Pink and white stripe pleats

I have been home all this week after I had a little knee procedure done last Friday (so sorry for delay in posting!).

I do jazz ballet (or should I say 'did' - that may have to be in past tense now!) - hence my bad knees. After asking how old I was (I will admit to being 'late 30's' to you all!) my doctor 'tsked tsked', shaking his head and said 'no more ballet!' so Natalie Portman can feel safe and secure - there will be no menacing 'Black Swan' pirouettes from me!

But I digress, although it has been fun to stay at home and catch up on some great films and read good books, it has been soooo depressing not to be able to go out in my fab vintage outfits. So it was great today to go out for a latte and get dressed up for a change. Unfortunately I had to go out with crutches, which did not really go with my outfit - but at least I was in a dress!

I looked at my wardrobe last week and thought 'I really need to have a big cleanout and sell some of these dresses on ebay' (I really do have too many clothes). From time to time I have these brilliant bursts of thought and then I try some of the said dresses on and think 'no! I can't possibly part with this!'. This is one of the dresses I was going to cull - it is actually not great to wear on a hot day as it is polyester and totally un-breathable (is that a word?). To be honest, the pleats also make my already generous butt look seriously huge (!), but it is very cute, so its staying put. Also, I just can't be bothered selling anything on ebay (I am a buyer through and through!)

I am not sure who I am trying to channel with my pose here - I look like I've swallowed a lemon! I would be terrible as a model! (don't worry, I am not going to give up my day job!)

Outfit details:

60's dress (I think?) ebay Australia about 5 years ago

white cotton cardigan David Lawrence - again many years ago

handbag vintage store in Northcote (Old Hat I think its called?)

earrings Sydney Vintage Clothing fair (they are great, but they hurt like hell!)

My wedding dress (vintage peachy pink)

This is the peachy pink vintage dress that I wore to my wedding in 2003 (that is my hubby on the right!). Now wearing it again in 2011!

I am pleased to say that I still fit into after 8 years which is nice (thank you Pilates). I have not had the occasion to wear it again since my wedding so I took it for a much awaited outing to a 'Debutantes Dinner' in Melbourne last night, organised by the lovely ladies at the Lindy Charm School. 

I searched for a vintage wedding dress for ages before I found this dress (in a little French-style shop in South Melbourne). This was before shopping online was as easy as it is today - there are now lots of vintage wedding dresses to be found on etsy. I actually don't think the colour of the dress does much for my skin tone - a deeper, mauvy pink probably would have suited me better, but it was such a lovely style, I couldn't resist it.

This is a close up of the embroidery/flowers on the dress:

 The flowers have a little diamonte/rhinestone in the middle of them so I wore a pair of vintage diamonte earrings to set that off. The fabric in the dress is a sort of stiff, papery-type material which drapes beautifully, but is quite delicate and prone to tearing, so I am always careful when putting it on. I probably should have ironed the flowers to make them sit down a little flatter on the bodice but I was a bit scared to given the delicacy of the fabric. I will have to do that when I have some time and space to concentrate on such a task (which is usually never!)

I hope you liked looking at my wedding dress!

Outfit details:

Vintage (1950's?) wedding dress Little French-themed shop opposite South Melbourne markets

diamonte earrings Callie, Camberwell markets

fake fur stole and vintage purse ebay

gloves modern - Myer

handsome husband from Dublin, Ireland (picked up for a song in a little hostel in Rome, 1998!)

A pretty purple floral and lucite purse

I love pink . .  and I love purple so I was very happy in my outfit today. This is one of those dresses I have had in my wardrobe for ages, waiting for (a) being slim enough to wear it (my excuse: I have had two children!) and (b) having the right accessories to pull the look off. I wore it to Chadstone, one of our big shopping malls in Melbourne, where I took my 7 year old daughter to see 'Yogi Bear' and have lunch. I had to have a stiff red wine when I got back home . . .! (I am not a fan of modern children's movies, give me Disney's Snow White anytime)

 I bought this dress last year on ebay and at first did not like it (sometimes things look a lot different from what they appear online!). The texture of the fabric is shiny, so it looks and feels like a bridesmaid dress (perhaps it was?!). I was going to give it away, but in fact, I have found that with some hot pink shoes and a pink cardigan it looks quite nice (excuse the non-ironed cardigan by the way, as usual I had to get dressed in rather a hurry).

 Of course, an outfit always looks good with a matching hat and earrings. I got this hat from etsy for a song (as the netting has deteriorated). I bought these earrings from the Sydney Vintage Clothing show - one of my batch of $10 pairs - I love these chunky clip on style earrings - really fab (although I can only wear them for 3-4 hours before they start to hurt!)

I am only 5 foot and a half feet tall (note the half, very important!) so I find I the 'teen' vintage outfits fit me the best (and I think this was made for a teenager). Otherwise I have to pay my tailor to adjust everything and that can prove a bit costly if shoulders need to be adjusted etc. Still, I do find it is worth it to have something fit really well.

Last but not least, one of my two vintage lucite bags. This is not a 'designer' lucite bag from the 50's (not a Wilardy or Rialto which are highly collectable) but it is still very cute. As you would know, some lucite bags can cost $200-300 dollars, but if you look around and don't care too much about whether the purse is signed or not, you can get one much cheaper (this was $59 on sale on etsy). The only thing I would say is careful of flaws such as cracks and odours with lucite - those things are hard to fix (always ask about any chemical odours with lucite as this is a sign the lucite has started to break down).

Oufit details:

dress vintage of uncertain age (handmade) - ebay Australia

cardigan Cue

shoes etsy

hat etsy

earrings Sydney Vintage Clothing Show Oct 2010

lucite bag etsy