Vintage snow day!

{Come the freezing cold days of winter, which we're all very well acquainted with by now (in the Western Hemisphere), one of my favourite ways to keep my ears nice and warm (or at least not entirely frostbitten!) is by employee the classic use of a headscarf like this 1960s red, white and green charmer. Neutral hues are fine, but an extra jolt of colour always helps to brighten my mood and serve a reminder that even the longest winter has to end sometime! Vintage scarf measures 20 inches/50.8 cm on all sides. $14.00 from Chronically Vintage on Etsy.}




{Headscarves not your thing or not particularly well suited to a specific outfit you have in mind? How about this delightfully cool pair of deadstock band-less mid-century vintage earmuffs instead? $12.00 from Stag Vintage Goods.}




{I have three pair of snowflake earrings and wear them practically to death during the winter! They're sweet, fun, festive and great way to dress with the season. This absolutely charming vintage screw back pair included pale blue rhinestones and would be especially awesome for your next ski trip (while you're relaxing in the lodge at least! :)). $18.00 from Blue Sparrow Vintage.}




{You might as well put lip chap on the food pyramid for me come winter. I have dry lips (and skin) all year round, but in the winter it's a 24/7 battle for me to keep my lips from cracking and bleeding, so I always have a tube (or five!) of high quality lip balm at the ready. I haven't tried the offerings from this particular brand, but given their all-natural formula, they sound like one that I'd have good luck with - plus the name of this particular product, Snowflakes Vanilla Mint Lip Balm, really appeals to me. $4.00 for a 0.15 ounce tube from Lippincott Soap Co.}




{It doesn't get much more classic than this on the winter scarf front! Red and black combine to create a timeless tartan pattern on this wool blend 1950s scarf that will never, ever go out of style or fail to help keep you warm. 58" scarf, $20.00 from Transmigration.}




{How on earth I managed to list this delightfully classic red and black 1960s sweater and not tuck it away in my wardrobe the moment I found it, is beyond me! :) I have indeed recently listed it though and now you can bring it home with you, if you’d like. Fits up to a 36" bust/28" waist (unstretched). $30.00 from Chronically Vintage on Etsy.}




{Fancy yourself quite the skiing expert? Love lounging in the lodge with a steaming cup of cocoa? Just want to sport a darling winter sport themed pin? Whatever the case, this uber cute, very reasonably priced vintage ski bunny brooch is for you! $10.95 from Granny Bean's Boutique.}




{It's scarcely a secret that I'm wild for dresses and skirts, but sometimes, especially when the mercury plummets, pants are the first thing I reach for in the morning. I own three pairs of Heyday's fantastic swing trousers and they all see wear during this icicle bedecked time of the year. I really like that Heyday offers a variety of colours and fabrics, so that you can coordinate them with your favourite winter coats, sweaters and jackets. A great pair to start with (or add to) your own collection is Black Swing Trousers (available, at the time of writing, in UK ladies sizes 10 to 20) that will serve you awesomely as the bottom half of countless cold and warm weather ensembles alike. £55.00 from Heyday.}




{Classic, sturdy, and easy to style in an array of directions (vintage, punk, goth, contemporary, etc), these Finejo brand women's black lace up faux leather boots are sure to help make getting through the long months of winter more bearable. Plus, they're a massive bargain to - fittingly - boot! :) Available in modern ladies sizes 6 to 11. $21.99 from Amazon.}

♥ ♥ ♥

At the start of this week Penticton was hit by a snowstorm that resulted in the single largest snowfall this town has seen in decades. Coupled with the abundance of flakes that had already fallen on the weekend, come Tuesday morning, there was well over a foot of the white stuff everywhere the eye could see.

A snow warning was in effect and very rarely for Canada, a snow day was even issued schools in the area. Looking back to my own years as a student, I can only remember two times when that ever happened. Snow is a fact of life in this country and needs to be pretty serious and substantial before schools shut their doors.

It wasn't just classrooms that were empty though, the streets, slicked with immensely dangerous black ice, were near ghost towns and sadly many who did venture out found themselves either getting stuck or slowly colliding on their sides into one another as if they were playing a citywide game of bumper cars.

Tony and I didn't risk going out on Monday and I had to move one of my routine doctor's appointments up a few days because of it. For all the trouble such weather can cause (and goodness knows, things can always be worse on the blizzard front - as far as I heard, the power didn't even go down here in town because of it), there is also a certain resplendent beauty to it that will always speak to my winter serenity loving soul.

While I have been yearning for a solid snow cover to take some vintage outfit photos in, it's rather tricky (and certainly not very safe) do so in the midst of a snow storm, so this week the camera stayed in its padded bag and instead I decided to deck out this month's stylish Vintage Friday Fashionista in the kind of garb one needs when faced with such a snowy environment.

While my own hunt for a matching two-piece (or one-piece zip up) vintage ski or snow suit still continues, living in the northerly nation that I do, I do have numerous cold weather and fun winter themed items (such as the snowflake shaped earrings I mentioned above) that I wear frequently from October/November through to March or April, just depending on when Old Man Winter decides to vacate the premise. Many of which are similar those featured here today.

Though things have slowed down on the snowfall front as the week progressed, we're still up to our eyebrows in ski hill perfect powder and it's safe to say that we'll be reaching for the winter boats, extra heavy scarves, and wool garments long after Monday's official snow day (this being Canada after all!!!).

I hope that you're all staying warm and safe, and enjoying a fantastic start of January, my dear friends!

Festive Christmas cardigan fun!

Outfit details

1940s black and red velvet hat: etsy seller Bette's Bargains
Prescription eyeglasses: (frames) Venus Eye Design V-12
Faux pearl stud earrings: Claire's
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥
Black cotton and lace top: Suzy Shier
Christmas ornament cardigan: eBay
Vintage black velour pencil skirt: etsy seller Lady Kitschener's Vintage Emporium
Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore
Vintage maroon gloves with buttons: etsy seller Antiqueelegance
Vintage Saks Fifth Avenue black patent purse: etsy seller MK Retro
Nude and black seamed stockings: eBay
Black pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Antonio Cangiano  
 


     





♥ ♥ ♥

Christmas sweaters get a bad reputation. For this you can mostly blame the plethora of parties devoted to mocking and poking fun at these festive knits in recent years (such events aren’t the only reason, but the huge part of it). I, however, love a good holiday sweater, whether it's kitschy or cute, elegant or extravagant, and decided this year that it was high time I bought my first one (in keeping with the spirit of my Halloween cardigan).

Though this particular cardigan is more subdued than most Christmas sweaters, it packs its own charming wallop of seasonal spirit and has the added bonus of going with a lot of different outfits, thanks to the fact that it's almost all white.

Before we go any further, I need to point out the fact that the black top I'm wearing underneath the cardigan has lacy, somewhat poufy capped sleeves, and that's what you're seeing looking bulky on my upper arms in these shots. I haven't suddenly developed WWF wrestler worthy biceps, it's just the capped sleeves being compressed by a very fitted knit garment.

I picked up this cardigan in "new with the tags still on" condition earlier this year on eBay for an absolute steal. I went hunting for a Christmas cardi with a very open mind in terms of styles and colour palettes, and knew the moment I spied it that this was the one for me. Though not vintage, it has a very classic look and the ornaments themselves definitely resemble something you might have seen illustrated on a lovely 1950s Christmas card.

This timeless black and red velvet hat is one I've had for years. I wear it relatively often (as it goes with so many outfits) and am a little surprised it took this long (best I can recall) to make an appearance here. On this particular day, it - along with the rest of my outfit - got worn to our town's annual Christmas Craft Fair Show, which takes place at the community centre located directly across the street from my elementary school.

Celebrating its 16th year in 2012, this Christmas Fair has been a part of my winter celebration pretty much every year I've lived in Penticton, and I have very fond memories of my mom and I walking to it in the nippy late fall air numerous times when I was growing up. It's changed, like so many things, a bit over the years (I find there are now many more mass produced items on offer than there were a few years back), but remains a fantastic event (it's the largest of it's kind in the Okanagan south of Kelowna) and one that I was thrilled to attend again for the first time in several years (as I'd been living elsewhere during that time).

Tony, my mom and I bundled into the car and headed down on the first of the two days it takes place over the course of a weekend. The crowd was lively and large, but not the absolute biggest I've ever seen there. Dozens of local, provincial and out-of-province vendors were there selling everything from fine art to handmade soap created using wine as one of the ingredients, oodles of Christmas decorations to artisan salad dressings.

We picked up a few things, including a gorgeous (brand new) rose patterned teapot (complete with two matching mugs), a small, beautiful antique looking floral dresser runner, and a couple of cute Christmas ornaments. We'd been looking for something to put on top of one of the two dressers in our master bedroom and didn't (believe it or not) have an elegant teapot (just a small, vivid orange modern one), so I was pleased as punch with our purchases (all of which were quite reasonably priced).

The craft fair took place a little while ago, but I intentionally held off on posting the outfit photos from that day, as I wanted to share my first Christmas sweater with you right before the big day (aka, December 25th) itself arrived. I love my ornament emblazed cardi and hope that it will be one in a long line of holiday sweaters (be they vintage or vintage appropriate) that I pick up over the years.

Like most of us are these days, Tony and I are busy as beavers over here, engaged in all manner of holiday going-ons. They'll be posts as usual over the next few festive days, but this is the last wardrobe post for 2012 that I have slatted. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has flown by since I first started sharing outfit snaps here on a regular basis last March.

For those who'd like a teaser of what's to come in the New Year, I'll be kicking off 2013 with a notable change to my hair, so be sure to stay tuned for all the exciting details (and photos!) there.

I love this time of year and am so, so filled with the Christmas spirit right now I can hardly restrain myself from wearing this cardigan 24/7! I hope that you're also in a happy holiday mood and that everything is going wonderfully for you and your families this December.

Merry Christmas Eve, Eve, my dear friends!!! (Only two more sleeps Christmas morn!)

The cute cropped sweater with really long sleeves

Outfit details
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥ Faux pearl earrings: Claire's Cropped grey and white striped sweater: thrifted Vintage white lace full slip: eBay Black vintage gloves with black stitching detail: etsy seller ilovevintagestuff  Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore Vintage Saks Fifth Avenue black patent purse: etsy seller MK Retro Vintage black velour pencil skirt: etsy seller Lady Kitschener's Vintage Emporium Black seemed nude stockings: eBay Black pumps: Payless Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photography by Antonio Cangiano  
♥ ♥ ♥

This outfit really captures the sort of thing I typically wear when running errands, such as grocery shopping, going to the library, or stopping by to visit someone, when the weather is having one of those lovely "not too hot, not too cold" Goldilocks approved kind of days. It's also precisely the kind of thing I'd wear to go thrifting or yard saling in, too.

It's a relatively simple look in terms of the fact that there aren't too many components to it, which is A-ok in my books, as sometimes it's wonderful just to let one or two garments or accessories take the limelight. In this case, the star of the show is this darling grey and white striped cropped sweater that I picked up at  Value Village a few months ago, and have been wearing quite often ever since.

Being petite (5'2"), I frequently find that sweaters (and cardigans) are cut much to large for me in the sense that they often hang down to my thighs (at times when that's not the look I'm going for) and/or have scads of extra fabric in the shoulder area. In such instances, it's cropped sweaters to the rescue! They usually hit me right around my navel and so are fantastic for partnering with medium to high waisted trousers, jeans, and skirts, such as this classic black velour vintage pencil skirt.

The only teeny-tiny qualm I have with this sweater, and I've encountered this before with cropped tops such as this, is that the arms are rather long. I realize that I don't have particularly lengthy limbs to begin with, and am certainly no stranger to pushing up or cuffing my sleeves on all manner of shirts, sweaters, dresses, and jackets, but you'd think that given the scaled down proportions of a cropped sweater, the sleeves might be a tad shorter. Nope, no dice there. It's as though, to help make up for the lack of fabric at the bottom hem, the designers felt like they needed to attach it all to the sleeves.

So in this case, I just sort of scrunched and pushed the sleeves up a tad, yet still tried to keep them fairly far down my wrists, as it wasn't the warmest of days out when were grabbing these snaps. No matter though, it's still a great little shirt with a charming illustration of a sophisticatedly chic woman taking her dog out for a stroll. If I had a dog, which unfortunately I do not, I would try to mimic her pose while wearing this very shirt (and ensure someone took a picture of it).

Though their arms are sometimes long enough to house a family of outstretched boa constrictors in, I say three cheers for cropped sweaters. They often to call to mind stylish lasses of the 1940s and 50s, are a great way to include knit wear in your summer and early autumn wardrobe (when sporting two pounds of Fair Isle knit is out of the question), and can look wonderful on gals of all heights and shapes, those lucky lanky armed lasses very much included!

Wearing dusty rose to sweeten a rainy summer day

 


 








  


Outfit details

Floral print vintage cotton scarf: etsy seller I Love Vintage Stuff  Pink cupcake earrings: Claire's Pink bow sweater: eBay Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore Vintage style side button jeans: Freddies of Pinewood Pink and white argyle pattern socks: Ralph Lauren bought at Winners (aside from perfume, the only Ralph Lauren item I've owned to date) Lip colour: Covergirl Outlast Lipstain in 440 (Wild Berry Wink)

Photography by Antonio Cangiano 

♥ ♥ ♥

Don't get me wrong, by and large, I'm actually quite fond of a rainy day or two (unless, of course, it's raining when I want to go out thrifting on the weekend!). They can inject a breather into a hectic week, month or even season and help you slow down for a touch - or at least focus more on getting indoor activities completed. Rainy days often mean cooler temps, gentle light, and the need for slightly heavier garments, often even during the summertime.

This spring and summer have seen their fair share of rainy days so far - not monsoon level by any means, but certainly more than during many years in my younger days spent in this neck of the Okanagan woods.

On days when the sun is nowhere in sight and it's clear that the temps won't climb above 20C, I find myself feeling a bit happy because I know it means I can easily wear a lightweight sweater without the risk of wilting like a lettuce leaf under a heat lamp, before summer's sweltering temperatures return in a day or two.

It's a scarcely a secret that pink is my favourite colour, but did you know that my very favourite shade of this feminine hue is dusty rose? It's true, for as far back as I can recall, this delicate, soulful pink has been my most beloved colour, and I'm always on the prowl for vintage or vintage appropriate wardrobe pieces in it to add to my closet.

This darling little sweater - with it's super cute bow - is a relatively recent purchase, picked up last winter along with a few other pieces from eBay seller Glamshell Store, who sell an array of reasonably priced vintage/pinup girl inspired garments (chiefly sweaters, shirts, and bustiers). It quickly became one of my most frequently worn knit tops and I'd been missing it since the mercury shot up, so it was with great delight that I slipped into it again not too long ago for a lovely little photo shoot out out on our front deck.

We were not entirely alone as the camera snapped away. A moth with beautiful earthy hued wings, who lived on our deck for at least a week, and which I named Marvin the Moth, hung out with us, as did a small, spindly legged spider. I love how verdant the grass looks here thanks to the rain, as well as that you can see our hanging flower basket (our first ever - a gift from my paternal grandparents) in the background in some shots.

I've been more than a little obsessed with headscarves and using scarves as headbands since about May onward (though I've always loved them and worn them often over the years), and have been wearing a scarf or two in my hair several times a week for the past couple of months (with no sign of that trend halting any time soon).

I adore how cool they help my head feel when the sun is blaring down, as well as the endless array of fun ways you can style them. This particular vintage scarf, which features flowers in hues of pink and burgundy is my favourite scarf in my modest sized collection, and the one that I sport most often - especially when wearing this dusty rose sweater, as I really like how well the two compliment one another.

Given that we're only a third of the way through July (tomorrow is my birthday, yay!), summer is certainly not at any risk of coming to an end for quite some time still, and these unseasonably grey days probably won't stick around too much longer. Or at least I'm hoping so, because though I do love a tranquil, damp afternoon periodically, I really need my sizzling hot summer fix while I can still get it!

Vintage 365: Warm up to a delightful 1950s fashion video clip about sweaters

✯ Day 27 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Here in the urban wilds of Toronto, this month has been a rather bone chilling one for the most part. Though some days were "warm” enough to see icy rain instead of snow, others dipped down as low as a rather toe-numbing -24C, which certainly called for cozy, heavy-duty winter wear.

Our apartment building isn't the best heated of abodes (though we do have an electric heater my husband bought last year that helps significantly), which means that long sleeves are a definite must whether indoors or out. As such I've been reaching for sweaters or cardigans most days to help keep winter's icy breath at bay (not that I mind really, both garments are longstanding favourites of mine).

Naturally I prefer my sweaters to be - or look as though they could be - vintage. Charming 1950s sweaters in particular have always captivated my fashion loving mind, so I went looking for some images of mid-century sweaters for an added dose of wardrobe inspiration and chanced upon a darling little video clip on Youtube that shows some of the most fetching sweater styles of the 50s.

Entitled 1952 Sweater Girls, this short and sweet video is ripe with style inspiration - not only when it comes to sweaters, but also overall ensembles, hairstyles and make-up looks. I adore fashions from the early 50s (they were, by and large, so incredibly feminine and elegantly tailored), and couldn't help but swoon over the beautiful styles the models in this video are wearing .

I hope that this fun, fashion filled clip will help inspire your own styles as we battle our way through the rest of this frosty season that is so perfectly suited to all manner of vintage sweaters.