Sporting a New Look silhouette in the sunshine at City Park

Outfit details

Black 1940s/50s platter hat: eBay

Metal and enamel flower earrings: Save On Foods

Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥

Black vintage handbag: etsy seller A Vintage Revival

Fitted black velvet blazer: Smart Set

Brown stretch cotton fitted top: Sirens

Metal cheetah brooch: eBay

c. 1950s brown cotton gloves: Unknown (likely eBay)

1950s reproduction leopard print circle skirt: Big Beautiful Barbara Brown

Black seamed nude stockings: eBay

Black pumps: Payless

Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Tony Cangiano    

♥ ♥ ♥

In all the history of all the fashions in the world there is, unquestionably, no other silhouette that I adore more than that present in Christian Dior's now phenomenally iconic New Look.

Incredibly feminine, sophisticated, and in stark contrast to most of the styles and cuts that had dominated the fashion world during the challenging, austerity filled days of WW2, the New Look, which was typified by a fitted blazer or dress bodice, full skirt, corseted (or otherwise very nipped) waist, hemline below the knees, and at times, even padding around the hips and backside to help further enhance the slenderness of the waist, was a culture shock at a time when most had grown incredibly accustomed to making the most out of the lest amount of fabric possible.

The ensemble that most people picture first when they think of the New Look is Dior's gorgeous Bar Suit (pictured below), which was, and still is, one of the most dashing and sublimely well tailored examples of women's clothing to emerge in the twentieth century. The Bar Suit, was just one of several designs that comprised Dior's February 1947 line, yet it has stood out over the past nearly seventy years as the most evocative and memorable from both that particular show and that immensely transitional period in fashion history.

{Image source}

It was famed Harper's Bazaar editor Carmel Snow actually who is responsible for giving the world the term "New Look" to describe the silhouette and pieces that Dior had reintroduced into fashion (though fuller, more curvy fashions were reappearing in any kind of serious way for the first time since the Edwardian era during the the late 1930s, the war years quickly put an end to designers' ability to produce garments with such generous amounts of fabric). Upon seeing his now legendary 1947 Corolle line (corolee is the French word a corolla, aka, a circlet of flower petals), Snow was compelled to remark, "It's quite a revolution, dear Christian. Your dresses have such a new look!".

This comment was overheard by a correspondent for Reuters and the rest, as they say, is history. Though not all of the fashion loving public warmed to Dior's generous, voluptuous and very figure defining looks right off the bat, they set the stage for many of the silhouettes, designs, and trends that would dominate fashion until the mid-1950s in particular, with elements (such as especially full skirts) continuing to hold court until well into the early 1960s.

Aside from the opulence, glamour and beauty of the Bar Suit (which my immensely dear friend Joanna from Dividing Vintage Moments has both written about extensively and replicated with great skill herself) and the other styles that defined the New Look, I have long been drawn to them because they usually work exceptionally well for those like myself who happen to have had an hourglass figure bestowed on them by Mother Nature.

The ensemble here today is not intended to reproduce a Bar Suit or any of the exact looks from Dior's Corolee line to a tee. Not by a long shot. It takes some styling cues from the Bar Suit, while also calling into play a pattern that we often associate with the following decade (the 50s) in particular: leopard print. It is, as objectively everything we wear should ideally be, me through and through.

The full skirt, the fitted blazer, the nipped in waist, the marvelous pancake/platter hat, the classic palette of neutral hues and black, the way each piece harmonizes which each other - it all adds up to the kind of look that I could, unquestionably and very happily, wear every single day of my life.

On this particular afternoon, we were over at City Park (aka, Waterfront Park; though the two are technically slightly different sections of the same general area along Okanagan Lake) in Kelowna, taking snaps in pale sunlight and unwinding after a long week. Though there were plenty of fellow park goers in the vicinity, by moving around to various spots, we were able to get in plenty of photos with unencumbered backgrounds and highlight this outfit in a tunnel, on a walking bath, on the sand, and against a large tree trunk.

Most of us who adore vintage fashion are constantly looking at images of yesteryear styles, be they in book, magazines, movies, on social media (especially Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram), old photographs, museum exhibits, or anywhere else we happen across them, and sometimes its great to intentionally either take a styling cue, as I've done here, or to flat out try to replicate some of the looks that speak to you most powerfully.

By paying homage to the styles of the past that we love the most, we're able to keep their memory alive and well all the more majestically. Something that, I can't help but think Monsieur Dior would have approved of, having done so himself, too, when he brought fuller, deeply feminine, and more sumptuous garments back into mainstream fashion again after the harrowing war years, where they've continued to resurface (especially in the 1980s) ever since - today's vintage outfit photos very much included.

Thoughts on my wardrobe for the year ahead

Three days shy of one full year ago, I posted about my desire to fill some of the gaps in my wardrobe in the coming year. At the time we were waist high in packing and preparation for our (then) upcoming cross country move, but after long, long mornings and afternoons spent in the close company of packing tape and countless cardboard boxes, in the evenings I was busy as a busy trying to scout out good deals on some of the items (and a few others) I listed in that post.

Around the same time I was in the midst of selling off my rather large collection of cute Japanese Re-Ment miniatures, so that I could apply some of the funds from their sale to buying the garments my wardrobe was sorely missing. As you can imagine, last January was a very, very hectic month! Sales went great though and I was able to purchase numerous items, some of which have appeared here in various wardrobe posts since then, and to fill in a fair number of the gaps that I felt were lacking when it came to certain staple garments.

A good part of the reason why I felt especially rushed about doing a decent sized chunk of this shopping is because I didn't want to move to B.C. with the stress that can come from having a somewhat (or very, as the case may be) incomplete set of basic items in my closet, in a new house and in a town where I knew we'd be doing a lot more going out and socializing. I wasn't short on clothes in general, don't get me wrong, it's just that while I had scores of some items, I had very few - or none at all - of others that I felt really constituted the backbone of any good vintage wardrobe.

Most of those missing items have been acquired. A few remain (vintage or repro trousers that actually fit me well, instead of being way too big or just a touch too small, as is often the case, I find, would be marvelous, for example) and a couple of others have popped up as time went on, but over all I no longer have that looming sense of dread about missing some rather key pieces from my closet.

Three cheers on that front for sure! But what about my wardrobe and 2013? What does this year hold in store for it? This is a topic that began to pop up often in my thoughts around last October and which has continued to do so ever since. The more I thought about it, the more it struck me that I usually divide what I want to buy (in terms of clothing into) four basic categories:


-Wardrobe staples: Those pieces (such as a basic black skirt, white blouses, a sturdy winter coat, etc) that make up the foundation of your closet and which are fundamental to your wardrobe.

-Variations on staples: Technically, if you have the very basics covered, though your wardrobe might be small, you wouldn't truly be without clothes. However, just as few of us would want to eat the same foods few foods day in and day out, so too do most of us crave variety in our wardrobe and generally expand beyond the very basics. These pieces are the next rung up the totem pole, so to speak, and are variations on the basics (for example, a red skirt instead of just a dark neutral hued one, or a second pair or repro jeans) and often constitute the biggest percentage of a person's wardrobe.

-Wish list items: These are garments and accessories that you may have had to save up and/or search for before buying. They're items you want, but which may not be the most practical thing to buy on a whim, especially if you're lacking in either of the two previous categories. You'll likely have some wish list items that fall into the other first two categories, but also some that are more frivolous (and I don't say that in a negative way at all) and just for fun (say, a tulle 1950s prom dress to wear for fancy parties or date nights).

-Holy Grail items: There are pieces - and we all have them - we'd practically give our right arm to have in our closets. The reasons why we don't (yet) vary, but are often centered around an items rarity, price and/or ability to find said piece in our size. They can be staples, but very often are more akin to wish list items (for more on the topic of wardrobe holy grails, see this post from December 2012).

{Sometimes pieces or ensembles can fall into more than one of these four categories. For example, an outfit such as this timelessly wonderful 1940s Hardy-Amies suit with matching felt hat would be, for me at the moment, both a wardrobe staple and wish list verging on holy grail find. Image source.}



Having bulked up the number of staples in my wardrobe, and in some areas not lacking much in terms of variations or even wish list items, this year I'm predicting that the focus of my clothes shopping will be on certain variation staples, some wish list items, and perhaps even a holy grail piece or two (a girl can always dream!).

Beyond that though, I've already begun to somewhat shift how I spend some of my clothes budget. No longer (when it comes to most types of garments) do I feel that sense of incompleteness and a desire to keep upping the tally. I have numerous skirts, sweaters, tops, hats, gloves, and dresses, for example, and am not about to risk going naked anytime soon! I'm very grateful for my wardrobe (which, while not huge, has been well curated and is full of the kinds of pieces that serve me best for the life I'm living these days) and don't usually buy clothes just for the sake of it or out of habit.

Instead I like to review what I own already every so often and see what's missing, what needs to be replaced, what should be weeded out and sold or passed along to someone else, and what I'd like to find for it in the future. Instead of working (largely) on quantity (of over all garments), this year I want to challenge myself to save up and spend a bit more on investment pieces.

I'm not talking vintage Dior evening gowns here, goodness no, but rather, instead giving myself permission to allocate a bit more (within the scope of my budget) on the garments and accessories that I buy. Many times I've passed up a piece I liked, or even loved, because I knew that the money it cost would probably be better spent on purchasing multiple pieces that I needed.

I don't think, even if I woke up tomorrow and was suddenly a billionaire, that I'd ever be the kind of the person who forgoes a great bargain (on the contrary, I'd be thrilled to have money to go barging shopping with!), but now that I have the piece of mind that comes from having a fairly well rounded wardrobe, I can allow myself to spend a bit more on certain pieces from time-to-time.

Instead, for example, of buying five cute $20 vintage hats over time, I could could purchase one show stopping topper for $100.00. There are also certain staples that cost a bit more (for example, vintage suits) that I still need, but which I've largely refrained from. It's my hope that circumstances will permit me to buy some of those pieces this year, as (again) I'm no longer worried so much about filling in those aforementioned wardrobe gaps.

As we sit here at the beginning of a brand new year, I feel very positive about the direction that my wardrobe will continue to take this year. I'll never stop nabbing a really great bargain on something I need (or just plain love!) when I see it, but at the same time, I'm excited about the prospect of adding more investment pieces, no matter which of the four categories they fall into, to my closet in the coming months and beyond.

What are your wardrobe goals for this year? Are you working on plugging holes? Expanding certain beloved categories, trying to cross items off your wish list, focusing on finding some of those elusive holy grails, or something else entirely?

Whatever your plan, I hope you have an awesome year of vintage clothes shopping all throughout 2013!

15 elegantly beautiful 1940s autumn looks

From between the slats in the Venetian blinds in our living room, I can see delicate little goldenrod hued leaves fluttering about like wind chimes in the breeze - their rich, Midas approved shade symbolic of so much of what I adore about late September through early December.

From my earlier childhood memories right up until today, there has never been a time when I didn't love fall, and over the years the reasons why the second-to-last season of the year gets pride-of-place in my heart have only continued to mount.

One of my favourite elements of autumn always been the evocative, captivating colour palette it brings with it, like the best dressed lady in the world arriving at a hotel and opening her grand trucks, sensual velvets, nubby tweeds, diaphanous silks, hearty wools, and versatile thick cottons spilling forth from every angle.

While summer can sometimes seem a touch manic, autumn is calm and collected, yet by no means devoid of pep and spirit. More brazen then winter, yet less innocent than spring, it is the sophisticate of the year and surely knows it, for fall has no qualms with painting her palette of style and beauty across the land - if only for a few brief weeks.

Chalk it up to the 1980s classic Colour Me Beautiful (my mother's copy of which I actually read so many times as a youngster that pages started to fall out of it) if you will, but I've long known that autumn time colours often work well on me, and indeed a scan of my closet would quickly reveal a penchant for burgundy, teal, rust, brown, grey, muted green, copper, and burnished gold.

I'm certainly not alone in this regard, as fall's wardrobe (or at least certain shades from it) looks wonderful on a great many people, and there are few amongst us who can't avail of at least a couple of this season's sublimely lovely, subtly dramatic colours.

With that thought planted firmly in mind, may I present a selection of classy, timeless, dizzyingly beautiful 1940s fashions, each one of which conjures up a sense of the autumn and all that is enchanting about this resplendent season.

{All images via the incomparably terrific stream of dovima_is_devine_II on Flickr.}

Like the rainbow of earthy hues in a harvest time cornucopia, these vintage fashions are both visually appealing and thought provoking – not to mention more than a little bit inspiring. They celebrate much of what is marvelous about fall, while also serving as a sartorial jumping off point for other times of the year, especially if this is a palette that suits you well.

And speaking of cornucopias, tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in Canada, and I'm elated about that fact that Tony and I will be sharing it together with some of my relatives for the first time ever (prior to this year we always lived thousands of miles away from them). Thus adding yet another point to the lengthy list of reasons why, now and forever, autumn - and the timelessly stylish fashions it brings with it - will always be my most beloved time of the year.