So, we meet again, grey wall!

Outfit details

1940s dusty rose tilt hat: Gift from Tony ♥

Classic faux pearl stud earrings: Claire's

Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥

Fitted black velvet blazer: Smart Set

Gold coloured metal & rhinestone antique inspired brooch: eBay

Black velvet scarf: Zellers

Burgundy top: Thrifted

1950s light pink pencil skirt: eBay

Vintage Saks Fifth Avenue black patent purse: etsy seller MK Retro

Vintage maroon gloves with buttons: etsy seller Antiqueelegance

Black tights: Arden

Black 1940s style shoes: Thrifted

Lipstick colour: MAC Diva

Photography by Antonio Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

Last year on a breezy early spring day, in the nearby city of Kelowna, I just happened to encounter, and instantly fall head-over-vintage-heels in love with, a particular grey wall, as documented in this outfit post.

To the causal observer, and no doubt many of the thousands of people who drive past this wall everyday (it's located on a busy road that leads to the Kelowna airport and local college campus), this is just a wall like any other, and I'll grant you that there's nothing particularly extraordinary about it at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it's hard not to see its charm and allure.

Painted in a true medium hue, this concrete wall is just about the most perfect shade of grey. There is scarcely a skin tone or colour in the world this grey wouldn't compliment, wouldn't serve as the perfect backdrop for. It's a relatively strong colour, yet it stops short of overpowering those hues put in front of it. It has cool undertones, is not inherently modern looking (though it is, the wee little string of shops it connected to was only built a couple of years ago), and I'd be hard pressed to think of a single outfit in my whole closet, I wouldn't happily wear while standing in front of it. If we lived in Kelowna, I'd probably shot outfit snaps in front of this wall at least once a month.

Alas though, we do not, and so the wall becomes a special treat, offering up a certain peace of mind that no matter what, so long as Mother Nature wants to play nice, I can always rely on this particular wall to serve as a guaranteed (wonderful) backdrop if we're taking photos in Kelowna.

On this particular snowy day, I set out with February 14th in mind. I didn't want to go too twee (it's easy for red and pink to veer into saccharine territory far too quickly, especially when worn on someone my age), but I definitely wanted to imbue a sense of romance into my ensemble. To that end, I nixed red entirely, favouring instead a burgundy hued top, maroon gloves, and soft, bracingly lovely shades of pink. To offset the Valentine's Day card quality of those colours together, I kept the other key elements of this look to a palette of black.

However, I choice sumptuous velvet, a fabric that is as romantic and sensual as the day is long, for my black garments. Being petite and relatively curvy, I have a hard time finding blazers and suit jackets that fit, be they vintage or modern, but this particular jacket (bought years ago from Smart Set) fits me like a well-tailored glove, and gets worn more than any other blazer I own (it's a definite wardrobe staple for me). Though modern, it channels a timelessly classic feel and goes with more outfits than you could shake a stick pin at.

This hat - another much loved favourite of mine - was a gift from Tony, that I saw in a while back (just as with the navy blue 1940s hat seen in this outfit from last fall), and which he very, very sweetly bought for me. Given that my tilt hats are my favourite style of vintage topper and dusty rose is the hue I adore most, you can imagine how wild I am about this chapeau! It's a little worn in spots and the wide band of elastic could be tighter, but it still has a lot of life in it and will always standout as one of the most marvelous vintage hats I've ever owned or had the joy of wearing.

It was a nippy day indeed when we took these photographs (a few degrees below zero centigrade, snowing on and off), so a scarf was a must with a jacket and top that left a fair bit of my neck exposed. This black velvet scarf, purchased many years ago at Zellers, is just about the only cold weather scarf I wear. It's not terribly warm, I’m the first to admit, but darned if it doesn't go with everything and feel incredibly against my skin.

I have a couple of other winter scarves, but as with most years, to date this winter, I haven't even taken them out of the closet. I wear this scarf everywhere and with everything, so it's almost surprising that it took this long for it to make an appearance here on the blog. It matches this blazer so well that one could easily be forgiven for thinking the two had come as a set from the get-go. Though the did not, the fact that the coordinate so well makes me a very happy camper indeed given how frequently I wear both of these pieces.


I picked this light pink 1950s pencil skirt up last year on eBay and have been waiting for the perfect time to debut it here. Few holidays are better suited to pink than Valentine's Day, so this week really seemed like the ideal time. I'd been hankering for a pink pencil skirt for years and was delighted to find this mid-century gem for a relatively good price several months ago. It's made of a mildly nubby medium weight fabric and is one of those pieces that can really work for all four seasons, so long as hosiery is involved during the colder months.

I have a few brooches (some vintage, some vintage appropriate) which involve hearts, but I didn't feel pulled in that direction this year. Instead, I felt that burnished gold, AB finish rhinestones and an elegant clear crystal dangle attached to bow would suit this outfit better. Bows and crystals have always been romantic beings in their own right and go just as nicely with a St. Valentine's Day look as any heart would.

And speaking of the day of amour, though I didn't set out with the goal of taking snaps in front of this exact wall that afternoon, the moment we decided to do so, it seemed only natural that I partner the wall that I adore most in Kelowna with a vintage outfit geared towards Valentine's Day. Kismet that we should meet up again for just such a series of photos? I rather like to think so.

Who knew that cupid had fall-in-love-with-a-grey-wall arrows in his quiver too? :)