Fashion – Page 18 – I Don't Get It

The Higher The Hair, The Closer To Jesus, Part II

If you need more high hair, feel free to reference Part I.

On Trend Accessory For 2019: Ferns In Face

We’ve all seen the hibiscus worn in the hair, but this (as the carriage driver said in the Emerald City) is a horse of a different color. Kauai-born Sherrie Hamamura is literally sporting a crown of ferns, as well as a necklace of ferns. It looks itchy and uncomfortable, to be honest, especially in a downpour.

However, her Hawaiian name is Wailana, or Peaceful Water, so she probably doesn’t sweat the small stuff. I hope that fabric is moisture-wicking and allows for movement as she performs her classical hula.

Perhaps fellow WordPress blogger and former Hawaii-dweller, Tom, may understand this Hawaiian saying printed next to her in the National Geographic: I ka olelo no ke ola; I ka olelo no ka make. “In the language is life and death.”

Evidently, fern fashion is still alive and well, as evidenced here. Long live tradition!

It’s Like Rain On Your Wedding Day

Before Mrs. Roper, There Was

When Men Were Rakish

Time was, when hats were jaunty, and fellas would tilt a brim to the brink of audaciousness. Who could resist the power of this hombre in particular, gathered among his fellow American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Engineers?

Oh, The Ennui Of Driving Through Sequoias

Over 100 years ago, when this image was taken in California, the absence of windshields demanded that the driver (right-sided in this case) wore a duster and goggles as he wound his way through grounds without paved streets. Ladies often wore something similar to this.

That’s quite a bit of work required before jumping in and cranking the engine. This pint-sized pooch seems to think it’s worth it.

Tramps Like Us

Oh, my goodness, y’all. Could these little boys BE any cuter? All dressed up in the 20s to emulate Charlie Chaplin for a lookalike contest. Bless their hearts.

Fun fact via Newsweek:

In 1975, several years before his death, Chaplin entered a look-alike contest of himself in France. He probably thought he was a shoo-in for the prize and everyone would have a hearty laugh at the end. But then he came in third.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancin’

1955 Cactus, Alpha Gamma Delta’s “Flamin’ Mamie”

Shall We Gather At The Cannon

It’s hard to fathom that just over 100 years ago (or “one person ago,” as Netflix comedian Joe Rogan would say) that women dressed like this. The corsets and flowy ankle-length dresses may have felt confining, but those hats must have weighed five pounds in themselves. Such were the times in 1911.

Only 6% of all 17-year-olds finished high school back then, and many women (such as these New York ladies in 1909) spent their days, bent down, making straw hats.

If not for the skills of the hat-makers in millinery shops, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper would never have been able to amass such a collection several decades later.

Overkill, yes?

Here Comes The Rain Again

And the precip keep a’falling in the greater Austin area today. I’m thanking God I’m in the suburbs, as all of Austin is under a mandatory water boil notice, after the historic hill country flooding. Our lakes look like Nestle Quik.

Several of my friends’ lakeside homes have been destroyed. Many don’t have flood insurance because we’re lucky to get two drops of rain per year. This is a drought city. We go several months at 100 plus temps and not a drop of rain. Nearly every dang summer. It’s feast or famine.

And now it’s feasting time. You don’t realize how important clean water is until you need it. We have a whole house filter in our home, as well as a reverse osmosis on our fridge water, because I HATE the taste of nasty water. And our non-Austin, unfathomably overpriced city water tastes nasty. We’ve all been in restaurants with that chlorine-y water or at a relative’s house who serves ice that’s been sitting in her freezer for three months. Gross.

But Austinites would be happy for that nasty tap water today. All the local Starbucks are closed (though you’d think if any place could boil water, it’d be them), grocery stores have tossed all produce that was sprayed with city water, most eateries are closed (save the few that have workers coming in early to boil massive quantities of water to wash vegetables and clean dishes, while serving canned drinks), and no schoolchildren can drink from faucets. Needless to say, all of the plastic bottles have flown off the shells. Not a great time for such an environmentally-aware city.

And how are folks bathing? You’ve got me. They say it could last up to 14 days. Things could be worse, of course. But let’s never take clean water for granted.

The website cited above states that 99% of earth’s water is not drinkable. Most of you right now have a glass of water, or a mug of tea or coffee (made with clean water) adjacent to your keyboard. We are blessed, folks. The fortunate ones.

Satin Dolls

These lovely ladies were the “little sisters” of the University of Texas chapter of Kappa Alpha Psis, which had only officially become a chapter in December of 1977, a year prior to this.