Vintage Dior Sketches

I was searching for something else when I came across these amazing Dior sketches from the 50s on the Fashion Institute of Technology's Library Department of Special Collections. From what I can gather, they are from a collection for Bergdorf Goodman.  

I'm pretty sure this sketch is for this gorgeous suit, which is part of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising's museum collection. It's from the Autumn/Winter 1955 collection.      

This is pretty much my dream coat.  

I love the bow on this one. 

And the bow on this one too, obviously. 

There are tons of other sketches in the collection. You can see the rest here.

Spring, spring, spring

I try not to wear pale colours because, as you can see, they tend to just blend in with my skin tone, but I love this dress. It has lots of lovely details, like shirring on the shoulders, a peter pan collar and piping at the waist. I took the hem up, because, although the original floor length was lovely, it wasn't very practical.

Vintage headpiece

Vintage dress: Trademe
Vintage headpiece: Nevermore Vintage on etsy
Vintage slip (under dress): Op shopped
Dance Shoes: Trademe
Socks: Columbine

Put a Bird on it II

I have been busy with uni lately, and haven't had time to do any sewing or op shopping but I have been wearing clothes, so I thought I'd just show you what I wore today.  

Vintage dress: Two Squirrels
Cardigan: Op shopped
Shoes: Hunters and Collectors, Wellington
Belt: Op shopped
Brooch: Trademe
Bag: Trademe
Tights: Can't remember

The bag is one of my favourites. It's actually a toilet bag but it's way too awesome to use for that. It's not just me that thinks the bag is great, every time I use it someone comes up to me and says, "I love your bag".  

'70s Platforms

It's very awkward trying to take pictures of your shoes while wearing them

I wore a pair of 1970s platform shoes a couple of posts ago and Vix wanted to have a closer look at them, so here they are.

I love the little peepholes on the front

I bought them from Etsy and they were my first pair of '70s platforms. I have a small collection now (if three can really be counted as a collection).

 

L-R- op shopped, Etsy, Etsy

 I wear the cream ones the most. They are surprisingly comfortable. The red ones are really high (even though they don't look it in the photo), and I'm slightly afraid that I'm going to do a Naomi Campbell and fall on my arse. I was actually wearing the black and white ones when we had a 5.5 magnitude earthquake and I didn't fall over so I guess they're not too high.

Vintage style flower necklace

I bought these cute floral buttons a couple of years ago. I planned to use them on a blouse but then I realised that the shape would make them awkward to do up and undo. They've been sitting in my button stash (yep, I've got a stash of those too) ever since. Then I saw a vintage floral celluloid necklace in this post on Va-Voom Vintage. I could use my buttons to make a vintage inspired necklace.

I got a chain and clasps. I used my trusty pliers (seriously, I use them all the time) to attach the clasp and the buttons to the chain.

The flowers aren't spaced unevenly, I just positioned the necklace funny when I took the photo

It was so quick and easy, and I really love it. 

And here it is in action (not that you can really see it):

Vintage dress: Trademe
Shoes: Golden Ponies
Belt: Op shopped
Scarf: Belonged to my grandma
Bakelite bangles: Etsy and ebay
Necklace: I made it

A Rare Occurrence

This kind of outfit doesn't happen very often these days. I'm not wearing anything I made or anything vintage. Well, I guess the shoes are vintage. They're from the '70s. Is that considered vintage these days? 

Striped top: Op shopped
Cardigan: Op shopped
Belt: Op shopped
Dress worn as skirt: Op shopped and given to me by Tua, my nephew's grandma
Shoes: Etsy
Ring: Evie Kemp

  

I wore this to register my car because my life is just that exciting. I also cut my hair, and by that I mean, I literally cut my own hair. I haven't been to a hairdresser in over a year. I think I made it a bit short but it'll grow pretty quickly and I have a large collection of hats, so it's not a big deal.

Lavender Menace

I had grand plans about posting more often while I was on holidays but an unexpected family thing came up, so I've been without the internet for the past week and a bit, and haven't posted in ages.

Two weeks ago I went to 'A Life in Frocks', a vintage fashion show which had clothes from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The ticket said "dress-up optional" (as if I needed any encouragement), so I decided to make a hat to wear.

I made a pillbox base from buckram and covered it in purple cotton fabric. I pulled apart a couple of bunches of fake flowers, and glued the leaves, and then the flowers on. The bits in the middle of the flowers are purple beads. It took me ages to do all the gluing. I know that gluing is a huge millinery no-no, but I'm not a milliner so I don't care.   

The veiling (from Hat Shadows on etsy), is gathered by hand and then stitched onto the flowers at the front, back and sides. I added elastic to hold it on my head and used some bobby pins to make it extra secure when I wore it. 

To the fashion show I wore:
Dress: Dashfield Vintage
Coat: op shopped
Shoes: Golden Ponies
Tights: Columbine
Amethyst ring (which you cant really see): Evie Kemp
Hat: Self-made

The show was really good and there were some fabulous clothes that I wouldn't have minded taking home.