The Depressed Easter Bunny Summit Introduces 1948's Easter Parade

This is a post I did last year, so I apologize for the repeat, but its one of my favorite films and sadly I think its been rather forgotten.  Its quite kitschy and pretty silly, but the fashions (a late 1940s take on Victorian looks) are divine and the star power, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland!, is unparalleled.  So I decided to post it again.  This year the post is brought to you courtesy of the depressed Easter Bunny summit (aka Weasley, Fry, and Mr. Tuvok arrayed in the Easter finery)

Link to our post: Cinema Spotlight Easter Parade

Of Pugs and Poodle Skirts-A Vintage Outfit Post

About four years ago when I started getting heavily into wearing vintage I remember a few people asking me if I'd every wear a poodle skirt, my response: an emphatic "no!"  At the time I was pretty much into 1920s, 30s, and 40s looks exclusively so I just was interested in sporting 50s fashions.  Plus, I viewed the poodle skirt as overly costumey.  Whenever I did online vintage fashion searches the only poodle skirts I saw where in repro shots of people pretending to be 1950s teens.  The poodle skirt, it seemed, was the ultimate 1950s Halloween costume, but not really an authentic vintage look.   I started to wonder if many girls in the 1950s had actually worn poodle skirts, or if the prevalence of the trend had been greatly exaggerated in memory. 


The reality is 1950s girls did wear poodle skirts, though perhaps not as often as people today might think they did.

  The real 1950s trend wasn't just for poodle skirts, it was for fun circle skirts with a wide range of cute and kitschy apliques. The genius behind the design was Julie Lynne Charlot  

a model, actress and singer.  In the late 1940s she designed her fun, easy to make  skirts from one giant piece of cloth and started adding one of a kind adornments.  Initially Charlot made skirts for herself, but they came out well she took them to a boutique and was soon selling them.  Her skirts where easy to make, as Charlot was not an accomplished seamstress, and she was immediately copied by home sewers and other designers.  The novelty skirt craze was born.    Teenage girls loved the playful french poodle, incidentally one of the most popular breeds in the 1950s, but there where many other appliques  from to choose from:

The point was for the skirts to be fun, comfortable, twilrly, and unique.  Charlot's creations were all slightly different so that no two  ladies had an identical skirt.

Charlot's modern counterpart is Girl in a Whirl, a dog loving designer who sells her wares on face book, and the lady who made me re-think my no poodle skirt stance.  I was first shown one of her skirts over a year ago by a fellow vintage lover who sent me a link to her creations.  I thought hmmm that is interesting and forgot about it.  Gradually, though I started getting more into 1950s looks.  I took another look at Girl in A Whirl's page and realized that she doesn't just make poodle skirts, she makes everything skirts!  This woman can seriously put anything you imagine onto a gorgeous 1950s style circle skirt and all of her skirts are unique!  Dogs are one of her most popular choices and she has made skirts featuring many breeds.  In fact  pug skirts  seem to be her biggest seller.   

After I got Mr. Tuvok last year I really wanted a pug and poodle skirt so I contacted Girl in A Whirl and we started chatting.  We decided on a simple grey skirt with a fawn pug and a black toy poodle.  In no time at all I had my perfect skirt.  So cute and comfy and not too costumey at all, in fact I wear this skirt to work very often, its become one of my staples.  The sturdy cotton fabric means it works in warm and cold weather, which I love.  Its very full so you can wear a petticoat underneath, as I did in these pictures, but if petticoats aren't your thing you don't need one.  I find they really complete the 1950s look though.

 Like my darling pets this skirt, just couldn't be cuter.

I particularly love the red ribbon detail she used on the leashes.  Just like Juli Lynne Charlot's creations, this skirt of one of a kind.  

I paired my skirt with an old navy cardigan, a swell dame 1950s style sleeveless blouse, my 1950s poodle purse,  some gold tone poodle pins, and a poodle pendant that the lovely Jessica from Chronically vintage sent me when I purchased another item from her etsy shop.  

Maybe it is a costumey outfit, but its a costume I love wearing.   Lesson learned, never say never!

In fact I loved my skirt so much that I ordered another, non-dog themed, circle skirt from Girl In A Whirl for my birthday this year.   I'll share pictures soon!  


Outfit Details:
Novelty Circle Skirt: Girl In A Whirl
1950s Style Blouse: Swell Dame
Cardigan: Old Navy
Bakelite Bangle: Thrifted
Gold Tone Poodle Pins: Thrifted
Poodle Purse: Etsy, but I can't remember the seller
Shoes: Crocs Ballet Flats from Amazon
Petticoat: Amazon
Tights: Amazon

More reading on poodle skirts:



Chronically Vintage Fear Not The Poodle Skirt
Poodle Skirts: Their Origin and Influence The Poodle and Dog Blog
1950s Skirt History: Vintage Dancer
Interview with Juli Lynne-Charlotte The Vintage Traveler

Modern Purveyors of Vintage-Besame Lipsticks a Review

Is there anything more evocative of vintage beauty then classic red lipstick?

I don't think so.  Nearly all the stars during Hollywood's golden age sported glamorous  pouts in various hues of scarlet, and many more average ladies alive during the time period did as well.   

Now I am by no means a make up expert, in fact I'm not very skilled with make up at all, so if you want good vintage make up  tips I urge you to look else where (I will include a list of links later in this post) but I do wear lipstick almost every day and it is always Besame lipstick.

Besame is a cosmetics company that was founded by the beautiful Gabriela Hernandez.

She started the company in 2004 motivated by her life long love of vintage style, vintage cosmetics, and most specifically classic red lipstick!  Here is what the company has to say about their products:

"Through a keen eye for color and historical expertise, we recreate modern reproductions of classic luxury makeup from the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, designed to make women feel elegant, inspired, and empowered by their beauty. Pairing innovative, cutting edge technology with a historical milieu, our colors and formulations are painstakingly hand-crafted to a minutia of detail, from our custom-designed gold compacts to our signature chrysanthemum motifs."

Besame lipsticks are indeed super authentic from the gold bullet packaging:

To the triangular shape of the lipstick in the tube

these cosmetics are just like the vintage originals   

and of course the colors are spot on too.  

Perhaps most importantly Besame cosmetics are never tested on animals and are made from high quality ingredients.   A  nice thing about Besame is that while they are known for their reds they have other colors as well.  Here are pictures of the 9 shades I've tried.  

Besame Red- This is the companies signature shade a cooler blue-tone red with a nice bright tone.

Cherry Red-A 1930s cherry red shade that can be worn as a stain or more matte.

Red Hot Red- The warm red  made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s.

Exotic Pink-A matte bright flamingo pink based on 1950s shades.

Carmine-A neutral orange red based on 1930s shades

Portrait Pink- A matte pastel baby pink with no shimmer, based on 1960s shades

American Beauty-A 1940s cool berry shade

Red Velvet-a deep matte 1940s red

Noir Red-A deep plum 1920s shade

The nice thing about Besame lipsticks is they have a high pigment so one coat gives full  coverage.  Also, like traditional vintage lipsticks, they are all matte or semi-matte so that you get that classic vintage look.

Besame lipsticks are available in two forms.  The economical matchsticks

which retail for $6.00 and let you try out the color.  Each matchstick set comes with six samples that are easy to apply.  The matchsticks are how I sampled nearly all the red shades I've shown here.

Besame lipsticks retail for $22.00 



but offer some distinct advantages over the matchsticks.   For one thing the match sticks are difficult to store and after you use one stick its very difficult to store it and use it again even if color remains.  The lipsticks of course don't have that problem and since the pigment is so concentrated they last a very long time.  I've had some of my besame tube lipsticks for over 3 years and they are still nearly full of product.   There are also some shades, including three of my favorites, exotic pink, debutante pink, and carmine, that are not available in matchstick form.  

The shape of the besame lipsticks is designed so that you can line your lips and apply color.  Here is a video showing how:

Being a make up klutz I still find this difficult and for the vibrant red shades I use either the match sticks or the besame lip liner and a regular drugstore lipstick brush.  

If you want to add some vintage glamour to your make up bag you absolutely can't go wrong with besame lipsticks.  The company also doesn't stop at lipstick.  They  make mascara, powder, and perfume.  The cosmetics are available online and in Sephora stores.


I promised I'd end this post with some links to people more knowledgable about vintage beauty, here you go:

Bobby Pin Blog

Glamour Daze Vintage Make Up Guide

Lipstick and Curls

Hollywood Noir

Happy St Patrick's Day

First thank you so much for Weasley's birthday wishes.  Second, I apologize if I haven't been visiting blogs much this week.  I am way swamped at work with many assessment and reports do on my students.   

But I didn't want to skip a St. Patrick's Day post.  (If only because I saw this picture online and had to share it)

Yesterday, I managed to get some cute shots of our two youngest kids in there "I Can't Hold My Licker" shirts from Dirt Road Dog on etsy.

I also made my favorite St. Pat's Day treat, Guiness cake (though this year I used oatmeal stout and not Guiness) 

It's so good and super easy the recipe is on the NY Times site.


In vintage news I scored what might just be my craziest hat ever, I initially questioned whether I'd have the guts to wear it.  Its a 1940s knit turban from Arthelia's Attic:

And it's about 6 inces high, very Carmen Miranda.  As my husband said it will get some stares.  Which believe it or not I don't love, I dress vintage because its a passion, but Im very shy and don't always like attention.  Anyway the hat is crazy fabulous.  It reminds me of this knit turban worn by a  young Lucille Ball:

It also reminds me of this clip from Sesame Street (yes, I'll be 38 in a week and I still like Sesame Street.)

I  remember seeing this as a little girl and loving it, a sign that I was destined to grow up to be a crazy hat lady.  I definitely don't plan on wearing my hat to the movies, but I am putting together a casual 1940s outfit to wear with it.  Something with denim and gingham.    Best wishes to all!

Fourth Birthday Celebration

This Saturday we celebrated Weasley's fourth birthday, the actual event was on the 11 but we were at work.  I can't believe my baby turned 4!  

He got lots of presents:

 Including a Dr. Who hoodie from pug possessed

and a collar and leash from Dogs By The Bay.  It  has symbols from three awesome geeky tv shows on it: Dr. Who, Sherlock, and Supernatura:

He got toys too  of course, but I think he was peeved he didn't get any treats.

After presents we went for a walk:

After the walk we made up for the lack of treats with a cake from Meatloaf's Kitchen.       This was definitely Weasley's favorite part of the day.

We hope to have many more happy years together!

Vintage Outfit Post-Miss Lemon's Dress,Two Ways

First I want to thank everyone who was so kind about Tuvok's picture and name worries in my last post.  To be clear, I don't really expect anyone to recognize his name, that be silly, and I dont want anyone to think I am offended.  I just find it kind of funny that so many people think his name is Tuna!   I even briefly considered changing his name right after we got him and the confusion started, but I love his name.  I just think the groomer who gets 90$!!!! should learn his name. 

Since I had this blog on hiatus for a few months last fall I have kind of a glut of vintage outfit posts to share, and here is another.  It's a 1930s fall/winter dress from Sew Vintage Seamstress inspired by one of my favorite fictional vintage style icons, Miss Lemon from Poirot.  

Miss Lemon as played by the lovely Pauline Moran is inspirational in so many ways.  She isn't an ingenue or a titled lady, she is a working woman in early middle age, yet she looks fantastic all the time!  Poirot must be paying his secretary quite handsomely for her afford all of these fabulous clothes.  

And of course Miss Lemon is worth it, she is clearly very clever and like Poirot hyper organized and more then a bit obsessive.   Another thing I love about Miss Lemon is her fondness for cats.  She rightfully tosses aside one suitor, due to his dislike of felines.  It really saddens me that Miss Lemon faded from view in the later seasons of Poirot and I really think the series went down hill after her departure.

The set and costume design in Poirot, particularly in its earlier seasons when it was perfection.  I love how Miss Lemon's clothing picked up on aspects of the stories.  For example, in the episode The Adventure of The Egyptian Tomb,  Miss Lemon has a stunning grey dress with pyramid details.

This is the dress I had Sew Vintage Seamstress copy and she did an amazing job, right down to the buttons!   It looks just like Miss Lemon's.   

Of course accessories have the power to change an outfit and as I promised in the title of this post I'll show this dress two ways with different accessories.  The first pictures show how I wore there dress on a cold winter day, January 1st in fact.  I paired it with thick winter tights and a hat Ive had for a few years from Captaine Crochet, you can find her on instagram.

I also added my halloween cat pin because Miss Lemon love's cats!

Obligatory cat pic:

The second look is from a warmer day.  I paired the dress with a 1930s hat and a gold deco belt that was a generous gift:

My favorite thing about this dress is the amazing details.    I think I like the second outfit best, and thats probably how I'll usually wear this dress which is definitely on its way to being one of my favorites.   

Outfit Details
Dress: Sew Vintage Seamstress
Burgandy Hat-Captain Crochet (find her on Facebook or instagram)
Cat Pin-Mrs. Polly's Lucite
Low Heeled Shoes-American Duchess
Gloves-Thrifted
Black and White Cloche-I can't remember!
Heart Hat Pin-Merriweather
High Heeled Black Pumps-Remix Vintage Shoes