Babylon Blog

  many years ago I lived in Los Angeles and I remember having a few lava rock lady sightings and it would make my day, I was about to create a post about her iconic timeless style, and stumbled upon this post from super rad now...so glad to know she is still around workin' her look. ps, we think she is totally on trend this fall in this witchy velvet number...

join us for a few laughs and vintage sale this evening Sat May 3rd - sale begins at 7pm comedy show at 9pm!

Hollywood Babylon Party and Show

POSTED BY TOBY ROBBOY ON MON, APR 7, 2014 AT 1:59 PM

you may already be aware that we are big fans of the seventies and early eighties jamaican roots, reggae and dancehall music. tonight we are heading out to see Black Uhuru play live in Portland, OR at the star theater. here's a look at some of our favorite looks from their most famous lineup featuring Ducky Simpson, Puma Jones and Mykal Rose. they were one of the most stylish reggae groups from that era. enjoy!

we are beyond excited to host  our favorite vocal (& fashion) diva, Carletta Sue Kay for a live in-store performance at Hollywood Babylon on sunday, february 9th at 5pm. check out the event on face book here. be there or be square.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC5wCs9Y-Uk&w=560&h=315]

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m--zfsgkDUc&w=560&h=315]

hope to see ya there!

xo, HB

so many great designers and vintage dealers and more - tomorrow, friday 12.20 at 220 salon 213 SW Ash St #211, Portland, OR 97204 - downtown portland...come score a deal and find a gift for everyone on your list. have a cup of tea or relaxing glass of wine and browse the goods far away from the mall madness. we are bringing some new special pieces for this event! 12 - 6pm. you also can find us tomorrow in Hollywood at 4512 NE Sandy Blvd. hours there are 12-7pm (in case you are still on the look out for an ugly sweater)!

hey everyone, just a heads up we will be down at portland flea once again next sunday with more fresh vintage finds! you can find us there every third sunday. location is inside union/pine and on the street outside at grand & pine (next to andy & bax). this is a great flea market with an eclectic range of vendors and vintage goods. we will be bringing some halloween costume ideas this week along with tons of new and (cheap) stuff! here are some pics from the pdx flea...  yep - there's even a photographer there who takes old timey tin-type photos... a great place to find something for everyone on your holiday shopping list! hope to see ya there* xo, HB *our brick and mortar location at 4512 ne sandy boulevard in hollywood is closed monthly on the third sunday ;-)

we are obviously inspired by our punk history here at hollywood babylon, and so it seems as good a time as any to credit vivienne westwood and malcolm mclaren for largely initiating the punk movement in england back in the late seventies. in researching their story and also the upcoming exhibition at the met's costume institute "Punk: Chaos to Couture” (opens may 9th) i found some amazing links and images to share...maybe punk's not dead after all... "It all goes back to the early 70’s, when Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood opened up a shop on Kings Road in London selling the favoured Teddy Boy fashions (a tailored, fitted look reminiscent of British dandyism). In search of something new, McLaren traveled to New York where he met the New York Dolls. With their tattered, worn-down, glam rock persona, the American band inspired McLaren to bring back a thrift shop mash up style that Britain desperately needed. Further inspiring Westwood and McLaren was the Situationist movement, which had come to the fore in France around the time of the Paris riots of 1968. The Dada- like anarchism of the Situationists led by Guy Debord ,combined with the ripped, safety pinned, thrift store aesthetic of the New York muscians was perfect for the new revolutionary style that McLaren had in mind. Ironically, what McLaren created was totally contradictory to what the Situationists were rebelling against. The capitalist spectacle and commodity fetishism which Debord had famously denounced, is exactly what McLaren recouped as punk's ugly, raw, deconstructed image in the form of mainstream fashion. Despite the blatant disparity, the British youth ate. that. shit. up." the new york dolls mclaren and westwood designed goods for their shop on kings road in london's chelsea district, this is where vivienne westwood got her start as a designer...the shop went through many incarnations and re-brands through the seventies from first being titled "Let It Rock", then "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die," then "SEX",then Seditionaries and finally became known as "World's End". World's End remains open as part of vivienne westwood's global fashion empire. malcolm mclaren went on to do many things including managing the sex pistol's, making his own music and art and he's also known for helping to popularize hip hop in the early 1980s... one of my favorite vivienne westwood designs from her retrospective. vivienne westwood and malcolm mclaren back in the day... the sex pistols. the commentary below came from an article in the new york times regarding the upcoming "Punk: Chaos to Couture” exhibition at the met. "Still, for some punk originators the idea of leather and studs at the Met, with the imprimatur of Vogue, which co-sponsors the Costume Institute Ball, on May 6, is heresy. “Getting these high-fashion designers, what does that have to do with punk?” said Legs McNeil, who was a founder of Punk magazine in 1975. “So rich people could go slumming? Come on, give me a break.” It’s a “masturbatory fantasy for Anna Wintour and Vogue,” he added. “They always go and try to co-opt what they can’t own. They try to co-opt authenticity and turn it into something boring.” Debbie Harry, the enduring Blondie frontwoman who helped shape the downtown scene at CBGB in the 1970s alongside bands like the Ramones, Television and the New York Dolls, said the era’s style was deliberately transgressive. “We were definitely looking to be different,” she said, “to be not really fashionable, but to look very cool, to look rock ‘n’ roll.” She made outfits of cinched garbage bags and pillowcases she found on the street. Her taste wasn’t always a hit. “I almost got thrown off a bus once for wearing my underwear,” she recalled. “The bus driver screamed at me. I had on little orange satiny pink tap pants — they looked fantastic, but he was outraged that I was walking around in my skivvies. I remember using my bra as outerwear, and really getting a lot of bad looks.” But, she added, “It just felt right. It looked hot.” awesome. keep it alive yall. debbie harry and anya phillips in the late 1970s photo of blondie by chris stein *quote #1 came from here **quote #2 came from here