i spy: a grand hotel and an alpine Gasthaus, women in amazing coats, and a dreamboat in a hamster suit

Thanks to the release of Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, I was in an even more mitteleuropäisch state of mind than usual last month.  (I really loved the film, needless to say.  It's probably my favorite Wes Anderson film to date, and I'm a big fan of his.)  So Alpine scenes, grand hotels, and certain actors have been popping up frequently on my Pinterest and Tumblr.  But I realize this is a vintage blog, so you'll be happy to know I also spotted some great fashion and fashion-related images last month, possibly rekindled my interest in The Sartorialist, and discovered a great new online collection at the Cooper-Hewitt.

Prost! 

clockwise, starting at upper left:

*Mendl's Bakery in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel 

*Sertiweg by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1926 | WikiPaintings

*Christoph Waltz playing the hamster equivalent of Salieri in the sublimely silly Jimmy Kimmel mini-film, Ameowadeus | watch it here

*Hungarian actor S.Z. Sakall on the set of Casablanca (1942). | A Certain Cinema

*Berggasthaus Aescher-Wildkirchli, a restaurant and hotel tucked into the side of the Swiss Alps. | photo by Rowena Waack

*a woman in Paris wearing a coat that looks like it's made from couch upholstery...but I love it! | Street Style Aesthetic

*woman wearing Prada in Paris. | The Sartorialist (I'd stopped looking at The Sartorialist awhile back because I just wasn't much inspired by the fashions he photographed.  This photo has me reconsidering that!)

*Christian Berard illustration on the cover of the November 1936 French Vogue | via

*18th century sales sample book of buttons | Cooper-Hewitt (check out their online collections...I could get lost there for hours)

*"Fitting shoes" photo by Lisa Larsen taken at Capezio Theatrical Shoes, New York, ca 1947, for Liberty Magazine. | Picture of the Year International archive

xo

K

i spy: modern interiors, ancient exteriors, and gals with guns and books

I have to laugh every time I look at that New Era ad, below.  The non-models in coats in the found photo above the New Era ad are really selling their chic looks better, I think.

Also, can I have Anita Loos' dress, shoes, and haircut, please?  

More inspiration can be seen on my Tumblr and Pinterest.

1 / Alfred Hendrickx S3 chairs, Sabena Airlines first class lounge, Brussels, 1958 / via

2 / Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinberg), interior lobby of the Palace of Youth / via

3 / Found photo of three chic ladies in amazing coat / lonny58 on Flickr

4 / hilarious 1954 New Era blouse ad / My Vintage Vogue

5 / vintage night shot of Canal Street in New Orleans / NatGeoFound

1 / Self-portrait, ca 1947, embroidery on linen by Mariska Karasz / mariskakarasz.com

2 / Edinburgh view by Wil Freeborn / Wil Freeborn on Flickr

3 / Anita Loos in a great plaid dress, shoes, (and haircut!), 1926 / via

4 / Neuer Markt am Abend by Ferdinand Kruis, 1914 / via

5 / Hungarian art nouveau doors / elinor04 on Flickr

xo

K

i spy: december

I'm sorry the holidays are over.  I really do love the anticipatory and celebratory feeling of December, the sparkle of ice and snow, and of holiday decorations and lights.  It was a very pretty time on the internets, too.  Here's a small selection of the beautiful things I saw last month.  (You can follow me on Tumblr and Pinterest for more!)

1 / "Tory Burch" usually makes me think of those flats with the big ugly logo buckles...but I really like the patterns and prints shown in her pre-Fall 2013 collection. / Vogue

2 / a beautiful book cover for the bio of a beautiful actress / University of Exeter EVE

3 / lovely little Iceland homes with sod roofs / brilliantinemortality

4 / with The Hobbit being released in December, you didn't think you'd get away without any Richard Armitage, did you?  I love this photo of him in Thorin get-up with his Thorin Lego character. / RichardArmitageNet.com

5 / mid-1840s photograph of Scottish painter David Octavius Hill, who along with calotypist Robert Adamson, did pioneering work in artistic photography and portraiture. / fuckyeahhistorycrushes

6 / Camera Obscura, an ambrotype by Stephen Berkman / lightresearch.net

7 / Les arbres des quais avec le Pont-Neuf, Brassaï, 1945 / Metropolitan Museum of Art

xo

K

i spy

What caught my eye in September?  Pretty print dresses from the 1920s, the interiors of Tudor homes, starry and smoky skies, a 60s gal with great red hair, and a sexy French film star!

1 / photo by Nydia Lilian / via

2 / Cover of 1909 edition of Selected Tales of Mystery by Edgar Allan Poe / archives.org

3 / 1920s French fashion photo / via

4 / Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire, England / via

5 / silk evening dress with leafy skirt, by Myrbor, 1924 / Metropolitan Museum of Art

1 / model in a Price of Wales check dress, Paris ca 1960.  doesn't she have a Joan Holloway vibe? / via

2 / Smoke Stack, 2007, photo by Anthony Goicolea / via

3 / great 1953 L'Aiglon ad / MyVintageVogue

4 / gah. from a 1961 Playboy magazine article about modern American furniture design. / via

5 / gah again (gahgain?).  hottie French actor Jean Paul Belmondo. / via

xo

K