My elegant new Heyday Twizzle dress, assorted bridges, and a handy styling trick for stretch belts

Outfit details

C. 1940s tri-colour hat with green feather: Froufrou 4 You
C. 1930s/1940s black plastic ball tipped hat pin: Unknown, had for many years
Black plastic hair barrette: Goody
1950s style gold leaf and black plastic dangle earrings: Claire's
Mid-century vintage plastic "amber" beaded necklace: Purchased in person from a fellow vintage seller
1940s style floral print Twizzle dress: c/o Heyday
Burgundy cardigan: Mexx
Green 1950s style stretch belt: Hell Bunny, purchased from Retro Glam
Skinny light yellow Bakelite spacer bangle bracelets: Gift from a dear online friend ♥
Vintage amber orange hued carved plastic "fakelite" bangle bracelet: Thrifted
1940s/1950s brown scallop edged gloves: Vitamin F
1950s golden brown corduroy handbag: Rue 23 Vintage
Nude seamed nude stockings: eBay
1940s style brown faux leather heels: eBay
Lip colour: MAC Diva

{I'm linking up this outfit post up with the Style Crone's marvelous May Hat Attack, which is teeming with stylish chapeau inspiration from fashionistas around the world.}


Photography by Tony Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

And if I'd wanted this title to be novel length, I would have added “windy weather” and a fabulous feathered cap to it as well – but we’ll get to those points a little later on. :)

If you've been been taking outfit photos for your blog for any amount of time now and opt to do so in an array of different locations (as opposed, for example, to always in the same spot on your front lawn), chances are you've encounter times when, completely unintentionally, you ended up having multiple shoots in a relatively short time period that all starred some common element.

We've definitely had those before and more recently encountered one wherein, during the earliest weeks of spring, we ended up shooting on three different bridges in a span of scarcely more weeks than that. Each is different, of course, and I'm certainly not complaining - it just makes me smile, as I find these organic photo shoot location trends rather charming (past ones have included such things as pathways, beaches, urban settings, park, gazebos, and my parent’s deck).

This is the second of those three shoots (the first being my recent vintage lime green shirtwaist dress outfit) and the third - which we took while on an exciting recent impromptu weekend getaway - will be appearing here in the very near future.

This particular bridge - which I think is rather cute insofar as bridges go - is located just a few hundred yards up the street from our house and crosses over Penticton Creek to a lovely retirement community (that's open for anyone to walk through; something that our dog, Annie, and I enjoy doing often).

Despite it's proximity to our abode, we hadn't yet shot on it yet, so the return of spring's balmy weather seemed like the ideal time to do just that. We tend to get a lot of wind in the Okanagan during the spring, and it was out in full force that day, but I'd thought ahead and made sure to use a hat pin to hold my vintage chapeau in safely in place.

I bought this delightful c. 1940s tri-coloured hat a few years ago, but hadn't yet debuted here on the blog yet. The reason? I was waiting for the perfect outfit to partner it with.

I own, and wear, a a fair bit of each of the three main colours that it stars, but none of the other ensembles I'd tried it with before delivered the same "total package" look that I was aiming for, which this gorgeous 1940s style dark floral print frock, the Rich Bounty Twizzle Dress, from Heyday definitely did (to my mind at least!).

I've had the wonderful fortune of working with Heyday in various sponsorship capacities for at least three years now and I've been a loyal customer of theirs for at least a couple of years longer than that. A little earlier this year they asked if I'd like to team up for an outfit post (our first to date) and I said yes faster than the speed of light.

Heyday is one of my favourite vintage production in the world. At present, I own three pairs of swing trousers, two Fleur Dresses, and a cute floral print top, that is no longer available on their website (plus this beautiful Twizzle dress now, too), from them, each of which I see a lot of wear throughout the year.

This is my first Twizzle dress from Heyday and I can honestly say, I sincerely hope that it isn't my last!

Very well made (as all Heyday products that I've tried so far have been), comfortable as the day is long and enchantingly sophisticated, this 1940s style frock has a colour palette that suits autumn especially well, but a fabric weight that serves spring and summer best (as layered piece it could easily see you on into fall, too).

I'm not terribly busty (I'm on the small side of a North American C cup) and often find that 40s and 50s style repro dresses with necklines of this general shape are a bit roomy on me. This one is a tad, but not so much that its overly noticeable.

I was debating between two sizes on this dress and opted for the larger one, but if I purchase further Twizzles in the future, I'll likely go for the smaller of the two, as I there's ample stretch to the fabric used here and I think that doing so would help the bust fit even better (again though, and I really mean this, it is 100% wearable and becoming as it sits now).

Fascinatingly, this particular dress is based on a classic British CC41 design from the heavily rationed war years that is part of the founder, Shona's, own wardrobe. It's a deeply classic design that looks the 1940s part to a tee, and which I'm more than a little bit smitten with. I love this fabulous dark floral print frock and can't thank the lovely folks at Heyday enough for sending it my way.

With so many hues at work in my dress and hat, I didn't want to go overboard on the accessories front at all, but of course, this look still called for some. I tried a number of medium to wide width belts out with this dress, ultimately favouring this fun 1950s style green stretch belt from Hell Bunny.

It includes your classic triple "row" style metal clasp, which suits some ensembles fabulously, but not this one, so I decided to use a trick that I've been employing for years now when such applied and simply wear it with the clasp in the back. This gives you so much more millage from your stretch belts and because the clasp is quite flat and lies flush to your body, I've never found them to be uncomfortable when worn in this manner.

I'm elated that spring is here and that the weather is warm enough to shot outside sans seven thousand layers again. Even with some of life's usual ups and downs recently, I'm in a stellar (and very productive) mood at the moment and find myself waking up accompanied by a very welcome sense of joy and contentment. I feel like as though such shines through in these photos, and that makes me love them - and this 1940s style ensemble - all the more.

Who knows, perhaps we'll even take more photos on another bridge this season - which I hope (and am planning) to fill with as many shoots as possible. After all, to put a modern spin on a classic expression regarding hay, one needs to take outfit photos while the sun shines! :)