The Scrapbook Hairdresser

One of the things we like about the location of The Automat’s office is that it’s in a neighbourhood that seems to believe pretty strongly in the whole “one man’s trash is another’s man treasure” principle. 
Interesting and unusual things are often left out for the taking, although we’re not so sure about who’s going to go for the slightly crusty purple toilet still out there waiting for a new home.

Anyway, the gem rescued this week by our best-neighbour-ever is a 40-ish year old scrapbook filled with magazine cut-outs of potential hair styles for categories like ‘young girls’, ‘teenage girls’, ‘women’, and ‘women as well as teenagers as the style is quite simple’. 

We’ve entertained ourselves by looking around at our long-time locals (of the right age to have been clients of the scrapbook hairdresser) and imagining which of these do’s they may have sported back then. 

Wife Dressing

One of our charming up-coming models just lent us an entertaining book: 1959’s “Wife Dressing”, a guide for the fine art of being a well-dressed wife. 

Written by designer Anne Fogarty (best known for using layers and layers of crinolines, and for frequently mentioning her 18" waist) we started reading expecting a whole lot of sexist, dated, un- relatable advice, funny at best and vaguely insulting at worst. There definitely is a fair amount of that…

…but Anne Fogarty also had a successful career, so along with tips about how to fulfill assorted wifely duties there’s also some pretty solid practical advice, as well as some wardrobe ideas that make 1959 sound like a whole lot more fun than it probably actually was. 

Here are a few more of the bits we enjoyed:

 

"I Would Wear That" - Album Cover edition

Buying music on vinyl has its disadvantages. Records take up a lot of space, get scratched if you leave them out, and weigh about 8 times more than you think they will when you move them.

But one of the great things about them is the album art, 

which is something we hate to see disappear as music goes digital. 

Here are a few of our favourite covers - chosen strictly by the criteria of

"I would wear that". 

Mom the Style Star

You know what’s kind of awesome? Coming across a not-forgotten-but-somewhat-misplaced box of amazing photographs of your mom, circa the 1960s.

 

Theme-wise, it would make more sense to hang onto these and post them right in time for Mother’s Day, but why wait until May when they can be enjoyed right now? 

What’s especially inspiring about these is how many of the outfits were hand-sewn,  and realizing how many of them are still in existence, whether as part of our own personal collection or stored in Mom’s cedar chest. We only wish it could be all of them...

THE AUTOMAT PARTS AND CRAFTS

We were feeling a little creative and a little garden-ish (can that now be a word?) this past weekend so we decided it was time to try out something we've been thinking about for awhile.... and the results made us pretty darn happy.

Take one cute mug from our Domestic Affairs section (more coming next week!), add one small plant that doesn't need much root space, and that's all there is to it.

The Automat Trunk Show

A big thank-you to everyone for coming and making The Automat's Trunk Show a success!

Doll-sized snacks...

...including hard-boiled quail's eggs.
(with a tiny dollop of garlic aoli)

Rainbow merchandising is our favourite.

Several people were struck down with cuteness-induced brain hemorrhages 
from this display of salt & pepper shakers.

Thanks again to our lovely and gracious host Jessica from Vicious Little Bitches
and our expert steamer and egg-peeler extraordinaire, Emily.


(psst... the next show will be in November!)

From 1917...

 

From 1914 until the end of World War I in 1918, George Brown (no relation to the Toronto college) was stationed as an ambulance attendant in France and Belgium. He relied on the postal service to send souvenirs to his family back in Canada. Birthdays, Christmases and other occasions were marked by the arrival of envelopes containing pressed flowers, delicate lace handkerchiefs, exquisite embroidery, and carefully handwritten cards, sent to children who were so young when he left they had no real recollection of who he was.

George survived the war; so did some of the mementos he sent, now passed on to us. 

It's always a pleasure to find something other than a bill in the letterbox.