A Photographic Aside

Sorry for my blog absence this week. I've been feeling a bit down and somewhat antisocial. In an effort to engage myself in a project, I've been photoshopping old negatives. My paternal great-grandmother and grandmother were big into taking photographs. Most now exist only in negative form since one of our relatives made off with a large percentage of them. I now have over 1,000 family photographs that I'm slowly working my way through. This is a long process of scanning them and using Photoshop to remove the dust and scratches from the image. If anyone has any quick ways of doing either of these things let me know. Until then I'll be slowly working away on them. I think it's a long-term project to say the least.

To capture my grandmother's "style" I have two photos for you. One is her wearing her first husband's suit and hat. The image hasn't been cleaned up at all so ignore the speckles. The second is a combination of flannels (skirt and shirt) which would certainly be useful if not fashionable when working on a farm in upstate New York. Toward the end of her life she only wore dresses that she made herself. I can only remember her wearing pants on a handful of occasions.

A Find From Every Era Friday: Wedding Edition

I know I already wrote about vintage wedding dresses awhile back, but as someone who is getting married in a year I'm enthralled by them. There's something, of course, special about your wedding dress or outfit be it a traditional gown or a suit. Today I'm featuring dresses along the more traditional line, meaning that they're dresses and are in a softer color palette. This doesn't mean that I don't support going in a stronger, bolder color and perhaps in another blog I'll focus on some of these lovely options.

1910s:
It's rare these days to see any dresses with sleeves, in fact it's hard to find out that isn't strapless. This one covers your arms but in such a nice, floaty way. I think I'd wear my hair up, maybe some loose yet intricate braiding. I wouldn't wear a necklace, but I'd get some great dangly earrings.

Embroidered net lace dress, sleeves have a pink satin ribbon trim. Measurements: 34-26-38. Available at ebay seller marguerite729 with a current bid of $103.50.

1920s:

This is technically a flapper dancing dress, not actually a wedding dress, but I think it would be beautiful for such an occasion. I picture this at a garden wedding or even better a wedding on a pier. Jar and I were considering that as an option until we decided to have our wedding in a field on my parent's property. This dress would look amazing with a sunset lighting up the horizon.

Ivory silk chiffon sheathe. Measurements: 48" Bust, measurement carries through garment. Available at ebay seller Carolyn Forbes/Textile Resources for a starting bid of $24.99 and a reserve.

1930s:

I have to admit, this is my favorite gown of the ones I have listed today. It really lends itself to any kind of wedding, but again I'd choose to have it outdoors. In Vermont near my home they have a historic lake house that overlooks Lake Champlain. It's called The Grand Isle Lake House. You can have your dinner on the porch there and I imagine this dress there as the bride weaves her way around to each guest.

White gauze gown with intricate embroidery. Measurements: 23" waist. Available at etsy seller my favorite vintage for $425.

1940s:

I love that this dress has some attitude with it's popped collar. It obviously needs a slip and here's where color would work perfectly. Something that would make each of the flowers in the lace pop. I don't know what I would do with my hair, but I know it would look great for a art gallery or museum wedding. This dress also comes with a wedding photo, the woman in the picture is the original owner of the dress. I think it's amazing that this dress has a traceable history.

Cotton lace in a floral motif. Measurements: Bust 40", Waist, 29". Available at ebay seller Design of the Time for a current bid of $46 with a reserve.

1950s:

One of the top contenders for our wedding location was the Round Barn in Waitsfield, Vermont. It's this gorgeous butter cream barn nestled into the landscape with a pond out front. I'd personally take this dress there, you know if it fit. It's so tiny because it used to be a prom dress, but there's plenty of petite women out there who could make this work.

White chiffon dress with ruching. Measurements: 28" bust, 22" waist. Available at ebay seller The Little Pink Cottage with a current bid of $49.99.

1960s:
In Arizona you can get married at a botanical garden, but this one is filled with desert plants in honor of our arid climate. The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix is that they take full advantage of the native climate and all of the surroundings are well, dirt. I imagine plenty of brides go there and don't worry about long dresses, but I like to think that it would be easier with a short dress. Short dresses are so irritatingly difficult to find in modern wedding gowns. The ones that are seem to be disgustingly expensive. Enter this dress. It would be perfect with a small wildflower bouquet.

White lace ribbon dress with mossy green and pastel pink ribbons. Available at Posh Girl Vintage for $189.

1970s:

If you're looking for sleeves, this one certainly has them. Since the lace design is tighter I'd probably go with a softer slip. I think I'd take this one out for a fall wedding or maybe winter. It would be great at a historic inn, you know the ones, where you can get married in front of a toasty roaring fireplace.

Gunne Sax lace dress. Measurements: 34-25-42. Available at etsy seller Grey Gardens Vintage for $150.

1980s:

I never watched Dynasty, but this dress is the very same dress that Joan Collins wore in the show. It's wonderful history aside, I love how fitted the waist is in this. I think I'd be tempted to wear my hair in the same way that I plan on doing in my actual wedding, a low side pony tail.

Nolan Miller Couture gown worn by Joan Collins on Dynasty. Measurements: 36" bust, 27" waist. Available at Antique Dress for $2,450.

Ebay success!

I've been in a bit of an ebay bidding slump lately. Either the clothes I love go for more than I set aside, or I completely space on the fact that something I desperately love is ending soon. Today, in a desperate ebay bidding war, I finally came out on top and won a dress. As you can see from the photo below it's a 1970s cowl neck sweater dress. It's a bit warm for a place like Arizona most of the year, but hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll be heading back to the east coast before I know it.


As an obsessive polyvore user, my first thought was to see what sort of outfit I could construct using this outfit as a base. Perhaps I'm being unimaginative or I'm uninspired at the moment, but I thought this would look great with all of the accessories and additions being black. If anyone has any other suggestions for this dress, let me know.

Below is the outfit I threw together on polyvore. I obviously wouldn't need all of these items. I already have a great standard black purse from Nine West and some pointed toe heels, although mine lack the cute ruffle like these have. I added an additional vintage purse to the mix just to tuck inside the larger one. I like the idea of having a work outfit that can transition a bit more to going out for drinks or a date and the smaller purse could be pulled out of the larger one for this purpose.

Outfit consists of:

Black Kenneth Cole Reaction cotton trench. Available at bluefly.com for $119.

Black leather pumps by Shoes for Lovely People. Available at zappos.com for $136.

Black enamel and metal ring. Available at Tilly's for $3.99.

Black quilted satchel by Xhilaration. Available at Target for $13.99.

Black braided leather belt by Lucky. Available at zappos.com for $72.

1980s black vinyl clutch. Available at Ruby Lane seller That Purse Place for $45.

Vintage Love: Ruffles

Okay I know I should have done the full shot of my outfit, my jeans are awfully cute, but I mostly wanted a close up of my shirt. I purchased it recently on ebay. It's a 1970s button down shirt with a ruffled collar. Just a hint of a ruffle really. Buying this shirt has sent me on the search for more ruffled goodness. Here's some for you too so we can all be ruffled out.

1970s dark brown nylon blouse by Sunny South. Measurements: 38" bust. Available at Vintage Martini for $22.

1980s white cotton top. Measurements: 35" bust. Available at The Urban Collection for $39.

1970s knit sweater. Measurements: 37" bust. Available with ebay seller Wildflowers Vintage with a current bid of $9.99.

1980s sheer black silk mini dress. Measurements: 36" bust, 24-34" waist, 40" hips. Available at ebay seller Bustown Modern for a starting bid of $9.99.

Television Inspiration: Pushing Daisies

Last week, through the magic of Netflix, I was able to catch up on season 1 of Pushing Daisies. I'd started watching the show from the beginning given that I love Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, but as the pressure to finish my novel grew, I gave up most of my television programs. I'm so happy that I'm caught up and can begin season 2. What I love about the series is not only the premise (man who can bring people back to life with a touch but with some conditions) but also how visually interesting each episode is. The colors are hyper-saturated, almost as though a dial on the world has been turned up. Each setting is familiar yet vaguely surreal. The Pie Hole restaurant's pie crust roof seems like something out of a fairy tale while the houses are all picture book Victorians and Queen Annes.

From a fashion standpoint, Pushing Daisies hits the mark every time. Ned, our main character, dresses in well-cut suits and skinny ties. His partner in crime solving, Emmerson, has a 1970s feel to his wardrobe given the brightly patterned dress shirts he favors. The Aunts each have their own style, one favoring a late 60s early 70s loungewear look, the other in Asian inspried mini-dresses and tops. Olive, my favorite character, has a mod look to her with, for example, acidic green dresses trimmed in white complimented by the occassional sundress. But the real show here, for me at least, is Chuck. Chuck has every 50s-60s inspired outfit that I wish I could buy. She always looks tastefully pulled together from her large sunglasses to her pumps. So here's some Chuck inspiration to get our week started.

That thing called work 3

It seems like I'm so into the idea of getting back to work I'm even pretending I have pierced ears. Seriously. I've been debating getting my ears pierced for my wedding, which in itself is ridiculous. It sounds just like losing weight for your wedding rather than just losing weight. But really, I do have an urge to pierce every time I see one of my friends wearing her awesome vintage inspired carved earrings. But I don't know, I kind of feel unique without them done. Clearly I'm on the fence here. I need to do some thinking on this. I'll just keep browsing around and including them in my sets because someone else might benefit from spying some cute earrings in this blog.

Until I decide, I'll just amuse myself by posting some more work wear for my non-existent job.

Outfit consists of:

Brown mohair wrap sweater. Available at Dorothy Perkins for 22.00 GBP.

Purple peep toe heel. Available at gravitypope for $99 Canadian.

Vintage white polyester textured knit skirt. Available at Plaid Pony Vintage for $24.

Sterling silver grey and lavender dome ring. Available at Silver Treats for $189.95.

Plum modal racer-back tank. Available at net-a-porter for $87.

1920s tapestry purse. Available at Ruby Lane seller That Purse Place for $145.

Silver Tahitian pearl stud earrings. Available at The Pearl Source for $179.