Arm Partying

Suzy Solidor, 1932

Jacqueline Goddard, 1932

Man Ray knew a good arm party when he saw one. He famously photographed Nancy Cunard, heiress turned political activist, wearing her armloads of African bangles  (below). It also seems that Ray had a thing for the Chanel bracelets, above. He photographed both Suzy Solidor, and Jacqueline Goddard wearing the same ones.

Nancy Cunard, 1926

Madonna was arm partying back in the 80s (link) …

Indian women have been at it for

thousands of years.

Shy Bride

Nautch Girl

A Damsel Bedecked in Jewelry

In South Africa, arm partying is not

just for women …

Guys arm party too (as I hear they are 

starting to do in the US, as well).

These young men of the Ndebele tribe 

engage in serious partying

on their initiation day.

While the current incarnation of the timeless trend, was popularized last summer by the blogging Man Repeller, Leandra Medine (who also coined the phrase), the party apparently continues to be going strong.

Megan, of New York Diaries instructs:

Put as many bracelets on your wrist as you desire…throw in a watch (or two)…the more the merrier! And don’t worry about matching…that’s the fun part!

And then there was this item on WSJ.com:

Q: I notice that lots of women who are into fashion have these stacks of bracelets, sometimes with watches. They go way up their arms sometimes. This is a new trend that I want to start trying. How can I get the right mix of bracelets, and can I wear them on both arms at the same ... (To continue reading, subscribe.)

Now did someone actually write to the WSJ asking for fashion advice--would someone really do that? Or did the Journal invent this question--would they really do that? I’m still trying to figure out which of these alternatives is more disturbing.

Sorry to be such a party pooper …

Man Ray photos via auction sites.

Black and white Ndebele photos by Constance Stuart Larrabee photos via Smithsonian .

More Vintage Mardi Gras

Not quite as old as the photos of Mardi Gras 1903, the images here date mostly from the 1930s through 1970s. The parade goers in "Country Bumpkin" costumes (top) is a Louisiana WPA image. The “Indian” family is dated 1970. (Photos throughout are from the LOUISiana Digital Library.)

The moss twins and the two families above them are from

Mardi Gras 1967 and 1968. (photos: Art Kleiner)

Two 1971 photos from a Cajun Mardi Gras

in Mamou, Louisiana.
New Orleans Mardi Gras 1967. (photo: Art Kleiner)

Mardi Gras 1936

Rural Mardi Gras in Church Point Louisiana, 1972.    
New Orleans Mardi Gras during a presidentialelection year. Nixon v. McGovern, 1972.
Lafayette Louisiana, 1972

Church Point Mardi Gras, 1970s

New Orleans, 1967 (photo: Art Kleiner)

Ghosts of Mardi Gras Past

These photos of costumed revelers are from the Telling-Grandon scrapbook/diary, found at the LOUISiana Digital Library. It contains photographs and ephemera collected by an Evanston, Illinois group during a visit by train to the New Orleans Carnival of 1903.

The Telling-Grandon group

Gunpowder Labels

DuPont might be best known for creating a synthetic parallel universe of our natural material world. The company replaced silk with nylon, glass with Lucite, rubber with neoprene, and stone with Corian. So synonymous is the company with chemicals, that substances such as Lycra, Teflon, and Kevlar have become household names. But when founder Eleuthère Irénée du Pont established the company in 1802, its sole business was the manufacture of gunpowder.

By the war of 1812, DuPont was the largest supplier of black powder to the U.S. government. During the Civil War, the company provided almost half of the powder used by the Union forces. As explosives technology advanced, the company became a leader in dynamite production and smokeless powder. (More detail here.)

Around the time of WWI, DuPont diversified into chemicals, and by the 1990s moved completely away from the blasting business. What remained with the company, however, was an amazing archive of powder labels. It now resides at the Hagley Museum and Library along with the rest of the corporate archives. Everything from duck shooting to mine blasting is represented and in addition to the DuPont brand, there are labels of acquired mills, and a collection of foreign labels as well. There are even a few original sketches.