1930s Fashion Slaughterhouse

[Marc Chevalier]

.

Here are a few:



-- stuffed birds on ladies' hats

-- Mink heads (with glass eyes), paws and tails wrapped around ladies' shoulders.

-- Alligator purses with baby alligator heads and feet on them.

-- Monkey fur coats. (No heads or hands, but they look creepy nonetheless.)



Please add your own horrors to this list ...

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[Lauren]

I love the 30's. But just think of what the victorians did

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Tell us, Lauren!

 

[jamespowers]

Those are all actually quite collectable so say what you will, there is still a market for it 100 years later or more.
To add to the list, they also collected taxidermy of various types. This is still done today.

Regards,

J

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I rather like stuffed trophies, especially if the owner bagged them him/herself ... but for some reason, I find it macabre to wear stuffed birds and mink heads and paws.

 

[jamespowers]

I rather like stuffed trophies, especially if the owner bagged them him/herself ... but for some reason, I find it macabre to wear stuffed birds and mink heads and paws.

(In a Commander McBragg voice) Yes, brrrahhhmmm, I have to get the Corsican Sheep horns fixed on my mount and it will look wonderful over the fireplace in my bar. I remember the scene. There I was.....
Actually I do have a Corsican Sheep.

Regards,

J

 

[KAT]

yeah kinda creepy and sad and i wouldnt wear anything with a whole head on it
but i do have an old fox fur with the paws on it to hang around the shoulders..dont really like the paws, but that thing is old and i dont wanna cut off the paws, back in the days, germans went hunting to get something to eat, rough times but i know where my fox is coming from and it wasnt something my grandma bought because of fashion reasons..they didnt had the money for that. So the fox was just the result of hunger!
I also got a white rabbit muff and a black mole (is that the right word?) muff.
Both pretty damn old. All together i would say: i would never buy new fur and things like that, cause its just bad.
These things are over 70 years old..why would i throw them away now?[huh]
kathy

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Here's another one for the list, although it isn't from the 1930s:


-- A mid-19th century set of men's shirt studs. Made with (ready?) the carapaces of scarab beetles:

 

[KAT]

LIVE ROACH IS 'ICK'-CESSORY

its not from the 30s either...

Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Brooch

Designer Jared Gold is doing something different with his latest jeweled creation. Though sold as an ornament, his Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Brooch is really a sort of pet, albeit a bejeweled one. Live, 3-inch long tropical cockroaches have Swarovski crystals glued onto their hard shells and are attached to a cameo pin with a silver chain; they can crawl around their owners shoulders and arms. All the roaches are male, to ensure sterility, and must be properly cared for to reach their life expectancy of one year. They eat bananas and need access to fresh water, or at least to a damp cloth, at all times. $80.

http://www.blackchandelier.biz/servlet/the-121/Giant-Madagascar-Hissing-Cockroach/Detail

 

[KAT]

I'd rather stay with my dead rabbit swap meet muff for 20 Euro

 

[scotrace]

Those are nifty

I like the beetles. Well-preserved - neat color.

The Victorians (and before - but it took off then) wore hair jewelry. Rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc., made from carefully washed, trimmed and braided locks of hair from a deceased loved one.

Collecting locks of hair from the dead was a common practice until rather recently. When Beethoven died, it is said that he was nearly shorn by those seeking furry momentos.
Locks of hair from the famous turn up often. One would expect that most are bogus.

My goodness - there are some sickos today who actually wear garments made from the skin of a dead horse.
My Jacket Flicka.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I've seen watch chains made from braided links of human hair.

At an estate sale, I once found a woman's wide-brimmed summer hat made from the black tail and mane hair of a horse. It was woven to look like a very fine Montecristi panama.

The late, lamented "Cherokee Bookstore" on Hollywood Blvd. once showed me a 17th-century Bible whose cover was purportedly bound in HUMAN SKIN.


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[AtomicBlonde]

Those little beetles are cute. Very pretty and unique. The roach broach however, I think I could pass on...

I have a small collection of victorian hair jewelry... I think its neat. Some of the pieces are so pretty and delicate. It is truely a lost art. I've always wanted to learn how to do that.

The furs with the animals heads have always been mildly disturbing to me, however. Wasnt it in one of the Ghostbusters movies when this woman is walking down the street and her fur coat with animal heads and claws gets possessed by a ghost and attacks her? I always thought that was hilarious.

-Jess

 

[Lauren]

Here's some articles on the strange victorians and taxidermy or the like:
with pets:
http://www.morbidoutlook.com/lifestyle/articles/2002_06_memento.html
birds in fashion:
http://www.darwincountry.org/explore/001563.html?sid=b4571438e6a3a520faf5809
Hair jewelry:
http://www.historic-northampton.org/601081/601508/800/

And when I come up with more I'll post em. Those victorians were strange... and they did wierd things to castles.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And they were so into spanking, caning and "discipline" in their bordellos. But that's another dark topic we won't go into here ...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I wasn't kidding when I said that hat fashions wiped out whole species of birds.


From Punch magazine, 1892:

We are told that to obtain the delicate and beautiful spiral plume called the “Osprey,” the old birds “are killed off in scores, while employed in feeding their young, who are left to starve to death in their nests by hundreds. Their dying cries are described as “heart-rending.” ... Thirty thousand black partridges have been killed in certain Indian provinces in a few days’ time to supply the European demands for their skins.

One dealer in London is said to have received, as a single consignment, 32,000 dead humming-birds, 80,000 aquatic birds, and 800,000 pairs of wings. We are told too that often “after the birds are shot down, the wings are wrenched off during life, and the mangled bird is left to die slowly of wounds, thirst, and starvation”.

 

[KAT]

why not? [huh] start a new thread then lol

 

[Marc Chevalier]

why not? [huh] start a new thread then lol

I'd love to, but not a few of the folks around here might be, er, offended by the subject.

 

[jake_fink]

scotrace said:
When Beethoven died, it is said that he was nearly shorn by those seeking furry momentos.

One such lock had quite journey, and lead to quite a discovery.

Lead, get it, not led. lol

Anyway, check it out:

http://www.beethovenshair.ca/flash.html

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And let's not mention that little "souvenir" someone yanked off of Napoleon's corpse.

fftopic: