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Content dealing with vintage clothing, jewelry, other accessories, related products and ephemera.
This week I’m a guest writer at Jasmine’s wonderful Betty Le BonBon blog, reviewing the Apple Pie dress from one of my favorite vintage reproduction brands, Trashy Diva!
Check out the review, and Jasmine’s great fashion and lifestyle blog, here!
I’ve had my eye on Bernie Dexter‘s Paris dress for a while now. It’s a beautiful early 1960s-style sundress with a ruched bust panel and semi-circle skirt that comes in a variety of beautiful prints. I first admired the Paris in the pink blossom print – a springy cherry theme – but soon fell in love with the turquoise and rose fabric style as well.
In addition to their beauty, Bernie’s made-in-USA pieces are also high quality. They’re not cheap, which means I usually wait until they’re on some sort of sale. Luckily, I happened upon both of my favorite Paris fabricways on mark down this month! The pink blossom Paris was on clearance at BernieDexter.com while the turquoise floral was 20% off in the Unique Vintage Presidents’ Day sale. Since the beautiful Bernie Dexter Veronique dress in the blush cabbage rose print was on extra mark down at Unique Vintage, I picked it up too!
I’m a sucker for fussy floral stuff. I’m not exactly Chintz Nation, but you give me a black dress covered in doily-decked pink and yellow nosegays and I’m in the clouds. We’re talking Bespinian proportions here, probably because nosegays and doilies remind me of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. So when I first saw Bernie Dexter’s fabulous Sweetheart dress in the floral doily print, I just about died.
Continue reading “Happy Valentine’s Day: Bernie Dexter’s Sweetheart dress in doily print”
This week, something new! A great review of a beautiful 20th Century Foxy brand dress by my friend Jasmine of Betty LeBonBon, purveyor of fine custom vintage-style skirts and much more! This dress reminds me so much of the beautiful green piece worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1959 film Suddenly Last Summer that I’m hoping to get one of my own. Thanks, Jasmine!
Broadly speaking I’m a prints lady – I love my dresses with a quirky, unique print, or bold florals on unexpected base colours. You can let the print speak for your personality, and I find them quite easy to wear as the print will dictate how to accessorize and what colours to choose. Easy!
But I recently reached a point where my wardrobe was so print-saturated that I found myself longing for a few simple block colours – if only so I could try out a few patterned shoes or ornate brooches. As much as I love a beautiful print, it can be hard to work a pair of printed shoes with a printed dress, or to choose a really fussy, ornate brooch as inevitably the detail will be lost against a printed dress.
I spotted the 20th Century Foxy ‘Taylor’ dress at Miskonduct Clothing. At first, the dress doesn’t look like much – a simple green dress with a matching belt and a full skirt. Normally I wouldn’t even stop for a second look, but being a fair-skinned ginger I’d already decided I was looking for something green. And this dress was green. A good start! I was convinced it would go beautifully with simple accessories like gold or silver, perhaps even blue accents – and it would play beautifully with a nice floral printed shoe (think Iron Fist or Irregular Choice), should I finally decide to invest. Sold!
Continue reading “Guest Review: Jasmine on the 20th Century Foxy Taylor Swing Dress”
You guys know by now that I love me some mid century aloha wear. Hot on the heels of last week’s new-old vintage Alfred Shaheen is this beautiful 1950s circle-style halter dress by Kamehameha, one of the famous mid century Hawaiian fashion labels.
This one has a nifty bullet-structure bustline (which looks great over my vintage shape Goddess longline bra) and a full skirt (which looks great over my Malco Modes petticoats). The cotton fabric has bright, firelike orange-red anthuria and birds of paradise printed all over it. I got it from Christina of Skirt Chaser Vintage, who is a great sourced of designer vintage for people on the low end of the plus range. I’m at about 42-32-48″, and this is a perfect fit.
More images after the jump! Continue reading “Outfit of the Day: Vintage Kamehameha halter dress”
I love kitschy, tiki things and my favorite fashions are mid century designs inspired by Polynesian and Asian art. After falling in love with a pretty blue Alfred Shaheen last year, I recently obtained another, very different Shaheen style this month!
This one’s a strapless mid-1950s dress with a pleated shelf bust and full skirt. I’m not usually a fan of brown, but the fabric on this one is gorgeous! It’s a rich, cool brown Polynesian texture with gorgeous, creamy white blossoms. The pleated upper bodice is a nice, sharp white that contrasts nicely with the brown texture of the main dress.
Continue reading “Outfit of the Day: More vintage Alfred Shaheen”
Now that I’m back from the barfs, it’s time to share some of my Black Friday purchases from Pinup Girl Clothing and Trashy Diva!
My favorite of the lot is the Laura Byrnes Madeline dress in plaid taffeta, a dress I desperately wanted last fall but never got around to ordering. Since the piece didn’t drop until after the holidays, I didn’t have an immediate reason to buy it when it first came out. Another big reason for the delay is the cost. MSRP for this number is $200, and that’s not factoring in the additional $76 for the matching bolero (which is kind of necessary to complete the look). Throw in the fact that several of the gals who first purchased the dress back in January mentioned the odd fit provided by the elasticized side panels on the bodice and I was skeptical.
Continue reading “Black Friday holiday dresses: Madeline, Grace, Honey, Erin, and Jenny”
I promised pretty vintage inspired holiday party dresses, and now you’ll get them!
I recently purchased the beautiful Faye Floral Doll dress from Collectif on a nice sale. It’s a gorgeous black, full-skirted 1950s style with a built-in petticoat. The entire dress has an overlay made of a beautiful sheer mesh fabric, including the illusion-style sweetheart bodice. There are hand-cut, hand-applied lace flowers scattered on the skirt overlay. The same appliques line the bodice’s sweetheart edge.
With Collectif employee Julia’s kind assistance, I selected the size 14 (I’m 42-32/33-48″) and have no regrets!
Continue reading “Winter holiday dresses: Collectif Faye Floral Doll and Deadly Dames Folly Flair”