#300389 - Bizarre Nostalgia Part 2 London Life

Bizarre Nostalgia, Part 2
Eros Publishing Co., Inc.
Wilmington Delaware
1976
An Eros Goldstripe Special

a digital replica
and
optimized for ebook viewing








Bizarre Nostalgia gives us a peek at European fetish styles from the period between the wars. The editorial on page three of Part One describes the source in these words:


“A devoted collector of material relating to high heeled shoes, tightly laced corsets and long, leather gloves collected, during the years from 1924 to 1941, clippings and illustrations appearing in London Life magazine, carefully glued them into the pages of two large, gray-paged scrapbooks, and no doubt pored over them from time to time for his own pleasure.”


The 64-page magazine exposes its content in three sections:
Era of High Heels, which focuses on both shoes and tall boots
Fashions in Tight-Lacing, which cheers corsets, and
Gloves for the Smartly Dressed.

Much of the prose takes the form of letters to the editor, signed by a man who calls himself Bottier (= bootmaker). This individual shares detailed knowledge of construction, manufacture and history of many fetish fashions, including the evolution of high heels. Dozens of his sketches of shoes, boots, corsets and gloves punctuate his many essays.


Bottier and other correspondents describe their personal preferences, women they've seen and what they wear, and deplore modern attitudes that conflict with their own. Some write about the advantages of tight-lacing and describe undies they wear to the office.




Photographs of wives, girlfriends and possibly maids show corsetry, gloves, shoes, boots and silk stockings. While some of the women dress as the do because they like those styles, taking snapshots of ladies in fetish attire is most often a man's idea.

Not everyone could afford a camera in those days. Homes that serve as settings for some of the photography seem more than comfortable, reflecting a lifestyle that allows indulgence in custom leather goods. One matron in tall, buttoned boots poses on a balcony that opens to formal gardens.


It is unlikely that any picture in this magazine shows a professional model. Indeed, London Life aimed at the actual behavior of people in a great city, and only a part of each issue addressed matters of fashion. Apparently, its offices were destroyed by Axis bombs.


Construction of the magazine shows respect for the personal collection. Some of the pages have lines and ornaments in color, but the digital replica is entirely monochrome. Pages are presented in the sequence of the original. Some page layouts were revised slightly; some superfluous borders were excised. Brightness and contrast were adjusted to reduce unpleasant shadows in pictures. Some images have a rough texture.


The optimized ebook presents every illustration and photograph of the original volume. Many pictures are small on the printed pages. Most pictures have been placed at their original size or a bit larger on optimized ebook pages. This technique uses the video hardware of your computer to enlarge images on monitors. As a consequence, nearly every pictures fills the screen with sharp edges and good contrast.


While a few photos show film grain and other textures due to their antiquity, 120 images deliver a clear view of fetish history. Some pictures appear more than once in the optimized ebook because they are repeated in the magazine.

If you had owned this magazine for many years, the ebook would disclose details that had previously been concealed in plain sight. The magazine intended a nostalgic visit to styles and interests of the past through the eyes of a collector of legendary magazines. Two digital versions bring new clarity to the content of his treasured scrapbooks.







Two ebooks, one optimized, one all text, delivered by download from your 30th Street Graphics account.