Modeling the hand knit Darla pillbox hat from White Purls against a sea of gorgeous fall hues

Outfit details

Vintage style grey knit Darla pillbox hat: c/o White Purls
1950s blue, white and black skirt suit: eBay
1950s white rhinestone cluster brooch: Local swap meet
c. 1950s black ruched gloves: Unknown, had for years (probably eBay or Etsy)
Grey faux pearl stretch bracelets: Thrifted (Value Village)
1950s/1960s grey handbag: Running Rabbits Studio
Black seamed nude stockings: eBay
White pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red


Photography by Tony Cangiano

(True to my word in this recent outfit post: teeth! )

♥ ♥ ♥

Fall's colour palette is a grand and glorious one. As vibrant as a spring or summer garden is, and as deep the soulful shades of winter, no season can truly top autumn's radiant spectrum of hues. We get our fair share of stunning ones around these parts, but iconic red leaves are not actually something one spots in every yard.

I knew the moment that I put together the 1950s ensemble in today's photos that I wanted to hunt down just such crimson leaves however and luckily, by venturing more than an hour north of our town, we able to do just that and, if I may say, the results were absolutely gorgeous!

That beauty was helped in no small part by the this exquisite mid-century style grey handknit pillbox hat that I'm sporting here. Earlier this year I was contacted by Myriam, the lovely entrepreneur behind the millinery brand White Purls (don't you just adore that play-on-words:)), and very kindly offered my choice of their stylish vintage inspired hats.

I'm really trying to up the grey in my wardrobe (it's one of my favourite colours and yet, in many areas of my closet, I own little to none of it at present) and felt that a chapeau in this colour would be a very fitting choice for fall and winter (the time of year when I'm most apt to wear a knit hat to begin with). Thus, I selected the elegant topper you see here and could hardly wait to share it with all of you.

Myriam crafts all of the hats that she sells herself and puts such skillful detail and care into each of these marvelous works of millinery art. She starts by knitting the the material for the hat and then sewing it onto a frame, thereby ensuring that each hat keeps its classic shape. At present Myriam is focusing on pillbox styles, which will surely delight many vintage wearers and old school hat fans of all sorts.

She uses very high quality materials and embellishes many of her hats with, fitting, pearl beads. Like Myriam, I'm a massive pearl fan and love that I got to weave some new grey ones into my wardrobe care of this fantastic hat (which I want to wholeheartedly thank White Purls for). It is a beautifully made, styled and presented hat that arrived to me in a cardboard hat box tied up with pretty ribbon and accompanied by a lovely little note. I adore when sellers put that kind of attention to detail into their packaging and knew before I had even gotten the lid off the box that my socks were going to be thoroughly knocked off.

That they most certainly were! This hat - which stays in place thanks to a skinny elastic strap that is hidden under one's hair - is breathtaking, classic, comfortable, cozy, and deeply stylish. Though definitely vintage inspired, it's not so old school looking that a modern fashionista or bride couldn't easily avail of a hat like this as well. Myriam very kindly let me select cotton yarn (she offers various designs in wool, cotton or silk), which was fantastic, as I'm allergic to wool (it gives me hives when it touches my skin) and this way I can spot her attractive grey pillbox hat without a speck of worry on that front.

I truly love this hat - the style of which is called The Darla - and feel honoured to add such an elegant, professionally made pillbox to my wardrobe.

A hat this magnificent calls for an equally chic outfit and so, with the temps dropping by the day, I figured it was high time I shared this 1950s skirt suit here with all of you. It's spring/summer/early fall weight (made from a fairly thin, unlined fabric) and I rarely sport it in the winter, so now the time to do so. I love this sophisticated vintage suit and have had it for, oh, probably about six years now, I'd say, though somehow it had, up until now, avoided appearing on my blog (this point is all the more amazing when you consider how few suits I own).

Summer weight it may be, colour wise it suits the second half of fall superbly and when partnered with this resplendent earthy ruby hues that autumn very kindly provided as a backdrop, it takes to this season like a duck to water. A handful of vintage accessories capped off the look, which I must say, is one of favourites so far this year.

It's hard to believe that in little more than a month, winter will be here again and the skies, streets, and slushy snow piles alike will all take on a grey tone of their own more often than not. Right now though, we're still enjoying the last enchanting vestiges of this season. A point that makes me a gleeful as wearing this strikingly pretty hand knit grey pillbox hat from White Purls does!

Splish splash, 1960s style

Outfit details

C. late 1950s/1960s lilac purple pillbox hat: Gift from a dear friend ♥
Floral cluster earrings: Claire's
C. 1960s pink floral print dress: Mintage
Gold tone oversized chain link bracelet: Payless
1950s/60s lilac purple gloves: Artistic Endeavors 1
1950s/60s navy blue handbag: Frugal Frocks
Nude toned nude seam stockings: eBay
Navy blue patent pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Party Line


Photography by Tony Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

It's hardly a state secret that I'm a die-hard fan of 1940s and 50s fashions and looks which are strongly centered around, or inspired by, those decades are my usual go-tos. Yet, every now and then I get a strong urge - as many of us vintage loving folks do - to dabble in an ensemble that calls to mind another decade.

With Mad Men, my favourite TV show of the last decade, wrapping up in May, the 1960s were strongly on my mind and I decided that it was high time that I finally showed you guys the kind of look I'm apt to slip into when I when I'm in the mood for early sixties fashions.

I actually really adore a lot of the highly feminine styles of the first part of that transformative decade, so that's what I reach for more often than not when a sixties mood strikes. Mod styles, fun as they are, don't usually look good on me and I haven't rocked much in the way of hippie/boho styles since my teen years I do however have a perpetual affinity for the ladylike glamour and beauty of the early sixties and feel that this pastel filled look channels that vibe wonderfully.

One of the fun challenges of living in a small town is continually finding new locations to shot in (I have no qualms with reusing locations, especially at different times of the year, but variety is the spice of life as they say!). Tony and I recently realized that we'd never shot in front of a fountain, so on a sun-kissed afternoon in late May, we made our way down to the very splashy fountain that stands in front our town's casino.

Located right on the beach at Okanagan Lake, the aptly named Lakeshore Resort and Casino isn't a place I spend much time (I've never been one for gambling - I'd rather spend my pocket money on vintage items or craft supplies!), but it does have some lovely landscaping outside, including this fountain and so we beelined it over there and proceeded to get a very chilly shower all in the name of a fun (fabulously bokeh filled) photo shot.

This dress, a circa late 50s or, far more likely, early 60s zipper front house/day dress is one of the items that I picked up for myself last year at the renowned Canadian vintage shop Mintage, located in Vancouver (blogged about here). I pulled on the hints of lilac purple in the wee floral pattern of the dress for my choice of hats, a breathtaking light purple pillbox topped off with millinery flowers that was a treasured gift from a very dear fellow vintage loving friend a while back.

I'd not shared either of these pieces on my blog before, so teaming them up together felt all the more natural and I have to say, I really love the girly meets fabulously sophisticated vibe that they channel.

To this stylish sixties hat and frock, I added a 1950s/60s navy blue handbag, lilac hued gloves from the same time frame, sweet little modern floral earrings that look the old school part, a chunky gold tone link bracelet (also a nod to the sixties), and navy blue patent pumps. The hat and dress themselves are quite bold, so I didn't go overboard with my accessories here at all. I wanted those two pieces to be the stars of the show and for my embellishments to play supporting rolls.

Though I don't go over the swinging sixties side too often, I must admit, the older I get, the more I find that deeply feminine looks from the start of the era appeal to me (as touched on in this post at the start of the year). And you know, if I happen upon more garments from that time frame that I adore as much as I do this hat and dress, you could very easily be seeing me rocking more sixties looks here every now then - though, in all likelihood, not always in front of a fountain.

It's one thing to get an icy impromptu shower when it's 25 degrees (Celsius) out, it's another entirely when there's snow on the ground! But much as with dressing outside of your usual decade(s), every now and then it's not only enjoyable, but important, to try something fresh, be it with your outfit, your photo shoot location, or both. Who knows, maybe I'll even show you guys my spin on seventies attire  one of these days! :)

*PS* Rather amazingly, a mere few days after we took these photos, a cougar wandered into town from the hills (this isn't surprising really given the vast deer population that we have on our streets here) and was humanely tranquilized (and relocated outside of town) literally just a handful of feet away from the very spot where I was standing when these photos were taken. Could you imagine what might have happened if it had shown up when we there? Yikes!