VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

Movie Pick Up Lines – Hit or Miss in Real Life?

Casablanca is known as the “Best Bad Movie” in history.   It is a classic, beloved film, but has many melodramtic elements that otherwise also classify it as a “bad movie.”   When you see Casablanca for the first time, especially for someone who is not a student of film, or is not accustomed to viewing the older films, it can seem a little bit cliche.   Actually, it was far from it at the time, but the reason it “feels” that way is that every other line has been borrowed, parodied, copied, co-opted or stolen from everyone from Bugs Bunny to Karen Allen in Raiders of The Lost Arc (“Here’s lookin’ at you..”   ”Here’s Mud in Your Eye.”)

It brought to mind some other movie “pick up lines.”   Some of them just wouldn’t cut it today, or would they?

Mae West:
“Come up and see me sometime.”
(She actually never said this).

Princess Leia:
“He’s my brother.”

(Han Solo thinks: Yippee, Luke’s out of the picture and Han Solo and Princess Leia kiss.   This would be a very relevant line to use for the Jerry Springer crowd, the only group of folks where sibling status may be nebulous and may need to be spelled out.)

George McFly:
“My density has brought me too you. I mean…my destiny”

Some gals may think nervousness is endearing.

The Fly:

Help me! Help meeeeeeeee!”

(Some ladies and gentlemen prefer a damsel in distress or a man that they feel sorry for “and needs to be fixed”)

Some things just sound a whole lot better on paper.   You can try out your own “lines” and some of the classics to see how they work at the Extreme Style by VO5 Ultimate Flirting Championship through this handy dandy little window. I fell a little flat, but why don’t you try your luck? (Anyone who thinks about ‘The Fly’ when ‘Flirting’ is mentioned had it coming)

Buying Z. Cavaricci

This site has received more comments, and I have received more mail over one subject leaps and bounds over any other   .

Last October, I wrote about Cavaricci pants of the 80s and early 90s.  It was a little tongue in cheek, I will admit.   I just had no idea the following the pants had, nor how fond a very alrge number of people are of them.  It definitely has been an education over the past ten months of hearing from you, my faithful readers.

Many questions were asked about where people could buy the clothes, and I replied that it was really hit or miss.   I have compiled a list of Cavaricci currently around the internet.

Z. Cavaricci shirt offered on ebay by Christina Joy Boutique.  It is  a size small,and is available for immediate purchase in the ebay store.  Price is $35.00 or best offer.  Remember your manners.  ”Best Offer” doesn’t mean 5% of asking price.

Check it out HERE

Alohalowrider has a pair of 34″ waist Cavaricci pants (not pictured).  Unfortunately, they are not in the mint condition that some of you seek.  The pants are wrinkled (an easy fix) but they also may have small stains here and there.  So buy them for nostalgia or to kick around, but not “night out” pants, but perhaps with a cleaning you may uncover a gem!  Auction is ending in 3 days.   There is $25.00 Buy It Now or a $15.00 starting bid.   They may not be a bad price if you are looking to try them on for the memories.

There is a pair in better condition over at Trocadero, offered by seller Matinee New York.  The waist is listed at 33″ and the price is $100 plus shipping.  Condition is Very Good to Excellent.  Checkwith the seller for more clarification.   (Pants pictured below).   If I see anything else, I will let you know.   Or, if you have anything up on a website, write in.    There are individuals who are eager to capture their late 80s and early 90s fashion memories.

Mucho Fantastic!

When the first “shop at home” channels came out, they reminded me of a cross between a PBS pledge drive and a scene out of Fahrenheit 451. I really should say a “chapter,” not a scene, as I am referring to the Bradbury classic and not a movie version that I have never seen anyhow. The characters were so sucked into the entertainment on the screen that their brains were just mush.

Lately, I have been sucked in to watching “The Knife Show.” I don’t think that is the real name of it, but why would anyone want a set of 100 decorative knives, and a matching samurai sword? They are going about roping in the male demographic entirely. They should put Muchos Fantastic in a few timeslot, and I guarantee guys would flock over from Spike Tv and Cartoon Network.

Why Vintage? Reason #2

A frustrated teen wrote to Dear Abby and  speaks about her neighbor that gives her old clothing. Abby educates her about vintage. Imagine that!

Dear Abby: I go to church with a woman who is generous and means well, but she likes to give away her old hand-me-down clothing. Recently she gave me two old dresses that fit me, but I wouldn’t be caught dead in. I’m 15, and she doesn’t understand that.

I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so when she asked if they fit and if I liked them, I told her they did and they were pretty.

My mom is planning to donate the dresses to charity. But now the woman is saying she wants to give me more of her old dresses. I don’t know how to handle this. — Secondhand Teen

Click here and scroll down to see what Abby advuses for the “Secondhand Teen”!

Maybe the Secondhand Teen would stumble across our prior article: “Why Vintage. Reason #1: Originality”

We attended a party where the attire was semi-formal and three ladies showed up wearing the exact same dress! Luckily they had a good sense of humor about it. There was only really one or two stores to go to for formal dresses and they both evidentally lived near the same one.

And that also brings us to Reason #2: Vintage is Environmentally Friendly.

When you purchase a piece of vintage clothing or are gifted it from a relative, you are doing your part to recycle. It is giving an additional and new life to an item once, twice, three times or more.

Choosing vintage keeps the items out of the landfills. Some vintage is made of more natural or sustainable materials such as cotton and wool. However, over the years many synthetics were invented that have fallen out of favor due to taste, safety in manufacturing, or the invention of something better. Many won’t possibly decompose in the next few hundred years.

Also, by taking a piece of clothing that is languishing in the cellar, you are preventing it from falling prey to mold and creating a biohazard. In that case, it may not be able to be salvaged or can create medical issues.

Rock me, Amadeus

There are a few kids in the neighborhood, and I have noticed something missing as they walk back and forth from the bus stop.  When I was in school (not all that long ago), there were always a couple kids, including myself, toting a hardsided black or a leatherette case with them.    Yeah, I was one of those kids who got out of half of gym class because I was in ochestra. The next year, I switched to band.  I didn’t get to cut class, because lots of kids were in band.   My decision was mostly made by the conductor of the orchestra who told me that I stunk, but said it far more politely. Her loss, as I was second chair trumpet/cornet in the band after a few months.

The school district was not particularly wealthy, nor were my parents.   I got my trumpet by trading in my cousin’s old, beaten viola that she decided I could use as a downpayment.   Even beaten up, it had a higher value so the trumpet wasn’t that much on a monthly payment plan.    Some kids rented their instruments from the school, or borrowed.

It just seems to me that fewer and fewer schools around here are making at least trying out an instrument a rite of passage.  Studies have shown that kids who are introduced to sheet music, and syncopation have a better time grasping math, not to mention the social skills developed from collaborating.

I hope parents consider choosing music, even if they do it in their own home. There are groups like the Amadeus Home Music School that have a stable of good teachers that will teach your child one on one at their pace. Piano, drums, mandolin….most instruments that you can think of are represented.

We may have long graduated from band class, but my cousins and I still get together once in a blue moon and jam. One of my cousins is very serious and precise about what we play, but mostly we just goof around and have a lot of laughs and fun memories with our motley assortment of drums, guitars (3 people want to play lead!), a trumpet, and a casio keyboard. I am so glad we learned.

93 Days Until Black Friday

As a kid, I enjoyed going to the mall after Thanksgiving and seeing all the Christmas decorations. When I was twenty, I worked at a mall and was a little unsettled that the lights seemed to go up earlier and earlier. One mall put them up the day after Halloween!

I remember the infamous Black Friday of 1995. I was innocently working at an upscale shop when I noticed my very pregnant customer holding her back and making a face. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied:

“I’m in labor. That’s okay though. This is my third. I have twelve hours to wait so I might as well shop!” She called to her two unruly children, “If you be good, we’ll go get an ice cream!” between contractions.

Of course, as you can imagine I had mixed feelings of panic, wondering if she would have her baby somewhere in the window display of our store, and half sort of in awe of her perseverance

It’s only August, but some folks are already thinking about Christmas shopping. Yes, it is completely true. Blackfriday always is more associated as an unofficial holiday for women, but plenty of men are guilty of being sucked in to the mayhem.    Normally, many men would go out a few days before and wrap their presents in brown paper bags, but when “feats of strength” are even hinted at, retailers have men at “hello.”

First, there is the endurance test.   Show up at 3:00 A.M.  If you are among the first in line, you can buy a brand new television set for only a buck.    What they don’t tell you is that there are only two, and the rest are priced at double.  It requires a pre-opening wrestling match to determine who is the fittest.

You can navigate this all like an adventure hero with a little site called BlackFridayScans.com, and it has every “Day after Thanksgiving” circular before it even hits your newspaper. Of course, they are not up YET, but you can sign up for email alerts for the moment they are.

A Brief on Briefs

Excuse us for bringing up a delicate subject for a moment..Why exactly do men buy vintage underthings? It seems to be a growing trend. Being sticklers for every historical detail? For a certain thrill? Neither….Read on!Wearing vintage briefs certainly won’t matter for reenactors. Afterall, you do not have x-ray vision to find out if the gent at a 20s style Gatsby picnic is wearing historically accurate underthings and in most cases, wearing them or wearing something freshly store bought would not impact the outward look of a garment. Men’s underthings do not have quite the history that ladies underthings do, which are meant to support and shape the body depending on figure type but more so the fashionable tastes and social morals of the day. (Of course also, there were times in history of course that while the proper lady wore layers of undergarments, the gents wore none!)When perusing the internet, and hearing from wearers of vintage underthings and other vintage clothing merchants alike, we found that a certain fetishist aspect was also not the reason for the interest like we half expected. Afterall, the underwear preferred is usually left over stock from a store that closed years ago.The big, mysterious reason that men buy vintage underwear is…They don’t make ‘em like they used to. You heard us right!There are several reasons they aren’t “made like they are used to” and one has to do with homogenization of sizing and the other has to do with features. The features that men may find in years past, even as late as the 70s and 80s are as follows:Fit. Boxer shorts especially are made in Small, medium, and large, and it is leaning that way with regular briefs too. It does save money for manufacturers’ bottom line because everyone is forced to pick something. They don’t have produce signage for sizes that don’t sell through as quickly and they have fewer templates required to cut from, also decreasing the chance of irregulars. One size does not fit all, and just as women have fitting problems when they are expected to fit into one of 3 or 4 sizes, men have similar, even if less obvious issues. I am sure everyone has experienced, male or female, when one size was too small and the next size up was too big!

Snaps front styling. One found a snap front feature in different styles of briefs rather than full elastic. This allowed for easy dressing, especially for those with special considerations such as mobility issues, freedom from irritation that some men experience with elastic waistbands or even perhaps allergies to synthetic fabrices.

Quality of fabric. The content of the cotton used and the grade of fabric, and the fact that items were not blended with synthetic some men find more comfortable, and some find to last longer through multiple washings.

Kangaroo Pouch. There, I have said it. Munsungwear, I believe, actually coined the term. Instead of just a slit in the front, older styles actually had a complete seperate area in the front, to speak politely. It allowed for a better overall fit because the leg holes were not encumbered by the excess of material needed in the front, and allowed further wearing ease with certain types of garments.

Leg Bands. Many times the leg area was fully formed, not just an afterthought, and the leg bands could be elastic on regular briefs.

Gussetting. The seams and crotch area were lined, unlike some modern versions.

We are not intending this to be the “last word” as it is a vast subject and there could be a whole book I am sure devoted, nor are we out to “convert” anyone to wearing vintage underwear. We hope to have explained a little more about what makes vintage men’s underthings buyers tick, so you will know what it is all about should you run acrossed an ad for some, and not think it is anything strange, or more so think that folks need to get a life and stroll down to their local store and get what everyone else is wearing with no complaints. Of course, you can still think that way, but at least you know to use the old phrase “there is a method to their madness.”

Labor Chic

What’s plaid, involves knit caps in the summer, requires black workboots and carhart pants?

It’s not grunge, or so they say.  It’s “Labor Chic.”

While the ensemble does not include outgrown hair, an “I don’t care” beard, and we cannot assess aroma/B.O. from a photo, they are not fooling me at all.   This looks suspiciously like  someone has run out of ideas and is already recycling the look of my college days and trying to repackage it back to me. The difference, they claim, is that army surplus is out and surplus from the local railroad workers union is in.  Details magazine claims that we are going to like Schlitz.

My questions is: it is one thing to “mix in” elements of work clothing, or don your Pendelton 49′er, but if you walk into a club in “The Loop”, won’t someone think the owners called for a metro dallas slab leak repair company when you waltz in?  All the while, the actual skilled trademen would be sitting back in their “going out” clothes and wonder what they heck you are doing?

If you are looking for a skilled tradeperson or repair company, you can go to clicksmart, where there is a directory or reputable companies. If you just look around, now that the fashion is moving towards work clothes again, you may sorely disappointed to ask an investment banker or a college kid who is passing by on the assumption that their clothes indicate that they know what you are doing, and your foundation repairs will be in capable hands.

If you are truly looking to just copy the fashion style of a more capable person yourself, the latest fashion magazines will have the latest on what you need to look like someone who works a little bit harder than you for a living.

Wife Dressing

Looking back through the archives, I stumbled across a Wall Street Journal Article. In it, Tom Ford tells men to not have their wives dress them. He says “in doing that they are denying their ability to express themselves through clothes.”

There has been a long tradition of women buying or selecting clothing for their husbands. Perhaps it is because women traditionally did more shopping than men and it was a matter of convenience.

There is also a lot of press about the “woman’s touch.” In numerous films and television shows, an old run down house or a bachelor pad is the back drop and a character comments that it “could use a woman’s touch.”

There is also truth to the fact it is true that sometimes the picture in one’s head of the effect one has in a selected outfit is not always the reality. One may hang on to a comfortable hair style and “5 lbs ago” pants a little too long and could use the validation of a trusted peer rather than people walking down the street pointing and whispering.

So, do you think Tom Ford is correct, that men should prevent their wives from selecting wardrobe items, or do you think he has it all wrong and wives save their husbands from embarrassment on a daily basis?

HairCut Saves Woman From Bad Relationship

In the old days, maybe a guy would come bring a gal the head of a dragon to win her heart, but nowdays guys don’t go that far out of their way. It is just too much work.  Boy, maybe things should go back to that because there are sure a bunch of guys who make themselves look like screwballs.

This is the story of how the wrong haircut saved the VintageGent-ette from a miserable relationship.

The VintageGent-ette went on a blind date once.  Her friend met a guy in line at a store (in the south, they call that “standing online,” but they met face to face so I didn’t want to confuse you), and thought that they would be a cute couple.  She went to the restaurant with her friend and waited at the bar, but the dude never showed.  His family actually owned the place, and later he called V-Gette’s girlfriend to tell her he was embarrassed because he was pulled into working and couldn’t come out.   Later on he told V -Gette’s pal that he thought VG was ugly.

Then, a week later he begged for a date!  As strictly a favor to her friend, V-Gette showed up and so did the dude, but he didn’t tell her that he cut his collar length hair, and that he was wearing a jacket and tie (which V-Gette prefers cleancut guys anyways).   She was looking for a guy with collar/shoulder length hair and a black button down shirt whom she was told to look for.   Needless to say, they didn’t ever meet.  The dude thought that she didn’t like what she saw and didn’t come over.   V-Gette’s friend called later and verbally slapped him for throwing a curveball.

He begged for one more chance.  I don’t know why.     V-Gette said no, but one day they went to the same club/restaurant, the two gals, just to listen to some jazz.   The dude showed up and bumped into V-Gette – literally – and then walked up to some drunk lady and started kissing her.   His intent was to make V-Gette jealous for not accepting another blind date, and to somewhat think that V-Gette would want him to kiss her next.

V-Gette thought he was an idiot.  And no, she wasn’t jealous.  She was happy that a spontaneous haircut on the dude’s part saved her from a miserable meetup.

Anyway, a word to the wise.  There were two crucially bad pick-up/dating mistakes here.

1) DO: Girlfriends talk.  It is good to let the girl who set up the meeting know you are interested in getting to know her friend better.  She is the gatekepper.  DON’T: Tell the friend she is ugly.  Women do not see that as a challenge to prove you wrong.  They will not explain to you that you couldn’t possibly know from the other side of the restaurant.  They will not appreciate your ability to “tell it like it is.”  They will just think you are a jerk.

2) DO: Let the lady see you acting gracious to others.  A man that is willing to open a door for a lady entering a room at the same time, even though he does not know her, is being a gentleman.  It shows her you are not just being nice to her artificially.  DON’T: Kiss another lady.  Do not play tonsil hockey.    It is just as bad as telling a woman you are married in hopes it would prove to her you are capable of making a commitment.  Ladies assume you are physically able to kiss someone, and don’t need you to prove it when they are deciding to give a man the “green light” to meet them. It proves you have no manners and no self control.

Where are the manners?

A better approach would have been just to come up to V-Gette and lay some cheesey pickup line.  If its obscene, he would have gotten nowhere, but if it was clever, maybe he would have gotten a laugh and at least broken the ice.

My all time favorite “Bad Pickup Line:”

Hi, I’m Ken, You Must be Barbie!
(Of course this can be reversed for the ladies).

V05′s Ultimate Flirting Championship is On (brought to you by Extreme Style by VO5!) If healthy, bouncy Victory Hair is the key to attracting a mate, a line like that will certainly offset it. It may be dumb, but at least you won’t be hit with anything for saying it. Well, some people say Victory Hair is actually messed up hair because the guy wins the heart of the girl, they kiss, and someone’s hair gets pretty messed up in the process. Or someone’s fingers get stuck! Just like in some college movie where people get locked in the closet together. Aww…misguided youth!

Test your flirting skills now and join the challenge!   If you are really serious, don’t go for a radical haircut right before a date, like that dude did.   V-Gette could have had the satisfaction of straightening him out!

Why Vintage? Reason #1

Why Vintage? Reason #1: Originality.

We live in an area that had recently experienced a housing boom. Many new folks are moving to the area. Previously, the locale had been pretty isolated considering that no major highway came through, and there aren’t too many department stores around, especially if you are a busy person who doesn’t have time to take a day trip to the city. We attended a party where the attire was semi-formal and three ladies showed up wearing the exact same dress! Luckily they had a good sense of humor about it. There was only really one or two stores to go to for formal dresses and they both evidentally lived near the same one.

For guys, there usually isn’t such a dilemma. It doesn’t really seem to matter if 12 guys are wearing the same black suit or tux. In fact sometimes it is a badge of honor. It is sometimes difficult to tell and seldom noticed as it is a bit more of a “uniform” way of dressing formally. However, the same phenomena does exist. Often, men will show up wearing the exact same necktie. Now that can be embarrassing. A tie nowadays is the way to express your individuality, style, and it is what folks notice most about your dressing. A great tie can either disappear into the whole ensemble and cause folks to notice you, not you walking behind a tie, or it can be loud and crazy. But having the exact same tie as someone else can either reveal your shared good taste or reveal private things that you may not necessarily want someone else to know – like the price you paid.

Today’s reason for wearing vintage is uniqueness, and there is a very small chance that someone will show up to the office or to a party wearing the same exact items as you are. Be in style, but refuse to be an exact copy of what everyone else is wearing: Wear vintage!

Uta Would have Frowned

If you have ever watched television in your lifetime, you have probably noticed that hard liquor is just not something you see much of being peddled in commercials.   That is because for the past fifty years, makers of hard liquor have operated under a self imposed ban of advertising on tv.   Then, there were actual rules put in place that someone cannot be shown in a commercial actually drinking wine or a beer.  They can have it on the table to advertise it, but no one takes a sip.

In the movies, there were codes in place after the 1930s which regulated the portrayal of smoking and drinking.  When the codes were lifted, smoking returned in fits and spurts.  What I think that the old studio heads would roll over in their graves about are the goings on in films today.   The film Pineapple Express not only discusses or implies drug use, but portrays it.  Unlike many movies portraying addicts who “pretend” with baking soda, sugar, and other props, the actors in the movie are actually smoking. (?)

Okay, there is a technicality here.  What they are smoking are scientifically altered hybrids from International Oddities. So TECHNICALLY they are legal as they are not the actual plants that are banned. Seth Rogan had mentioned it was used in every scene.

I subscribed to the Uta Hagen school and got “drunk” on stage drinking apple juice and flat ginger ale. There was also a famous encounter between Sir Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman had stayed up all night in order to appear he had stayed up all night for the film “Marathon Man.” I do not want to hack up the words of Olivier, so will paraphrase that he mentioned to Hoffman that they used to “just act” in his day.

As a Stanislavski, method trained actor, I wag my finger at this. Perhaps this is a stalemate. They have the world on the technicality that its not scientifically real, and they have me on the technicality that it technically ISN’T anything illegal and may smell slightly different, so they TECHNICALLY are acting.

I would like to see them use sliced carrots and let’s see them use their acting muscles. Touche’

Always on a Monday

Quotes from the Archives:

Harriet, of TastyVintage presented the following quotation from “The Art of Window Dressing” on the public forum at Vintagefashionguild.org that we found rather interesting…

“A certain draper in a large provincial town had for very many years alays changed the neckwear window on Mondays, and it was not until recently that, on account of his window dresser being called away, he had occasion to leave his display in over Monday.

He then discovered that he sold more better-class neckwear on that particular Monday than of any other day of the display. Monday is now the best day for neckwear, and the window display is never changed that day.” Have mondays been “mondays” throughout time and they could use a new accessory to lift their mood, just like it is said more stereotypically of women? Are men more “refreshed” on mondays? Were more men “in town” on mondays reporting to the office before the rest of the week took them away to meetings uptown or in another city? What are your opinions?You may not live near a place like that, but do you find yourself in a buying mood out of necessity or fancy any particular time than others? I think it would be an interesting discussion.

A Little Bit Sunk

You know what Grandpa did when Grandma went into the hospital to deliver your Aunt Sally?  What about when Grandpa knocked himself in the head at the mallet factory?  The answer to both: They paid the bill.   Nowadays, we are all so maxed out on everything that the emergency response is to put something on the credit card.   Even though Grandma and Grandpa weren’t rich, they probably didn’t have a credit card, so they could only spend what they had.   That was the old fashioned way.   The downside was that when they were down on their luck, they couldn’t “charge” groceries, but the upside is that their income was used for necessities in a higher percentage and they just didn’t need the same kind of Debt relief.

I thought I had a pretty good idea about how to manage myself until I took the quiz at Bills IQ and boy was I in for a surprise.  I practically flunked!  Okay, I didn’t, but I came from a family that didn’t accept “D’s” from me. If someone did a poster advertising Debt consolidation, I would apparently be on it. I am not maxed out any worse than anyone else, but surely the old fashioned values and sensibility about money I thought I had just isn’t there. Because of some medical setbacks, we lived off of credit cards for awhile when we should have been scaling back our lifestyle.  Of course, I could have sold off the vintage collection instead but always thought the situation was temporary. If anyone out there thinks that their retirement fund is in their closet, they should be very sure about researching what they have bought or are buying.

My grandparents had big plans of raising a family and seeing them through school if they chose to go on to college.  They all either went to trade school or college.   It is sad that my big plans involve paying down some debts.   What a different life. I can see now, that if I decide to start a new project, or adopt a kid someday, I am going to have to get some serious Debt help.

I am going to go get the violin out now.  Actually, I am going to get out the keyboard that has the violin setting on it and go have myself a pity party while I sort this out.  The BillsIQ Quiz actually gave me a few helpful suggestions that I am going to try a lot harder on.   I am proud for renegotiating a credit card rate, but I just have let other expenses get away from me.  Take the Quiz and see if you beat me!

Shrunk Trunks – Jantzens sell for $77

Yesterday, I uncovered a disturbing footnote in swimwear history. I fully intended to surprise you all with actually finding the ghastly “wrap front” swim trunks online (the term “trunks” used very loosely here). Alas, I am not surprised that I came up empty.

One item of note is that these Jantzen Swim Trunks were recently sold on Ebay to the tune of $77.00. They are very similar in “coverage” but infinitely apropriate for the man who is going to the beach or the pool to actually SWIM, albeit a bit more modest then what some Olympic divers wear for the aerodynamic qualities.     Michael Phelps doesn’t mess around with boarder shorts, afterall.