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)

Pretty blue (and green, and red and . . .!) floral vintage dress

I tend to say this about all my vintage dresses, but this really is one of my favourites summer frocks . . .  

 It is actually one of my very rare finds from an op shop (Brotherhood of St Laurence in St Kilda, which is really a 'vintage' op shop I guess - although don't expect to find any treasure there now, it has changed a lot since I bought this dress many years ago).

 Although this is not in the class of a designer vintage dress (think Adele Simpson and the like), this is just a great, versatile and wearable dress. And, importantly, the cut is quite flattering. Although I have a small-ish waist (which I work on, believe you me), on the downside I also have a fairly large behind (it sort of sticks out at the back - my ballet teacher was always hounding me 'pull your bottom in! I wanted to say 'I can't, its just like that!!).

Anyway, the cut of the skirt on this dress is quite flattering to my rather fullsome rear-end which is nice (the cut that is!). If I was handy I would make a few copies of this dress, but I can't sew (and really don't have time to sew more importantly!) so I will just enjoy this version.

The other reason I love this dress is that the pattern is very very cute. It also has a number of great colours in it, so I can team the dress up with various nice bright cardis and accessories to make up different outfits. Love that.

 I am not sure of the date of the dress as it is evidently handmade. I would say the 1970's? Definitely not the 50's. But I don't mind either way, its just a great, individual day dress which can be worn almost anywhere - even to the park with my troublesome, headache-inducing 2 year old son! (who at this moment is headbutting my desk computer - God help me)

 And of course, an outfit would not be complete without some gorgeous vintage Trifari earrings (part of a demi parure, that is, comes with a matching necklace). I love Trifari jewellery. Pity the size of my wallet doesn't allow me to buy more of it - it is very well-made and great design.

Outfit details:

dress  Brotherhood of St Laurence, St Kilda (years ago when it was a 'vintage' type op shop and had great stuff  - no longer like this, a lot of tat)

Blue cardi Saba (their cardis are good)

bag Old Hat Northcote

earrings etsy

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

Pink Polka Dots and Hairspray

Hello everyone and sorry for my extended 'holiday' from blogging! Happy New Year!

Now on to more exciting things . . . vintage dresses!

This is a little number I have had for years. I bought it off ebay when vintage dresses were still cheap, so I got it for a song! If you take a good look you might be able to see that the buttons are little ceramic roses - very cute (but they are not the original buttons and so don't 100% fit into the buttonholes, they therefore do have a tendency to open of their own accord - as a result I am always looking down at my bosom)(possibly not a good look!)

I wear it with a little cotton cardigan/bolero that I got from an Australian department store called 'Myer'. I hardly go into stores these days, as I can get everything I want online (yaay!). However, little cardigans like these are good to get from modern 'real' stores and they are very handy for when it is cold in the morning and warm during the day (that is Melbourne weather for you)

I am wearing the dress with $10 vintage earrings from Clara Fox vintage in Fitzroy (another 'yaay'!)

This dress is actually a 'junior' dress I think as the waist is quite high and bust is very small. However, as I am only a little over 5 foot it is perfect for me! The dress has a lovely cotton petticoat inlay - a very nice touch.

I wore the dress to see the Melbourne production of 'Hairspray' on the weekend which I really enjoyed. The dancing was quite extraordinary. There were a few dancers from the Australian version of 'So you think you can Dance' (which is my favourite show!) and they were amazing - I have trouble doing one turn and they did about ten!

It is great to be back in blogging land and I am really looking forward to posting lots of photos up for you this year!

Vintage Suburbia xx

A Vintage Geoffrey Beene dress

I wore this lovely pink and black checked dress by the American designer Geoffrey Beene out to dinner last week. I hadn't really heard about this designer before - I really just stumbled across the dress during one of my (many) browsing sessions on etsy.

Geoffrey Beene seems to have been rather an interesting character - he studied medicine, but after a few years, left to pursue an artistic career, eventually becoming a fashion designer (much to the angst of his parents as you can imagine, who were counting on having a doctor in the family!). There is some really interesting information about he and his designs at The Vintage Fashion Guild website.

From the look of the label on my dress and consulting the Vintage Fashion Guild information, I would put it as being made in the 1970's, which is interesting as the cut is quite 1950's.

The material in the dress is quite interesting - the label does not say what it is made of but it is an unusual cross between satin and taffeta (if that makes sense!). It is very soft to the feel but also quite stiff, which gives the skirt great structure. I actually usually wear the dress with a patent black belt which draws in the waist and sets off the checked pattern, but in a mad rush to get two children and one husband fed before rushing out the door I seem to have forgotten to wear it!

Those buttons down the front are sort of 'false' in that there is actually a zipper right up the front so the buttons are just for show.

The whole piece is of magificient quality and I love wearing it, it is very flattering and just beautiful to wear. I would really recommend his vintage pieces if you can find them.

Outfit details: Vintage Geoffrey Beene dress etsy USA

earrings ebay I think!

Shoes Myer, years ago