Fuzzy thought bubbles

I come across some unusual fabrics in my search for interesting materials for The Scarf Moment and I count this print amongst the most unusual. It's a 1940s silk with a design that features what look to me like thought, or speech bubbles that you'd find in a comic strip. There are no characters expressing these thoughts and not even any words in these speech balloons. Just scribbles. A very enigmatic print. I've made some scarves with this fabric using a cashmere backing, and some, like the one shown here, with a sheer wool and silk voile that allows the print to show through the back.

More Douglas Ram Samuj Abstract Expressionist Scarves

Two more scarves made from rare 1970s hand-printed fabrics by Douglas Ram Samuj. See my previous post for a photo of Tziporah Salamon in a purple version of this design.

Abstract Art, by Douglas Ram Samuj, converted into a scarf, by The Scarf Moment

The scarf in these photos is made from vintage fabric designed and hand-printed by the late textile artist Douglas Ram Samuj. He was an Australian emigre to the United States, of Indian descent, arriving here in the 1960s. He established a workshop in Los Angeles where he made limited amounts of hand block-printed fabrics in abstract designs. In fact, his designs have a very abstract expressionist look. Douglas Ram Samuj fabrics are rare now and The Scarf Moment was fortunate to acquire this purple and black cotton, which we've made into the dramatic scarf Tziporah Salamon is wearing here with a Chinese coat from her extensive collection of vintage ethnic clothing. I have two other color variations of this Douglas Ram Samuj design that I will show in an upcoming post, and you can see some earlier scarves I made from Ram Samuj fabrics here and here.

Fantasy shopping at I. Magnin

Tziporah Salamon (our featured model for Fall 2013) and I explored what remains of Los Angeles' grand department stores on Wilshire Blvd. This is the interior of the former I.Magnin store just west of Vermont. It's now a Korean mall of sorts, but we fantasized about what it was like to shop there in its heyday. A shopper might have found a scarf like this one by The Scarf Moment, made from a vintage Italian striped wool backed with four-ply red silk crepe.

Winter white

Here I am, the Scarf Moment maker, in a wool plaid scarf backed with hemp silk, which is a satin weave fabric made from a blend of hemp and silk. This is a good example of the scarves that I make that are suitable for the wool-sensitive. You can keep the hemp silk side next to your skin while the wool layer on the outside keeps you toasty warm.

Channeling Huguette Clark

Our Fall 2013 model Tziporah Salamon is seen here on a visit to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Tziporah is wearing a scarf made from a wool fabric with a fascinating houndstooth weave in cream and greyish brown, backed with sheer silk chiffon. The library was established by William Andrews Clark Jr. and named after his father. They were, respectively, the half-brother and father of Huguette Clark, the wealthy, reclusive heiress who died in 2011 leaving behind multiple mansions that she had not lived in in many decades.A visit to the formerly private library and park-like grounds, gives a glimpse into the lives of the members of this very wealthy family.

Tziporah Salamon for The Scarf Moment!

Our featured model for Fall 2013 is stylist and story-teller Tziporah Salamon. Well-known in New York for being a walking-work-of-art, Tziporah has been collecting vintage clothing for years and appears frequently in Bill Cunningham's column in the New York Times. She visited Los Angeles this Spring and I had the opportunity to photograph her wearing scarves by The Scarf Moment. Here Tziporah is wearing a scarf made from a vintage mohair fabric with a floral print, backed with yellow silk.

The Scarf Moment Fall/Winter 2013

Welcome to The Scarf Moment, Fall 2013! We've been working all summer, sourcing exquisite vintage fabrics and sewing them up into beautiful scarves. Wonderful fabric acquisitions that you will see in upcoming posts include some truly unique Douglas Ram Samuj hand-printed fabrics from the seventies, 1950s Japanese printed silk, Swiss and Italian wools in stripes and plaids, and a 1930s American silk with a surreal biomorphic print. I look forward to sharing these with you here at The Scarf Moment blog, at our pinterest page: http://pinterest.com/revoile/the-scarf-moment/, at craft shows (to be announced soon) and, in Los Angeles, at Simply Vintageous on Melrose.
Logo designed by Suzanne Stokes.

A Scarf for USC Trojans!

Here I am, the scarf maker, standing in my shower ('cause I have a good mirror there), modeling a scarf I made from cardinal and gold plaid, backed with cardinal red corduroy. These are the colors of USC: the Trojans. "Cardinal" in the USC case is a kind of maroon red. The official USC color designation is cardinal so that's what I'm calling it. This would make a nice gift for a University of Southern California alum.

A gardener blooms in the evening.

Bruce is a professional gardener/landscaper, and the owner of Vertumni fine landscaping in Seattle. I got him out of his gardening gear and into his velvet evening jacket to model this Scarf Moment black and blue pinstriped scarf. The light blue reverse of this scarf is an incredibly soft vintage cashmere! And the color really matches Bruce's eyes! But you don't have to have blue eyes to wear this scarf. I will have versions of it at Unique NY and Bazaar Bizarre SF (see previous post for details).

Warm and Stylish customers having a Scarf Moment

Here are a few of my customers from last winter's Bazaar Bizarre in San Francisco, wearing their Scarf Moment scarves. Look how creative they got with their scarf tying methods! I'm looking forward to seeing old customers and meeting new ones in New York and San Francisco this Fall. Bazaar Bizarre will be held on December 1st and 2nd, 2012.

Gwendolyn in a Granny dress, and flowers

Here's my favorite Los Angeles singer/songwriter, Gwendolyn, backstage at the Bootleg Bar where she was performing with her country/western band. This scarf I made from a floral corduroy that's probably from the 70s matches quite well with Gwendolyn's 70s granny dress. Do you watch the show Weeds? Gwendolyn makes some of the music for that show. If you like it, check out her latest album, Bright Light. And you too can have a scarf like Gwendolyn's. I will be posting soon about which craft shows The Scarf Moment will be selling at.

Silk Stripes for 2012

Here's DJ and musician Charlie Sputnik modeling a scarf made from a fantastic striped silk. I met Charlie when I myself was DJing at the Standard Hotel. I've made a few versions in the limited amount of this vintage fabric I found. Although I'm sold out of the grey flannel backed scarf shown, I have one backed with green silk, one backed with yellow silk (which Charlie is wearing) and one backed with a black quilted cotton. Soon to be sold at a craft fair near you.

Sophisticated Patchwork in Cashmere and Silk

For Winter 2012 I've made a small selection of one-of-a-kind patch-worked scarves. Sometimes I acquire pieces of fabric that are too small on their own to make into scarves, but that are too beautiful to discard. In this case, I acquired some luxurious but small pieces of red and black cashmere. I patched these together and backed it with red and black silk crepe, and voila, a red and black scarf modeled by gorgeous film producer Samantha.

Another Shade of Grey

For the 2012 season I've made some monochromatic scarves, which is a change of pace for the Scarf Moment. I usually look for prints and stripes and plaids. I found a few yards of this very fine silk with a windowpane jacquard pattern in a shade of grey that perfectly matched some vintage cotton velvet (velveteen, for those of you who are into fabric technicalities) from my collection. Omar is modeling this scarf, that will look as good on a woman as it does on this man.

Stripes on stars, for 2012

For the Winter 2012 season I've been making lots of striped scarves. Of course, whatever I happen to make is by chance, since most of the fabric I use for scarves is vintage: found at estate sales and thrift shops. But the universe has brought me lots of stripes this season. This one is a cotton in (fewer than fifty) shades of grey and red. I made a lightweight scarf for fall or spring by backing it with black linen. Modeled by gorgeous star Jillian King, still looking as good as when I met her, oh, let's just say a few years ago.

Fifty Shades of Grey, minus 49

Most of my scarves have a vintage print, plaid or stripe on one side and a new solid fabric on the other. But I never pass up a nice vintage solid fabric, so sometimes I get to make scarves that are vintage on both sides. Such is the case here, where I combined an old grey wool flannel with a red and grey striped cotton fabric that's probably from the fifties. The greys matched up perfectly. Modeled by the incredibly talented Los Angeles artist Duane Paul

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Maybe Marimekko, for 2012

The Scarf Moment has been busy making scarves all summer, gearing up for the 2012 holiday season. Here's one of the new scarves, modeled by lovely webdesigner Alison of semidivine.com. The scarf is made from a vintage grey and white cotton fabric that might be by Marimekko. It certainly has that Marimekko look, with checks in a print that looks like it was based on a handpainted design. The reverse of this scarf is soft black corduroy.

The Lady Bunny, having a Scarf Moment!

The Scarf Moment does not discriminate on the basis of age or weight when selecting our models. Witness The Lady Bunny! Ha ha! I saw her in her hilarious show That Ain't No Lady at La Nueva Escuelita and it was full of self-deprecating jokes like that. But of course, she is neither old, nor fat. Look how fabulous she looks in the scarf I made! This queen knows how to coordinate her look. The Lady Bunny took her silk scarf to the set of RuPaul's Drag U for this fantastic shot. If you are in NY get your tickets for That Ain't No Lady here.

Denim and Silk a la Martin Margiela

This scarf was inspired by one I saw at Maison Martin Margiela; a simple length of blue denim on one side and silk satin on the other. The MM scarf had fringe but I decided to leave mine plain (mine is a little less expensive too!). I've made a few versions in different shades of blue and in different widths. Our model today for this French inspired scarf is Frenchman Art Bleek, a talented musician, producer and DJ, and one of the creators of Zoowax and their catchy song Nine to Five. Watch the video here.

Tziporah is having a Scarf Moment

Perhaps you've seen Tziporah Salamon on the streets of New York, zipping around on her bicycle. Or you caught her on Bill Cunningham's page in the New York Times. She's a favorite of his. Advanced style has correctly pronounced her a "style icon" for her incredibly individualistic way with clothing, combining vintage treasures with "ethnic" and new pieces to come up with a personal style that transcends whatever the current "look" may be. We caught up with our dear friend Tziporah a few weeks ago at the Augusta vintage fashion auction in New York and were proud to have the opportunity to photograph her wearing a red polka dot silk and wool scarf by The Scarf Moment. I'm sold out of this scarf with the red wool backing, as shown on Tziporah, but I've made a couple backed with gorgeous blue/black cashmere which I'll have at Bazaar Bizarre in San Francisco in December. Customers often ask me how to tie and wear scarves. Tziporah is exhibit A in our lesson on how to effortlessly wear a scarf, with style.

Guest blogger Rick, and a colorful striped scarf!

My friend Rick is not only good-looking, he's a professional writer too. I'm not bad looking but I can't say I'm a great writer so I asked Rick, who is this post's model, to write his own copy:

Greetings fellow scarf-wearers!

My name is Rick Galiher. And I make an effort to try something new everyday. I normally wear grey and other faded colors to blend in, but my buddy Charles convinced me to try sporting his spiffy, striped scarf that is almost as colorful as my life. 

Just in this year I have: 

-Received a Best Actor trophy for my portrayal of Dracula

-Dressed as the Easter Bunny and hiked up Runyon Canyon with my dog, Henry

-Interviewed and promoted Angelyne The Billboard Queen for 3 months

-Collected more low-brow artwork than at any point in my life

-Commissioned artists for the first time

-Co-curated an art show at Copro Gallery that will open on December 10th, my 38th birthday

-Written a line of greetings cards and postcards available in December

-Worked as an advertising copywriter

-Gone on my now-yearly 2 week eating binge at the best LA restaurants with my mother

-Begun work on my first screenplay

-Purchased a handmade scarf that has brightened my whole outlook on life

Look me up sometime at web.mac.com/rickgaliher

 

Oh, and by the way, the scarf is made of striped cotton on one side and purple raw silk on the other.

Sally Go 'round the Roses

The Jaynetts had a hit in in 1963 called Sally Go 'round the Roses. But here we have the roses going 'round Sally. Our model Sally is wearing a new scarf made from vintage fabric that might possibly be from the era of the Jaynetts hit song: roses in many colors on a green background, in this case with red silk on the reverse. I also made some with green silk on the back. Sally works at Svenska Mobler, where the Scarf Moment had a trunk show last year.

The 2011 Scarf Moment Has Arrived!

It's a few days after Labor Day 2011, the unofficial beginning of Fall, and the Scarf Moment is gearing up for a busy scarf season ahead. I've been sewing all summer and I have dozens of new styles for the upcoming season, as always, made with vintage fabrics. I'll be posting the new scarves, one at a time over the next few weeks.
The first scarf I present to you, for Fall, 2011, is modeled by dashing Solomon. The scarf has a vintage wool plaid on one side and soft, grey, cotton velvet on the other. I've also made up a few of these with black cotton satin in place of the velvet. Both the satin and the velvet styles are suitable for people with wool sensitivities. You can keep the cotton next to your skin and the wool on the outside for warmth and style without itchiness. Coming soon to a crafts fair near you!