Sunny Stripes for April Showers A Vintage Outfit Post

The weather has been decidedly odd this year, 60 plus degree days in February and now in April when things should be warming up temperatures are dipping into the 40s  Not my cup of tea at all since I love warm weather and have an urge to sport my spring time fashions rather then being stuck in sweaters.

Basically I want tot live in this picture

 I did manage to put together one spring timey outfit the first weekend of April.  I think its a particularly good outfit for a rainy day, which this was, and of course we all know that spring showers

bring May flowers.  

I built my outfit around a Hey Day Judy dress in Penny Arcade, one of the prettiest and most versatile prints I've ever encountered, a bright multicolored stripe, with orange, red, and turquoise among the colors.   I love the Hey Day Judy dresses.  They are super comfortable with an adjustable tie belt that acommodates a range of sizes, I'm usually a 12 or a large in Hey Day clothes, but I wear a medium in the Judy dresses.   Judy dresses are also great for vintage fans like myself who appreciate a range of eras because the cut is based on a 1950s style but could be 1940s, or even 30s.  Though I really do think that the playful primary print on my dress, which I was lucky enough to nab on sale along with several other Hey Day items after New Years, places it firmly in the 1950s.  It just has the bright playful look that I love from that era.

The different colors in the stripes give plenty of options for accesorizing with different colors.  I choose to focus on the turquoise and added a vintage head scarf and gloves.

The stripes also scream for bakelite so I wore almost my entire bangle collection.

I kept my shoes neutral, a cute comfy pair of Playtime wedges from Remix.

My favorite accessory in the outfit though is my vintage doll purse.  These where originally intended for children but I love them.   I had another one I showed in this post, but tragedy struck and the head fell off.  So I was thrilled when I found another.  I love this little lady with her big sun hat and tropical accents.

Spring is all too fleeting make sure you cherish every moment!  

Outfit Details

Judy Dress in Penny Arcade Print-Hey Day Vintage Clothing
Playtime Shoes in Tan-Remix Vintage Shoes
Bakelite Bangles-Brighter Bakelite
Turquoise Gloves-The Road Less Traveled
Turquoise Scarf-Dorthea's Closet
Vintage Doll Purse-W.Kay Vintage

Vintage Outfit Post-1960s Style For a Wedding

Nearly three years ago when I first started this blog I did a post on a 1930s outfit I wore to a good friend's wedding (here).  It was just as I was getting really into vintage and her wedding was one of the first events I attended dressed in full on vintage style:

Eeek only three years ago and I look so much younger!

 

I had a great time at the event and greeting dressed up made it even more fun.

Today of course I dress in vintage, or vintage style looks, nearly every day, but I still relish the chance to go the extra mile for a special event.  This past Friday a good friend of mine got married in a  really lovely ceremony in Manhattan.   

I've been getting more and more into mid century looks lately and I really wanted to wear something  1950s or 60s to the event, plus the bride is a Mad Men fan (a show I don't watch, but I like the look of).  So as I was shopping I was looking for a cocktail dress with a Mad Men feel to it.

I found the perfect dress just before Christmas in the Etsy shop fab gabs, and for a great price!  I nabbed it during one of her flash sales at a big discount.   The dress is grey and gold which was nice because grey and gold are the brides favorite colors.

I paired the dress with a white and gold hair flower from Chatter Blossom and clip on hoop earrings from Mrs Polly's Lucite.  

My husband looked pretty fab too (and the dogs helped us keep it real by getting us all haired up before we left).

The wedding was beautiful a gold cake, a Mariachi band, and the couple looked amazing and glowing with happiness. Sadly it was dark and a little hard to get photos, but it was perfect.  

While my dress was great fun to wear it did hi-light some perils of wearing vintage.   The style of the dress with my body type and all the food I'd eaten over my vacation necessitated some shape wear underneath.  I wore a waist cincher  from What Katie Did.  They make great vintage style shape wear that really holds you in and gives you an era appropriate look.   In general their stuff is pretty comfortable and very pretty, but by the end of the evening I did fill a bit like this:

Sadly the dress didn't really survive the night.  Perhaps because the fabric is lame thread and delicate, it did not hold up well, and by the end of the evening there where several rips that I don't think can be repaired.  I'm still really glad I had the chance to wear it.    You always take a risk wearing vintage that it won't hold up on wearing it, but I hate to think of beautiful things languishing in a box instead of being enjoyed.  

Outfit Details

Dress: Fab Gabs

Hair Flower: Chatter Blossom

Earrings: Mrs. Polly's Lucite

Lucite Box Purse-Thrifted

Shape Wear and Stockings: What Katie Did 

Shoes: Remix Vintage Shoes

Remembering A Sunny Hey Day in Princeton

It took awhile, but it has finally gotten really cold in NYC.

Never being a fan of cold weather I can't help but long for warmer days.  That  is why I've decided to share these pictures from a September outing, a time when my blog was on hiatus.  John and I decided to celebrate Fry's first birthday by taking him to Princeton, NJ.   I've always liked Princeton.  The town is lovely and the buildings have a great sense of history.  Plus Einstein was  a resident for years which is neat.  (Incidentally it's pretty cool that Einsten's theory of relativity has basically been proven due to the fact that scientists have heard echoes of two black holes colliding billions of years ago.   I can't pretend to fully understand the video explaining it below, though maybe scientific advisor Bertie could help.  Either way black holes sure are pretty.)

Anyway another cool thing about Princeton is dogs are allowed on campus.  So we got lots of nice pictures of Fry out and about.

Fry wore his ensign Wesley Crusher sweater (I wrote about it here) and I wore a dress from Hey Day vintage.  It is a really fun repro dress in a style called called the Fleur, it's named after a vintage blogger.  It's done in a 1940s wrap dress style,  which means its very comfortable to wear and can accommodate a range of figures.   Dresses like this are proof that vintage style can be comfortable and casual.  Seriously this dress is way more comfortable then a pair of jeans.

The Fleur dress comes in lots of fun prints, I have the holly berry one too.  The one I wore to Princeton is in the All Aboard! print.  A cheery vintage train motif, with a novelty wheel button. 

I love whimsical prints and this one is so much fun.  It reminds me of 1940s and 50s toy trains.   

I accessorized my dress with a 1940s hat I got on sale from Fab Gabs, bakelite bangles, my 1950s poodle purse, American duchess shoes, and a sweater from Old Navy.

It was a lovely day, I can't wait for Spring so that we can have more of them!