Well, it's over. Blackest Night, at least. Be forewarned: here there be spoilers.

With that out of the way let's hit a few of the main points: it's not surprise that characters were brought back from the dead. We all knew that was coming. And like I gathered it was only a select few who actually made it back to life.

As to those who did return, some of them were pretty obviously. Aquaman and Martian Manhunter were both pretty obvious. Osiris and Captain Boomerang? Those were a little more surprising.

The biggest surprise, of course, was Deadman. For a character who was created to be dead, being brought back to life is a bit of a shock. Here, I think, we see the seeds of a very important future story. I think it's very clear that characters coming back from the dead is not all smiles and sunshine. As Nekron said, everyone dies sometime.

Boston Brand said the following: "This isn't right. I'm not supposed to be here." And he's right. Deadman is supposed to be dead. His being a live is in many ways a corruption of the natural order. It's not the way things are supposed to be.

In this, I suspect that Brightest Day won't be quite as bright as some people are thinking. We've already seen the seeds of other terrible evils planted in books over the past couple of years. Blackest Night is merely another chapter in the ongoing story of the DC Universe.

What of the Indigo Tribe and Black Hand? What of Maxwell Lord? What of the newly risen Anti-Monitor?

And who know that the white light of life could also deliver fantastic fashion?

This is a photo of my Great-uncle Frank's former girlfriend taken in the early 1930s on my Great grandfather's ranch in Sun Valley, CA. I "borrowed" this photo from my Grandpa about 5 years ago so I could take it to my hair stylist for inspiration for a new haircut. I don't know anything about this woman other than she dated a family member and she liked to ride motorcycles, my Grandpa was only about 7 around this time so he doesn't remember much about her. Still I love this picture and everything the girl on the bike embodies.
I’m used to walk in the small markets of antique dealers and I found this pictures.
I paid attention to it as I liked the woman personality, riding the bike in an unusual or not so femenin way for the times it was done, but at the same time because she appears kind of “daring” style.

Rinse your blond child's hair in dead champagne to keep its gold as they do in France?

Thanks to everyone that submitted a photo for the contest!

I thought we might get a few hundred entries but we ended up with over 2,200 submissions.

We've all enjoyed the images and related stories. No matter who gets the book I think we were all winners.

If you like, continue to send vintage photos to this email address sartorialistcontest@gmail.com (and only to that email address)


I still have quite a few images that I will be posting occasionally over the next few weeks.

Because of the huge response to the contest it will take me a week or so to sort through all of emails myself. I plan to announce a winner next week.

Can you guess what the next contest will be?

Tomorrow comes the final issue of Blackest Night. Tomorrow the new status quo for the DC Universe will be revealed. It all happens tomorrow.

So what is going to happen? Some clues have leaked out. The Rainbow Corps will be headquartered on Earth. Nekron will certainly be defeated. Some characters will undoubtedly be reborn.

Other than that, though? There isn't a whole lot we can be sure of. Really, the doors have been left wide open. Everyone could come back to life or -- just a few. The Corps could expand with more Earth people -- or they could shrink back to just the core.

Anything could happen. While you still have the chance... Give me your predictions.

What will happen in the aftermath of Blackest Night #8?

The date is January 3, 1954. Pictured in the center is my grandfather Yukio (known to me as Ji-chan, Japanese for Grandpa). My dad (pictured on left) is 9 here, his brother a couple years older. The three of them are getting ready to leave Japan for the first time and emigrate to California. My Japanese-American grandmother (born/raised in Calif.) had earlier left her family in Japan in order to find a job, a place to live, and get settled here. Then she sent over for her husband and kids to come and join her in the States.

This photo of Ji-chan reminds me of a Japanese Indiana Jones with the leather jacket and fedora, ready to go on an adventure in a far-off land. He always looked sharp when he went out.

Ji-chan was always a bit of a mystery to me as there was a language barrier (he spoke only Japanese) and he was a quiet man. But I really loved him. He would sneak behind my grandmother's back and smoke cigarettes in the garage or in the car. I'd always laugh at him becuase it was so obvious. He would awe me with his yo-yo tricks. When I was little I'd hold his hands and he would let me step on his toes while he'd walk around the house. And he was a highly regarded gardener in the Japanese community and won awards for his amazing bonsai plants. He was in his backyard garden, sitting at a chair next to a little table tending to one of his mini-tress when he passed away when I was 14. When my grandmother discovered him she thought that he was simply taking a nap because he looked so peaceful.

When I saw the pictures of my graceful compatriot on your site, I felt the urge to send some of my most cherished family photos too, those of my paternal grandmother Theresa Moreira Reis. She was born in 1903 in Recife, Northern Brazil, daughter to the city's most sought-after tailor. Politicians and other affluent people were part of his clientele, and her father's work influenced her sense of style throughout her life. Grandma Theresa was congenitally chic, and unpretentiously glamorous before fashion was in fashion. Her European taste in dressing must have made her stand out there and then.

Paint a map of the world on all four walls of your boys' nursery so they won't grow up with a provincial point of view?

For me, this shot is all about wearing color in a bland colorless city.

Look how she explodes out of the background griege of it all.

Again I don't really think this is about these specific clothes but about the idea of color in a black and white world.



The man to the second right is my great uncle Bernard - the one holding an old-fashioned megaphone. Our family photo album is full of photographs of him with his friends horsing around. He was evidently a popular and outgoing man in his youth. We estimate this picture was taken in the 1930s, before he joined the Air Force and fought in World War 2. He travelled widely and even on holiday his signature style was present: a striped polo shirt and blazer with pocket square, and baggy trousers tucked into socks. I especially love that Bernard and his friend are wearing mary-jane sandals since it is a typically feminine style, but looking at this photo I can imagine them coming back as a menswear trend.
The photo I´m sending is a family photo from the 1960´s, back when my grandparents lived in Venezuela (Caracas) and runned a hotel called "Hotel Portugal" (so much for originality :P)
The man on the further right corner is actually my late grandfather when he was about 30 years old! The other men are probably guests staying at his hotel, he loved to show them around town!
I find interesting their attire while riding their bikes and their overall look, which contains elements which are returning to mainstream fashion such as the pocket squares, hats and pins.

PS: I believe the 2nd man from the right is truly squint-eyed and not doing it for fun :
Recently i inherited around 50 albums full of photos from my grandparents, one of which had this photo.
On the far right of this photo is my great grandad, Frederick A Rowley, and some of his friends.
I never knew him, but i think this photo just sums up the kind of man i picture him as.
Sadly i have no idea what time era this photo comes from, i would guess around 20's, as he married my great grandmother in 1919.
I don't know if he had a sense of style, but i think this picture just sums up the time, and the fashion.
I love this photo, and all the others i have of him.
He was a working man, but had such grace.
I'm very attached to my past, and i think this just shows why.
I hope you love it as much as i do.

Thanks for your input about the Celine inspiration book contest and for so many good ideas!


Luckily I picked up several books so at least 2 will be auctioned off for charity. The rest we can use for our contest winners.

Here is the first contest:

Remember when I posted those vintage photos that I bought at the flea market last January?
I think we all loved those images.

I want you to email me an old (nothing later than the 80's) original photo that you feel conveys an inspirational sense of style. It could be from your own family archive or one that you found somewhere like a flea market, garage sale or swap meet. If it is from your family I would love to hear a little about the people in it.

Garance and I will pick a few and post them and then we will collectively name a winner.

I love this idea because it does not cost a lot of money (flea market photos are relatively cheap and family photos are free) and I love looking at great old photos! I hope to see some amazing shots from the 20's, 30's 50's 70's or whatever period inspires you.


This part is IMPORTANT please read before sending me images!

- The subject line of the email should read "Vintage Photo Contest"

- The contest will run from March 24th to March 30th

- Only 1 image per email, please EDIT

- The photos will only be posted here on the blog, so the file size can be very small (no bigger than 700kb). I DO NOT need hi-res images. It takes too long to download them.

- Send your photos to: sartorialistcontest@gmail.com

- Writing a little something about the image you send will make your entry much more interesting for all of us.



There was no real story included with either of these photos....but they are still fantastic!!

In the picture is captured my father, it dates 1978. The shot was done in St. Petersburg (Russia). A few years ago, while looking through
family photo albums i found this picture of my father and asked him to tell me something about it. He told me a little story about the jeans
he is pictured in. As it was a Soviet Union (USSR) times a lot of things were banned and jeans were not an exception. My father told me
that jeans were shipped from outside the USSR countries by marines and sold on the ‘Black Market’. The price of the jeans my father is
wearing in the picture was $250, when his salary, during that period, was $280 a month. I always feel excited listening to my parent's
memories about this non-repeatable period of time, and it really amazes me how people with such a modest resources managed to be
stylish.

Please find attached a photo of my grandfather and a friend from 1939. My grandfather, Sidney Foulkes, is in the dark polo neck on the left.
He sent this image to my grandmother just after they had begun courting and they had to wait till the end of the war till they were married
Here you can find my grandfather and some friends. He was born in 1908 ! in Valencia, Spain and later come to live in Barcelona.

He was from a country family but he always had a special sense to dress. I remember he looking himself at the mirror always before get out of home to have a walking with my brother and me. We think that these pictures are from around 1930 or before, because after that the things changed a lot in Spain because the civil war, etc..


This image comes from a collection of old photographs that belonged to my great-grandmother. It was taken sometime in the 1920s in a small country town in Australia. The subjects were family friends, most likely farmers or labourers with very little money. I particularly enjoy the individuality in the way they wear their hats.

This picture dates back to 1937, before Vietnam was invaded by the Japonese, the beginning of a war state that would last more than 30 years.
It may have been taken in Cap Saint Jacques, a fashionable resort were a mixed society - meaning the French and the locals - fled the heat from Saigon.
Amongst his numerous children - he finally had 11 - my grandfather had picked that day my 2 years old daddy, with his nanny, for his first fishing lesson.
I never knew my Vietnamese grandfather who died in 1975, since my father, after completing his studies in France and marrying my French mother in the 50's, never went back to Vietnam.
According to my father's telling, he had a very bad temper, spoiled by the use of opium, and spent his time hunting, fishing and collecting orchids. A long gone way of living.







I have sent you some pics of my Dad who simply embodies the essence of Southern California style. Being a 5th generation Californian, I have always been in entranced the beautiful beach boy and girl myth and I love this picture. The West Coast really does have the sunshine and a certain style of it's own, No?


To me, my grandmother, Françoise Gerondeau, is the most elegant and the funniest woman in the world.

In fact, that photo was taken during the Algerian War, in the late fifties. My Grandfather, who is French, had been mobilized. And just before his departure, he told my grandmother (they were dating for a year) that he didn’t love her and that he would never marry her.
But she’s very stubborn, and she asked her brother to take photos of her during their vacations, so that she could send them to my grandfather, and he would fall in love again.
The photo you see can testify.
Isn’t it childish? To me that story defines exactly my grandmother.
That photo must have a great power, since when my grandfather came back, they got married.
I wish I had a picture of my grandfather, he was very alluring and elegant too. I think that my aesthetic taste comes from the observation of my grandparents. Both of them really represent a model to me.


I'm loving Douglas Friedman right now! I've always been a fan but lately have a renewed interest in his work.


He is a genius! I am always so in awe of such incredible talent. The images, the whimsical and lavish subjects, they all make my heart skip a beat.


Could you just imagine waking up to this!?! Hmmm....decisions, decisions!


His portraits never disappoint.


and the celebrity homes he photographs are incredible!


He has done a lot of shots for In Style magazine, including the Christina Aguilera and Fergie shoots that had everybody buzzing. A girl could get lost in his imaginative and vivid world!

 

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