These Goodies Found a New Home in My Closet!

Remember the other day when I mentioned I went thrift shopping and brought home a few goodies?

Here's what I brought home:

A lovely vintage cotton slip. I would gather it's 60's (anyone know for sure? I find Canadian labels quite hard to research online). I know someone is going to give me flack for saying this, but I almost didn't buy it. It was priced at $6.99 and I thought that was a bit steep for a slip. On the other hand I thought that it looked pretty "new" and how often do I find cotton slips? It will make a great night gown or I have a few sheer dresses it might look nice under as well.

Bonus Points for anyone who can spot the sleeping puppy in the mirror!

I also bought this pretty faux pearl necklace. It was hanging with the plastic jewellery and I kept inspecting it to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. It was $3.99. Score! Now in my excitement at my awesome find (Value Village has amazing pricers who don't usually let these kind of things slip by) I forgot to try it on. Turns out it's a tad small for my neck, but I think I'll add two thin pieces of off-white ribbon to the ends so I can wear it.

And finally a black straw hat. This near mint beauty was $3.99! It has occurred to me that this hat may be 80's (it doesn't have any labels to deny or confirm this), but I like it anyway. Thoughts?

I also bought a very comfortable black jersey dress (modern, from Buffalo) with a HUGE circle skirt to wear with tights and boots in the winter (I love me some jersey dresses with tights in the winter!) which is currently in the laundry. I'm sure you'll be seeing it when the weather gets colder. And I bought a plain half slip.

Have you brought any goodies home to your closet recently? Do tell!


Lisa.xo

Show and Tell: 50's Pink Satin Prom Dress with White Lace Overlay

This dress is very special to me. I've owned it since high school.

In my senior years (I went to high school for four years) I directed the acting for our high school musicals. In my final year we presented Grease. Through some twist of fate (I can't remember the details anymore) my Mom and I ended up buying most of the costumes for the main characters in the show.


At that point in my life I had a number of years of thrift shopping experience under my belt. And you could still buy good vintage in a thrift store (nobody was invested in it back then...those were the days!!). I was so enamoured with the clothes we bought for the show I never asked my high school to reimburse me for them and kept them (with my Mom's permission of course...I'm pretty sure she paid for all of them! Love you Mom!!).
And so began my collection of vintage.

This dress was in the lot. The girl who played Patty Simcox (head of the cheerleading squad) wore this dress to the big school dance.

And the interior construction:

It's a little difficult to see in this shot, but you can see the extra wide side seams on this dress. A sure sign of real vintage!

As you can see, this beauty is not without a little damage. I would attribute this one to being worn in a high school musical. I may sew it closed one day.

And the tags. The small tag denotes this dress as a size 12. And the bottom tag is quite faded. It does recommend dry cleaning though.

I've sold a lot of the pieces I kept from the show, but this one has remained in my closet. I'm positive we paid between $8 and $10 dollars for it and I still can't believe we costumed a musical set in the 50's from Value Village. Those were the days (didn't I just say that?!).

Want to see more of my collection? More Show and Tell posts here (just click and scroll down!).

Lisa.xo

Outfits: Do I Keep Wearing Blue to Keep Cool?

Another blue outfit. What can I say? I'm loving blue and turquoise right now. Perhaps because the cool tones combat the heat we've been enjoying.

This is a dress I rarely wear. I think it's the collar. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I wish it had some interfacing in it so it would stand nicely all the time, which it does not.

It reminds me of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Blue gingham and all...and I do love the ball trim.

All of the photos I took today cut the top of my head off... whoops!   It's the ridiculously tall shoes I'm wearing. I'll have to readjust in the future.

50's Blue Gingham Dress: Ragpickers
White Woven Belt: Thrifted
Vintage Blue Flower Enamel Brooch: Vintage Glory
Blue & White Floral Platform Mary Janes: Forever 21

This afternoon The Boy and I went out for shawarma for Bakara Pita Bakery. It was delicious! Reminded me of the awesome food I ate in Israel. We ate outside in Kildonan Park while Dave chewed on a stick (Dave is our 3 year old Boxer for those of you who are new readers! click the link for pictures of our fur baby!). A pretty good afternoon if you ask me! 

Hope you all are having a good week so far!

Lisa.xo

Outfits: Still Hot Out!

The temperature has not dropped much since my last post. So I've been wearing cotton dresses or a tank top and a skirt daily with as few accessories as possible. Even necklaces are too hot to wear!!

Do not take this as a complaint though. I adore summer and look forward to this sartorial simplicity all year. In the dead of winter I long to throw on a dress and heels and look perfectly polished with little to no effort.

I had the day off work today, which was quite nice. I spent the morning curled up on the couch with a coffee and my laptop. This afternoon I did a little thrift shopping (I came home with a few goodies!), followed by some much needed grocery shopping; then I came home and make dinner - stir fry beef and brocolli and mushroom fried rice. yum! - now I'm back on the couch. It's been a good day! :)

This is what I wore grocery and thrift shopping:

Ok, confession...I actually wore these flats out shopping. but the wedges look good too don't they?!

50's Cotton Summer Dress: Ragpickers

White Vintage Skinny Belt: Ragpickers

White Plastic Bangle: Le Chateau

50's Birdcage Bamboo Purse: Thrifted, Value Village

Turquoise Patent and Cork Wedges: Le Chateau

White Lace Flats: Le Chateau

I really love this dress. I know you've seen it before, but I'm hoping a repeat or two over the years is acceptable...We all wear our clothes over and over, even whole outfits, so I figure the blog can handle a little reality creeping in now and then. I just can't afford a new wardrobe every season! Even if I wish I could! Know what I mean?

Lisa.xo

Inspiration: Heat Wave

It is hot in Winnipeg today! It is supposed to go up to +43 degrees Celsius with the humidex today!
What!?!?

I've been wishing I had something chic to wear that covers less.

I want this:

The Sartorialist

Cute no? We've had a really hot summer and I've been a little obssessed with playsuit seperates like this one. 

So I headed over to Etsy and found this delightful shop: QsDaydream. 

Beautiful hand-sewn repro playsuits!

buy it here!

Lisa.xo

Channelling Bettie

I feel a bit like Bettie Page with my new bangs. Which is a good thing...I think Bettie was an incredibly cute, sexy and attractive woman. Which is pretty much how I'm feeling with this new do'.

I went out Friday night with my city friends for a few birthday drinks on the patio at Bistrot by Basil's in Osborne Village.

My hair was looking amazing, so I snapped a few photos of my head before we went out. 

That brown blob emerging from my stomach is a dog bed... lol!

I washed and dried my hair and trimmed them a little more on Friday night as I had actually cut them a little unevenly. All is well now and they lay really well without curling them. 

Thanks for all the kind words on my brave new haircut! 

Lisa.xo

Off with a Bang

If you stalk me or at the very least read my blog frequently, you'll know that I had bangs cut in March. Here's the photographic evidence:

I kept them through April, but let them grow out a bit so I could push them to the side under my hat for Kevin and Danielle's wedding.

I've been wanting to cut them again, but haven't had the money to go to the hairdresser. So what does any good "vintage" girl do when she can't afford something? Make do and mend! 

...ok, maybe that slogan doesn't apply to cutting one's own bangs, but it's all I've got. I've been pouring over pictures of cute rockabilly girls with bangs and desperately wanting "Bettie Bangs". That and watching a million YouTube videos on "How to Cut Your Own Bettie Bangs". I've been dreaming and working up the courage to cut my own bangs for about 3 weeks now. 

Last night I took the plunge. I jumped on the Bang Wagon (get it? "bang" wagon...I'm so lame...). So many other bloggers are sporting the Bettie Bang (or some version of a bang) these days. I just couldn't help but join in the fun. Besides. It's just hair. It'll grow out. 

So before I show you what my hair looks like now, I'll tease you a bit with what I almost chickened out and ended up with:

They're a little uneven...as I said...I was still unsure of whether to proceed or not at this point.

I started to cut and ended up with this inverted Bettie Bang. It was looking a little Bridget Bardot to me so I was considering keeping it like this instead of cutting my hair more. I sat around my house for a few hours before I cut more hair off. 

But I'm happy I did. I'm super happy with my new bangs. 

Here they are:

Here are a few of the photos that inspired my new haircut:

both photos above found here. I don't have original sources. If you know where they're from let me know!

And if you are daring to take the plunge into self-hairdresserdom (that's a word right?) these videos helped me make the first cut:

If I had to give a few pointers to someone looking to bravely cut their own bangs here's what I'd say:

• Give yourself LOTS of time. Not including humming and hawing before I actually started cutting, it took me about 2-3 hours total to cut my bangs (I spent a lot of time cutting tiny bits of hair off and then inspecting the result in the mirror). 
• Take your time. Cut a little at a time and let your hair lay as it would on your forehead, bunching it together and cutting it will result in a mess. 
• Keep your inspiration photos close at hand. I printed mine and taped them to my bathroom mirror for a visual reference while I snipped. 
• Use really sharp scissors. You could use actually haircutting shears or do what I did. Use a small pair of fabric shears. Worked like a charm!
• I put a couple plastic shopping bags in my sink to catch most of the hair so it didn't all go down the drain. 
• Watch videos! They helped so so much!

If you're thinking about taking the plunge: Good Luck! Remember, it's just hair. It'll grow out faster than you think it will. 

Have you cut your own bangs before? Any other tips or pointers? OR, do you have any questions for me? I'm certainly no expert, but I can share more of my experience if you're curious about something I haven't shared. 

Lisa.xo