Ten investment worthy vintage wardrobe items

Whether past or present, my style icons typically tend to be real world women just like myself. One person who's superb eye for style, passion for the past, and incredible fashion sense continually knock my Cuban heel stockings right off is the deeply beautiful Joanna from Dividing Vintage Moments.

She's a real world lady with a heart of gold, a skillfully curated (incredible!) vintage wardrobe, and blog post after blog post that never fail to inspire, education, and delightful myself and, I'm certain, all of her other readers, too.

Last week Joanna announced a giveaway on her blog in conjunction with a post in which she highlighted ten vintage items that she feels are always worth the splurge. Her list is excellent and truly speaks to the sophisticated style that flows through everything this elegant woman wears. As a means of gaining two additional entries for giveaway, participants are encouraged to write a blog post on the same topic themselves.

The chance to win some stellar items (jewelry, perfume, matching beaded purse and gloves!) and write about vintage fashion, sign me on the double!

I wanted to get set to work on creating this post the moment I read Joanna's, but I've been going through an extra rough spell on the health front this month, so this post, though not overly large, took me a few days to put together. The winner of the giveaway isn't being drawn until tomorrow though, so I just barely managed to finished on time. Phew! :)

I feel like there's a sense of serendipity to the fact that Joanna suggested giveaway participants follow her lead and write about vintage pieces that they personally feel are worth splurging on, because that's a topic that I touched on in this post at the start of the year, and which I'm making a conscious effort to focus some of my wardrobe budget on this year (and beyond).

While I have certainly made some investment purchases (vintage and otherwise) throughout the course of my life, generally speaking, I tend to be the type of person who seeks quality on a budget. I traverse the web right, left and center, hunting down bargains, deals, sales, you name it, so long as it helps me get the most bang for my wardrobe buck.

Sometimes however, especially once one already has a decent basic vintage wardrobe, there comes a point when you need to step back and evaluate where it would be wise to save and where it would suit you best to splurge.

The answer to this question will be different for each of us, as no two people have exactly the same wardrobes nor daily circumstances around which they dress. Part of me would love to have a closet teaming with nothing but 40s and 50s evening gowns, but that would highly impractical for someone in my shoes, who is lucky if they have one black tie event to attend a year.

Investment pieces don't have to be impractical of course, but at times they may be items that you know full well you're not going to get as much millage out of as a basic LBD. That is 100% ok. A splurge of any type generally implies some degree of extravagance and that said item (or experience, for example, in the case of a super pricy dinner at a posh restaurant or a trip to Europe) will long be viewed as a special treat. If it wasn't, one might argue, would it still qualify as a splurge?

The following ten items are ones that I believe are worth investing in, so long as doing so isn't going to put you into any kind of serious finical hot water. I own a some of these things myself, but others are items that remain still to be added to my wardrobe as time goes on.

Instead of highlighting examples of these ten garments and accessories that are for sale from various sources today, I opted instead to show you photos and illustrations from the 1940s and 50s, as these are the kinds of images I usually turn for inspiration before I begin really getting serious about my quest to find my next vintage investment piece.

{A pinafore/jumper dress}

{A wonderful mid-century umbrella}

{A classic, well made winter coat}

{A few really nice pairs of vintage gloves}

{An amazing cape}

{Mid-century rain and/or snow boots}

{A classic two-piece skirt or dress suit}

{A fun novelty print cardigan}

{A glamorous evening gown}

{A warm winter muff - all the better if it comes with additional matching items, such as a scarf, hat or gloves}

{To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

♥ ♥ ♥

My word, it's a good thing I'm on a mighty strict budget at the moment, or I'd be tempted to run out and start hunting down a few of these treasures right now!

No such happening, however, as I already picked up an item this month that had been on my vintage wish list for years now, and which I was happy to invest in (mind you, still at what I considered to be a relatively good deal - just because something's an investment piece doesn't mean you can't try to get a good deal on it), when it came along: a wonderful pink 1950s patio/squaw dress, which should be arriving in the mail any day now.

Which of these items would make it on to your own top ten list at the moment? If you're in the mood to write about ten of your own choices are are interested in taking part in Joanna's giveaway, there's still time today to do just that.

Even if someone waved a magic wand right now and, poof, all of these items were in my closet, that wouldn't change the fact that I would still recommend them to others are worthwhile investments, especially if we lived in similar climates and led lives with much in common.

These pieces - very much like ones Joanna recommended - are classic, becoming, beautiful items that will stand the test of time and bring their own much joy and use. And those points, my dears, should always be amongst the hallmarks of any wonderful vintage splurge.

Tapping into the history of maple syrup

Sweet, hearty, a product of winter, and prone to sticking to things, while these words call be used to describe Canadians themselves, I am in fact talking about something that has long been a product of the snowy wonderland that is Canada: maple syrup.

While many people the world over have enjoyed maple syrup before (or at least tried something that was artificially flavoured to taste like maple syrup), this amber hued sweet treat is in fact produced in only a few small areas, chiefly north-eastern North America, which the provinces of Quebec and Ontario being the most prolific sources of maple syrup in Canada (south of the border, Vermont is also renowned for its delicious syrup). Just as only a mere handful of areas produce maple syrup, so too is its harvesting season quite small.

Though, technically, it can be produced at pretty much any point in the year if the weather conditions are right, typically - and traditionally - maple sap has been harvested and then refined into syrup during the last few weeks of winter, with February being one of the most common times of the year for this sweet gift from Mother Nature to be gathered.

{Many brands of maple syrup - be their pure, blended or artificial - have been around for many decades, including Log Cabin Maple Syrup, pictured in the vintage ad above, who are still in business to this day. Image source.}



In order to morph tree sap gathered (aka, tapped) from maples that are generally 30 years or older into syrup, it is usually boiled in a special building called a sugar shack (aka, a sugar shanty, sugar house, or in French, cabane à sucre) that is designed with a roof that allows the stem from the boiling process to be vented out (it can also be made on a smaller scale by boiling it outdoors in a cauldron or large pot over an open fire).

The finished syrup is graded on a scale depending on both how dense (in Canada syrup must be at least 66% sugar and be created entirely from maple sap to qualify as true maple syrup) and how translucent it is, and then further classified based on its colour.

{A mid-twentieth century snapshot inside of man hard at work in a classic maple syrup sugar shack. Image source.}



The grading scales in Canada varies a tad from those in the States, but generally speaking, the higher the grade and the lighter the colour the syrup, the more highly prized it is for use as a condiment. Darker (grade B and C syrups) are often used for cooking, baking and commercial applications, though one can also find darker syrups designed specifically be drizzled over your morning stack of pancakes or waffles.

An individual maple tree can normally be tapped one to three times per year (depending on how big the diameter of its trunk is), producing up to 50 litres (13 gallons) of sap per one to two month harvesting season. Maple trees house starch inside of their roots and truck before winter sets in which is later converted to sugar that appears in the tree's sap come winter and early spring.

It is this starchy sugar that makes maple syrup so characteristically sweet. In order to turn sap into sugar, it is heated and boiled to evaporate the excess water, with the concentrated syrup remaining (akin in a sense to the process of creating caramel or candy from sugar and water at home on the stove).

{A Victorian image, circa 1870, of a group of people at a sugaring-off party held in the Eastern Townships area of Quebec. Similar events are still held annually in various parts of Eastern Canada and America to this day. Image source.}



Long before European settlers set foot on Canadian soil, maple sap was tapped and transformed into syrup by the First Nations peoples of North America, however it was the Europeans who refined and streamlined the process into what it is today (an industry that exports more than $145 million dollars worth of syrup annually). By far the largest producer of maple syrup in the world is the eastern province of Quebec, which is outputs roughly seventy-five percent of the world's total maple syrup (talk about a sweet place!).

Though by no means the healthiest of foods (calorie wise, it's very similar to white sugar), maple syrup does contain small amounts of iron, thiamine, potassium, manganese and zinc, as well as 15 times the calcium levels (and a mere one tenth the sodium) of honey.

It's flavour is both complex and simple (in the sense that it's very much a taste that's unique unto itself), redolent in many ways of dark brown sugar, but with more intense, subtly earthy, ever-so-slightly vanilla-ish notes. Though sweet like honey, treacle and molasses, one taste instantly lets you know that it's discernably different than those three somewhat similar substances, and that is has a pleasing flavour truly all its own.

Imitation maple syrup, though very tasty and pleasing in its own right, is generally milder and more artificial tasting than natural maple syrup, as well as generally costing a fraction of the price of the real deal.

If you've never had a chance to try genuine maple syrup, I highly recommend sourcing a bottle and experimenting with it both as a topping on various foods (pancakes, oatmeal, crepes, waffles, doughnuts, sauces for meat, etc) and as an ingredient in baked and cooked dishes (such as pies, breads, baked beans, cookies, and candied sweet potatoes).

{A vintage ad from 1950 for Sleepy Hollow brand maple syrup, which was a hybrid of sorts between real, pure maple syrup and imitation maple syrup, as it featured a blend of real maple and cane sugar. Image source.}



The maple tree, and its sap, have been a part of the Canadian identity for centuries, as evident by the fact that a red maple leaf takes pride-of-place in the center of our country's flag. We're known the world over for our maple syrup products, a fact which tourist shops across the country often capitalize on by selling charming glass bottles (often in the shape of small jugs or maple leaves) of maple syprup and various maple products (fudge, sugar, hard candy, etc) to visitors and locals alike.

Here in Canada genuine maple syrup can be found at nearly any grocery store (as well as some specialty food shops, department stores, gift shops, and various other locations), but it you live outside of North American, it may be trickier to track down.

Luckily however, in today's online world, one can easily order maple syrup products online, with four of the country's best known sources being Jakeman's (who have been in business since 1876), Steeves Maples (founded in 1869), Maple Orchard Farms, and Canadian Organic Maple.

Though I've never had the pleasure of tapping a maple tree or attending a sugaring (syrup making) in person (I'd love to one day), I've certainly tucked into my fair share of maple syrup and maple flavoured foods over the years. Indeed, there's scarcely a food that hasn't been jazzed up with maple syrup over the years here in Canada, where we're partial to everything from maple bacon to maple glazed salmon, maple (usually maple walnut, to be exact) ice cream to maple flavoured popcorn.

{Two early twentieth century - likely late 1910s or very early 20s - women boiling down maple syrup, as it has been done for generations, in the great outdoors. Image source.}



During the challenging years of the second world war when sugar rationing was in place, Canadians and Americans alike we encouraged to use maple syrup and maple sugar as a means of sweeting their favourite baked goods and other foods, with various maple syrup recipe booklets even being produced specifically for this purpose. Today, though it's a charming idea to think so, maple syrup is not the chief sweetener in most peoples' homes, but is certainly is one that's widely loved from coast to coast across the nation.

I always keep a bottle of maple syrup on hand, and never tire of using put it to use in both tried-and-true favourite recipes and experimental dishes alike (rarely has it not worked wonders on, and in, everything from chicken wings to apple sauce). This time of the year, as maple sugaring seasoning gets under way in full swing back east, I love to include an even larger number of maple flavoured foods in our weekly menu then usual, in a celebration of one of the country's most famous and beloved foods.

Join me, won't you, and indulge in a generous drizzling of maple syrup this month as Canada's sweetest harvest kicks off once more, helping to make an otherwise dreary, often freezing cold time of the year a whole lot easier - and sweeter - to bear.

By request: a sampling of my poetry

There are sides to each of us that, even when we post so much about our lives publicly online, we may - whether intentionally or not - keep under close wraps or which have never had the chance to come up organically.

In some respects, the subject of today's both falls into both categories. Last December a comment was left on an edition of Flickr Favourites by a gal named Ashlee who wondered if I might share some of my poetry here on this site. As I've only mentioned - ever so briefly in passing once or twice (so briefly in fact that I can't even recall off hand which post, or posts, I might have done so in) - that I write poetry, I was touched that she remembered I'd said as much, and even more touched that she wanted to read some.

Without writing an essay War and Peace sized post on the history of my life, I feel that I should set the scene just a touch before sharing some of my poems with you.

To begin with, I'm not a professional or (formally) published poet, but I've never sought publication, so that pretty much explains that, now doesn't it? ;) I'd not be opposed to publication for the tiniest of moments, but for me writing has always been its own greatest reward, and something that's been an incredibly integral, and even vital part of my life quite literally since I learned my ABC's. I began writing poetry as a child, accelerating and honing those wordsmith skills as my youth progressed.

It was during those years - some the darkest, hardest, most painful of my life (believe me, I'm talking about far more than run of your mill teenage angst and drama here, but would prefer not to go into great detail about such things at this time) - that I turned heavily to poetry. I wrote through oceans of tears, when I was elated, when I didn't know if I could face another day, when just about all I had in the world was a pen and a notebook of lined paper.

I wrote and I healed. I wrote and grew, loved, learned, lost, found peace, reclaimed my soul, became stronger, triumphed over my aggressors, and stood to fight a whole new set of battles that life was waiting to throw at me as my teen years wrapped up. I believe with every last fiber of my being that poetry was my salvation then, and it is for that reason that my sole tattoo (near the inside of the elbow bend on my right arm) – done by a less than stellar, but technically professional, tattoo artist when I was seventeen - reads, in nothing more than classic black ink, "poet". Poetry saved me and in turn I - the poet - saved myself.

In the years since then I haven't written as heavily at all, nor has what I put down on paper (more often then not, I still prefer to write my poems down on paper first) always been as, how shall we put this delicately, heavy, as the pieces I wrote as a teenager, but they're no less meaningful, important or personal to me, and that may be part of the reason why, up until now, I've never really delved into the subject of my poetry here before.

I won't lie to you, my poetry - generally speaking - is considerably darker than the chipper tone which I generally write my blog posts in, but it wouldn't be being true to my own voice as a writer if I rummaged through all my poems searching for the most upbeat ones simply to keep the mood light as a feather. What I share here today with you then are four poems, written at various points over the past seven years, which I feel capture the spirit of my poetry.



And then there was silence

In the hour of a lifetime,
when a voice once present for eternity has vanished,
and despondence calls out in its place,
all sense becomes irretrievable.

Every tiny spat and misgiving ceases to exist,
in the breath of tragedy hangs only the beautiful and blameless.
Rests sorrow in the wake of calamity,
torrid, un-nameable emotions of bewildering intensity.  
Warm tears beget a frozen existence,
nothing soothes and all wounds.

Never are gone the gestures,
the rearing of your very being,
fondness ever-present intensifies with a momentousness that has no equal.                                                                            
For in the instance of absolute loss,
found is the love which will carry you on.

♥ ♥ ♥

Decrepit juvenescence


We are the young; these days, I know will, not last.                                                                                    
I see them fleet away like a reflection caught in a passerby's review mirror.                                            
Life, they say belongs to us, to those who are still wrinkle-less,
buried in worry,
but still fresh enough to pull of appearing carefree.

Hard bodies, sharp curves,
reluctant to come across as anything less than perfect.
In time we will look back wistfully, sighing and bemoaning over what we had,
never fully aware of it in the glistening moment.

Tomorrow may loom just a couple of breathes from our grasp,
but it is inconsequential to all but a few.
Those who lost their innocence – one way or anther,
taken or given, snatched or forgotten – before it ever had a chance to begin.
We are the young, but I am the old.

♥ ♥ ♥

When destiny intervened

The years flutter,
peppered with hardships that have strewn lines like fallen twigs across our souls.
We were those very beings that went atop a hill,
sipping from medieval goblets and presiding over rock star carpets.

The serenity and power of a secret,
long black eye lashes and nervous hands.
Should I tell you that I knew, that I have always been able to read you like a picture book.
No.
Everything is wonderful, impeccable and sublime exactly as it unfolded.

Under heavy, sleet gray stone walls and shimmering chandelier light you asked
and I replied the ultimate truth: yes.
Nothing can replace the feelings,
the euphoria and anticipation,
and nothing, my beloved, could ever take your place in my heart.

♥ ♥ ♥

To have and to behold


Should we lead or should we follow,
these days of turmoil where happiness
is as elusive to define as eternity itself.
In the breath of each others' souls
we find that every moment becomes bearable,
and every woe eventually a faded memory.


(All poetry © Jessica Cangiano)

♥ ♥ ♥

It is always sweet when a reader asks for something specifically, and whenever appropriate, and possible, I'm happy to honour such requests. Thank you very much, Ashlee, for wanting to see some of my poetry, that is an immensely lovely thing to be asked.

{Woman Writing at Table by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, oil on canvas, 1905.}

In many respects, my inner poet shines through in most of what I write here on Chronically Vintage. Just as poetry itself helped to get me through some very hellish years, so to does my blog writing serve as a continual catharsis when it comes to the chronic medical problems that consume so much of my daily life.


I know that so long as I draw breath on this earth, I will write, be it poetry, blog posts, letters, journaling, or anything else. I need to create the written word like I need oxygen to survive. And like air itself, my words go with me wherever I do, always ready to spring to life at a moment's notice and help keep me fighting the good fight, pen and paper never far from reach.