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Seasons

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vintage styled vogue 1044 summer dress and straw hat

I’ve been been stuck in a creative block lately. I look back to last year when I was blogging weekly and posting frequently (if not daily) on Instagram. And here it’s been almost a month since my last blog post. I feel like I just haven’t gotten back into the swing of things. And I wonder why something that gave me so much enjoyment last year, is such a struggle now. I think perhaps I’m just going through a season right now; there’s been stuff going on in my personal life, and it’s not that I don’t have time, I’ve just given myself the permission to take a step back, and take a break. I don’t want something that is fun to start being a chore.

But even though I haven’t been feeling particularly inspired to write and blog and share lately, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been having fun with my wardrobe. I’ve still been experimenting with my clothes, and enjoying my summer wardrobe, and working on sewing one of the pieces from my #makenine list, even though I haven’t been documenting it all.

straw-boater and vogue 1044 summer dress

I’ve been going through a different season in my style lately too, and have been drawn to a more subtle and subdued palette lately. I’ve put some of the clothes that I used to wear in regular rotation to the side, as they just aren’t feeling very “me” lately. As much as I like bold vintage prints and styles, I feel more like “vintage mixing” right now. Most people would probably still look at my clothes and think that they are quite vintage looking, but to me they don’t feel authentically vintage, but more modern with a touch of vintage, and I’m enjoying styling my clothes this way for summer.

andrea shelley earrings-and-straw boater

You all know that I’m an avid thrift shopper, and that I don’t buy very many new pieces, but I recently purchased this new straw hat, and these black pearl earrings. I’ve been drawn to classic, feminine styles lately, and both of these pieces felt very fresh. I love how they go with my existing pieces and add a bit of variety to my current wardrobe, such as this dress, purse and shoe combination which I’ve worn before. This is one of my favourite summer dresses, so I’m happy it’s the season to wear it again!

This boater is one that I saw in the window of a local shop, and popped in to check out…and then ended up buying the next day! (Placing items in shop windows really does work!)

andrea-shelley- black pearl earrings

And these lovely gold and pearl earrings are ones that I bought at a handmade art show. The artist is Andrea Shelley Designs. I saw the earrings, walked around the show thinking about them, and then came back to her booth to get them. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was really going to get them, but there were some other ladies looking at her jewelry- and when they picked them up, I felt that anxious “No, don’t buy those!” feeling, so that sealed the deal. (And those ladies bought some other items, so Andrea didn’t lose out on a sale!) She describes her jewelry as “minimal and feminine”, which is just what I am liking lately. I also just bought some of her tiny pink pearl earrings, and I’m excited to wear those soon too.

Well, look at that. I just said I was feeling a creative block, and here I have written an entire post. I’m not going to promise that I’m going to be posting regularly again….but I do have some other outfits, so we can always hope.

straw boater

summer-floral dress vogue 1044-and-straw-boater hat

vintage button ring

apple blossoms

vintage summer floral style vogue 1044 dress and straw boater

A Very Belated Easter Outfit, and Spring is Here

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A very Belated Easter Outfit, the artyologist

This is actually not the outfit that I wore for Easter this year, but it is the outfit I wanted to wear.

Easter Sunday (which I know was already a month ago…) this year dawned bright and sunny, and it would have been the perfect day to wear this straw hat, straw bag and lace jacket. Alas, however, I wasn’t able to wear this outfit, because when I went to get dressed, I realized that this hat was actually not in my closet where I thought it was, but was packed away somewhere (since I am temporarily living with my family). Sunday morning about an hour before you are to leave for church, is not the time to discover that almost all of your hats are packed away, that you have no idea which box they are in, and that all of the hats that are unpacked are winter hats, or ones that don’t work with short hair!

So, at the last minute I had to change the plan of what to wear for Easter Sunday, and ended up wearing this previously worn outfit instead. It was actually a rather nice thing to wear for Easter as it was the first Spring-like day we’d had, and that dress is so cheerful, but it was still kind of sad that I was unable to wear an “Easter Bonnet”!

However, I was able to find my hats during the next week, and so the next Sunday, I decided it was time to put together this “Easter” outfit to wear. It would have been the perfect thing to wear on our sunny Easter Sunday, but not so great for that Sunday, as we got snow that weekend! The weather took a turn for the worse the weeks after that, so I wasn’t able to get pictures…and then one thing after another…and here we are a month later, when I am finally sharing what I wore 🙂

Although, this isn’t exactly what I wore, because in the meantime I forgot that I had actually worn sandals and then I found a brown belt at the thrift store last week, which looked better than the original gold belt…so I guess I improved on the outfit! It’s got kind of a “New Look” vibe to it- at least that is what I was going for.

Anyways- I was finally able to get pictures this past week, since the weather has warmed back up, and the trees have leafed out in “new leaf green” in the course of a couple of days! Spring is finally here- and I am so ready for it! (That’s also why I have so many pictures of the new leaves in this post…this isn’t even all that I took- I was just so excited to see all the tiny leaves, that I was snapping pictures left and right!)

I never used to notice that Spring comes late to this part of the world (compared to other places in the world) until I started an account on Instagram, and follow people from all over the world. Now I see people posting pictures of cherry blossoms and crocuses months before we see any green here! Oh well- even though we live with cardboard brown for a lot longer than other climates, I still wouldn’t move away!

Well, it’s been so long since I last blogged, that I’ve almost forgotten how to, so I’ll leave this here. My plan is to start blogging regularly again, but we’ll see how that goes. . .

I hope you all have a lovely weekend- and a Victoria Day weekend, to my fellow Canadians!

Have you ever planned to wear a specific outfit, but then weren’t able to because a key piece didn’t work out? Do you like to dress up with an “Easter Bonnet” for Easter Sunday? Have you ever worn an outfit, and then improved on it later?

Vintage Skating Party

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If I were going to a vintage skating party, this is what I would wear! Actually, even if it wasn’t a “vintage” skating party, this is still what I would want to wear, because it just seems like a vintage skating outfit, doesn’t it? Not that I have been doing much skating lately. . .  I haven’t gone once this year!

I have been making good on my plan to sew more this year, however, so there’s that. This past weekend I actually sat down and unpicked two of the wool skirts I got recently at the thrift store, altered one of the skirts, and finished several other mending and alteration projects that have been sitting in a pile for much too long! 

This knitted top, which is actually a 70’s inspired mini dress, was one of the garments I altered on Saturday. I got it several years ago from the thrift store, for an ambitious plan to do photoshoots of every era since 1900. Well, the photoshoots never happened, but I still really liked this dress- just not as a dress! The mini dress might have been a thing in the 70’s, but it’s really not my thing.

I was going through clothes a while ago, and came across it wondering whether I should just pass it on, as I was never going to wear it, but since I absolutely love the sleeves, I couldn’t bear to get rid of it. Then, I thought that I could try wearing it as a sweater, tucked into a skirt. It works quite well as a sweater, but it originally had a keyhole opening in the back. (Only the top two buttons were there.) 

vintage-skating-party-1

However, when you are wearing a sweater, it probably means that it’s chilly, and having an open back was COLD! I added some more buttons and loops and now this is a much warmer and more practical pullover! Well, as practical as it can be with sleeves like this! 

I know the dress is supposed to be a more 1970’s Missoni style, but the sleeves really remind me of the 1930’s. What do you think?

vintage-skating-party-sleeve

I paired it with my black wool circle skirt, so the look isn’t truly 1930’s, but it seemed kind of like a skating outfit, so I decided to roll with it, and add a beret (my hair is actually long enough to wear berets again!), this lovely oversized pearl headed hat pin a lady in my church gave me, and a gold belt. These sparkly earrings my mom and dad got me for Christmas gave a bit more bling, and then these boots, with a fur detail, kind of completed the “winter skating” look.

I’m so glad I decided to dedicate some time on Saturday to mending and altering, as I was able to add several “new” items back into my wardrobe! It’s my own version of “shop your closet”! 

Do you get excited to add items you’ve mended or altered back into your closet?

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I would not be on one foot if I was actually on skates. . .

Birthday Girl

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Birthday Girl, the artyologist

How is it already the end of October?

This month has just flown by for me, and has been a rather strange month too. I had every intention of posting these pictures on the Thanksgiving weekend (Oct. 8), but a combination of burning my right hand (which made typing difficult), getting a head cold that lasted forever, and then work and other engagements, has delayed me. . . and here we are now at October 22!

This is one of my favourite outfits and photoshoots of late. The photos were taken on the thanksgiving weekend, which also happened to be my birthday weekend! (Apparently I am claiming the whole weekend as my Birthday weekend, not just one day. . .) I was at first a little disappointed that the leaves had already turned brown by the time we were able to get these photos, but as it turned out, the colour palette worked incredibly well with the sepia tones of my outfit. The outfit is an amalgamation of some of my favourite pieces in my wardrobe-  I pretty much picked everything that I love to wear, and put it all into one outfit, because it’s always nice to wear something “special” on your birthday!

birthday outfit, the artyologist

Well, that’s really all I have to say, but if I try and think of something else to write, I am afraid that this will never be published. Sorry that the blog has been a bit boring lately, I’m a bit out of practice. . . I am hoping to get back in the swing of things, and post more frequently again.

Hope you are all having a happy October!

A New Look

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new-look-feature

One of my favourite iconic vintage garments, is the Bar Suit by Christian Dior, from the 1947 collection. After the austerity of WWII, Dior’s designs must have been a breath of fresh air to women- although it is interesting, if you read about the time period, that not everyone thought that the new styles were a good change!

I’ve always loved this silhouette; maybe because it’s one that really works for me. I love so many of Dior’s designs from the late 1940’s through the 1950’s- the so called “New Look” of the era. Interestingly, the image below, often cited as from the 1947 collection, is actually an image taken in 1957 of a newer version of the suit. It has a few changes and, while the look is very similar, it is a bit looser than the 1947 version, which was more tailored, featured a padded hip to accentuate the waist, and a smoother line on the jacket without the peplum flare. Personally, I like the 1957 version more, and I love this image, so I decided to try and recreate it myself.

new-look-then-and-now

I’m not very good at replicating the pose, as it turns out. . . I guess this one won’t be going into the #myvintagecover annals!

As to the title of this post – yes I was alluding to that New Look, as my outfit was definitely inspired by the Bar Suit, but I was also referring to the fact that I got a new haircut, so it’s a bit of a “New Look” for me too! You probably can’t tell in these photos, because of the hat, but I got the sides trimmed (actually shaved) quite short and then left the top long and layered. I had a cut similar to this a few years ago, and it was the best cut I have ever gotten. This one was with a new hairdresser, and although I do really like it, there are a few tweaks that I will get her to do next time to make it perfect. It’s so hard to get a perfect haircut, isn’t it? I personally find it so hard to communicate what my vision is- when their vision might be quite different from my own!

walking-away-and-yellow-trees

Back to this outfit, though, I wore the same ensemble back in the spring, but never got photos. As soon as the weather started cooling off enough to wear wool, though, I decided to wear it again- and this time get photographs! The photographs were taken the day after I wore this outfit, and I didn’t actually wear the hat when I went out, because it was raining and windy- and I have no hair to pin the hat too! So, the hat is purely for styling purposes 😉

new-look,-arch-of-trees

We got snow quite early this year (September 15!), and even though it melted away again, it’s been quite cold. I was a wimp and didn’t go and get very many photos of the fall leaves. . . these are actually the only ones! But, there are still some trees with leaves on them, so maybe I can get some more this weekend.

Well, I’m off to my family’s place for the weekend . . . to all of my fellow Canadians: I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Did you know that there were two Bar Suits made? (I learned that just recently!) Have you ever tried to recreate an iconic vintage outfit or design? And have you had a nice Fall where you live?

archway-and-portrait

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walking-through-leaves

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