VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

The Right Touch for a Winter’s Light. I meant Night.

This time of year, I usually read passages in the Bible regarding the birth of our Lord. Concurrently, through the month of December I am also usually reading a novel that puts me in the holiday spirit. Often, it is something nostalgic like the Sherlock Holmes tales I took with me under the covers with a flashlight as a kid, or it may be something that has to do with the winter season in general. This time I am deviating and reading a book I picked up at a used book store on a recent trip. I picked up an old hardcover of the late 40s pulp “The Screaming MiMi” about a Chicago reporter unravelling a mystery about a slash killer. Some of the turns of phrase can be very quotable, and I am writing them down, or slightly cheesey, which befits the genre.

Recently, I had to retire a torchiere lamp that I had that always served as great mood lighting for winter reads, and spied one that was made by Elk Lighting that rather reminded me of a street lamp of sorts.  Maybe it would be more likely found in the Big Easy than in Chicago, perhaps. It also reminded me of the exhibit at the museum in Milwaukee that had an indoor section made to look up like old neighborhoods, complete with streetlights, stars, and a creepy lifelike lady sitting on a rocker on her porch. It was made by the same folks who made the “dioramas” behind glass of explorers that were a much more realistic than mannequins that were just accessories to dramatize the museum’s artifact collections.

Of course, it is a bit more delicate than an actual decorative streetlamp for a little downtown or touristy area, but if you are recreating the look inside a house, you would want to merely evoke it. The “real thing” may be too heavy handed or just plain too heavy!   I converted the photo to black and white just because it put me in more of a film noir mood.   This is something that might just fit the shoes of my torchiere.  I will keep you posted on what I decide!