A Staycation Week of Vintage Outfits

I had my winter break from work last week and John too off too.  I spent it doing my favorite things spending time with the dogs and cats, eating, watching Star Trek and Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and of course dressing up.  

As I mentioned in previous posts I have been selling off a lot of my clothes in order to fund new ones.  I have decided that in order for me to keep it an article of clothing needs to fit several criteria:

1. It must be fun.  I'm old enough I'll dress as I like and I only want fun, happy clothes that make me smile.
2. It must be comfortable. Despite what people thing full skirts and petticoats really are comfortable.  Nothing, not even sweat pants, are more comfortable then full skirts.
3. Preferably it will be something I can wear while biking.  This isn't a total must but its a big plus.  Thankfully, most things can be biked in.  I find biking in high heels easier then walking in them and petticoats are a breeze to bike in.
4. I have to love it.

Most of these outfits I have featured on here before, but some I have, the one's I haven't will get their own posts eventually but I thought it would be fun to record the week (actually 9 days with the two weekends.)  This was a very unusually warm February with temperatures in the 60s, hello global warming, so that is why so many of these outfits are spring like, and no I didn't wear them any place special.  I wore them to go out to lunch, to get bubble tea and to bike with the dogs.

Outfit Number , Saturday:  Jumpsuit from Maria Guye and Mexican Tourist jacket from Girl In A Whirl:

I bought this jumpsuit to wear to the NYC commicon but then we wound up not going due to massive lines that meant even ticket holders like us would have had a 3 to 4 hour wait in the rain.  I was very upset, but at least I love the jumpsuit! It, and the jacket, will get their own outfit post eventually.

Here are the accessories:

 

1950s gold tone poodle scatter pins, a red Chatter Blossom hair flower, cat's eye sun glasses, and my poodle purse (oh and of course pug and cat hairs).   The shoes are remix flats.

Outfit Number 2, Sunday:  Bernie Dexter Kitten Dress and Doll Me Up Cardigan:

Accessories: A pink snood from Arthelia's Attic (I love her snoods), a little 1950s or 60s  mink cat brooch with googly eyes (I think this was someone's craft project which is why I love it so much, pastel bakelite braces, Remix Baby Doll Pumps in ivory, a pink crinoline fro Amazon, pink dotted What Katie Did seamed panty hose, and my 1950's Siamese cat purse).

Outfit Number 3, Monday: This was my only outfit that consisted primarily of true vintage pieces.   1950's vintage western shirt, 1950's vintage western wool jacket and Freddies of Pinewood jeans.

Here is a close up of the embroidery on the blouse

Accessories: 1950's Western Barette, Luxulite Western Novelty Brooch,  Bakelite Bangles, and 1950's Novelty Horse Purse.

Day 4, Tuesday-A  1930s Winter Drindl by the Black Pinafore:

I did a full post on this outfit here.

The accessories: A 1940s Deer Brooch, Chatter Blossom Hair Flower, 1930's Embroidered Gloves and 1920's Needlepoint bag.

Day 5, Wednesday-Bernie Dexter Dress in Let Me Entertain You Print:   

This is my first Bernie Dexter dress in her long sleeved Nichole style and I love it!  This, along with short sleeved Kelly, is probably my favorite style of Bernie Dexter dress.

The print is super fun movie theatre themed novelty print that called for equally fun accessories. A chiffon hair scarf, primary colored bakelite bangles, a red crinoline from amazon, Miss L Fire shoes, and luxulite earrings and necklace.

Day 6, Thursday-Rocket Skirt from Girl In A Whirl and Swell Dame 1950's style Blouse-

This was my 38th birthday outfit last year, you can read about it in this post.   The skirt is a copy of the cover of my favorite children's book, a Trip to The Moon, by M. Sasek.  It's about the early days of NASA in Cape Canaveral.

The accessories for this outfit where a Chatter Blossom hair flower, gold remix shoes, a white crinoline from Amazon, lucite purse,  and bakelite bangles.

Day 7, Friday- Bernie Dexter Kelly Dress in Ticket to Ride and 1960s Pale Yellow Cardigan:

This dress is in my beloved Kelly style, short sleeves and zip front, with a nice full skirt.  The print is adorable, different tickets!   I also low the color of the cardi, such a pretty soft yellow.  This is an outfit I definitely plan to post in more detail soon.  

Here are the accessories:

 

Yellow Chatter Blossom hair flower, pastel bakelite bangles, 1950s or 60s novelty train brooch, 1960's flower purse, Miss L Fire pumps, and a green crinoline from Amazon.

Day 8, Saturday-Mexican Dress and Jacket by Maria Guye:

This is actually a bit of a sneak preview.  I purchsed this dress as my gift to myself for my upcoming 39th birthday.  It was so beautiful though I couldn't resist wearing it early.   Like all of  Maria's clothes the construction is exquisite.
I'll definitely be writing more about it.

The accessories I paired with this are my beloved 1950s horse novelty purse, red Chatter Blossom hair flower, and Remix sandals.


Day 9, Sunday-1950s style Zip Front Jump Suit by Kim Clark 

Kim did such a great job with this jumpsuit!  It is so comfortable and the fabric is  a gorgeous sea foam green with gold thread, real vintage fabric.  I wore this is in August to Star Trek Mission New York and had my picture taken with LeVar Burton, see this post.


Accessories: 1950's Cat's Eye Sunglasses, Gold Belt from Amazon, 1950's Novelty Cat Purse and Remix flats.

I dress in vintage style every day for work, but I definitely take it to the next level on weekends and vacations.  I had so much fun dressing up this week. I definitely think I'm getting younger, and crazier, in my style with age!

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!

Adventures in Vintage Hair Styling: Fun with Snoods for Snoodtember

There are many wonderful vintage blogs on the web, but one of my favorites is Tanith Rowan's.  Tanith is a brilliant milliner and I adore all of her work.  I interviewed her here, and she made my 1950s coolie hat.  Tanith's blog is devoted to all kinds of vintage head gear, not just her own designs.  There are posts on historical hats and instructional posts for the crafty to make hats of their own, (sadly I am  not among the crafty).  This September Tanith is celebrating the snood:

She has created an instragram hashtag #snoodtember and posted photos of beautiful snoods and tips on how to wear them.   

I'm right alongside Tanith in her love of snoods.   A snood is any sort of net or bag that is designed to hold a woman's hair.  They where particularly popular during the 1940s when women working in factories needed to contain their hair for safety's reasons.

However, snoods where not only for casual wear. They could be dressed up too, like this gorgeous beaded version on Ginger Rogers.

For myself, the appeal of the snood is  the simplicity.  A snood gives you a vintage hair do with basically zero effort, no rollers or pin curls required.   Plenty of vintage fans create elaborate styles to go with their snoods, but as I have zero hair styling talent I just pull my locks into the snood and perhaps curl my bangs.  Easy, peasy, and takes less then two minutes.   I found this post from Vavoom Vintage very helpful when I first started wearing snoods.  

It took me about 30 second to put on this snood

All of my snoods are from Arthelia's Attic, and she makes a beautiful snood.  I am sure you can find them for cheaper but her quality can't be beat and her snoods are beautiful, sturdy, and stay put.  I have four of  them and love them to pieces.   I have gotten plenty of compliments on them, including one lovely lady who told me I brought her right back to her youth in the 1940s.




I love to wear snoods to work since they are so quick to put on:

  But they are great fun for weekends too.   
                                            

Snoods are traditionally more of a 1940s accessory, but I like to pair them with 50s looks too.  Like my Bernie Dexter  kitten print dress:

What do you think of snoods?  Do you have a favorite hair accessory?