40s Novelty fun

As promised I am carrying on with a novelty print post dedicated to the 1940's and I hope you will enjoy the selection I put together.

I am including bellow the little disclaimer from the previous post, hope everybody is ok with that.

Some of these images I've saved a while ago and can't remember where from, I do sincerely apologize to the original sources , will try to be more accurate for the future. Others, I decided to link their source for those of you who might be interested to purchase those items still available. Although I'd like to take this opportunity to mention again that this blog has a non commercial purpose and I am in no way linked to those sellers. But I thought that perhaps is the best way to credit the original source of these images, in those cases where is still known to me.

There you go, have fun!

Brown rayon dress from exquisitebones on Etsy. Could you make justice to this dress?...


Detail from a beautiful dress available from ebay seller retromagnetic. I would have snatched this is the colors where right for me!

Beach outfit from etsy seller SassySisterVintage, this is both beautiful and affordable, not something to be found easily (but why does it have to be peach?!!)...

Love letters dress from adelinesattic on Etsy, just look at all that detail!


I am still swooning over this, that cloud like print and cotton candy color are ticking all the right boxes! From funkomavintage on Etsy.
I am sure this is from an Etsy seller too, but can't find it anymore. perhaps it sold, what a beautiful, beautiful piece!

As for the rest, I really can't find the sources anymore, but I am sure you will admire them anyway for the lovely things they are.

Perfect little dress that makes me sight for I could never wear those colors...

How cute are those pianos?

I love love love this blouse, what do you think?

Makes you want go to the beach right now, doesn't it?

Happy go lucky Hawaiian print.
There are a lot of tropical print and Tikki collectors out there, and this subject deserve a post of its own, something I might do at a later date.

50s Novelty fun

I have developed of late a soft spot for novelty prints. I believed it sprung from a lovely little Austrian shirt somebody snatched on Ebay straight from under my nose. God, I'm still sore.
There are the things you lose and you recover from. And there are the other ones, that still make you feel stick to the stomach time and time again when resurfacing in memory.
Anyway, that's that, this post was meant to be fun, and it sure enough will be, as soon as you'll cast your greedy little eyes (if you're anything like me) over what life has to offer as far as novelty prints go.
There's a sea of opportunities out there for the lovers of cute to quirky to down right OTT. This post is dedicated to a few lovely examples of 1950's novelty prints, and I'll follow with another post with 1940's examples. And perhaps a 30's one too, since it's where my heart really lies.

Some of these images I've saved a while ago and can't remember where from, I do sincerely apologize to the original sources , will try to be more accurate for the future. Others, I decided to link their source for those of you who might be interested to purchase those items still available. Although I'd like to take this opportunity to mention again that this blog has a non commercial purpose and I am in no way linked to those sellers. But I thought that perhaps is the best way to credit the original source of these images, in those cases where is still known to me.

This skirt can be found at BohemianGurlVintage on Etsy. Soooooo cute!

A cute casino print skirt!

Beautiful ochre yellow dress to be found at ReviveVintage on Etsy. I love it, and a cockerel print melts me down like ice cream on a hot pavement, gutted I can't wear the color!

Detail of a print on a dress available at TimelessVixenVintage on etsy.
Wonderful castle print skirt from VintageDevotion on Etsy.

Amazing dress from Planetclairevintage etsy seller.

Adorable scarf with a train carriages print from etsy seller rabbity!

Green envy

This is yet another older mood board. In spite of the mismatched eras, I am still enjoying this one (and growing obsessed with that doggy tray), perhaps because of the green and yellow/gold combo, there's such a playful energy about it.

Gitane

Today was a truly beautiful day. We went for a picnic by the river, enjoyed the sunshine and warmth. It was wonderful and I wished it to last forever.
The gypsy look I was exploring outfit wise came out half folk half Pirates of the Caribbean.
I promise to put more effort into it next time. And a skirt.

In the meantime I leave you in wonderful, appropriate company:

Faking it

It may be the last outpost of winter, but it ain't the last bit of knit you've seen from me.


This is the outfit from my previous post, I'm wearing a dress my mother knitted for me a couple of years back, paired with with a bright scarf and beret ('cause black doesn't love me back).



No vintage items here (apart from a hat pin you can't see), I'm doing what I do - if not best- most often: improvise the look. And let me tell you, I hate improvising, but somehow I think this works.


Thanks mum! She has just finished another green knit jacket & skirt for me, not the first piece executed long distance mode (we live countries apart, and now that I think of it this black dress too was long distance!).
However this is the first time ever when I took measurements, sent a color sample and an actual vintage catalog picture to reproduce. Not the pattern as such - since she hasn't learnt knitting from books or a course, she doesn't do technical terms.
Also, my color choice efforts went a bit bust because she rushed out to buy the wool before the sample actually reached her. As a result she's now worried that the green might not be quite the match...What can I say? It will have to do. Let us hope now that at least my measurements were correct.
I should have the suit in a few weeks time so I'll probably end up doing yet another winter post sometimes in ... June.

Wuthering Heights

One day on my early spring holiday we decided to go to a pub in the country. We got lost and drove around on roads that became smaller and smaller. Left behind farms in their gray dresses of stone and found ourselves at the top of a hill where the sun and rain were playing hide and seek.

The vision of a blue sky lured us out in the open. Heavily pregnant sheep were staring at us across the field, blank and intangible like ancient totems.

But the wind chilled us to the soul and left my smile hanging from my face, pitiful crisp icicle.
And all this time, that beautiful maddening light dancing around and mocking us, bursting into laughter, bursting into tears.

So much more than a riot

There is a buzz in the air as spring enters the city with its Trojan horse of aroused senses, beetles and hope. From everywhere, colors are protruding through the black of a winter retreating so fast it has no time to mourn the lost battle. Only a minute left until the sweet invasion is complete, before we all bow in ecstatic surrender to the victor.

Queen Spring, your crown awaits you.

For the non purists, here's a mixed platter of vintage and vintage inspired, to be served al fresco.

Pick what you like, but be sure to be Jumpin' at the Woodside, it's what spring is about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdWgHtTau48

Deep Autumn of March

It may be April, but some of us still live in the past. Earlier this spring we went to the forest to look for snow drops and purple crocuses. All we found were fallen trees and muddy patches.
Perhaps the forest, like me, needs more than one day of sunshine to drop its heavy winter coat.


This time around my autumn palette blended in with the surroundings, however my look did not match my vintage aspirations. But this last pic looks positively gypsy. Maybe if I take that route I will finally find my way to the 30's...

In the wrong place at the wrong time...

...Doing the wrong thing...This time, embracing being a Deep Autumn (as opposed to the Winter I've always coveted)... right at the beginning of spring. Admittedly, it had to be done.
I have been trying to find my place in this world of colors for months now. Accepting who you are does you good, goes the theory. As for wearing rust colors in the spring...surely my timing could have been better.


The question is though: what exactly does a Deep Autumn wear in the spring? ...Well, for those of us impaired where it comes to yellow and peach, there is always...beige. Yep, I'm afraid it is a blah as it sounds. I, for one, will never get over my peach failure, especially with the trillions of vintage items out there in all possible shades of peach. For example, if you ever come across a beautiful 1930's slip, there's a 90% chance it will be peach.


Nevertheless, here I am, wearing some more forgiving autumn colors including beige. As for the not so vintage get up, I guess until those 30s sporty outfits miraculously turn up in my wardrobe, I'll wear what I can. Anyway this experiment was about the color rather than the style. And at least from the neck up is not too bad. Or is it?



More about color analysis on http://trepanrr.tripod.com/tonal_color_palettes.htm#deep_autumm

Shrinking Violet

I was born with a love for violets. They were there every spring, creeping out of a crack in the stone by the old house. And every spring my heart would skip a beat in fear that perhaps this year they won't make it. But these little flowers fight all evil, and every year they came through.

Their vibrant inflorescence filled my childhood springs with sweet delicacy and haunting perfume. That, I will always have. Truly, I am a violet junkie.

Apart from the Meyers brooch, all the objects in the images bellow are available on etsy as we speak (since I am not using the blog for commercial purposes I am not providing direct links).

Dog of my heart

Yesterday after work I quickly changed into walking-the-dog-in-my-heart-clothes and rushed on top of the hill 'cause the sun was up and shining.


Daffodils are all in bloom now, and I found those little violets which I am loving so, and some wild roots that I used to dig up and eat as a child in the early springs back home, the whiteness of their pulp glaring back at me from a memory that smells of earth and joy.



There were cows, horses and sheep in the field sunning themselves, and rabbits were playing love games, the whites of their tails flickering like tiny flags across the field, only to completely dissolve the very next moment in the brown-green of soil and grass.


I ran around and sniffed the wind in four corners, listened to the mud of the neighboring farm happily fermenting in the sun, and watched the big grin of the village gaping under the sky.


I looked through my late father-in- law's binoculars at a lime willow tree, as lime as only a spring willow tree can be.
And I looked at the binoculars and caressed their rough leather case and thought of my father-in-law's life and wished him near, as I've been missing him, we all have.


But mostly I stuck to the warm stone wall of the church and sucked up the sun like a greedy lizard, letting the dog-of-my-heart give crazy rounds to the fallen tombs.

Things are looking up.