Off the vintage path

I've been naughty, yes. I've strayed. I meant to sell this dress in order to buy vintage stuff - it's the way I choose to "update" my wardrobe since I lack the spare money. I have to sell something I have - usually modern clothing - in order to buy something else -usually vintage. But I think I've change my mind, and this one might stay with me a little longer.
All lurex, clingy and with a slit down one leg, it's enough to make any lady-like-wannabe wrinkle her nose in dismay. Yet there's something about it which still appeals to me, as it did those years ago when I bought it and worn it to my high school graduation party. Highly inappropriate, I think now ( I must have become a lot shyer since), which probably accounts for its success at the time.
It was for a long time the only dress I owed, and something I knew I could rely on if needed for the occasional wedding or glam New Year's Eve party.
And it's been with the New Year now approaching that I forked it out from the suitcase under the bed, to see if it still works its sparkle...

Happy Holidays

To all my blogging friends, may you have the merriest time this winter, happy and fabulous holidays, and a bright new year!

* illustration from a vintage card, PastandPresents, etsy.

What I really wanted to wear...

But like usual I am left with my day dreaming...However a realistic, certainly achievable New Year resolution would be to learn how to use that self timer...

What I wore...

All I wanted was a good pic of this nice old dress, but no such luck! Trying to make up for it with the quantity, but it doesn't quite work. Instead, I give you...a mighty mess...in midnight blue.

This is what I wore at the Christmas meal with the people from my new job. A last minute change, as I had in mind something else, but when I heard the dress code was smart casual I thought I'd better make an effort to blend in. It was a good try, if nothing else.
Why ever does the word "casual" come up in association with an evening do?...It beats me.
But I should make it a resolution for the year to come not to notice anymore details of the kind. Although, the question comes to mind: what would I be without the little things that bug me?!...
Still, most of the time I manage to be pretty oblivious to what's going on around me. I guess I can only wish for more consistency in 2011.

Bride in my bedroom

Details at deliadelia on etsy

Now I know the title of this might sound rather dubious, but that's what I've been playing at in this dress while trying to take some photographs for my etsy shop.
Alas, when I got married it was all rather too quick a register office affair, and what I wore didn't measure up against many of the more common species of wedding dresses, let alone a vintage beauty like this one.
I have since wished, and longed, and planned for a proper wedding, but that dream hasn't come true. It doesn't stop me though from parading around the bedroom in beautiful 1930s dresses and imagining how wonderful things could have been.
Or, more to the point, what a fantastic wedding a girl out there could have, swinging at the arm of a charming gentleman, or swipping everybody off their feet at a garden party...What do you think?

Girl of the Alps

It has snowed here and winter has brought with it Alpine folklore inspiration. I find myself playing at none other than Heidi.
I love Tyrolean dress, with its gorgeous embroideries, naive and fun motifs, gay colors (lots of green and red, great combination for this time of the year, but one that I for one seem to favor all year round :)).
What is it not to like about it, really?
One sees fantastic buttons (tick), lots of flowers (there's edelweiss everywhere, tick), great celluloid and wood jewelery (a rather satisfying quantity of brooches for the aficionado, tick), and last but not least, HATS!!!
Now that's something I have on my list - the perfect bavarian/or inspired hat. I've seen some around, but I'm waiting for the one that will call my name and make my heart sing.

That's the bottom line about the Tyrolean dress as far I'm concerned: it prompts one to run around, sing and dance, and feel good about life. God knows there's never shortage of people needing just that.

Here are the sources for the images used in the mood board please note some of these pieces have sold, others are still available for purchase.

Hand painted wood, hat and boots brooch, mine :), picked at a vintage fair;
Green leaf button, greenrayprod on etsy;
Late 40s early 50s embroidered Swiss wool vest, designarchives, etsy;
1920s to 30s celluloid, wood and glass necklace, retrospace, etsy;
Heart embroidered gloves, MostlyMadelines, etsy;
Hand painted Edelweiss brooch, misswroe on ebay;
Cane and boots brooch, 1001objects, ebay;
Tyrolean hat brooch, Vintage jewelry and other treasures, ebay;
Upcycled Tyrolean 50's style dress, iloveswift, etsy;
Velvet jacket, a while ago on ebay, unnnoted source;
Red hat brooch, ebay, souce not be found anymore;
40's Tyrolean boy decal, VintageNecessities, etsy
40s embroidered velvet vest, missfarfalla, etsy.

Exotic drama queen

Egyptian style deco necklace from firelightanitques ebay, now sold;
Gold compact from shakespeare86 ebay;
Gold shoes, adelinesattic, etsy, now sold;
Black perfume bottle, etsy, sources not noted for the rest.

...Greetings

Don't hate me. I work in retail and we are surrounded by it starting with September if not earlier in some cases. Anyway, it's not long now and, with Halloween out of the way, you ladies must be planning the outfits for the winter parties. What do you have in mind? Where do your fancies take you?
I've been playing around with the red/green combo, not everyone's cup of tea, or perhaps just a cliche not worth pulling off for some. It works for me though, but then I come from a place where people don't necessarily think "Christmas" when seeing red and green together.
I am curious what is it really that constitutes a faux pas in the western world of fashion: wearing something like this at Christmas, or wearing the combo on any other occasions?
Regardless, I do like it myself and might try it out at my work meal/Xmas outing, unless I'll whip up some other flamboyant idea that will get your eyes rolling :)

1940s silk velvet red jacket with modern dress and shoes
Xmas tree - zoehall, flickr
Red clutch from Planetclaire vintage etsy
Hairpins from vintageheaddresses.com
sources for the art deco watch, the jewelery, the 1940's green shoes and bag not noted

There's something about bookends

1930's bookends from vintagespecial on etsy

There's something about bookends that conveys to me the coziness and protective grounds of a proper home.
The time spent with the books not only to read them but to look after them surely must show for a soundness of character.
The sheer exhilaration of plunging in world after world other than your own (oh how I could write hymns to escapism) only comes once one has taken firm steps to lock outside the crazy pace of what we overrate as reality. Then comes the quiet happiness of showcasing them, these soul and mind feeders. It's a way to delimitate a personal corner that shows a certain degree of self respect. Or so I imagine.
Needless to say I'm lacking bookends in my life altogether.

Stag bookends from HydrangeaRow on etsy

Art deco bookends from englishpreserves on etsy

1940's acorn bookends from JaysTreasures on etsy

Mid century elephant bookends from fieldsofsea on etsy

Comedy and tragedy bookends from thevintagehideaway on etsy


Copper deco horse bookends, now sold, from oldandwise on etsy

My precious - the brooch collection

Rather than show you my usual and forever growing wish list I decided it's time to share some of the little treasures I enjoy in reality. Like any old fashioned being, I do have a thing for brooches.

Brooches for some reason are a either loved or hated, like marmite.
My best friend for example wrinkles her nose when it comes to them. Really?!...She also has a very strong hat aversion.
I find that absolutely scandalous :) But then again there's a lot in this life beyond my comprehension. These cuties, luckily, aren't.

Back to deco

Come to me

I thought I'd share with you, once again, some of my etsy fancies, as at this stage window shopping still seems to be the nearest I'll ever get to have anything of the kind in my life.

Art Nouveau belt buckle, luvintage, etsy

1900's moss agate ring, IvyCottage2U, etsy

Art Nouveau rooster brooch, TheDustyDog, etsy

Art Nouveau tile, EmilyLynch, etsy

Hand painted Limoges box, spiralechostudio, etsy

Art Nouveau bar pin, kingjickie, etsy

Edwardian mop bead necklace, daggerlane, etsy

Silver brushes, ddb7, etsy

Long time no see

So what did I do all this time?! Well I went job interviewing and got myself a brand new job which, for the first time in 6 years, will NOT involve wearing a uniform or a company's clothing. Instead, I will get to wear my vintage at work! Ha! Ain't that somethin'?! Could it be that my planets may be finally aligned in the right position?!

Among other things my absence also involved a short holiday spell in Paris, a rather very crazy thing to do giving the state of my finances. And one of the reasons why, in the end, I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I should have, which is pretty criminal when you're talking Paris. But with everything else on my plate, and things on other people's plates beyond my control, the reality is I didn't get to chill. It was the first time I've not cried my eyes out on return from Paris, where I have been a couple of times before and always felt very much at home.

This time though the city seemed cold and unforgiving, a living machine that functions oblivious to any human dramas. Not set to achieve a greater, incomprehensible purpose, but a pure mechanical existence, yet of absolute power in its crushing routine....So has Paris succumbed to its big city condition.

We were there at Halloween time, and our odd camera was definitely in the right mood - more than I can say about our party - and it achieved some pretty eerie effects. For some reason looking at these pics takes me straight into The Hunchback of Notre Dame atmosphere. This dark, Gothic novel, with its story of fate and destiny, and severe separation between social classes, seemed that night every bit as actual as when it was written nearly 200 years ago.

Last...or shall I say latest?!

Coming back as boasted, to sport yet another feathery beauty.
For how long yet I'm not sure, as this one too, together with the purple fedora of two posts ago, is for sale in my etsy shop, and the cute suede bag is there too.
But I might just change my mind about this hat...While I could clearly see how immensely beautiful it was from the beginning, I didn't approach the question of "does it suit me?" until these pics were taken.
And now it also dawns one me how well it goes with my jacket (a Laura Ashley number that needs to have its sleeves shortened).
Hm, I think I am a whole lot better at buying rather than selling, as I can't seem to bear parting with things. Is that what greed is? ...she shakes her head in shame.

Hat after hat after hat

So I like hats... Veils, feathers, velvets - these all tickle my fancy. If tilted, you're talking love. Like this 1940s one, not in the best nick, a couple of nibs in the velvet and soiled lining - yet it's a darling on. And it matches rather well my beloved peplum jacket, don't you think?
Do you remember the black jacket that I made a mood board in my "Equestrian vamp" post?
My chocolate one is very similar, and it is lined in the most gorgeous copper satin. I am hoping to have a couple of skirts made to go with it, and I've been thinking about olive green and russet. Yummy, I can hardly wait!
On a different note, if you're thinking you had enough of narcissistic mad hatter posts, think again! I have one more for you in the pipeline!