A festive outfit for work

First and foremost, I wish all my blog readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

This will be the last post of the year and I decided to make it a festive one.  I have wanted to do some work outfit posts for a while but it is difficult because I leave for work early in the morning and I'm too tired by the time I get home.  I'm not a vintage purist when it comes to work clothes either - comfort and practicality is important for me - so I mix vintage with repro and mostly wear separates.

 

Whilst I don't buy repro dresses, I am a fan of certain repro separates and I cannot get enough of this Collectif skirt.  In fact, I did a swap with my friend Vicki exchanging one of my vintage plaid skirts to get this one!  Swapping vintage for repro, crazy isn't it?!  Except the vintage one was a little too big for me and this one fits quite nicely so it was a good swap. 

 

 

I wish they did this skirt in other colours, I would definitely get more!  It has easily become my go-to work skirt this festive season.

 

 

I don't own many Christmas specific vintage items but I just love these holly leaf screw back earrings!

 





Do you wear purely vintage to work or do you like to mix vintage and reproduction clothing?

 

 

Top: Vintage sweater from I can't remember where!

Skirt: Collectif

Shoes: Clarks

Necklace: Vintage from trader at Bows and Braces Fair

Earrings: Vintage from Etsy

 

Capri pants!

I think it is safe to say that I definitely prefer dresses and skirts to trousers... having said that, I do love the 1950s capri pants that I see girls wearing and I've been dying to own a pair myself.  However, trousers/ pants are just so difficult to get right in the measurements!  Buying a full skirt or dress is so easy by comparison and it is for this reason that I have generally stayed away from buying vintage trousers online. 

Ballyhoo Vintage has a great range of 1950s and 1960s capri pants/ clam diggers/ pedal pushers and I really wanted a pair... so I bought these deadstock ones as they were not very expensive so I figured if they didn't fit right, it wouldn't be a huge waste of money.

 

They are super tight and there isn't much give in the fabric.  It is the right size (I actually had to get them taken in a little by the ankle) as any bigger and it wouldn't have the right look. 

 

 

I definitely feel more self-conscious wearing these than I do in any vintage dress I own but I do also like this outfit a lot (even if all I can see is hips/ thighs/ bum) so I would like to buy some more capri pants in the future.

 

 



 

We are currently in-between sofas in our flat so I used this opportunity to take some photos in the huge space we now have in our lounge.  This clock was the first mid-century item we bought for the flat.  It's great to be able to look at (and purchase!) furniture and homewares at vintage fairs, when before, I was only really interested in the clothing.

Yep, definitely super tight.

Capri pants: Vintage deadstock from Ballyhoo Vintage
Top: H&M
Necklace: Vintage from Etsy
Bracelet: Vintage from trader at Rhythm Riot
Bag: Vintage from Etsy
Earrings: Reproduction from Bow & Crossbones
Shoes: Topshop

The Mid Century Market and my Birthday!

A few weekends ago, I turned 27 and decided to spend my birthday in London eating lots of good food and looking at pretty vintage clothes.  My birthday also happened to coincide with Bettina Scarlett's 'Mid Century Market' which I blogged about back in March. 

As it was a special day, I just had to wear one of my favourite dresses...

 
This is the Anne Fogarty dress I purchased on the Sunday at Rhythm Riot 2013 and it is such a great little cotton dress.  I'm surprised that this dress lasted until the Sunday of the weekender but I think it was because it was destined to be mine!

Giggling because there were builders doing work on the street opposite and they were somewhat bemused by my "posing"

The dress did actually come with it's own original belt which is in good condition as well.  However, it could do with being an inch smaller (and because the belt is constructed in a particular way, it isn't possible to make it smaller) so I decided to wear this nondescript black belt instead.

OK, so on to the Mid Century Market... I'm so glad I got to go to this event, it was in a great location with lots of lovely traders selling 1950s vintage and vintage inspired items.  Even though it was my birthday and I did have some cash to burn, I managed to be impressively restrained in my spending.

I bought a pair of 1950s cat eye sunglasses that I had been lusting after from Vera Mode Vintage.  It was so good to see her stuff in person and I am surprised that I managed to walk away from her stall with only sunglasses!

I also treated myself to two pairs of vintage inspired earrings from Bow and Crossbones - so many pretty things at this stall! 

Unfortunately, I only took one photo of the market but you can see how it is filled with vintage goodness!

The next fair date has already been set and it is on Saturday 16th August in the same location in Hammersmith, check out the website for more details.  I really hope I can make it to this one too.

Dress: Vintage from trader at Rhythm Riot
Belt: Vintage from eBay
Jacket: Vintage from Ballyhoo Vintage
Shoes: Marks and Spencer
Bag: Vintage from Vintage to Vogue, Bath
Earrings: Vintage from Etsy
Bracelet: Vintage from eBay
Hat: Vintage from The Little Vintage Shop, Lymington

Saddle Shoes

I have wanted a pair of saddle shoes for so long!  At first I tried to seek out a vintage pair but couldn't find any in my size and I was quite reluctant to buy vintage shoes online without being able to try them on first.  So I looked to the reproduction brands out there and when I saw the Rocket Originals saddle shoes, I thought they would be the ones for me.  When I tried on a pair early last year, I was a bit disappointed because they looked too chunky for my small feet.  So I gave up hope in finding a pair until I saw that Morellos sold saddle shoes... and I got the chance to try them on at Rhythm Riot (which was a good thing too as the size 3 I would have purchased online would have been too small!)  They didn't have my size in the colour I wanted at the Riot so I waited until after Christmas when I finally purchased my first pair of saddle shoes...

 

 

I have always been fascinated by the 1950s 'teenager' subculture and the saddle shoe is the epitome of style of that generation. 

The wool skirt is from Fab Gabs Vintage on Etsy and has woven hash symbols throughout in white and yellow (which match perfectly with my yellow Lucite confetti earrings!)  I love most of the items in this Etsy store but most are not in my size (this might just be a good thing!)  But this skirt was my size and I knew it had to be mine.  It has a lovely swing style and I can't wait to go dancing in this outfit.

 

 

 

Saddle Shoes: Reproduction from Morellos

Skirt: Vintage from Fab Gabs on Etsy

Sweater: Gift

Brooch: Vintage from Clerkenwell Fair

Lucite confetti earrings: Vintage from Etsy

Belt: Vintage from Etsy

Bracelet: Vintage from Rhythm Riot

Festive plaid

As I mentioned in a previous post, I want to buy more vintage separates and I have succeeded in buying quite a few vintage skirts in the last couple of months but as a consequence, I have not bought any dresses!  So this is another skirt post...

I did wear this over the Christmas period and it really is the perfect skirt featuring the best seasonal colours.  I also paired it with a Rocket Originals sweater that was a Christmas gift from my guy.  This sweater fits so nicely! 

 

 

You can also see my Luxulite set - I purchased the necklace first and then asked if I could have a matching bracelet made for me, which she did!  I love so much of the jewellery on her site, go check it out if you haven't already (I am currently coveting the 1950s style tiki necklace!)


Skirt: Vintage from Etsy
Sweater: Reproduction from Rocket Originals
Bag: Vintage from Etsy
Shoes: Marks and Spencer
Necklace and bracelet: Luxulite

 

My new pencil skirt...

OK, so as boring as this post title might seem, I was quite excited to purchase my first vintage style pencil skirt!  Pencil skirts are one area of mid-century fashion that I had never really conquered (along with trousers, but we'll get to that in another post.)  This is mainly because I never felt comfortable with something so figure hugging.  The only time you have seen me wear a wiggle dress on this blog is in this post and as I discussed there, I never buy wiggle dresses or pencil skirts online because you have to get the fit around the hips just perfect, something which I don't need to necessarily worry about when buying full/ circle dresses/ skirts.  

 

I had always wanted to buy a reproduction pencil skirt but as I had never tried any of them on, I assumed that they would be too snug around my hips (and I really don't like it when you are wearing a pencil skirt that is so tight, that it pulls around the hips!)  I was so impressed when I found this Vivien of Holloway pencil skirt at This is Vintage that I just had to buy it.  And I like it so much that I am even considering buying a black one to wear to work!

 

 

This is also the first thing that I have bought from VOH and I am looking forward to trying on some of their other items when I am next in London.  I would love to know what VOH items you have bought and what you think of them?


Sweater: Vintage from Rhythm Riot
Skirt: Vivien of Holloway via This is Vintage, Boscombe
Shoes: Marks and Spencer
Coat: Vintage from Clobber Vintage, Boscombe
Earrings: Vintage from Rhythm Riot
Celluloid brooch: Vintage from Lou Lou's Vintage Fair
Bracelet: Vintage from Rhythm Riot
Bag: Vintage from Vintage to Vogue, Bath