Showing posts with label Columbia Minerva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Columbia Minerva. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Sew Your own Time Again!!

Let's take a look back at some crazy Sew Your Own offerings from the past.  All of these pics are from Popular Fashion Models of the 60s and 70s, but they are just so awesome, I had to repost them!!

Not sure what is groovier, Kathy's matching mittens and cap or the matching his 'n her scarves and caps!!


Colleen has a really spaced out look here.  She's probably thinking "what the heck do they have me wearing now!!"

Obviously he is man of sophisticated tastes in that sweater and, whatever that neck gear is.  Meanwhile she's like "Please stop staring at me like that."

Nothing says "I don't have a date tonight" quite like a sewing a ginormous multicolor afghan while sitting next to a wooden cat.

I cummerbund for the waist AND the top, hmmm interesting  idea!

Add a hat to our your self sewn outfit for that finishing touch!!  You'll be all the rage at the club.

Some sew your own sweaters that are rather tame by the standards of this genre.  

So we will end this post with a nice rugs that you can wear like a cape. Perfect for, well, perfect for something I'm sure, just can't think of anything at the moment!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Random Weirdness: Columbia Minerva is Back!!

Groovy Baby!! It's been awhile so let's check out the always groovy DIY sewing fashions from CM....
And nothing, NOTHING says 70s chic like.......ponchos?!?!?  I'm feeling the Woodstock flashbacks already!!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Columbia Minerva Awesomeness! Part 4!!

They're baaack.  Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the 70s, along comes the grooviest, snazziest, most hip fashions from that font of do-it-yourself 70s styles called Columbia Minerva.

Karen and Kathy in 70s style homemade sweaters and hot pants and stockings and elephant belts and, well, this is actually kinda groovy - in that special 70s kinda way.!! (1)

And nothing is more 70s groovy baby than "Gals in Nantuk Ombre."  I have no idea what that means but it is really groovy!!

Hmmm, a newspaper and a tennis racket - interesting combination.  I'm sure Jayne Modean and friend could explain the strange juxtaposition.

Smartie pants are pretty groovy if you ask me!!

Karen seemed to be a regular in these CM things.  However, in this case the smile seems a bit forced. Perhaps she was thinking "My agent is really going to hear about this!"

What I love about Columbia Minerva is that didn't have the pretense of high fashion.  They were all about campy, 70s style fun and that's what made them awesome!!  Like here, CM had you covered from head to toe!!

Allow me, your humble historical blogger, to explain one of my great dilemmas.  You see, there are TONS of groove-tastic Columbia Minerva pics out there.  That's not a problem.  However,  there are only a handful that include Kathy.  Soooo I have to ration them judiciously.
Columbia Minerva was always pretty awesome, but none so more than this!!  To all my readers: you're welcome!

footnotes:

(1) I got this from somewhere on the internet, not sure where, may have been My-Retrospace.  In may early days, I wasn't very good at documenting where I got material.  If this isn't correct, my apologies.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Columbia Minerva Awesomeness (Part 3) Ponchos, Shawls, and Tops, Oh my!

We're back with more crazy DIY crochet fashions from Columbia Minerva.  One thing you can say about them is that they liked to have fun!  Ponchos, shawls, and flip tops, Oh My!

First up are ponchos...
Cool!  And Kathy in a wig no less.  The guy is really having to force a smile. I'm sure he's thinking "Does this make me look less than a man?"  Yes, yes it does.

And now shawls....
So here we have some shawls, which look exactly like the ponchos without the Western theme.

And lastly some tops....
Oh my!!  Hmmm, none of the models look too excited. Perhaps they're hoping that this doesn't adversely impact their career.

Let's run through them again.....

Ponchos....
I'm still not getting the difference between the ponchos and the shawls.  But here they're starting them off young, maybe it's some sort of cult indoctrination.

Shawls....
These are almost classy by Columbia Minerva standards.

And tops.....
Oh my!!

One MORE time!

Ponchos....
What really separates these ponchos from the ordinary are the sunglasses strategically positioned on Kathy's head!

Shawls....
The cult is growing!!

And tops....
Oh my!!

One more bonus pic of the tops (because I'm sure I don't have a place to use it in any other post.)
Yeah, you can just feel the models' excitement in how this is going to boost their career.  I'm sure this pic was front and center in their portfolio books!

Monday, August 25, 2014

Columbia Minerva Awesomeness Part 2 - Sweaters!

Like wow, has it been almost two years since our first post on the incredibly cool Columbia Minerva fashions!  Well yes it has, and for those of you not familiar with this DIY sewing rag, check out the first post on the subject...

http://kathyloghry.blogspot.com/2012/10/columbia-minerva-awesomeness.html

So let's see what else the fine fashionistas at Columbia Minerva were up to back in the 70s...

Shrink tops?  Hmmmm  I may be mistaken, but I don't think most gals want that! Oh wait they must be referring to the sweater vests.  Ohhhhh. (1)


They must have been on an elephant theme.  Check out Kathy's belt (two elephants fighting?) and the blue sweater on the bottom.  And yes in the pic above, I do believe there is an elephant too.  What gives?? (2)

Oh now we go from "shrink tops" to "flip tops."  Groovy colors and awesome hats!!  However, I just don't remember any of these at the discos of the 70s.  It must have been the moms who got into this stuff.  They were like "Oh my little Sally will look so adorable in that purple sweater with green and red stripe sleeves!"  But Sally is like "Uhh, gee, mom you shouldn't have, no, really, you shouldn't have."

The next two pics are completely random.  I'm not sure where they came from , but this seemed as good a place as any for them....

Karen obviously liked to play games.  (I think we all know how this one will end up, in a draw)  Still at least it's being playful.

And a really random pic of Kathy, not sure if this from Columbia Minerva or not.  However, that flower thing on the front looks like it weighs about 5 lbs.  The headband is groovy too!!

footnotes:

(1) Okay, these kinds of vests are not really popular where I live.  Mainly because we rarely have cold enough weather for them.  So I can be forgiven for not understanding all the various nuances of the genre.

(2) Actually, many years ago, I dated a gal who had a thing for elephants.  She had elephants everywhere in her apartment - elephant sculptures, elephant pictures, elephants on her plates, you name it.  It made it really easy to get her a gift.  But I'm glad it didn't work out.  Otherwise I might have a real life pet elephant today!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Columbia Minerva Awesomeness

Blogging at times can be difficult.  It can be tough to find good material to comment on - especially if your log has a very narrow focus.

Then there are the rare moments like this when blogging mana seems to fall from the Internet heavens.  Such is the post today.  This one pic richly deserves to have a post all of its own for it is truly blogging gold uncovered from the world of Internet mining, preserved here for all posterity.

I strongly suggest that you do not look directly at the pic all at once.  There is simply too much and it will overload your senses.  Instead start at the left and SLOWLY work your way to the right - for each outfit needs to be fully appreciated on its own merits before moving on.

I am not personally familiar with Columbia Minerva.  Apparently it was a rag that showed you how to sew your own totally rad 70s style clothes.  People did that alot back then to save money, That is before we had our clothes made in overseas sweatshops for nearly free.

And yes this is real.  This is not photo shopped.  This is 70s fashion at its finest.


If you are not laughing hysterically now you are either: a) a heartless, soulless cyborg, b) comatose, or c) someone who actually wore one of these outfits to school and was socially scarred for life. Where, oh where, do we begin. 

Let's start at the left.  And yes, that is Shelley Hack in pre Charlie's Angels days boldly modeling something called "El Gaucho" (shouldn't it be "la gaucha" or maybe "gotcha" as in "gotcha to wear something ridiculous"?).  I am from the rural plains states, and I have known actual cowboys and cowgirls and I have NEVER seen any of them in any outfit REMOTELY like this.  It looks gay even on a good looking girl. 

I'm not sure what the point of the just-past-the-knees pants are but I doubt seriously that they would hold up in actual brush country.  And what does any aspiring vaquero (vaquera?) needs to match her blindingly white cowboy hat?  That would be equally blindingly white, plastic, sorta-kinda cowboy boots!

Next up is our favorite 70s model Kathy in "Peasantry".  Hmmm, I always thought that girls wanted to be princesses, not peasants.  Perhaps it was worn to PLAY peasant like Marie Antoinette did.

Kathy actually pulls this off and looks pretty hot.  You can almost picture her on a covered wagon heading our west in late 1800s.  "Katherine, we'll homestead here on this godforsaken, windswept 40 acre plot.  You plow the fields, clean the sod house, raise the young 'ens, while I stand here guarding for injuns and admiring your figure in that smoking hot peasant dress!".  Also, apparently peasants wore the same white, plastic go-go boots that cowboys do in this alternative universe of fashion.

And that brings us to the Pièce de résistance, the "medieval".  What can I say more than what the picture says about itself.  What poor, demented creature would wear this in public?  Maybe to a Dungeons and Dragons role playing session, but even in that world you would probably get the crap beat out of you for showing up as Friar Tuck in crochet!  Once again, apparently white, plastic go-go boots were as popular in the 1100s as they were in the 1800s and 1970s!

Look again and laugh again for this is the pic that keeps on giving and giving!