella/stick stand. GBP 2600.

Roe Deer head mount, shot in Siberian, Chinese Turkestan in 1907; taxidermied by Rowland Ward.  Lt. Col J. W. Price, Henley Hall of Ludlow exhibited it at the international Big Game Exhibition in Berlin 1937. It still bears its gold medal with pride. GBP 895.

1924-25 Oxford University football team (sold).

1930s ski boots. GBP 145.

Porter Pleads Polaroid's Case for the NY Times

Yesterday's New York Times paid homage to the potential Polaroid saviors at the Impossible Project -- and let Porter weigh in on the devastation that ensued after the announcement that the world's most modern nostalgic photography medium would be discontinued. Click here to hear Porter extoll in the interactive feature that accompanied the story (she's on slides #4 and #12). 

(Polaroid of Fiat 500 Jolly parked outside John Derian on 2nd Street by Porter Hovey).

Greatest from the Great Escape

Following up on the previous post, these are a few of my favorite items from the Christopher Clarke/Manfred Schotten Antiques charity sale, The Great Escape. The skis, the boots and the telescope are still available, and the rest can provide a litany of inspiration.  Above: 1920s wicker picnic seat, believed to have come gratis with the purchase of a Rolls Royce.

These '20s era suede riding boots were made by Bartley & Sons for the 5th Duke of Sutherland (1888 - 1963).  They come with the original boot trees for £340.

Mid-to-late 19th century Army mail bag.

1940s "Splitkein" Folding Skiis.  Splitkein or "split cane" are Norwegian skis, constructed by thin layers of wood glued together over the full lengths of the skis. They were one of the first real complex laminated skis and only invented in the late 1930’s, when the glue that was strong enough became available. £540.

Highly portable Paragon folding chairs.

Nippon binoculars circa 1950. Available for £9,800.

The Aesthetic Perfection Campaign

It's not every day that a stranger sends you a package of treasures. In a wildly generous, glorious move, reader Pam Foster was kind enough to dispatch me a little bundle of joy - catalogues that catalogue almost everything I find beautiful.  It's a treat beyond compare.  

She and her husband recently returned from the Cotswolds where they visited two of what must be the world's greatest shops - Christopher Clarke Antiques and Manfred Schotten Antiques.  Mr. Clarke specializes in campaign furniture, while Mr. Schotten likes to focus on sport. Both are equally amazing. These are some of the covers of the Christopher Clarke catalogues, including The Great Escape, a a now-passed charity sale, for which both shops teamed up to sell a bunch of items celebrating those who paid no heed to boundaries.

More to come!

(Pam -- thank you so much.  It's all just too cool!).

Betty Ditches Don for Memorial Day Picnic with New Family

Maybe if Don traded in those skinny ties for a bit more gingham, Betty Draper would be a bit more happy...  

...then again, maybe not.

(An undated "Picnic Story" from the LIFE Archive that just drips Mad Men; shot by Leonard Mccombe).

Quicker Wicker

The 1920s German Hanomag 'Korbwagen' offered speedsters a wallet-friendly alternative to the all-steel model known as the 'Kommissbrot' (which is pretty damned great looking, as well). Detroit, take note: While wicker construction may allow for unsightly things to happen to crash test tummies, it would help hybrids look exponentially more attractive - and green. 

Ebay Shopping | Motoring Picnic Basket

And for those who choose to spend Memorial Day picnicking with a lover who drives a really great old car...(with just two butter knives, you'll have to feed each other by hand - or ask that lonely hobo boy next to you if you can borrow his spoon/knife/cork screw thingy).

Bids for this old 1910s Drew & Sons (Piccadilly, London) cloth and leather motoring picnic set sit at about $225. (That flask is calling to me!)

If you're into the more traditional variety that actually still have plates and full sets of utensils, check out this batch of greatness.

Ebay Shopping | Old Hobo Knife

For the man who truly takes that "depression at the holidays" thing to heart and decides to spend his Memorial Day picnicking (and drinking) alone...under a tree or in a box car.

Bids for this useful baby from Shapleigh Hardware in St. Louis sit at $15.50.

Wheeeeee! (Continued...with a little less Wheee!)

In response to the zebra jumping post a few days back, one astute reader sent me a glorious link explaining how a few brave men dared to tame those striped beauties (and reindeer and yaks and pigs...and ostriches).  My father's family had their run with the latter:

My Great Aunt Virginia "Ginnie" taking control in Pasadena...

...her brother, my Grandpa Bill, in the midst of an even more thrilling ride.

A Cut Above | Hamilton Shirts

Hamilton, America's oldest custom shirt maker, is now offering up the world's softest shirts in their Platinum Collection with Thomas Mason, the venerable (formerly British, now Italian) fabric maker.  We're talking 2-ply yarn with an unheard of yarn count of up to 300 (yarn count is based on the length and thickness of the thread, not like the "thread count" per-inch measure associated with sheets).  You just pick your fabric from the book and then Hamilton dispatches your order off to Italy where the Thomas Mason folks cut just enough for you and send it back to Houston where all the Hamilton shirts have been made since 1883. You can go full Bespoke or opt for the slightly more simple made-to-measure.

I met with the newest generation (the fourth) of shirt-making Hamiltons at Barneys last week to see the fabrics and hear the story.  Kelly and her brother David took over the family business a couple years ago.  They never felt pressure to grow up and make shirts. "In fact, it was just the opposite," Kelly said.  David started at Lehman, ("It wasn't my fault," he said); Kelly started recruiting for oil and gas and then worked in development for the Houston Ballet.  But they eventually came back to 5700 Richmond Ave., the company's HQ for the last 31 years.

(Above: The original Hamilton Factory on Main Street near the landmark Rice Building in 1883).

   

Hamilton customers come in all forms, they said.  Simon Doonan from Barneys wears nothing else. Big Texas ranchers often order theirs Western-style. New Yorkers even order black. "In Connecticut, it's all blue and white," David said. As expected, the Southerners are more colorful. 

(Above: The pattern library)

I've gone all Connecticut and ordered a classic blue and white stripe with two buttons at the neck (for extra popping height) and an HHH monogram on the right cuff. Am practically shaking in anticipation! Given that my men's shirt collection comes from years of trawling thrift stores for old Thomas Pink, Brooks Brothers and Polo at around $3.50 a pop, this is a tremendous leap forward.

Patterns...

...storefront, early 1900s...

...a fabric assortment.

As Seen At Whole Foods...

It's horrifying when people start using decorative home objects for legitimate purposes! Ostrich Eggs (with the yolky bits), $39.99 each.

Wheeeeee!

Total perfection via Swimming Pool.