Showing posts with label Canadian vintage fashion bloggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadian vintage fashion bloggers. Show all posts

July 1, 2014

13 awesome Canadian vintage blogs

You've heard me say it before, and no doubt you'll hear me say it again in future posts beyond today's, but objectively speaking, despite its population of nearly 34 million people, Canada does not have a particularly large vintage community. This is true especially when it comes to folks like myself who wear mid-century vintage or heavily vintage influenced styles the vast majority of the time. In some cities, such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto, you find small groups of like mind folks running shops, holding vintage related events (such as those produced by the Toronto Vintage Society), and gathering to delight in their mutual passion for the past. By and large however, those of who share the vintage calling are spaced out far and wide across the vastness that is the world's second largest country.

Last September, as you may recall from this photo filled post, I had the great pleasure of meeting a fellow vintage fashion wearer and blogger, my very dear friend Laurie from one of the blogs featured in today's post, Retro Reporter, while on holiday in Alberta, but to date she's been the only fellow Canadian blogger I've had the pleasure to connecting with in person.

Though the power of the internet though, I get to chat with numerous others (as well as Laurie herself, of course) scattered far from one end of Canada to the other as we may be, through our blogs and social media, which is of course, fantastic! Even if we aren't the collective mass offline that you may run into in certain cities across countries like the US, Australia, the UK and various other European nations, we're still there for one another through our sites and the beautiful online friendships that we share.

In the spirit of the fact that today is none other than our mightily beautiful nation's 147th birthday, a holiday known as Canada Day, I wanted to take the opportunity to shine the spotlight on thirteen, one for each of the ten provinces and three territories that make up my resplendent country, Canadian vintage blogs that do exist.

This post, the entries of which are arranged in alphabetical order, is not intended an absolutely complete list of every single Canadian vintage blog around and there will of course be at least a few others out there still (by all means, feel free to list any you know of that aren't included here in the comment section below). I hope that it will help introduce readers, be they from Canada, American, or anywhere else in the world, to some homegrown Canadian vintage bloggers who they might not know about yet or haven't visited in a while, and/or celebrate those which they’re already a firm fan of.



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{Butterflies and Daisys Vintage}


Have you ever meet someone online and instantly clicked with them? That's precisely what happened a few years back when Lisa, the beautiful gal behind the Winnipeg based blog Butterflies and Daisys Vintage and I first crossed paths, and we've been enjoying each other's sites ever since. On top of sharing some of the marvelous outfits - many of which combine elements of vintage, modern and/or rockabilly style together superbly - that she enjoys wearing, Lisa also blogs about a diverse range of history and fashion related topics, as well as sharing some of the wonderful going ons in her life, reviews of many of the vintage shops she visits, and posts about her to-die-for vintage collections via her Show and Tell post series. I've never been to Manitoba, but since becoming friends with Lisa, this province, sandwiched as it is in the middle of Canada, has become the one I most want to get to for the first time in my travels, in no small part to spend some time, I hope, with this great vintage blogger.



{Charmaine Lowe: Life + Style Blog}


Run by one of the coolest jet setters I know, Charmaine Lowe: Life + Style Blog, teams with insightful, thought provoking posts, fabulous outfit posts, and scores of entries all about the eponymously named Charmaine's travels to many a destination near and far alike to her current Edmonton abode.



{Doll in a Sugar Coma}


One of only two British Columba based vintage blogs on this list (there aren’t many of us out there, trust me, I’m one of the very tiny number that do exist), Doll in a Sugar Coma is a thoroughly lovely look at the life, fashions, and interest of its beautiful raven haired writer, Dolly Von Sucre, who has a penchant for afternoon tea, vintage fashion including sublime lingerie, burlesque, music, and oodles of other equally splendid things.



{Elle Buckle Vintage}


The second B.C. entry in today's post, Elle Buckle Vintage is companion blog to a delightful etsy shop of the same name that is written by a friendly, wonderfully nice animal, vintage, and old truck loving lady (also, as you may have guessed, named Elle Buckle) who calls the Lower Mainland home.


{Oh So Lovely Vintage}


You know those kinds of super pretty, super "I so wish I could make something that looked that cool" photos you see on Pinterest day in and day out? Well, if you're on the prowl for a Canadian blog that's teaming with them, as well in some cases as the instructions on how to actually create, style or otherwise whip them up yourself, look no further than Winnipeg based lifestyle blog Oh So Lovely Vintage. Run by two friends, Stefanie Hiebert and Erin Thiessen, this cheerful, wonderfully inviting site teams with oodles of posts, many of which sing with the pair's love of 1950s and 60s fashion and decor, that are sure to inspire and delight all who visit. The duo also run a vintage shop in Winnipeg smile-inducingly called Rhymes with Orange, and as well as selling vintage out of a cool 1956 Cardinal trailer around Canada during the warmer months of the year (they plan to head south to peddle their wares in the States one day, too).



{Pageboy and Petticoats}


Edmonton dweller (and fellow gluten-free gal) Erin Gross runs the charming blog Pageboy and Petticoats, which shines the spotlight on her passion for the 1940s, 50s and early 60s fashion in particular, as well including everything from posts about her travel adventures around Canada to her Instagram snaps and plenty more to enjoy.



{Retro Reporter}


Run by Laurie Callsen, aka the Retro Reporter, just like her wonderful blog's name, this site is chocked full of interesting going ons about the vintage scene in Edmonton, Alberta where Laurie lives, as well as happenings in her daily life, some of of the great vintage outfits she wears (including many featuring garments she's knit and sewn herself - talented gal!), her wedding plans (the big date is this coming fall), and other thoroughly engaging and enjoyable topics with a splendidly Canadian spirit to them.


{Shermette}


Interestingly, though we didn't know about one another when I living back east, Shermy, the fabulously stylish lady and skilled photographer behind the site Shermette, and I resided a mere stone's throw away from one another in Ontario's GTA region (if only our paths had crossed sooner, I'm sure we would have hung out together all the time!). On top of adorning, wearing and blogging about vintage, Shermy is wild about beauty, sewing, music, traveling, and taking photos, which she and her father delight in doing together professionally (check out their site Riddle Inc? Photography to see their work).



{Tea with the Vintage Baroness}


From the prairie province of Alberta, comes Tea with the Vintage Baroness, a wonderful site run by Jill, undoubtedly one of Canada - and the world's - best known lovers of, and experts on, the 1920s and 30s. In addition to her adoration of those two decades, Jill has deeply rooted passion for vintage in general, which shines through not only on her blog, but in her etsy shop, Adeline's Attic Vintage, and the fabulous looking bricks and mortar shop called Moon River Mercantile that she opened up in Edmonton earlier this year (which also has a companion etsy shop of the same name).



{The Vintage Inn}


If you know me, than you know that I'm unendingly passionate about history, so it's with no small amount of pleasure that the blog The Vintage Inn, penned by a fabulous Torontonian named Liz, is often teaming with it - much of which, to my absolute delight, centers around Canadian related topics. With a passion for the 1920s - 1960s, rockabilly and lindyhop, Canada, travel, fashion, and good, old-fashioned fun, Liz and her terrific blog are a must for all fellow vintage loving history buffs.


{Vintage Astrid}


Vintage Astrid has the distinction of being the only blog based out of the prairie province of Saskatchewan to appear on this fun list. It's run by a vintage, sports, Dr. Who, sewing, vegan food, and burlesque lover who posts on a wide range of topics, including some, much as I do here, that are reflections and musings on various points pertaining to our personal experiences with wearing vintage and living a vintage lifestyle (such as her easy to relate to post from February 2013 called Why do you do it?).



{Vintage in a Modern World}


With the biggest population of any Canadian province or territory, it should come as no surprise that numerous vintage bloggers and lovers call Ontario home, including a splendidly talented seamstress with a particular passion for the earliest decades of the 20th century, named Kate, who blogs at Vintage in a Modern World. Here she shares some of her vintage sewing projects (including many that she creates for her etsy shop, Phonograph Fashions), vintage magazine and ephemera scans, helpful how tos (including videos, which she also posts to her Youtube channel, The Long Haired Flapper), and other lovely slices of vintage goodness.



{Vixage}


By way of Manitoba's capital city, Winnipeg, comes another thoroughly fantastic yesteryear focused blog called Vixage, in which Daphne delights readers with everything from her awesome thrifting adventures (and finds) to scrumptious homemade recipes (for example, the wildly tasting one for Blueberry and Lavender Earl Grey Brownies pictured above), wonderfully easy to replicate DIY and craft ideas to beauty related posts (I especially liked her advice on how to repot eyes shadow vintage style this past February).



{All images above by way of their respective blogs. Please click on an image to be taken to the blog it hails from.}


♥ ♥ ♥


The largest group we may not be, but we're a passionate bunch, searching high and low for vintage treasures at yard sales and outdoor flea markets during the warmer half of the month, hunkering down inside from winter's wrath during the cold half, our vintage overcoats never far from reach. We're drawn to a range of different eras, styles and sources of inspiration, but are united both in our nationality and in our unending love of all things vintage, something that we share in common with our brethren the world over.

I feel blessed to know each of the wonderful women behind these blogs and to count them all amongst my dear online friends. They inspire, entertain and impress me year after year with their captivating posts, amazing wardrobes, beautiful photographs, and shared zeal for all things yesteryear. One of my greatest goals in life is to travel to every province and territory in Canada at least once, and as that process continues to happen over the years and decades, I hope that my adventures will led me to each city and town where these ladies live and that we can, just as Laurie and I were able to do last year, meet up in person.

From the bottom of my heart, to all my fellow Canadians, whether they're bloggers, vintage fans or otherwise, I wish you a safe, joyful and immensely fun Canada Day - and to all those outside of Canuckland, a fabulous July 1st and start of this gorgeous summer month to you as well!