A little more Lilli Ann . . . Suit up!

I love a good suit (as the fabulous Barney in How I Met your Mother would say 'Suit up!').

I justify my rather large collection of vintage suits on the basis that I have to wear suits to work. Well, actually I don't have to. I just choose to. But I find it far better to stand in front of 200 students wearing a nice suit than jeans.

This jacket is one my favourite vintage designers, Lilli Ann.

I got it for an absolute song on etsy for $45 (plus $16 postage, so $61 in total). I do find if you are prepared to buy a jacket separately rather than a full suit than Lilli Ann can be reasonable (you just need to look around). This jacket had some very minor issues - just a couple of small holes in the back of the velvet collar which were easily mended and it needed a good dry-clean. It is also missing the top button, but I don't particularly want to wear it with the top button done up anyway, so that is not a problem (all these issues were revealed in the etsy listing by the way, which is always good, thank you etsy seller!).

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The fit of the jacket is fairly snug - I prefer my suits to fit like that. Although I did notice that when I actually wore this to work and had to do a lot of typing and mousing it was a bit too snug!

You will notice that in any of the 50s suit ads, the suit is always super fitted. See for instance this ad . . .

Now, I'm sorry, but there is no way this woman could do a day's work in a suit that was that tight!

(but it does look absolutely fantastic!)

One of my absolutely favourite aspects of buying vintage, especially from the US, is the labels.

And these labels are some of the best I have seen. It is always a bonus to not only get the designer label (eg Lilli Ann) but also where it was sold in the US.

How I wish I could be transported back in time and visit Arthur's in Wilmington, Delaware!

When I can control myself and stop spending all my money on vintage (!) I would love to do a road trip around America and visit all the towns featured on my labels - Portland, Delaware, Ohio . . . Of course, all the old shops are probably gone, but the places sound great anyway.

Just to end this post, a photo of one of the best things you can ever see on a vintage suit . . . 

This Lilli Ann label dates my suit to the 1940s (see

http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/lilli-ann/)

The suit also had a union label on it (which was too hard to photograph - sorry!) but which also obviously ads to its authenticity. There are some great tips on dating garments using union labels at this link.

Thanks for reading about Lilli Ann and good luck with finding your own Lilli Ann treasures!

Outfit details

Lilli Ann 40s jacket etsy (seller was 'errolflynn')

skirt also a Lilli Ann, but from another suit

shoes vintage Armani from Salvos op shop Oakleigh (a rare find believe you me!)

vintage black bag one of my most beloved items - my grandmother's handbag. My grandmother died before I was born so I treasure this and love to wear it.

A winter afternoon outfit - cream, beads and pale blue

Yesterday I went to an exhibition of my friend's art work at her house in Melbourne. Having an exhibition at home is a great idea. My friend is very talented and her art work was lovely (including watercolours of her parent's farm - I love a well-done rural landscape).  As it was a fairly casual at-home affair, I kept my outfit low key. I find beaded cardigans are great for these sorts of occasions. Actually beaded cardigans are a staple of my wardrobe - you can wear them to work, out to lunch, to dinner - anywhere really! I would really recommend buying a few of them in different colours. By the way, I am wearing one of my recent purchases from Montreal in the photo above - a lovely light blue handbag from 'Memento' Vintage shop. The photo makes it look like the colour of the bag clashes with the colour of the skirt but it seems to look OK in person - not sure what is going on there!

This is a close up of the sleeve of the cardigan. Isn't that beading gorgeous! I got this cardigan very cheaply off ebay USA a few years ago as it needed a few little repairs and a wash. But it fits perfectly and is in great shape for its age.

This is a close up of the pale blue (do some people call it 'egg shell blue'?) bag from Montreal. Again, got this for a steal, for something like $35-40 (the prices quoted in Montreal are before sales tax, so not sure what the final price was with tax!). I love the shape and colour of the clasp/snap closure thingy (!). Its a nice big size too - I always need a fairly large bag to carry all my bits and bobs.

Hope all is well with you all and hope I can  bring you some interesting posts over winter! I do LOVE winter!

Outfit details

blouse ebay USA

cardigan ebay USA

skirt Timeless Vixen Vintage, etsy USA (doesn't she have great stuff?!)

earrings Vintage Weiss, ebay USA

shoes Dianna Ferrari

bag Memento Vintage Store, Montreal

My Quebec Holiday - Art Deco gems

I have just spent a lovely holiday in the French speaking part of Canada - Montreal and Quebec City (so yes, sorry for the 3 week absence of posts!). I was there mainly for work, but managed to squeeze in some sight-seeing along the way. Montreal is a great city - particularly the neighbourhoods around the CBD, such as 'Mile End' and 'The Plateau' - lots of second-hand bookstores, cafes and . . .. yes . . . vintage stores! My vintage shopping haul will be the subject of next week's post, but for now I just wanted to talk about the architecture of Quebec. Of course, the most famous building in Quebec is the Hotel Frontenac  . . . 

'Old Town' (Vieux Ville), Quebec City, showing Hotel Frontenac at the top of the hill

Hotel Frontenac is absolutely gorgeous. It is very expensive to stay the night (around $500-600 a night - out of my price range me hearties!) but it is possible to do a tour of the hotel (very worthwhile) and go to the bar and restaurants. The atmosphere in the hotel is very old-world class. I absolutely loved it. You can sit in the bar and look out on the harbour sipping an Apple Martini (highly recommended!)

But some other lesser- known buildings in Quebec City are its art deco gems. Now, I don't know about you, but I love art deco buildings. We have some great ones in Melbourne, see my post on the Manchester Unity building here and I always like to track down art deco buildings when I am overseas.

The most famous one in Quebec City is the Price Building, or 'Edifice Price' as it is known in Quebec . . .

Price Building is on right; Hotel Clarendon on left

The Price Building was built in 1930-31 and was a little controversial at the time because two historic houses were demolished in order for it to be built. It is called the Price Building because it was originally built by Price Brothers Ltd - a family company that unfortunately went bankrupt in the Great Depression.

I love the floral motif on this part of the facade. I am sure there is a proper architectural name for it!

Magnificient doors . . .

The inside of the building is beautiful too . . . 

The next door building, Hotel Clarendon, is also a lovely old art deco building.

The hotel was undergoing some restoration work when I was there,

hence use of the temporary cover over the doors.

I particularly loved the detailing at the sides and top of the Hotel Clarendon, it sort of looks like black stitching . . .

The Hotel Clarendon is still a working hotel and the rates are actually very reasonable. Look at their website for more information.

I hope you liked this little insight into art deco in Quebec. Stay tuned for my take on vintage in Montreal next week! 

A dark blue wiggle dress

I wore this outfit last weekend to a friend's play at Lambassa House, an historic mansion in Caulfield, Melbourne. The play was a real hoot and the performances very good. I always like amateur theatre productions - they are great fun.

The dress I wore is a lovely dark blue, which is one of my favourite colours. But it is very much a 'wiggle dress' - it was very tight around the hips so some shapewear was very much called for (I love a good strong girdle!)

I was able to take a bit more time to get ready than I normally do as my hubby stayed at home to look after the children (one of which you can see running around with his wheely toy to the left - he is a 3 year old terror!). Normally we get a babysitter in if we have a night out and I have to be a crazy multi-tasker - not only getting myself ready, but making the children's dinner, getting the house in order etc.

I love beaded bags and this is a very intricate beautiful piece. The photo probably does not do justice to it. A few months ago I bought a floral designed beaded bag, which I have been wanting to get for ages (the ones that are sort of a cross between a needlepoint and a beaded bag). I can't wait to wear it out soon.

 

Outfit details:

dress ebay

bag Williamstown Vintage Fair

gloves op shop (a rare find!)

diamonte necklace (I have always wanted one of these after seeing Carrie wear it on SATC) ebay

diamonte earrings Callie Whelan, Camberwell Markets (she also has a great stall in the Vintage Garage, Smith St Collingwood)

An Easter Sunday outfit

Happy Easter to you all! I have had a restful Easter doing very little except read books, drink red wine and eat (bliss!). This morning I went to Easter mass which was very nice. I don't go to church as much as I should. But with everything these days geared towards materialism and consumerism it is always refreshing to go to a community-based event like mass. This is my Easter Sunday mass outfit . . .

I bought this Victorian style lace blouse ages ago on ebay. It is very pretty but it buttons up at the back so need a hubby close at hand to help put in on (I need a 'Lady in Waiting'!)

And of course, no outfit would be complete without a vintage needlepoint bag.

(by the way, consumerism doesn't apply to vintage items - one can never have enough vintage needlepoint bags!)

oops, I have just noticed a slight bulge at the top of my skirt where I was not able to fully close the zipper (!). I need to do a few more sessions at the gym and cut down on those glasses of read wine if I am going to be able to fit into this skirt again!

  Because its getting a bit chilly here in Melbourne, I wore this cream vintage beaded cardigan over my blouse. I love beaded cardigans, but find it hard to get any colours apart from black and cream. I would love a blue one like the one Molly Ringwald wears in 'Pretty in Pink' (80s nuts will know what I mean by this!)

Hope you all have a lovely Easter and don't overdose on chocolate! 

Decorating Vintage Style - 1950's sewing baskets

I have been on the look out for a 1950's handmade sewing basket for months and months. They are such a cute way to store bits and bobs around the house. I use the baskets to store my (far too many) books . . .

These baskets are usually made from all sorts of cards and photos, sewn together and then laminated.

The basket above is a very large representation of these vintage items - normally they come in smaller sewing basket styles. I imagine the above version was made by someone to hold knitting needles and wool.

The second basket I bought is a rectangular one depicting old photos from various cities around the world. I am not exactly sure which cities are depicted, but the main two look like something from Scandinavia, definitely Europe somewhere.

Its quite funny though, because on the side of this basket (see above) there are ugly photos of suburban sprawl and what looks like coal plants and furnaces. Quite the contrast from the main photos of Scandanavian harbours! (perhaps the maker was trying to make a subtle political statement!)

 I would love to know more about how these baskets came to be made.

I imagine there must have been groups of women across Australia in sewing or craft circles making them? There must have been thousands made because my mother and all my aunties had one in their houses.

I love the fact that they are 'shabby chic' and so individual, but also because they represent someone's thoughts and creativity (and they are exceptionally well made and sturdy)

If you are interested in buying one of these sorts of baskets, you will need to look around quite a bit as they have become a collector's item in Australia. Any that I have seen on ebay have been quite expensive. I managed to buy these on ebay recently because no one bid on them (perhaps because they are much larger than the 'standard' sewing baskets people collect?).

These are the sorts of treasures you may be able to pick up at a thrift/opp shop - so keep your eyes peeled!

My Cranlana Fashion Parade outfit - Deep blue dress and yellow opera coat

On Thursday morning I attending a lovely vintage event - a talk and vintage fashion parade organised by Charlotte Smith of the Darnell Collection, with assistance from Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing. It was held at the lovely historical Cranlana home in Toorak (Melbourne) which is owned by the Myer family (the owner of the largest department store in Australia). It was a lovely event and the talks by Charlotte and other guests (including a curator from the National Gallery of Victoria) were really interesting. Unfortunately, I can't show you any photos of the parade itself as no photos were allowed in the home. But you can get a glimpse of the outfits worn on Nicole's website here: Circa.

As it was a morning tea event, I wanted to wear something appropriate - not too dressy but something smart and sophisticated (for my international readers - Toorak is a tres elegant and fancy suburb - the most expensive address in Melbourne so I wanted to look the part!)

 

I chose a vintage deep blue fitted dress (late 50's perhaps?) with a 50s mustard yellow opera coat.

The coat was given to me by my mother's cousin, who was in her 70s at the time. I love the label 'Le Monde Modes - Melbourne'. Sigh . . .

 With my fair skin and propensity for freckles, I wouldn't normally wear yellow (I only have three yellow things in my wardrobe, all given to me!). However, I find I can get away with it if I wear a strong colour next to my skin - like this deep blue. Blue is my favourite colour by the way - I particularly love royal blue. It is actually sometimes difficult to find that colour in vintage dresses. Not sure why!

 I did all these photos with a self-timer and pedestal-thingy - what do they call them again? Oh yes, tripod! Anyway, as you can see I need to practice a bit with placement - but thought you might like to see some my treasured dresser - which I had to quickly dust before I took these photos! (I am THE worst housekeeper)

Last (but not least) the fab silver buckle shoes I wore with my outfit. They are 60's era, so not quite in keeping with the 50's dress and coat. But still, they are fabulous! (quite uncomfortable by the way, but comfort is not really something I factor in any more to my outfits!)

Outfit details

late 50's blue dress Top Hat vintage clothing store, High St, Northcote

50s yellow opera coat  gift

brooch op shop Edinburgh ($5 bargain!)

50s earrings Callie Whelan Camberwell markets

60s silver buckle shoes etsy