comments

1. Sheila Ryan on March 12th, 2011 at 4:11 pm

   See also: dear clusterflock.

2. Amanda Mae Meyncke on March 12th, 2011 at 4:15 pm

   The tags on these are REMARKABLE. A work of ART.

   You viz mercher, you.

   I meant to tell you that one of the people I work with at the LGBT archives was a visual merchandiser in New York in the 70′s for Macy’s I think. He said they would just get incredibly high and play dress up with the dolls, run around the store and cause trouble, giggling and giggling. He said they broke a window once and he got a Harley Davidson and made it look like it was flying out of the window but security made him take it down after about a week.

   I said you worked for Saks and he looked appropriately awed.

3. Rick Neece on March 12th, 2011 at 4:24 pm

   We were so very much more appropriate at Saks. The very symbol of propriety. *snort* We were laughing our asses off at every opportunity. ‘Course we did have to face the man, and sometimes wash our hands of his dirty influence. I remember seeing a picture of that Harley window.

   When I think about it very long, I’m sad for the state of display and retail in general. It sure wudn’t what it used to be by the time I left.

4. Sheila Ryan on March 12th, 2011 at 4:32 pm

   Rick, I just remembered that I knew someone who did display for Marshall Field’s in the 1970s. Those were some fab displays.

   He invited me and my then-husband (his high-school friend) to drive down from Wisconsin to Chicago to the Ritz-Carlton for a fête for Erté, who was at the time only about 85. Alas, we could not make it for some silly reason or other.

5. Deron Bauman on March 12th, 2011 at 5:14 pm

   So since whoops.

6. Rick Neece on March 12th, 2011 at 5:23 pm

   Voice to text has miles to go. In a few words, in voice Danny said, “I forgot I was driving Carol home today. I’ll be home around 4:00 instead of 3:00. Love you.”

   The seventies were the days, though I was not part of vis-merch until 1984. Those days were also good days.

7. Sheila Ryan on March 12th, 2011 at 5:29 pm

   Voice-to-text, especially untrained voice-to-text, does remind me of what my ex-husband accused me of doing: deliberately playing hard-of-hearing and twisting words purely for my own entertainment. Others still accuse me of this. Me, I have no idea.

8. Sheila Ryan on March 12th, 2011 at 5:29 pm

   But I know Sam.

9. Sheila Ryan on March 12th, 2011 at 5:30 pm

   And that is a lovely and melancholy remembery, Rick.

10. Carole Corlew on March 13th, 2011 at 7:48 am

    I spent some time as a live mannequin when I was a teenager, Rick. Shelia may have done this as well. We were working for a merchandiser who incorporated us into her designs. She was beautiful and kind and a visual wonder herself. She was rail thin, beautifully dressed always, her hair pulled back in a severe updo. She looked like a ballet dancer. She was not the type of woman we routinely saw in Alabama in these days. The live mannequin bit changed me, in a good way. Most shoppers would stand there and stare at us, in awe. But a few punks tried to distract us, make us move, blink, etc. I learned to be there but not. At the end of the session, I would have a slight memory of what had happened. But I always had the strange feeling I had left my body. I know now it was an early form of meditation. Before I had been a hummingbird of a girl. always in motion. But I had learned the art of being still.

11. Sheila Ryan on March 13th, 2011 at 8:13 am

    Last night I dreamt that I had moved into a sort of department store and was hosting an open house. Or open store.

12. Carole Corlew on March 13th, 2011 at 8:20 am

    Excellent, Shelia. Instead of taking coats at the entrance, you could direct your guests to certain sections to select an outfit for the soiree.

13. Sheila Ryan on March 13th, 2011 at 8:35 am

    I like that.

    I would not squirt them with cologne.

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