Displaying all articles in the category &ldquo Vintage &rdquo
Tailoring is an art form that has been around for centuries, and has evolved to become a highly specialized craft. Although it’s an old world trade not much has changed in the past 200 years. The businesses have usually been family-owned, where everyone pitches in to help, even the children. An item of clothing made by a tailor is personal, unique and superior, a contrast against the mass consumed, quickly made wears that fills much of todays clothing stores.
At Rising Sun, we believe and live by the code of this honorable trade. As merchant tailors, we take pride in being torch bearers of this honest hand made craft, and feel compelled to shed some light on this subject by showcasing some timeless images from the days of old.
Our new friends from the blog Anothersomething and wrote up a brief history on the Buddy Lee dolls. They stopped by our shop when they were in town to model some of our Buddy Lee collection for the photos in the article. Click here to read the article. They have more of these articles which they call “anotherfeature,” and they also have curated online store called “anothershop.”
We just finished a new batch of t-shirts along with some other new goods for our haberdashery in Pasadena. Give us a call or visit to see for yourself.
The Anvil T in White (also available in Petrol Blue and Indian Red)
The Celebrated T in Graphite (also available in White)
We also just made some Chambray Workshirts but we only have a couple of each size so get one quick if you want one. The body is made of wide goods chambray and with some details from selvedge chambray.
These vintage 40′s suspenders are also available in the shop:
Come celebrate with us the release of the much anticipated denim history book, written by Michael Harris. Covering the origins of denim in the ol’ west frontier of San Francisco from 1873 to 1890.
You will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase a few of the mine found items chosen to be recreated by “Dead Grass” & manufactured by The Rising Sun on period correct machines using period correct fabrics and hardware.
* LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE *
Saturday August 7th
6pm to 9pm
Hosted by
Rising Sun & Co
107 S Fair Oaks Ave
Pasadena, CA 91105
Below is an excerpt from the book, an example of what you will learn from denim history:
In the Old West, blue jeans were one of a workingman’s tools. They protected his lower body and they carried items of use, and they were comfortable enough to wear all day long. And, with the invention of the riveted jeans, they were sturdy enough to last for years.
To me, old San Francisco-made blue jeans have functional beauty – like old steam engines with all of the pipes and workings on the outside. Not only the riveted jeans of Levi Strauss & Co., but also, and perhaps more so, the non-riveted jeans with strengthening features sewn on the outside, like the designs of B. & O. Greenbaum, A. B. Elfelt, and S. R. Krause.
Although this book is primarily about the jeans manufacturing companies in San Francisco during the late 1800’s, there were a large number of independent tailors working in San Francisco at the time who made clothes-to-fit. Work pants could be bought ready-made off the shelves of dry good stores in all of the Western towns and mining camps of the period, but dress clothes were probably mostly purchased from these independent tailors.
Remember that the first rivet denim jeans were made by Jacob Davis in his tailor shop in Reno, Nevada. In fact his inclusion of a watch pocket on work pants may have been because of his being accustomed to making suit pants, which customarily came with one. Also, Jacob’s addition of a back pocket to his work pants, something not normally found on work pants of the period, but often on dress pants, suggests that he used a dress pants pattern for his work pants design. So, the modern form of jeans, with a watch pocket and back pockets, probably owes its existence to the melding of features from dress pants with work pants by a tailor.
So don’t forget to mark your calendars for August 7th!
The Rising Sun booth got very busy.
There is a perfectly good reason for why our blog has not been updated in some time. In preparing for Rin Tanaka’s Inspiration show our good propreitor Mike Hodis reminded us how madly dedicated he is to his work at Rising Sun. Running for days with barely any sleep and lots of RS coffee Mike moved practically half the shop to the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica airport. Human limits were tested. We took great pains (ie, back pain, shoulder pain, etc) to carefully move our sewing machines like the ol’ black head Union Special bulldog hemmer, our lovely black head single needle, the black caballo, and a special triangle stitcher (more on that last piece of equipment next time but it has this neat attachment and cam that make it perfect for stitching leather reinforcement on seams). Not to mention putting in tongue and groove pine floors, crates, stock, heirloom showcases, and so much more.
All these and the required raw materials were transported there for us to set up a temporary haberdashery to stitch up a fine pair of jeans and show off our passion. We also flaunted our and Michael Harris’s vintage collection in wooden showcases that are sisters to the ones in our shop. Considering visitor reactions we think we did a pretty good job and wonder if maybe we should hit the road more often (no).
Showcase of vintage pieces at Rising Sun booth.
Mike with JP Plunier.
Mine finds from Michael Harris's collection at Rising Sun booth.
Heller's Cafe put on quite a display of amazing vintage pieces. In both quality and quantity the collection displayed is one of the finest in the country. Important artifacts of denim workwear pieces included racks and racks of chinstrap shirts and Stifel pieces including shirts with removable collars still attached.
The most interesting and memorable booth for us is Julian boots'. His booth was right behind ours and he was making a pair of booths right there and then. Julian is an old school craftsman who makes boots the old fashion way in America. He will measure your foot, feel your foot, and goes through the whole process needed to get a handle for what your feet needs before carving a last just for you to ensure the best fit. Very rarely do you hear about custom bootmakers who go through such lengths.
Julian only worked on spiffing up one pair that day and Mike was super impressed with the results. He exude such pride and joy in his skills at the art of a fine polish.
The Mr. Winter booth
Mr. Winter's vintage racer. From 1939.
Chuck's Vintage booth.
Mister Freedom booth.
Given the opportunity we will definitely do the Inspiration show again. Besides being one big party for denim and vintage lovers the show also gave us the chance to meet unique craftsmen like Julian. If you missed the first show be sure to keep an eye out for the next one. See you there!
Here is a snapshot showing our setup at Inspiration. There is no doubt this show will become one of the most important gatherings in the US for denim and vintage lovers.
There is heavy denim talk on every corner. Stories about vintage finds are abound. They should rename this event to Heaven.
There are a few things you may find interesting about Rising Sun’s shop besides the products. Our haberdashery’s building, 107 S. Fair Oaks, is a historic building in Pasadena. It was constructed in the late 1880′s and served as a showroom for stage coaches or horse carriages. By the early 1900′s it became the Hotel Mikado a Japanese hotel that mostly catered to Japanese Americans. By about World War II the hotel was sold to the family of Mr. Percy Carter who converted the hotel to The Hotel Carver (after George Washington Carver), Pasadena’s first hotel owned by African-Americans. Its primary clientele consisted of visitors turned away by the Hotel Green, which serviced mostly well-to-do, white clients.
During The Hotel Carver years the then well-known nightclub, The Onyx Club, which eventually became The Club Cobra, featured jazz talents of the time in the basement. Below is a picture of the wall in the basement today.
By the 70′s the building was converted to artists studios and the Pasadena Repertory Theatre, which won the LA Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director and best Screenplay for its staging of “In Celebration.” Other acclaimed creatives associated with the space include Paul McCarthy (contemporary artist), Steve Gerber (Marvel Comics creator, The Defenders, Howard the Duck), Gill Dennis (writer, Walk the Line), Betty Dore (painter), Herbie Lewis (jazz musician), and more.
Today Rising Sun does not forget the important history of Old Town Pasadena and the stories these walls would tell if could speak. With time we will perhaps weave some tales of our own for the history books.
When we worked on the space our belief was the only way to build ourselves a haberdashery was from the sweat from our own brows. The leather floors were install by Mike, friends, and family. The carved wood found in the haberdashery were done by his family. So were the tin ceilings. We pride ourselves in upholding the fighting spirit that is still very much alive in the building.
Please visit our shop at 107 S. Fair Oaks, Pasadena CA and enjoy the local history.
