Mad for Mad Men
Trends from Mad Men seem to be popping up all over. Marie Claire as well as Sammy Davis Vintage, a website run by Temple University grad Sammy Davis have caught on – have you? We’ve read that 1960’s designs like those from Mad Men emerge in times of economic struggle. Perhaps Mad Men isn’t just a look for Halloween. Hmm…
Lauren Conrad also has a look that seems to go back in time. Glamour asks – are you a fan of her newly bobbed and darkened locks? Glamour also asks if you keep it cute, sexy or full out skanky for Halloween.
Check out Rittenhouse Square’s website for info on their costume competition – skanky or not, they’d love to have you.
A visit to the Shoe Museum
I wasn’t even aware that there was a shoe museum in Philadelphia until I caught word of it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been trying to get over to see it ever since; it’s slightly more complicated than just putting on pants and taking the train to Market East.
It’s on the 6th floor of the Temple School of Podiatry, which is at 8th and Race, and let me take this opportunity to say that although it’s free
YOU NEED AN APPOINTMENT
Which you can get by calling the place’s curator, Barbara Williams, at 215-625-5243 or emailing bwilliams@tuspm.temple.edu, although she says it’s easier if you call. The museum is right in the middle of an in-session medical school with, you know, a guard at the door, so if you don’t let them know you’re coming, you won’t be able to get in.
Once you make your appointment, I wouldn’t schedule anything for at least an hour, because despite it not being a huge collection (two halls, one room), Williams can tell you something interesting about pretty much every one of the 250 pairs of shoes on display. I left after three hours (I asked a lot of questions) feeling as if I’d taken a college class (in a good way!).
For random reasons I ended up taking pictures almost entirely of the one room and not the two halls, but there’s also a ton of world shoes on loan from the Mutter Museum, including the Chinese bound-foot shoes above (they were 3-4 inches long), a bunch of shoes from Hollywood and sports stars, 19th-century wedding shoes, etc.
Don’t expect a visit with, like, echoing hallways and an atmosphere of austere contemplation, because the displays are in fluorescent-lit halls actually used by doctors and students, and they’ll occasionally wander by. However, it’s a totally neat and different experience to get your own personal guided tour. It honestly made me feel bad about how quickly I usually blow through museums, spending maybe a second or two looking at each piece and maybe austerely contemplating the placard for a few seconds more.
But seriously: wear comfortable shoes. Not like these:
This shoe had heels so high that it wouldn’t stand on its own. Nevertheless, the woman who owned it in the 1890s wore the heel down to the nails. Clogs, Docs, mukluks and more after the jump…
Go owls!
This one goes out to a first-year teacher friend of mine. She was recently hired at a Philly school whose mascot is the owl and is starting an owl-themed accessory collection in the name of school spirit (her process of dealing with the somewhat tough situations in the Philadelphia school system is to be unstoppably chipper. It seems to have worked well enough for her last year, when she was student teaching at one of the city schools that made headlines when a student broke a teacher’s neck a few years ago).
Luckily for her, there’s been a ton of owl stuff made lately, so here’s a selection. And good luck to all the Philly teachers, who are enjoying their last few weeks of vacation:
(EDIT: word on the street is that there’s also a fairly large University in Philadelphia with an owl for a mascot. Temple kids, this one also goes out to you.)
So starting locally, there’s Birdqueen Designs, which has any number of colorful, oddly sarcastic-looking owls in earring and necklace format. Generally very good prices, too.