I’m proud to be a part of this wonderful event and I hope you can come by!

                          

All the presentations were amazing! Check them out on Ignite Denver’s YouTube.

                          

My obsession with Theda Bara (be it healthy or not, you decide) all started with a

She was the epitomé of the “vamp” persona in cinema history. She was given her name by Hollywood, and billed as the daughter of an Eastern potentate (though her father was actually a simple tailor). Theda had a conventional upbringing and schooling. She went to New York to do a play after graduating from high school, and then she traveled to Hollywood to pursue a screen career.

Theda Bara’s fabricated screen name was an anagram for “Arab death.” She was called a “vamp” because of her absurd, vampirish personality, on and off screen. In her famous film “A Fool There Was” (1916), Theda supposedly hissed to the character who played her sweetheart: “Kiss me, you fool!” (the line actually was “Kiss me, my fool!” – which somehow is funnier). For publicity purposes Theda was often photographed with skulls and snakes, wearing beaded, fringed clothing which looks ridiculous today, but which obviously served as titillating shock value back in the 1910′s.

Most of Theda‘s vamp films were made during a mere four year period. When her contract was dropped by Fox, and her film career was essentially over, Theda tried to make it on Broadway for several years, but was not successful. The public’s tastes had changed. Vamps were out, and the innocent virgin heroines played by Mary Pickford and Marguerite Clark were in. In 1925 Theda returned to Hollywood to try and resurrect her career, but ended up playing caricatures of her former screen personality. She retired completely from films in 1927. Theda was married once, to director-writer Charles Brabin, from 1921 until her death from abdominal cancer on April 7th, 1955, in Los Angeles, California. Although her most popular films were made over 80 years ago, Theda Bara has not been forgotten by fans of silent film history, even though few of her movies have survived.

                          

I’m honored to be a part of this night and to be presenting with some amazing people. Check out the lineup:

• Erin Ek | I See London, I See France
• Joseph Labrecque | Zombies, Vampires and Babies – What You NEED to Know!!
• Tim Nicklas | Pittsburghese:  A Dialectical Primer
• Kia Ruiz | It’s Just Biology: Why We Do What We Do
• David Pennington | Totally Wasted – Why You Should Always Remember to Bring a Towel
• Kelly Tidd | Really? You’re a Writer? Really?!
• Erika Napoletano | No More Redheaded Bastard Stepchildren: The Demise of the Recessive Gene
• Tim White | Joys and Dangers of 10 Hobbies You May Not Have Tried
• Brian Timoney | The Last Secret Shame: A Cultural History of Debt
• Tim Davids | MORE tips for Surviving Bear Attacks
• Jon Rossi | My First Tattoo and What I Should Have Done
• Jennifer Duensing | How to Live on an Island
• Eric Fickes | I Wish You Weren’t So Dumb About Computers

Don’t miss out, buy your tickets now!

June 21, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Oriental Theatre
4335 West 44th Avenue
Denver, CO 80212

                          

Parks exquisite attention to detail caught the eye of Hollywood starlets such as Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Kim Novak, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth and Zsa Zsa Gabor, as well as high society and royalty from around the world.  Many of you vintage lingerie fans are familiar with the famous slip worn by Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8, which was a Park original design.  In 1948, the Los Angeles Times wrote an article on Lana Turner’s marriage to Bob Topping, mentioning that she spent at least $5,000 at Juel Park for her wedding lingerie.  This was the place to shop and be seen!

The fact that this is a family run, all woman couture lingerie company puts the cherry on top of the sundae.  Suzanne Skaff, Juel’s great niece, has made it her mission to relaunch Juel Park Lingerie, Inc.  I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her in person, but she has been kind enough to correspond with me through email, helping me date a few Juel Park tap panties and slips that I’ve found in my shopping adventures for my vintage lingerie shop.  She’s a truly remarkable woman, and her new take on the company will help Juel Park Lingerie, Inc. flourish for at least another century!

Juel Park continues to make custom orders, and now sells to exclusive departments stores.  Many of the new lines have been recreated from the original patterns, reintroducing the world to the old Hollywood glamour!  If you only buy one piece of lingerie this year, please treat yourself to a Juel Park creation, be it new or vintage…you won’t be disappointed!

Visit them at www.JuelPark.com

Like them on Facebook

Follow them on Twitter @JuelPark

                          

We hit about 5 thrift stores and both found some things for ourselves. Erin loves collecting picture frames, so she scored in every shop we went to. My rush was starting to wear thin and I was getting a little bummed that I hadn’t found any spectacular items for my store yet. We decided to get something to eat and refuel our bodies.

After treating ourselves to a huge sandwich at Schlotzsky’s, we agreed to try one more thrift store and then call it a day. As we walked into our last destination, I immediately scoped the store layout and made a beeline towards the lingerie and nightwear section.

As I prowled through the nightgowns and slips, I thought to myself “Maybe I’ll find a Lucie Ann in here somewhere”, but alas, I didn’t find anything worthy of being in my shop. I felt defeated, and it sucked! Erin popped by to show me an armful of skirts and pants that she had found, and then headed for the fitting rooms, leaving me in front of a rack full of bra’s and granny panties.

I had already skimmed through the bra’s, but I decided to look again while I waited for Erin to try on her new finds. This time, I looked at every bra and really inspected them. All of a sudden, my attention shifted to a black bra with circular stitching around what appeared to be bullet cups. I quickly took it off the hanger to look for a manufacturer label. As I unhooked the metal clasps, there it was…a 1940’s embroidered tag reading “Life by Formfit.”

My heart started racing and I’m pretty sure the bra itself formed an outer glow while the angels started singing in the background. Erin came back from the fitting rooms with half of what she had in her arms before. I showed her my new treasure with a smile of glee, frantically trying to explain to her why I was so damn happy. I was so excited that all I could do was point to the embroidered label and say “It’s old school!”

As we headed for the check out, with the bra clutched close to my heart, I concluded that this hunt turned out to be quite a “killer”. Sometimes I go home empty handed and defeated, but this was not one of those days. This was a hunt to write home about…or, at least blog about!

Here it is! See it here!

                          

Rudy was adorable, but let’s not forget Denise Huxtable, the free-spirited and ever so fashionable second eldest daughter. I would watch her intently as she came on screen, studying her outfits and fantasizing what it would be like to have her as my older sister so I could raid her closet.

Denise was totally fearless when it came to her appearance. She managed to pull together all the mismatched prints, vivid colored face paint, and oversize separates of the 80’s and still come out looking fantastic. Many of her outrageous ensembles where inspired by vintage fashions, like incorporating Victorian bustles and cummerbunds with an over-sized bohemian sweater, or a skirt suit tailored in a drop waist flapper style with layered pearls.

Here are a few vintage pieces that are “Denise Huxtable inspired” that you can find on Etsy.  Click the picture to view the listing.

1940′s Skirt Suit from LolaVintage

80′s Mini Dress from snootieseconds

20′s style lace overdress from tiddleywink

50′s crystal pleated chiffon cami from ThedaBara

Lets face it, the chick was cool…not everyone can pull off an asymmetrical jersey shirt with a top hat and circle glasses. Every girl wanted to be her, and every guy wanted to do her!  On that note, I’ll leave you with the “Happy Anniversary” clip…enjoy!

                          

Combine different color slips and wear them as a dress, or wear a babydoll camisole as a top with your favorite pair of jeans…you can even add a cute bed jacket to go over the cami!  Many of the vintage nightgowns are so intricate that they can be worn as an evening gown (with the proper slip underneath it, of course!)  Some petti-pants and half slips can be worn as bottoms with a pair of knee high boots or a pair of pumps.  The possibilities are endless. I’ve put together a few examples of some different ensembles that you can do.

You can click on each picture to view a larger version.

Leave a comment and tell me how you wear your lingerie…when, where, how it makes you feel and why. I’d love to hear from you!

                          

Would you like to have a vintage lingerie shopping spree?  Enter to win a $50 gift certificate to my Etsy shop through A Slip of a Girl‘s blog.

How do you win? It’s easy, just go to A Slip of a Girl: Win A $50 Vintage Lingerie Shopping Spree and tell her what you might buy at Theda Bara’s Vintage Lingerie Store — or if you’ll be giving the gift certificate as a gift for some other lucky-ducky!

There are 5 ways to enter, and you can enter each way daily!  This contest is open to readers of A Slip of a Girl who reside anywhere — on planet earth. *wink*

Entries must be received before December 20 (that would be midnight, central time, on December 19, 2010). Only entries as described on her blog, with means to contact, will be included in the random draw on December 20, 2010.

                          

When you hear “teddy”, you probably think of a sexy, see through, frilly (and sometimes crotchless) one piece number worn by a sexy Fredrick’s of Hollywood model. Where did the teddy come from? What’s the story behind this one-piece undergarment?

Around the turn of the century, the teddy was called an envelope chemise. An all-in-one garment, giving women a more comfortable alternative to camisoles and knickers. Most teddies from this period were made of simple materials such as cotton, and they where simply ornamented with lace and/or ribbons.

During the 1920s, the teddy was called a cami-knicker, for it combined a camisole and a pair of panties, commonly called knickers during this time period. During this era, teddies had become recognized for their visual appeal and designers were starting to design teddies to focus on their sexy visual aspect rather than just their practical role as an undergarment.

They started incorporating fancier materials, more attention to design and became more polished and refined. Silk teddies started becoming popular for their elegant look and sumptuous feel.

Women wore them underneath their dresses, and those females who served in the military wore the cami-knicker under pants during the time of World War II. For reasons unknown, the cami-knicker began to lose its popularity around the late 1940s.

In the 1980’s, people of both sexes became interested in stylish undergarments that reflected those worn by celebrities in advertisements and on television. After a significant decline in popularity over the previous few decades, the teddy came back into vogue again with new styles, materials and colors.

The teddy no longer used the baggy silhouette popular up through the art deco period. Instead, standard teddies from this period used fitted cuts that hugged the figure. Teddies with upper leg coverage were no longer standard, though some teddies from this period included extra coverage for the upper leg through skirt-like additions to the bottom of the garment, and other teddies were essentially a camisole/tap pants combination that included leggings.

Instead of using cotton and silk as the main material like teddies from earlier decades, teddies in the 1980’s used spandex as their main material. Spandex provided a durable material with many different textures and colors for designers to create new styles from. It also provided a noticeable level of support and body shaping on its own, to further increase the wearer’s appearance and appeal.

Well, there you have it!  Be sure to check out the teddies, cami-knickers and envelope chemises in my shop, and thanks so much for dropping by my blog!