Show Time!

March starts the festival and show season for us at Dead Men’s Spex.

So far we have stood a one day vintage clothing fair for our friends at Little Vintage Lover Fair http://www.littlevintageloverfair.co.uk/ in the ancient surrounds of Dragon Hall in Norwich http://www.dragonhall.org/ . It is a building that has been standing for nearly 600 years and I’m happy to report that it survived the weekend even with Angela on bacon butty duty in the kitchens.

Waiting for the decorators!

Waiting for the doors to open.

The second show of the month was a three day event at Pakefield with Hepcats Holidays http://www.hepcatsholiday.com/ . Here we found ourselves washed up amongst friends in the hulk of a holed ocean liner swinging out to the JIVE ACES the DING DONG DADDIOS and the wonderful BERNARD BERKHOUT’S SWING ORCHESTRA.

The HMS Hepcat having hit the ice floating in a huge Dry Martini

Shows have always been a way of getting to meet new customers and friends. The internet is a wonderful tool and shop front, but nothing beats meeting people face to face.

I hope to see some of you at a show soon.

Deadman

I can see clearly now............

I thought I’d take a look at the stranger side of spectacles this week. I’m not talking about the gentleman who used to come in to an opticians I was managing years back and have a gent’s frame for work and a lady’s for the weekend!

It takes allsorts and if this is the case the following guy must be the Bertie Bassett in the packet!

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/dude-gets-permanent-eyeglasses-tattoo.html

There is some talk that it might be a viral advert, perhaps Matt could give us an opinion on whether the tattooing looks right. I hope on one hand it’s for real as the effect of having to wear real glasses over the top when he needs them with age is going to look great. On the other hand, if it catches on it could be bad for business!

On a more artistic note (I know I’m asking for trouble implying that the tattoo isn’t art – but this one is at the Beano end of the art continuum) artist Stuart Haygarth http://www.stuarthaygarth.com/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=1177 uses old spectacle frames to make wonderful sculptural chandeliers.

Even more spectacular is his use of 4500 used prescription lenses:

With recycling being one of the buzzwords of the 21st century finding second uses for items that would otherwise be thrown away seems eminently logical to me. The wearing of vintage and second-use clothing and spectacles puts us not just at the forefront of fashion but also at the leading edge of sustainable living.

Wear your vintage frames with pride!

I’m off to the workshop as I’ve just had a great idea for a duvet made from used spectacle cleaning cloths, can anyone thread a needle?

TTFN
D.Man

A nod and a wink to the monocle

If you do a search on Google for monocles you will be told in no uncertain terms that the monocle is back.

“Monocles to be sold on high street
Monocles, last in fashion during the era of PG Wodehouse, are making a comeback.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6780193/Monocles-to-be-sold-on-high-street.html

At http://www.deadmensspex.com/ I have been selling them for the past 5 years and can indeed confirm that the proliferation of monocle wearers is a very real phenomenon (unlike the users of pince nez).

We can trace the original decline of the monocle in the early to mid 20th century to one of two causes.

Firstly the monocle took a public relations hit in Great Britain just post WWI due to its close association with the enemy High Command. Caricatures were used in the press of the day to ridicule and demonise the Hun who was invariably wearing a monocle to symbolise arrogance and haughtiness. You’d have thought that a lesson would have been learned, but, come WWII they were at it again!

Secondly and perhaps more importantly was the demise of the waist-coated suit which by the 1940’s was well on the way out with the advent of double breasted suits. The increased wear by men of casual clothing and the popularity of pullovers and the ubiquitous sleeveless pullover (soon to be known as the TANK TOP Aghh!!) sounded the final death knell of the monocle as the waistcoat pocket was its true home. Un-housed and left to roam it quickly went the way of its companion the fob watch.

So why the increased demand for this rudimentary optical device that with improved refraction techniques and contact lenses should really have gone the way of the dodo?

I would suggest that firstly they are the perfect device to carry when a lens is required to aid short periods of reading i.e. the menu at your favourite bistro, as they are small, light and easily carried.

Secondly with the increase in popularity of historical re-enactment and lifestyle, nothing shouts "Dandy" or "Cad" like a monocle!

TTFN

D.Man

Snow blind in Norfolk

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and has made it to the New Year unscathed. I am presently hibernating from the freezing temperatures and copious amounts of snow we have in North Norfolk and venturing out to the workshop only under duress, having first put the heater on for at least an hour before doing so.

The snow has got me thinking though. Living within 20 miles of Norwich I often go to the the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts www.scva.ac.uk . This has a fine collection spanning 5000 years of human creativity and not surprisingly this collection contains eyewear. To be specific it contains a certain type of eyewear pertinent to the snowy weather that is currently affecting us – Snow Goggles

In the Arctic, the sun shines low on the horizon twenty-four hours a day for nearly 190 days of the summer ( I thought it was bad here after a fortnight !!). To combat snow blindness which occurs when the sunlight reflects off the surface of the snow combines with the light angled directly into the eyes so burning the retina, the local tribes came up with the snow goggle.
This consisted of eyewear fashioned from bone, antlers, leather or wood carved to fit the curvature of the head and across the nose with two slits for the eyes. The frame was then held in place with animal sinew. The slits allowed them to see, but blocked enough light to prevent snow blindness.

According to the Canada’s National History Society the first snow goggles date back to the Thule Inuit, two thousand years ago.

Below is a picture of one of the frames in the Sainsbury collection.

Snow goggles. North America, Bering Sea. Punuk period, c. AD 500-1200. Walrus ivory. w. 13.1 x h. 3.5 x d. 2.5 cm. Acquired 1982. Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection. UEA 830

Place
Bering Sea
Object category
Implement, NA (prehistoric eskimo)
Material
Walrus ivory
Dimensions
Height 35 mmWidth 131 mmDepth 25 mm

Now while researching this I came across probably the best pair of Snow Goggles that you could own in these credit crunching days:

http://scavenging.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/ten-practical-uses-for-your-credit-cards/

So come Visa expiry date watch out for the coolest pair of Spex - eat your heart out Kanye West you're 2000 years out of date - go Google a goggle!!

So stay warm and keep an eye on the blog as it's monocles next.

D.Man

Toll the bell, dig the hole, tend the pyre, but leave the spectacles for me

Toll the bell, dig the hole, tend the pyre, but leave the spectacles for me -
with appologies to Thomas Lynch "Local Heroes" www.thomaslynch.com

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been asked “why Dead Men’s Spex?”

I usually give the standard response about being in partnership with the local undertakers and the bit about coffin robbing! This usually amuses and deflects from the real question “why Dead Men’s Spex?”

Truth be known, what initially started as a name to make people look twice has become a philosophy of business.

It stands for the uncomplicated nature of the business, in that; it is honestly where many of our frames come from.

This then hopefully reflects the nature of the path many of us have taken, looking back at the fashions and skills of our forbearers and literally taking on their mantle. We recognise the quality of vintage wares, much of them handmade and tailored in a time when we were the workshop of the World (at this point I’m going to stop as this is when I start to sound like my father ! :oD )

These skills and qualities are amply reflected in the frames made by Algha http://www.algha.com/ . A longstanding London based producer of fine rolled gold frames. They are still in production with their Saville Row Collection but it is their early pre-war and wartime frames that are most sought after by many connoisseurs of immaculately engineered fashion. I use the word engineered on purpose as if you take a look at one of their frame illustrations of the 1920’s you could imagine that you were looking at a schematic plan for a bridge or building.





So here we are posting 3 on the blog and already talking philosophy and the nature of life the universe and all the little bits in between. I’m off to do a little grave-digging now, well, a guy’s got to make a living some how ..............


D.Man

Looking forward, looking back. The delights of vintage spectacles.

Thank you for looking in on what I hope will be a weekly look at the world of vintage spectacles from the home of vintage eyewear www.deadmensspex.com

There are many of you out there who are dressing in the most wonderful period outfits, but, how many of you think about the first thing people see when they look in your face? No I don't mean fear, loathing or the remains of a surreptitiously eaten biscuit around you mouth, I mean your spectacles!

Nothing is going to ruin the illusion of you being the most delicious, lost 1940's model than a modern pair of spex. How many WWII soldiers marched into war wearing Timmy Mallets' cast offs, and would Buddy Holly have been seen dead in a pair of 1980's aviators?

Here we have our friend Miss Fleur de Guerre, part-time pinup girl and full-time Forties enthusiast www.diaryofavintagegirl.com showing what a difference the correct period eyewear can make.

TTFN

D. Man