My Top Ten Vintage Outfits of 2016

Admittedly as we are now a month into 2017 this post is coming a little bit late, but I was inspired by my lovely blogging friends at Silver Cat Tea Party and really wanted to contribute my own outfit roundup post (see her's here its great!).   After all time flies (I can't believe I'll be 39 in two months) and this year really flew buy, some of these pictures feel like yesterday.  So here they are: my 10 favorite 2016 looks.

1) 1960s Cocktail Dress

This is an authentic vintage piece and one of the only 1960s pieces in my wardrobe, as well as one of the few evening/cocktail dresses.   I got the dress from Fab Gabs for a friend's wedding and accessorized it with a Chatterblossom hair flower, lucite box purse, and Remix vintage shoes.  Sadly this dress was very delicate and it really only survived one evening before the lurex started to tear.  It was a vintage tragedy because not only is the dress beautiful it fit like a glove.











2) 1930s Style Winter Dress

This dress is a reproduction from Sew Vintage Seamstress.  It has a classic late 30s silhouette with puffed sleeves and a notched collar.   The best part is the fabric, thick warm Burgundy colored corduroy.  This is a warm dress.   I accessorized it with an authentic 1930s hat I've had for year's and a 1940s ice follies brooch.  The gloves are a thrifted pair, I think from the 50s, and the shoes are from American Duchess.

3) Rocket Skirt from Girl in A Whirl- 

This skirt was my 38th birthday outfit.  I wanted something that would combine a sci-fi element with vintage, and thought of space travel.  I've always admired the optimism that pervaded space exploration in the 1950s and 60s. Girl in A Whirl can take any image and use felt to put it on a 1950s style circle skirt.  So I asked her to put the cover of the This Is The Way to The Moon by M. Sasek on a skirt.  

She did an amazing job depicting the family visiting Cape Canaveral on the skirt.   I paired it with a 1950s style blouse from Swell Dame, and old grey cardigan, thrifted bakelite bangles, gold Remix shoes, atomic earrings and a brooch from the Alamo basement and a Star Trek pin a blog reader sent.

4) Sunny Stripes from Hey Day

This is a really nice casual dress from Hey Day Vintage that definitely demonstrates the power of a print.  The casual tie on style of the dress is very comfortable and easy to wear and reminds me of dresses from the 1950s and early 60s.  The print is super versatile and lends it self to accessories in lots of different color combos.  I wore 1950s gloves and a head scarf in bright aqua and lots of bakelite bangles, but plenty of other colors would look smashing too.  The shoes, like most of my shoes, are Remix again, playtime canvas wedges. My favorite accessory in this outfit though is the purse it is a 1940s or 50s children's doll shaped purse.  This is my second one, the first one a cow girl broke sniff, but I think I like this tropical lady with her big sun hat even better.

5) 1950s Fun with Flamingos: 


 I've always loved fun kitschy stuff and nothing is more delightfully kitschy then pink flamingos!  I planned this outfit around a pair of flamingo vans, I saw a fellow vintage love wearing them on face book and set out to get my own pair.   I loved the mso much I got a Flamingo purse on etsy, make from a genuine pink garden flamingo, to go with them.  I love the color combo of pink and green so I wore the purse and shoes with a pretty green and white check Bernie Dexter dress and a 
Luxulite Audrey 2 Brooch.  The final perfect touch is my amazing 1950s style Coolie sun hat that was made for me by the vintage style milliner Tanith Rowan, she did an amazing job.  This outfit is so great because its comfortable, fun, and sun protective!

  

6) 1940s Style Mexican Play Suit:

My friend Kim Clark made this 1940s style sun suit and placed it up for sale on the Facebook 1930s and 40s costumers group.  As soon as I saw the amazing lime green vintage Mexican fabric I knew it would look amazing with the 1940s style Mexican sun hat I had, had for awhile.  Seriously these pieces look like they where made for each other!  The pay suit consists of a halter neck sun suit and a boxy over jacket with a tie waist.  The lime green 1940s style sandals are from Remix and I've worn them so much I need to replace them. The final perfect touch was the 1940s style brooch of a Mexican man in a Sombrero from Mrs. Polly's Lucite.   This is pretty much my ideal beach outfit, covered up, flattering and fun!

 






7) 1950s Style Gingham Top and Denim Peddle Pushers:

I'm always saying vintage style doesn't have to mean dressed up and this outfit is proof of it.  It's just a simple 1950s style gingham top from Swell Dame and 1950s style Pedal Pushers from Freddies of Pinewood.  The hat is one of my favorite things ever, a foldable 1960s beach hat, and the cat's eye sunglasses are fun too.  I got the sandals from Remix, like nearly all of my shoes, and I've had the cherry pin since I was a kid.  The purse I'm holding in the second picture is one of the most amazing novelty purses I have ever sen it has a horse on it!  I think I wore this outfit more the anything else this summer.

8) 1950s Style Western Dress From The Black Pinafore:

 1950s style western wear is a long time favorite of mine, but I didn't really have any pieces until fall of 2016 when I had Debra from The Black 
pinafore make me this dress.  It's a simple 1950s sundress in a western novelty print with rick-rack trim, I'm crazy about rick-rack.  I really love the neckline on this dress.  I wore it with a red hair flower from Chatter Blossom, bakelite bangles, a vintage belt, a western novelty brooch from 
Luxulite and my 1950s horse purse.

9) Bernie Dexter Winter Wonderland Dress-

I have quite a few Bernie Dexter dresses but this one is really special.  It is a popular print and it was sold out in my size for a long time but I finally nabbed it and on sale!  I'm not sure if you can call this a traditional vintage look but I don't care.  It's such a fun print and so festive and the skirt is made for a petticoat.  I wore it with a Chatter Blossom hair flower of course, sparkly silver tights, Ivory remix pumps, and my lucite purse.










10) Kitschmas Cat Skirt from Girl In A Whirl

I love clothes but there are two aspects of vintage style dressing I'm particularly crazy about: seasonal dressing and stuff with dogs and cats on it.  This skirt has both!  Girl In A Whirl made it for me based on pictures of vintage Christmas skirts we found online and she made the cat look like my darling Spot.