Vintage straw hat: eBay
Faux pearl stud earrings: Claire's
Dark plastic tortoise shell sunglasses: DKNY
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥
Black cardigan: Banana Republic
Vintage inspired silver tone bird brooch: eBay
Yellow button front shirt: c. 1980s Brooks Brothers via etsy seller Little Nettie's
Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore
Black vintage handbag: etsy seller A Vintage Revival
Denim capri pants: Nine West
Black faux leather belt: eBay
Black flats with skinny bows: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Antonio Cangiano
♥ ♥ ♥
Our region of British Columbia isn't called the Okanagan Valley for no reason. Much as the heart of many of its towns and communities are situated on lower grounds, so too is the whole area flanked by a bevy of majestic hills and mountains, some of which are more accessible to the general public than others. Earlier this spring you may recall when Tony and I did our best impression of a big horned sheep to reach Shaka Bluffs, well recently we decided to take in the view from another stunning vantage point, this time in the neighbouring city of Kelowna.
Knox Mountain, named after Arthur Booth Knox, a rancher in the area during the city's early days (of the late Victorian era), overlooks Okanagan Lake and is - I'm very happy to report - easy to reach (it too involves a narrow, curvy road, but at least this one is designed to let two average sized cars drive past each other at the same time). Despite having lived in the Okanagan for much of my life and having gone past the base of the mountain many times before, I'd never ventured up its winding path, so I was delighted when Tony and I got a chance to do just that not too long ago.
Unless you're a brand new reader (if you are, a warm hello!), you've likely seen my beloved eyeglasses many times before, however you've not - before today, that is - seen my sunnies. Between being nearsighted and the fact that I find very few types of frames look good on me, at present I only own one pair of prescription sunglasses (I'd certainly love to expand my collection over time though), which I bought back in 2009, and these plastic tortoise shell babies are it.
They're DKNY, not vintage, but I think they do a pretty good job of looking the 1950s (and early 60s) part, and I'm really happy to have them as we head into another blazingly sunny summer here.
The Saturday on which we took these snaps started out quite a bit brighter, which is why both sunglasses and a wide brimmed vintage straw hat were in order. As the day progressed however, the skies turned grey, there was tons of wind (it was all I could do to keep my hat from tumbling down the mountain side!), and we even got rained on as we headed home later in the afternoon (that said though, the light was still quite harsh, which is why I'm squinting up a storm in the shoots where I don't have my sunglasses on).
Again though, when it kicked off, it was teaming with bright sunlight and decently warm, but not quite to the point where I was willing to forgo a cardigan. Much as I'm smitten with the colour green this year (as you may recall from posts such as this and this), as spring turns to summer, I'm finding myself pulled more and more towards yellow as well.
Yellow is a tricky colour for me to wear, in fact, I'd say it ties with orange as the trickiest, however (in both cases, actually) if I stick with the lightest and darkest ends of the spectrum, I tend to have better luck, and so I was thrilled when I found this classic (circa 1980s) Brooks Brothers pale yellow button front shirt on etsy recently (as an interesting side note, the seller recognized me by name from my blog and we've been chatting about vintage and various other topics there ever since - I love it when things like that happen!).
It's one of only a very small handful of yellow garments presently in my wardrobe, but I adore it so much that it's inspired me to keep looking for more soft and dark hued citrus inspired pieces to add to my closet as the year progresses (and beyond).
You may remember these denim capri pants from last summer (where they appeared in posts such as this), as they are really and truly one of my warm weather go-to pieces, and the perfect kind of thing to wear when trekking up a hill - or, in this case, driving to the gorgeous lookout point on one.
This hat is one of a matching pair that I bought on eBay towards the end of this past winter. It's mate looks identical, save for the fact that instead of having a black band of cotton fabric running the crown (which extends down further, in this case I wrapped it around a low bun on the back of my head), it has a dusty cream hued one. Between the two colours, I have a great mid-century straw hat to pair with nearly any casual or even semi-formal summer ensemble (and the two fill a gap in my warm weather hat wardrobe that I'd been trying to plug for ages!).
Last September, in a post called How Many Personalities Does Your Wardrobe Have? I talked about some of the many different styles that influence the way I dress, one of which has always been the classic preppy aesthetic. It's not a vibe you may detect in too many of my ensembles, but it's one I love and which I think shines through nicely in this particular outfit (the fact that shirt is Brooks Brothers certainly doesn't hurt in that regard!).
I so adore that there are numerous corners of the Okanagan Valley that I'd not explored before (and really hope I never run out of such locations entirely). Getting a chance to visit each one is a serious thrill for me, especially because traveling long distances (or even more than a couple of hours away) is rarely in the cards.
We get to enjoy new sights, learn more about local history, and often take outfit snaps - a trio that's as great as the view from Knox Mountain, if you ask me.
