Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for Lee jeans brand floppy denim hats (1975)

From Sports Illustrated 1975. This back when Kareem played for the Milwaukee Bucks. This was considered a cool look only by soon-to-be bald giants and the cast of What's Happenin'. This fresh and ultra 70s Kareem in action shot accompanied the article. The Bucks really should bring back this colorway and script print. They can hold off on the religion-revealing short shorts.

West Point cadet class sweater(1936)

Reppin' the class of '38. Goes great with jodhpurs.

questionable fad: Confederate flags (1952)

A unique conglomeration of events in American history seemed to converge in the early 1950s to spur on a the Confederate flag fad. The 100th anniversary of the Civil War was just around the corner, the differences between the South and the North became more overt as segregation began to be changed in de facto and de jure ways in the early 50s (see the Jackie Robinson story of the late 40s, as well as the birth of the Civil Rights movement around that time) and white Southerners began to resist the beginning of the end of overt and socially acceptable white priviledge, and lastly rebellious teen culture just began to creep towards the mainstream from society's fringes. There's a Master's thesis in there somewhere, but I'll just leave it there.

The point is: fads seem to come out of nowhere, but they have a social cause and ignition point. These causes and igniters tell us about our society.

Who the fuck is Mick Jagger? t-shirt (1975)

Mick Jagger leans on his stylist Pierre Laroche during their American tour in 1975. They kicked off their tour in New York City by performing "Brown Sugar" on a flatbed driven down Broadway, and their stage props included a giant phallus.

I love swimsuit season!

No one filled out a swimsuit better than Marilyn.

i hate Wings and Paul McCartney, but this photo rules (1976)

I love the Beatles, but all of their solo stuff blows except for a few solo Lennon songs. I grabbed the photo from some LiveJournal group somewhere.
Ebay seller Vintage Closet has a similar shirt for sale.

handprinted "Kilroy was here" t-shirt (1947)

"Coney Island, 1947" photo by Sid Grossman (look him up, awesome photographer!)

I was just checking out my buddy Jimmy's blog over at defunk'd which features an incredible ebay find you must see- go ahead and check it out, i'll wait- but it got me thinking about the utilitarian beauty of the handprinted t-shirt. I remembered this photo by Sid Grossman that I saw a few weeks ago. It stopped me in my tracks because I thought that handprinted t-shirts were an outgrowth of punk rather than at the very roots of nascent American teenage culture. I shall look deeper into this.

How perfect is it that this young lady took to adding the legendary post-WWII graffiti "Kilroy was here" to her t-shirt? The famous slogan is shrouded in mystery, but it somehow caught the imagination of a generation. "Kilroy was here" is akin to the modern practice of idiotically commenting "first!" to a blog entry or news story on the internet- there's no point but there's a certain thrill to getting there first and having everyone else who follows see that you have already staked claim to this turf. Supposedly, James Kilroy was a shipyard inspector in Quincy, MA, during World War II and would chalk "Kilroy was here" on every bulkhead he inspected. GIs were baffled by this ubiquitous slogan, but took to spreading this simple and mysterious image throughout the world. The joke is not so much what the phrase says, but where it would turn up. A perhaps apocryphal story claims that an outhouse was specially constructed for only the world leaders at Pottsdam. As Stalin emerged from christening the outhouse, he supposedly queried an aide, "Who is Kilroy?"

Not to be confused with:

Girl in a glass house (1942)

"This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber, Long Beach, Calif. She's one of many capable women workers in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men, and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions"

photos by Alfred T. Palmer.


I absolutely LOVE the style of all of the Rosie the Riveters. This particular photographer, Alfred T. Palmer, was especially gifted at capturing their hardworking femininity. I love how women of that era managed to be stylish and feminine while keeping the world safe for Democracy.

previous posts: Save vs Death (my other blog) "the many faces of Rosie the Riveter"
and
Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (1942)

Gayle Sayers and Billy Dee Williams on the set of "Brian's Song" (1971)

it seems that something gets in my eye every time I watch this classic.

Gayle Sayers is one of the all time greats on and off the field.

Britt Eklund and Peter Sellers- comic book dress

photo grabbed from Sugar and Spice

I'm not real big on ladies clothing, except in a rumpled pile at the end of my bed- am I right, fellas? huh huh! But I know what I like. I'm kind of breaking my own rule about focusing only on American style since Britt was born in Stockholm (another city on my must-visit list), but this photo was too good to not pass on. Ms. Eklund in her prime made anything look good.

Gentlemen, this is even more proof that if you are outrageously funny and fabulously wealthy, you get the best dames. Keep working on those prat falls. Britt and Peter were married from 1964-1968, arguably Britt's prime era of doability, those she was extremely hot in The Man with the Golden Gun, the ninth James Bond film which opened in 1974. Her later taste in dudes took a real plunge in the 70s, seeing how she dated Rod freaking Stewart, but she bounced back in the Eighties, marrying Slim Jim Phantom, drummer of the Stray Cats!

Anyway, cool dress and purse I guess, but it takes a world-class dame like Britt to do it justice!

Britt Eklund and Peter Sellers, 1964.

Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (1942)

Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (TVA) (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

Classic American propaganda and classic American vintage workwear style. This is the real deal!

Reminds me of a Woody Guthrie song- Pastures of Plenty:

Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground
From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down
Every state in the Union us migrants have been
We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win

It's always we rambled, that river and I
All along your green valley, I will work till I die
My land I'll defend with my life if it be
Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free

Girls basketball team uniforms (1910)

Flouncy skirts and sailors' scarves are hardly conducive to fastbreaks. Fortunately, this squad seems to have a deep bench since there were apparently 32 girls on the team!

Kids always look older than their years in vintage photos, no?

Mrs. Irma Lee McElroy does her part for vintage clothing fanatics (1942)

click for righteous embiggenmentry.

From the Library of Congress's Flickr collection.

"Hollem, Howard R.,, photographer.Painting the American insignia on airplane
wings is a job that Mrs. Irma Lee McElroy, a former office worker, does with
precision and patriotic zeal. Mrs. McElroy is a civil service employee at the
Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. Her husband is a flight
instructor-1942 August"

(photo details by Industrial Artifacts Review- very cool stuff there as well! )

This is as right-on as American Vintage Clothing gets! Might need to steal that "Keep Them Flying" logo for something to honor the memory of Irma and the rest of the real American dames who did their part to smash the Axis. It seems that a patch reprint is in order- if only I had unlimited resources. There are a few more photos of her, but none are nearly as charming as this one!

Maria Grygier photographed by Charles Cushman (1949)

From the Charles M. Cushman photograph collection.

I love the absolutely classic beauty and style of Ms. Grygier. Note the appendectomy (?) scar in the middle image. More girls should rock a turban with their swimwear.