Valentine's Day Outfit Post-Romeo and Juliette Skirt From Girl in A Whirl

Despite the saying on the adorable 1950s Valentine above I have always been pretty neutral about Valentine's day.  I like vintage cards and who doesn't love candy, but I'm not one to make a big deal about the day.  However, I'm perennially a sucker for seasonal dressing and Valentines is  no different.

About 6 months ago I was perusing Etsy when I came across the most amazing 1950s Novelty circle skirt depicting Romeo romancing Juliette on the balcony.

The skirt was beautiful but it was also tiny and astronomically expensive, think major veterinary bills price level.  Still I liked it so much I kept thinking about it and I decided to ask my favorite 1950s reproduction seamstress, Girl In A Whirl, if she could make me a similar skirt.  We decided on a different color scheme, lavender and pink, as opposed to black and pink, which would have shown to much pet hair anyway. The resulting skirt, is like all of Girl In A Whirl's creations, beautiful, in fact I think it really is prettier then the original.

The details she included in the skirt are amazing: the figures, flowers, hearts, and leaves are all cut from felt and hand stitched.   The skirt is light and comfortable and like all circle skirts it is beautifully full when paired with a crinoline.

                                          

Of course you can get a little tangled up when walking dogs in a full skirt, but that just adds to the fun!

I wear my Romeo and Juliette skirt with a soft knit pink top from Freddies of Pinewood that I really love and my purple snood from Arthelia's Attic.  My hairs a little short for a snood these days but I like it so much I wear it anyway.

This is a perfect fun outfit not just for Valentine's Day but for any day, and like my other Girl In A Whirl skirts it is totally unique.  

Recently I have been selling off a lot of my vintage and reproduction pieces so I can have room and funds for more!  But I haven't sold a single one of my Girl In A Whirl pieces and I never will.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Silent Film Sunday-A Vintage Valentine

This cute little film from 1900 is called The Old Maid's Valentine.  I love the charming cat:

Pin's and Pinafores-A Valentine's Day Vintage Outfit Post Two Ways

Valentine's day may be a much maligned holiday, which I do understand, even if I myself kind of enjoy it.   I'd personally never want to brave a restaurant on Valentine's Eve, and I'm not too interested in flowers or candy.  No, what sets my heart aflutter is a Valentine's appropriate vintage outfit.  By which I of course mean something red, or pink, preferably with hearts involved.  Last year I made my Valentine's outfit wishes come true with a copy of one of my dream dresses, the heart and arrow dress Ginger Roger's wore in 1938's Care Free, you can see it here.  

I love my Care Free dress but this year I began thinking I wanted a more casual vintage inspired Valentine's outfit.  I thought a 1940s style pinafore would be a good idea.  Warm and idea for layering pinafores are a great practical winter clothing item.   I went to the vintage pinafore expert, Deborah of TheBlackPinafore on Etsy, and told her my idea.  My inspiration was the pinafore set worn by Betty Garett in the 1949 film Neptune's Daughter. 

I asked Deborah to make me a similar vest topped pinafore in a darker red with a blouse and collar tie to match.  She did an amazing job and I couldn't be happier with the results.  

It's exactly the kind of vintage outfit I most enjoy wearing, comfortable and practical and it will work equally well in winter or spring. 

I paired my pinafore set with a blue wool beret (you can get them on Amazon for ten dollars or less), red 1960s nylon gloves,  and a 1940s celluloid novelty brooch.

I was also pleased to see that the pinafore goes great with my 1940s style  horseshoe and arrow sweater from Vintage and Cool Knitting by Regiane Trainotti and my Merriweather lucky horse shoe pin:

These two vintage style Valentine's outfits will definitely have me feeling the love this year.  Happy early Valentines!

Wordless Wednesday-Cupid's Pranks

Usually I reserve these posts for Silent Film Sunday but as I did a different post last weekend here is a very early silent film by J. Searle Dawley, 1908, the film Cupid's Pranks.  In the ten minute film Cupid visits a ballroom and tries to bring a couple together.  I particularly love the beginning which shows cupid forging his arrows.  This is a lovely early example of fantasy film making and like all of these films offers a beautiful glimpse into a time gone by.

Vintage Collectables-Old Fashioned Valentines

I still fondly  remember one my first vintage purchases many long years ago. I was probably 9 or 10 and my father and I stopped at an outdoor flea market where I bought with my allowance money a stack of vintage postcards from the 1930s and 30s.  

Not my post cards but an approximation.

The best thing about the cards was the notes on the back. A few were sent home to parents from college, others detailed vacations, but the one that stands in my mind all these years later was a love note.  It was written by a man who felt his sweetheart had forgotten him.  I remember my father saying how sad it was.  I knew it was special and displayed it on my bedroom wall. I wondered if the man and his sweetheart reconciled. Or if he found a new love. Sadly over the years my post card was lost, I'd give quite a bit to have it back because I think it was the seed that started my love of vintage and collecting.  It taught me that aquiring something with a history is almost always better then something new.  

Today, I have a collection of vintage valentines from the 1940s and 50s that I display every February.   They are the school yard kind and purchased from Etsy and eBay.  These are easy to comeby and make cute displays. 

If newer valentines are your thing or you are looking for inexpensive cards to give to friends then Amazon has a good book of vintage reproduction valentines

for sale for a mere five dollars.  They are not as good as the originals, but they make a close approximation and are super easy as they just punch right out of the book.  These would be perfect for a child to give out at school.

Thoughtless Thursday-The Origins if Valentines Day

Have you ever looked at a shop display like this one:

And wondered where the heck did this Valentines thing begin? 

The answer is that like most western hollidays Valentines Day's origins are pagan.  In Ancient Rome the fertility festival dedicated to the God Faunus was  celebrated in the middle of February.

 During the festival priests would sacrifice a goat and a dog eeek.  The hides of the animals would be cut into strips and dipped in the sacrificial blood. The priests would then wander the city streets slapping farm fields and woman with the hides.  This was believed to make the woman and the fields fertile. Later in the festival young single woman would place their names in a large container to be chosen at random by the local bachelors. The resulting couples often married. 

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Later, the Catholic Church recognized several saints named Valentine about which there are many conflicting accounts. One Saint Valentine is said to have kept marrying young men even after the Roman Emperor forbade young men marriage in order to make them better soldiers.  In order to Christianize the festival the early church apparently combined the pagan rights with the Saint's feast day.

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The earliest Valentines greetings go back to the Middle Ages and handmade cards and notes were given in the 17 and 1800s. In the mid 1800s commercial Valentine cards became popular.  Esther Howland sold them in America and was known as the mother of the Valentine. 

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It wasn't long before Valentines day became one of the biggest mail days with millions of people sending and receiving cards.  

Soon the sweet tradition of children giving cards at school became popular and Valentine cards specifically for children were produced, many of them featuring adorable dogs!

The cuteness of these cards should make even a cynic smile Valentines day.