Real Native Funk and Flash

I'm really into the Native Funk and Flash book I found by Alexandra Jacopetti. I looked up the author and found this website. The company she started is still around today and it's an online business. In fact one that I have frequented in the past for their cool retro dress patterns. She is, to this day, still called on to talk about the book. I looked up many of the people featured to find that they all continued living creative lives. Some became better known than others.

 

I brought the book into work the other day for show-n-tell and it was a hit. Today a friend of mine brought in his own personal hippie collection. He brought in a shirt and pair of jeans he would wear (and embroidered himself) and some tea he and his friends would all drink, some fragrances some jewelry and incense. It was really awesome! I love his embroidery skills, everything is so symmetrical and perfect. He just held on to this stuff all bought between 1971 and 1974 and I found that hard to believe until I remembered that I have quite the stash myself.





I love it when people hold on to things like this. I wish my mother had because she lived in San Francisco in the late 60s but she only kept our baby clothes and some ephemera but nothing from the life she had before us. I think everything was tossed before I was twelve because I remember trying on some of her old clothes and finding that they almost fit me.

To this day she isn't big on thrift or antiques only items from family members who have passed. I remember she had wonderful paintings she did in school and gorgeous, plaid, wool skirts and mini dresses I wanted to wear one day. She had a wonderful pair of brown, leather, platform T-Straps that were made in Spain. Nothing would have fit me though, the shoes would have been a size to large and she was a tiny lil thing. She's still a tiny, little pocket Mom with big feet, I can't share clothes with. 

I have put away quite a bit in my own personal trunk from the past:

1. The last pair of leggings I bought in 1990

2. Doc Marten combat boots

3. Skirt I made with my mom to wear with fishnets and the combat boots

4.  My signature black lace shirt and a waist length Jordache denim jacket (I loved pairing that with my Mexican skirts and ballerina flats).

I had a carton of the very first clove cigarettes I bought for an REM concert but threw them out two or three years ago. I found them in the pocket of an old purse I was tossing. Then there are all the mix tapes. Maybe one day I'll be dragging these items to work to show some interested younger co-worker. We are all time capsules.