To parents of little girls who love wearing poodle skirts

Please always ensure that you encourage and support them in doing so, because...

Little girls (and boys) who show an interest in old school clothing as a child sometimes grow up to be vintage fashionistas (or fashionistos) with an unending love of, and appreciation for, the history of the decades they adore sporting the clothing of, and who...

{You may remember this poodle skirt filled photo from last December, when it first appeared here in this post.}

Find, as I do everyday of my life, that they feel more comfortable, confident, beautiful, and happy in clothing styles from decades long gone.

They are not odd for wanting to eschew some or all modern fashions, or for embracing elements of the past. Children, as with adults, often have very distinct sartorial voices of their own, and these should never be silenced.

While some kids may just want to emulate the cast of Grease, West Side Story, Dancing in the Rain, or any number of other classic Hollywood films that we show to children once they're old enough, and thus may lose interest in vintage fashions as quickly as they do the hit pop song of the week, there is a handful out there who will not – particularly if you help make their decision to wear yesteryear styles a completely positive one.

Like many skills and traits, I believe that a passion for vintage fashion often begins very early on in life, and should be nurtured if spotted. As a little girl, I asked her if she could and my mother very sweetly sewed me the adorable pink and white gingham poodle skirt pictured above for Halloween, which  I wore around the house after school most days for at least three years straight after that night back in 1991.

My mom never said anything against me doing so, and I cannot begin to thank her enough for this (one harsh word from anybody in my life back then, as I was an incredibly sensitive child, could potentially have discouraged me to the point where, unthinkably now, I abandoned this important love).

As the years passed and I read every historical fashion centred book having to do with early and mid-twentieth century in both my school and town's public library, my passion for vintage fashion only intensified. By the time I hit high school, though I did sometimes wear modern fashions, my heart lay on the side of my closet which was slowly amassing a collection of 1940s and 50s pieces culled (back in those days usually just for a few dollars at most) from local second hand shops and yard sales.

Then, as now, my mother says that she thinks it's awesome that I wear vintage and don't look, from a wardrobe standpoint, like most people you see everyday. As with many of us, I don't dress the way I do to intentionally stand out, it's simply a by-product of appearing so different from the vast majority of folks in today's society. In dressing as I do, I bring an immeasurable amount of happiness into my life (a point I talked in much greater detail about in this post).

The clothing that I don has a soul. It tells a story, not only of my own wardrobe choices, but of a very different, yet not actually all that distant, time in our shared human past. I cannot fathom at this point my life, a world in which I didn't wear vintage (or repro or vintage appropriate clothing) nearly all the time.

It is so much a part of who I am, and how I see myself. It bolsters my self-confidence (which I see as being very important for someone like me who is incredibly shy, introverted, and has some self-esteem issues), makes getting dressed a phenomenal joy, and doesn't harm a fly. There is nothing wrong with anybody of any age wanting to, and actually, wearing vintage styles or adding elements of the past to their modern day world.

I've always considered myself very lucky actually. The universe does not tap everyone to be a vintage lover, yet it did so with me, and I don't take that honour lightly. I cherish the fact that I wear, try to preserve (a point that Hannah from Just Peachy, Darling is very actively engaged in as well, and which this post was written in part to help celebrate), and get to share my passion for the past with other, be they cut from the same (vintage) cloth or otherwise.

So mothers and fathers of the world, if you child - whether they're a girl or a boy - seems interested in wearing and/or studying the fashions of the past, pat them on back, tell them you love what they're wearing, and sew them some repro or take them to your newest vintage store on the double.

I promise you, they'll grow up to thank you for it - especially if they're part of the next generation of full-time vintage clothing wearers for whom collecting, preserving and sporting yesteryear fashions is as natural as drawing breath.

Of sleepovers past and a little more present

Much as remains the case to this very day, when I was a little girl I usually didn’t have a large group of close friends. Incredibly shy and introverted, I was anything but popular in my early school days. However, thankfully, I did make a handful of good friends over the years, each of whom I have very fond memories of sharing slumber parties with.

The first person I would define as my best friend was a cheerful, much more outgoing gal named Talia, whom I was very close with during grades 1-3 (I moved several hours away towards the end of grade 3, and though we stayed in touch for a while afterwards, the distance eventually dissolved our friendship).

While I did sometimes have birthday parties with friends and classmates as a youngster, once the festivities of the day had wrapped up, it was the evening that I most looked forward to, because I knew that it meant a sleepover for Talia and I would get to share a one-on-one party of our own

Under the sweltering heat of a bright July night we’d haul our sleeping bags into the backyard,  glasses of cream soda (my favourite pop) and bags of Cheeto Paws (both special occasion treats for me in a household where junk food was highly restricted most of the time) in hand we’d chat and giggle, share secrets, play mad libs, plan our future, count the stars, and listen to an orchestra of crickets mere feet away from our heads.

{Me and Talia, on the left in the colourful t-shirt, on my 8th birthday in July 1992. Yes, I was very, very short as a child. I adore how happy and full of energy we look here.}

With my birthday coming up once more in just three days, I can’t help but reflect fondly on memories of sleepovers – be they birthday ones with Tal or others enjoyed over the years with different friends, at their homes or my own – from my youth.

Slumber parties have always been a fantastic part of childhood, experienced by most all of us at least a few times (if not dozens or even hundreds, if you were a major social butterfly) throughout of life. Sometimes they may have involved just one friend, at others five, ten or more gals would gather together for a night of little sleep, movies, yummy food, games of truth or date, manicures, pillow fights, playing records (or CDs), building blanket forts, and repeatedly ignoring our parents’ instructions to "stop talking and go to sleep".
Sleep, after all, ironically, has never factored much into slumber parties. A point which is evident in the following series of vintage sleepover photographs captured by photographer Lisa Larseen for Life magazine back in 1954.
































{All images via Life magazine's photo archives.}  ♥ ♥ ♥

There is such a relatable, timelessly fun quality to these images of teenage girls having a blast as they whittle away the hours of the night, doing just about everything but sleeping – well, for most of the evening at least!
I’m grateful for my childhood friends and the nights such as these that we shared. Now, mere days away from turning 28, I’d love nothing more than to gather all of my vintage loving blogging friends together for a celebration of our own.

As that’s not possible though, I hope you’ll join me in the jubilant spirit of sleepover goers everywhere and imagine we’re all gathering together in our favourite vintage jammies with as much junk food, mad libs, and classic movies we can possibly cram into one night of awesome slumber party fun.