The Hawke Flys & Giveaway Time!

This could be yours... how exciting!

It has been so fun getting ready to launch the store, I have thoroughly enjoyed hawking special items & looking for images and inspiration for your perusal!  I am currently photographing, prepping mannequins, writing to do lists, measuring party dresses & working with a talented Web Wizard in anticipation of LAUNCH TIME!  Yippee!!  Keep checking back for further updates... 

In the mean time I am going to do a giveaway just in time for Christmas of a rather beautiful little vintage faux pearl necklace & hat pin, pictured above.  I will also be doing a Men's giveaway so keep an eye out.  This giveaway is open to anyone in the World and the winner will be drawn on Friday 17th December 2010.  All you have to do is either leave a comment with your email address or email me at vintage.hawke@gmail.com so I can get in touch if you win.. best of luck!

The Era of Dance and Deco - 1930's

With all the doom and gloom which preceded the 1930's, the dancing just got bolder and better.  The Samba, Congo and Rumba were added on to a highly sophisticated repetoire of The Lindy Hop, The Charleston, and The Big Apple; and with it came a golden age of music!  Films were strongly influencing fashion and women were experimenting with bold shoulders, nipped waists, mens style tailoring & slinky bias cut gowns.  It was an era which idealised the individual, and to me the true beginning of a mix and match style. 

Face of The 30's Jean Harlow

Marlene Dietrich

Visually Vintage

Queen Alexandra (1890) with the fringe & choker she made fashionable

A lovely lady who I had the pleasure of working with brought in an amazing book to share a few months ago entitled 20th Century Fashion written by Ernestine Carter, a former editor of Harper's Bazaar magazine and tour de force as a writer of the history of fashion. What a treat it was! 

Sarah Bernhardt wearing a pre cursor of the tea gown, 1876

It was laid out in a kind of scrapbook style, brimming full of images and outfits of bygone times with a concise overview of different eras;  from 1876 to the 1980's. 

I whipped down to the nerest photocopier and got as many copies of the pages as time would allow to share with you, and I will continue to post snippets of it over the next wee while, so keep checking back! 

Today begins with a few pre 1900 images, when Kings and Queens were the trend setters.  There was a correct outfit for every hour and every activity; with luxury and elaboration being the order of the day. I hope you enjoy!

Pretty as a Picture

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers

Brassieres, Buys & Design

A fine example of the long standing obsession at Hawke Headquarters  

November has been a month filled with planning and fun projects in the world of Hawke.  Isn't this month just flying by?  I have purchased some great Menswear over the last month for The Big Band, as well as some stunning vintage furs for The Soiree collection which I will preview soon.   It will be worth the wait for vintagehawke.com to be up and running ready for your perusal; that's a promise!

Getting ready for the fur shoot!

In other news I have been collaborating on a project with my friend Sarah,  a talented seamstress and owner of Wellington based clothing label Pulka.  We have been designing & creating a vintage inspired 5 outfit lingerie collection in the hope of having it ready to present at a fashion show in a few weeks time.  It has been such a treat to actually put to use the bank of terms and details you come across as a vintage lingerie enthusiast.  Excitement all round! 

Killer Vintage - Hollywood Vassarette

As an Interior Designer by training, it has been a learning curve for me to get my head around the construction and making of bras & knickers, but it has been the best challenge ever & I hope to brush up on my sewing skills with some night classes in the near future.  We loved the idea of using vintage and recycled materials to create our pieces, and I can't wait to show you what we dreamed up.  In the mean time here are some beautiful authentic lingerie images I have stumbled across on the internet.   

Below is an image of a 500 piece vintage collection someone was selling; it was just incredible & I can't even begin to imagine how amazing it would be in real life.  Nothing beats the originator authentic real deal when it comes to pretty much anything right? Apart from Home Alone perhaps; when number 2, Lost In New York topped number 1  :)    

A snippet of the instant jaw drop / 500 strong vintage lingerie collection

The Decade of The Daguerrotype

Daguerrotypes were the first form of photography as we know it today, they have such a special and historic quality like everything from the 18th century has; complex and articulate in a very manual way.  The process to create a daguerrotype was long and arduous, and was superceded by more accessible and cost effective methods within 10 years of its discovery.  They were typically small and beautifully framed; the subjects often nonchalant and expressionless, leaving so many questions asked about who they really were...

The first photo of Abraham Lincoln (above) was a daguerrotype

Pretty as a Picture

Another Vintage Dior Dream

Mischevious Mick

 

 Mick Jagger in his retro bests -  have a look at that tie! 

Silent Film Siren - Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore (1899-1988) is one of my all time favourite silent film stars.  She had one blue eye and one brown and had to pass a "test" to ensure it would not be a distraction in films! 

Miss Moore had a fascination with dollhouses, and in 1928 her position as a very popular actress enabled her to build a doll house of amazing proportions with the help of her dad and set designer Horace Jackson.   It is now on display in Chicago.  What a fun project that must have been! 

Interior photos of Colleen Moore's Dollhouse

Dear Gentlemen - Meticulous Movember

Here are some antique and vintage predecessors of the humble mo for Movember.  It is a facial characteristic which can really make you look like you just stepped out of a time machine right?  Especially a full blown handlebar or Daliesque distinguished points!

A friend has a little moustache tattooed on the inside of one of his fingers which he can hold up to above his lip for mo on demand moments, the best Movember party trick around surely! 

Hello Again From Hawke

Taxidermed Hawke with an e Herbie

I am so very apologetic for a lack of information and inspiration of all things vintage as of late;  It will be made up for with an eclectic mix of adventurous tales & beautiful vintage themed treats which will be regularly updated over the coming weeks, as well as a giveaway! 

Another month has flown by and busy bee things have been happening in anticipation of finally being able to share what Vintage Hawke is all about. I simply cannot wait to offer you The Soiree and The Big Band collections, and share a love of vintage clothing with you which is special and unique from another era.  I have been carefully selecting pieces for the store which will integrate into a modern wardrobe, yet have that special charm about them which can only come from vintage....

Keep checking back as launch time approaches! 

Fur Is Always Appropriate...

Vintage Dior Ad

Vinspiration - Mae West

Salvador Dali's Mae West Lips Sofa (1937)

Mae West (1893-1980)  was a comedienne, actress and writer who was at the extreme end of controversial for her time.  Salvador Dali named one of his sofa creations after her lips, she must have been just as unconventional as him in her own way. Here is a poem that she wrote aged 15 called Cave Girl found a couple of months ago.  She realised how awesome animals are, how friendly...

I got my smile from the sunshine.

I got my tears from the rain.

I learned to dance when I saw a tiger prance.

And a peacock taught me to be vain.

A little owl in a tree so high,

He taught me how to wink my eye.

I learned to bill and coo from a turtle dove.

And a grizzly bear taught me how to hug.

But the guy who lived two caves from me,

He taught me how to love.

Copious Carnage - Luisa Casati

Luisa Marchesa Casati (1881-1957) was an eccentric Italian muse and patroness of the arts who was a living work of art herself.  She once went to the ballet with live snakes wrapped around her neck and leashed cheetahs at her side.  Imagine how much of an outrageous spectacle that must have been! 

Crabby Cats for Kicks

Taxidermy for Tuesday

Martha Maxwell, Taxidermist Pioneer 

One of the founders of the taxidermy movement was an American woman named Martha Maxwell.  In a strange and exciting twist which will make animal rights activists pleasantly surprised, she was a vegetarian!

 

Victorian kangaroo taxidermy ready for the boxing ring Pow

The Ones That Got Away

As someone who purchases things from the internet, and if you do too, over the years a lengthy list accumulates of the one that got away items right? The ones which are on the wish list then on the wish it was won/bought but some way, some how it was missed out on.  All of the ones on my list tend to be from the Victorian era, 20's, 30's 40's or 50's so are pretty much one offs unfortunately.  I hope the girls who have these love them to bits! Or if they don't,  that they sell them again! Here is a list in images of some of the ones which got away...

Detail of the Past - Battenburg Lace

I was perusing the interweb last week, and came across this entirely handmade Victorian battenburg lace bodice.  Battenburg is a tape lace. Loops of even-width, woven tape are formed, and then decorative filling stitches called bars or brides are used to join the tape edges, filling the gaps. 

Battenburg lace was first created when Queen Victoria of England named her son-in-law as the first Duke of Battenburg in the late 1800s. Every English Duke had his own lace pattern, how special is that?  This is supposed to be one of the easier laces as its open weave makes it less technical, but this is most certainly a bodice which looks anything but simple!

History of the Hawke II

Not as long ago as hawking has been practiced but still a lengthy enough time, a lovely Hawk has roamed the skies of New Zealand, and after his passing soared permanently in schools, garages and abodes. May I present to you the bird who started the idea of the name of my store, taxidermed hawke with an e named Herbie...

Herbie in a previous life was used at a school for display, then hung for years in a garage! The person I bought him from was very sad to see Herbie go, but knew he needed to be appreciated for all his detail and brilliance. He now resides above my wardrobe with his beautiful wings outstretched.