Embracing the return of fall's gorgeous colour palette at Vaseux Lake

Outfit details

C. 1930s/40s burgundy felt hat with netting: Garb-Oh Vintage
Creamy white plastic rose stud earrings: Claire's
C. 1940s black plastic hat pin: From another hat that I've had for years
Mid-century vintage amber hued plastic beaded necklace: Thrifted (Salvation Army)
White Stag brand vintage appropriate green floral blouse: Thrifted (Value Village)
Amber yellow plastic bangle bracelet: Unknown, had for years (probably thrifted)
1940s/1950s dark green corduroy skirt: eBay
C. 1980s - 90s brown woven belt: Thrifted (Value Village, if memory serves me right)
Oxblood/burgundy hued faux leather cross body bag: eBay
Nude seamed nude stockings: eBay
Brown 1940s style faux leather pumps: Walmart
Lip colour: MAC Party Line


Photography by Tony Cangiano

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My passion for autumn's resplendent hues is scarcely the kind of secret that one keeps under lock and key. I wait with baited breath for my favourite season to return each year and then jump headfirst in spotting itss palette with gusto!

Summer cooled its heels early this year and we had the nippiest - relatively speaking - Labour Day weekend that I can remember in many years. Whereas most first weeks of September still see countless tourists and residents alike flocking to catch some rays and frolic in the waves at the local beaches, this time around, nary a soul was in the water - it was just too chilly to comfortably swim any longer.

Thankfully though, the weather did perk back up a bit as September progressed and bestowed upon us some deeply gorgeous Goldilocks days, as I like to call them. Those gloriously sunny, soft light filled, subtly warm and all too fleeting days as autumn not-so-subtly waltzes into town and usurps summer.

It was on just such a day that Tony and I captured this gently lit series of photos recently at Vaseux Lake, a modest sized body of water some 25 - 30 minutes south of our town. Though not as prized as a swimming hole as some of the other larger lakes around this part (such as Okanagan and Shaka), it is a breeding ground for local anglers - my husband very much included - who flock to its shores for some terrific local fishing.

We were neither there to swim nor cast our lines, but rather simply paused to enjoy the immense serenity and sweeping beauty of the pristine natural landscape and the near still-as-glass surface of the lake that afternoon.


I woke up in a mood to pair three of my all-time favourite colours, which just happen to be from fall's palette, together and did just that in this burgundy, pine green, and amber yellow hued 1940s inspired ensemble.

Though I wear this fabulous 1940s/50s dark green corduroy skirt often, I hadn't sported it here on my blog for close to 3.5 years, so I felt it was high time to give it a spin on camera again.


It as the starting point for my causal ensemble, which saw the edition of a breathtaking c. 1930s/40s burgundy felt hat hat I purchased earlier this year from the awesome Etsy shop that is Garb-Oh Vintage, along with a timelessly lovely floral print cotton shirt that I thrifted several months ago, a classic brown woven belt (also thrifted), a vintage appropriate oxblood/burgundy hued faux leather cross body bag, mid-century plastic jewelry in amber yellow, my go-to creamy white plastic rose stud earrings, and a pair of 1940s looking brown faux leather pumps that I've had for years, but which are still - knock wood - holding up fabulously well.


Now that Tony is home (not that I couldn't do such on my own, of course, but it is certainly easier with him there), I thought it would be fun to film a new YouTube video outside again, and did just that later in the day (up a hill near where my folks live here in town, not at Vaseux Lake), in this (relatively) quick breakdown of what went into styling my 1940s inspired early fall look.





Though I wasn't aiming for the much adored vintage lady explorer look her per se, I can't help but love that this ensemble has a faint hint of that vibe. I've been wearing this general silhouette - long vintage skirt, button front blouse, modest to wide brimmed vintage hat, and complimentary accessories - big time this summer and fall and really feel like it sums up my tastes in vintage casual fashion massively well at the moment.

As we head further into autumn, I'm sure that I'll keep sporting this silhouette and imagine that it will see me through winter, with tights and further layers added, too. It's comfortable, warm, classic and endlessly versatile - not mention pretty. What's not to adore?

With fall being my favourite time of the year and its palette my most beloved of all the seasons, you can bet this there will be many more autumnal hued ensembles coming down the pipeline in the very near future. I can hardly wait to share many of them with you and am equally excited to see all of the stellar fall looks that you'll be sharing on your blogs and social media.

Autumn may be fleeting, but its hues are eternal and well worth celebrating with our fashion choices while they're in their seasonal element!

Giving autumn's colour palette a helping hand

Outfit details

Caramel brown snood: eBay seller tina.g-2008
White rose stud earrings: Claire's
Brown cardigan: Suzy shier
Vintage maple leaf scatter pins: Antique store in Vernon 1970s/80s does 1940s/50s autumn floral print dress: eBay
c. 1940s cream gloves: (I think) eBay
1950s corduroy bucket purse: etsy seller Rue 23 Vintage Clothing
Straw hued heels: Anne Klein
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red


Photography by

Antonio Cangiano

 

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Rain, buckets upon buckets of rain pelted Penticton in the early days of autumn this year. It came with a sidekick: bitterly cold temperatures, and the two made sure that the usual resplendent palette of the season took a lot longer than usual to spring to life - and that when it did, it wasn't exactly giving Connecticut a run for its money by any stretch of the imagination.

As much as I adore a gloriously picturesque autumn, I wasn't going to let the lack (most days) of one get me down, especially not when my absolute favourite hues to sport just happen to be those that we associate with this mellow, fun filled time of the years. Pumpkin pie perfect oranges, perfectly aged oak browns, cactus tinted greens, saffron yellows, and gentle creams set my heart smiling and I try to sport as many of them as I can before snow banks the size of small mountains come calling all too soon.

Few dresses in my closet are as plucked-from-the-fall-forest perfect as this 1970s/80s frock with classic mid-century lines to it. However, while I love it dearly, and bring it out at least one every autumn, if I was ruthlessly culling my wardrobe, it would likely go to a new home. And why is that, Jess? I hear you asking. That, my lovely dears, is because, unlike most dresses, this one is too small for me in the bust and upper rib cage (the polar opposite of the issue I have with a few of my other frocks, such as this green number, that are too generously cute in the bosom region).

I can get it done up, but it gaps between some of the buttons and feels restrictive while sitting. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of seam allowances, and I wouldn't want to hack down into a skirt, when it could very easily work for someone as a dress the way it stands now, so instead I toss a cardigan or sweater over top and make sure not to sit much while wearing it.

One element that I've always really liked about this dress, is that it has two sets of ties. One in the front and one in the back. I don't believe any other frocks in my closet can claim the same and I've only seen this double tie detail on other dresses a few times in all my life. This effect looks darling when the dress is worn on its own, however when you wear a cardigan over it and undo the buttons before the reach the bow, I do find the effect of the two pieces comes dangerously close to making one look pregnant (which I'm definitely not).

Still, even with these things factored in, I love it because the warm, splendidly earthy palette and floral pattern embodies so much of Mother Nature's spirit during this time of the year - a colour set that I backed up with my choice of accessories, complete with a cute little trio of vintage maple leaf scatter pins that I picked up ($15 for the set) at a small little antiques store in Vernon, that I can't for the life of me remember the name of right now (if I do, I'll come back here and credit it properly lickety-split).

As you can see from these photos, which were taken near Rotary Park down at Okanagan a little earlier in the season, there wasn't much in the way of telltale autumn hues going on in the background yet, thanks to all the aforementioned rain we'd been getting in spades. As summer leaped almost head first into winter, it seemed that everyone you talked to at the grocery store, bank, dog park, etc was floored by how it seemed autumn had bypassed us entirely.

Time would go on to show that it didn't fly over our heads completely this year. Yet even so, it wasn't as richly vivid, subtly warm, or beautifully sunshine filled as it normally is in these parts of the woods, which is precisely why I was even more eager than usual to slip into seasonally hued garments and inject the local scenery with some of my own vintage autumn colour palette. It's a win-win for both Mother Nature and I, if you ask me! :)

Oh, autumn colour palette, how I adore wearing you!

Outfit details

Prescription eyeglasses: (frames) Venus Eye Design V-12
Black hair ribbon: saved from the packaging on something I bought
Gold tone swallow earrings: Claire's
Orange v-neck sweater: Thrifted
Vintage denim high-waisted skirt: etsy seller Diving Horse Vintage
Bangle bracelets: assorted sources (Forever 21, thrifted, etc)
Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore
1950s corduroy bucket purse: etsy seller Rue 23 Vintage Clothing
Black wedge sandals: Wal-Mart
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Antonio Cangiano
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Have you ever grabbed some wardrobe photos, looked at them for the first time well after the fact and spotted something that you soooo wish you could have corrected (regarding your outfit/appearance) at the time? Well, I have - and more than once for that matter. In the case of today's snaps though, what's irking me just a tad is that, unbeknownst to me at the time, the left side of the top of my high-waisted denim skirt was flopping over.

This skirt is a fairly new acquisition and the day when these photos were taken was the first time I'd worn it, so I didn't know it had the pesky habit of failing to stay up completely upright on the left side. Being denim, a good ironing and perhaps a touch of starch will likely help remedy that little problem in the future, but as we can't go back in time and it's not getting under skin enough to forgo sharing an otherwise fine (aside from the fact I look, and was, very tired in this photos) set of early fall outfit pictures.

While I'm all for keeping the whole rainbow at hand throughout the year, I do tend to dress with the palette of the season, and none makes me giddier than that of autumn. The rich browns, burnished golds, olive greens, inky blues, soft creams, rusty oranges, regal reds, and plumy purples of fall generally work really well with my skin and hair colouring (no surprise then, that back in the days of Color Me Beautiful, I was always draped as a spring-autumn cross), and are key players in my closet no matter the season.

This fairly simple outfit - which was worn for a morning of buying Tony a new waterproof jacket - combines a fairly deep shade of orange with dark denim, small hits of black (the hair ribbon and shoes), a little gold (the swallow earrings, which are, excluding presents from Tony, my all-time favourite store bought earrings), and assorted earthy hues in the stack of bangles, for a look that rather matches the palette of the trees on the hill across the street from us.

There aren't many trees on our property, those the one that does exist (you may remember it from this post last June) is also beginning to bid adieu to its chlorophyll and take on a beautiful hue that's not too far off from that of my sweater, sprinkling some of its leaves across our grass in the process (our neighbour in the condo next door's tree continued the one you see in the shot with my shoes above).

I love the fact that, thanks to the gorgeous September weather we had here this year, it’s still warm enough to have bare toes, while at the same time get to enjoy the first signs of fall's highly anticipated return.

I know from experience that certain necklines - chiefly v-necks, mandarin collars, and collarless jackets - rarely work on me, and so I avoid them for the most part. However, when out thrifting one day earlier this year, the warm autumnal hue of this sweater caught my eye and I tossed it in my cart to try on, even though it had a v-neck. Much to my surprise - and delight - it looked (I felt) better on me than most v-necks, which I think is due to its relative width. As I don't have many v-necks, or orange pieces, in my wardrobe, I was sure to nab it right away.

This denim pencil skirt is a piece I'd been hoping to find in my size and price range for ages. For a long time I eyed a somewhat similar Levis one on eBay, but it was around $130, and even though it was vintage Levis, I just felt like that was way to much to pay for a jean skirt. I'm really glad I held off, because this past April I found them one on etsy for about a third of that price, and just love it to pieces.

The length is awesome, the colour is dark, just as I usually like my denim, and the notched high waist injects such a great 40s feel to it (I suspect it was made in the 80s though). So long as I can work out the little kink with the one side of the top of the waist staying up, I know this is going to be a very versatile piece that I'll wear often (especially during the fall and winter).

I'm elated that fall - far and above my favourite season of the year - is here and look forward to sharing more pieces channel the spirit of the season with you throughout October and into November. Right now though, I'm off to go start finalizing my Thanksgiving Day menu, as that beautiful holiday is fast approaching here in Canada (it takes place on Monday October 8th), and it's high time time I made a pumpkin pie or two to match my sweater!