Pinup, vintage fashion, vintage home, Jane Austen's Emma, and Miracles from Molecules!
Recently, two of my favorite artists created pinup portraits of me! My friends Christine Geasey and Brian (AKA Les Toil, creator of the famous Toil Girls) worked very hard to create some beautiful pinup art! They are available for hire if you are in need of some great custom artwork, pinup or otherwise!
Brian’s portrait is based in part on a photo set taken by Angela Morales a couple of years ago, and features the late, great Francine Ann, my precious kitty.
One of my favorite things to do in my hometown is wear vintage and reproduction outfits to see classic movies at the historic Fox California Theater, also known as the Bob Hope Theater.
After a massive restoration conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this gorgeous 1930 theater is a clean, bright, luminous connection to an earlier time. While you might see anyone from George Lopez to Tony Bennett headlining at the Fox, the best attractions are the ones that offer the visitor a connection to the theater’s roots as a mid 20th century movie palace – the monthly Friends of the Fox classic movie events featuring concerts on the 1928 Robert Morton theater organ!
Click for more Fox Theater and more outfit pictures!
Continue reading “Fox California Fashion: Classic movies and nifty vintage dresses”
Like most people, I get my style cues from so many different sources I can’t keep track of them all. More, I’m sure a huge proportion of my influences are so subliminal I couldn’t articulate them if I wanted to. That said, the spirit of self-exploration has taken hold and inspired me to try. So with that, I’m presenting my first style influences. Not the first in the chronological sense of my life, but the first I’m bringing to the blog: Piero Gherardi – art, set, and costume designer for many of Federico Fellini’s iconic films – and the luminous Anita Ekberg, one of the talented female stars of my favorite Fellini, La Dolce Vita (1960).
Since Ekberg just passed away, she’s a logical first choice. The designs that she – and everyone else in La Dolce Vita – wore also happen to be some of my favorite clothes ever. Her strapless velvet gown from the famous Baths of Caracalla and Trevi Fountain scenes is legendary, but I’d love it even if it were 1/1,000,000th as famous as it is. With its sweetheart neckline, carefully-engineered bodice, and sweeping, diaphanous silk underlayers, it’s truly a dream dress. The way Ekberg whirls through the Caracalla scene, it’s almost like the dress has taken on a life of its own.
My other favorite Ekberg ensemble from the film includes the off-shoulder, v-neck lace top her character, Sylvia, wears during the press suite scene soon after her arrival in Rome. It’s perfect – just the right balance of structure and femininity, balanced delicately on the pinnacle fulcrum of the best fashion era that ever was or will be – the late 1950s and early 1960s.
It helps that Ekberg didn’t have a standard body. While not exactly plus, she had bigger curves than the average actress and looked amazing. This inspired me, as a girl who is nothing if not curvy.
Happy new year! I always overdress for the holidays, and last night was no exception. I wore a beautiful lipstick-red vintage silk gown from the 1950s. It’s got a Frank Starr label and was apparently made to measure in a Washington, DC, dress shop.
I accessorized the dress with vintage paste jewelry, my silver Remix Ritz heels, a Deadly Dames satin bolero, and a vintage beaded clutch from Saks Fifth Avenue that matched the red of my gown PERFECTLY. This is my favorite outfit in a long time, if not ever! Continue reading “New Year’s Eve: Vintage Frank Starr gown”
It’s finally autumn here, so I’ve been busting out the cold weather fashions. Last August, when it was still millions of degrees outside, I ordered two of Betty Le Bonbon’s fabulous winter-weight midi length skirts. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the day I could wear them, and that day is finally here!
Continue reading “Winter skirts from Betty Le Bonbon and a Don Loper vintage coat”
Tassel Twirl Magazine just launched a sister publication called Calendar Girls. Dedicated to seasonal pinup imagery, the magazine’s first issue focuses on autumn and Halloween. There are two great covers to choose from, and two photos of me inside by Miss Missy!
I’m a Halloween cat, wearing Deadly Dames capris, Laura Byrnes lace bolero, Chelsea Crew shoes, and a Goddess vintage style longline bra.
You can order digital and/or print copies of the magazine at http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/839404
For 15% off any Tassel Twirl or Calendar Girls issues through December 1, 2014, use code MAGCLOUDXMAS.
A little while back I showed you two lovely Stop Staring! cocktail dresses suitable for holiday wear. I promised a third option from Collectif, and that’s what I’m reviewing for you here! Meet Penny, an attractive sweetheart front-cross halter strap wiggle dress made from stretchy black bengaline.
Bengaline is a comfortable, flattering fabric that works incredibly well in vintage wiggle dress styles. The Collectif Penny is no exception. The cut and construction are fabulous, and the fit is very good. This is the kind of dress that is snazzy enough on its own – look at that bodice! – but dresses up really nicely given its neutral color and sleek lines.
More pictures and review after the jump… Continue reading “Holiday Cocktail Style: Collectif Penny dress”
It’s here! Halloween!
You’ve already seen my Nagel girl/Rio Halloween getup, so here’s my retro-pinup-black-cat look, photographed by Miss Missy Photography. Missy also did my fabulous hair and makeup. Meow! Continue reading “Happy Halloween, pin up kitty style!”