September 2016 – My Kingdom for a Hat

in a literary way

I’m a parody of myself once again, which is how I always feel best. I rarely wear separates – too many moving parts to adjust and readjust – but I really liked this outfit. Everyday ’40s wear always feels secretarial somehow, like a working girl who’s saved up to buy a dashing little hat. It always gets me in the literary way.

And what a fitting way to be – this month I’ve got an essay out in Caboodle Magazine! Online credentials are still credentials, but there’s something ineffable about being in print. Nothing compares. I’ve got a two-page spread with an illustration and everything. Buy it online at caboodlemagazine.com!

I’ve also been commissioned by one of the websites I freelance for to write an ethnography of the vintage blogosphere. If you’re a vintage blogger or instagrammer, I want to hear from you! You’ll be counted in my stats and possibly selected for a feature interview. Click over to Google Forms to take the survey, and please share it with your fellow vintage mavens.

Skirt: ’40s vintage, thrifted

Hat: ’40s vintage, via Fancy Lucky Vintage

Shoes & brooch: vintage, thrifted

Cardigan & blouse: thrifted

me-made: mimicry

You ever get a certain design just…stuck in your head?

Because that’s what happened with this dress from Mode de Lis’s Year of the Polka Dots. When I discovered Lily’s blog earlier this year, I read the entire archives in about a day and a half, but I kept coming back to that bloody orange dress. I think I may have even dreamed about it. It was everything I wanted in a transitional Mabon dress. And when I found Simplicity 3878 on Etsy over the summer, I knew it was just the ticket for my own version.

I finished this dress almost two months ago, and I can’t tell you how itchy I’ve been to show it off. A dress like this demands a just-right debut. When I picked up this hat for a buck fifty at last weekend’s flea market, I knew the hour was nigh.

My version of this Gown of Gowns turned out much darker than Lily’s, thanks to fabric I didn’t realize would be quite so electric in person. No matter – this cotton from Southern Sister Supply is crisp and sturdy, a delight to cut and stitch. It’s definitely a more autumn-weight fabric, which complements the sharper color; it’ll be nice to brighten up the greys come November.

And I’m madly in love with this neckline. I want to make so many more, but the deeply superstitious part of me almost believes – almost – that it’ll make This Dress less special.

silly hats & unpopular opinions

I don’t understand Dolman sleeves. From a sewing perspective, they’re miraculous and all, but you gotta admit they look super weird. Like extra triceps lounging somewhere near your ribs. I’m glad they seem to get a lot of love from more adventurous sorts.

I prefer wearing men’s shoes to women’s. Give me a handsome brogue or solid loafer over a strappy heel any day. My feet are actually medium-sized boats, so this preference actually serves me better in the long run.

Even though I know they actually did exist in the ’50s, spaghetti-strap dresses always look inauthentic to me. I know I should consider them a testament to cyclical fashion, but really I’m just grouchy that so many bloggers wear them without the matching boleros.

I don’t like modern novelty prints in vintage looks. No shade to those who pull them off – I just find they break immersion. Too “vintage with a modern twist” for my taste.

Much as I love women’s midcentury style, I really can’t stand its male counterpart. Hawaiian shorts and pompadours do nothing for me. I prefer my men vaguely (or very) piratical. Think pocketwatches and Captain Hook curls.

Most “vintage-inspired” stuff is way too youthful for my taste. I’m not about the sock hop aesthetic; I’d rather look 60 than 16. I like the surprise of my high voice and baby face beneath your great-grandma’s hat.

What are your unpopular vintage opinions? You know you’ve got ’em.

Dress: ’50s vintage, via Old Gold

Hat: ’40s vintage, via flea market

Belt: ’50s vintage, from another dress

Brooch: vintage, via flea market

Shoes: vintage, thrifted

hop this way

Stepping out with modern friends is always an exercise in bystander whiplash. On my own, people usually assume I’m some kind of friendly ghost, confined to grandmas’ closets the world over and out for my yearly haunt. Seeing me interact with a girl in booty shorts and a beanie must be jarring: wait, she’s real?

It’s true, though: my friends and I make a rainbow coalition of alternative fashion. Elaine with the pleather shorts, Savvie with the pink mohawk, Holly with the mermaid hair, Skye in vintage. (Almost) all of us a constellation of tattoos. Burlington’s got style, and it was out in force during our annual Art Hop slash Pride parade. Amid all the glitter (can there be too much? we may never know), I opted for counter-counterculture in this ’40s dress I’ve been waiting all summer to wear. Such is the life of the iconoclast.

Dress: ’40s vintage, via Old Gold

Hat: ’40s vintage, via Fancy Lucky Vintage

Belt & brooch: thrifted

Shoes: Earth Origins

maybe just one more

I know my last post promised All Autumn All the Time, but…well, it’s 85 degrees here. With about a thousand percent humidity. Little Miss Seasonally Appropriate can’t stop getting dressed just because the weather doesn’t care about her, so here we are. I’ve slowed down posting the past couple of weeks – I’ve blogged my summer wardrobe to death at this point, and there’s only so much I can regurgitate. But it’s so easy to let days and days slip by without even a whisper, so I just had to take pictures today. My ’40s patio dress has been a dog-days staple. I still can’t believe this baby cost me $10.

A big part of why it has yet to feel like fall is that I’m taking a break from haunting this year. I’ve worked in the haunted house industry for what would be ten years this fall, and I long ago decided that I would take a sabbatical for my tenth anniversary. Of course, I’m already missing it like woah, but I know I’ll thank myself in a few weeks when I’m actually relishing October’s arrival instead of carving pumpkins until I bleed.

And it’s not like I won’t be busy. My partner and I will be touring New England to check out other haunted attractions. Our home haunt actually set up a blog for us, so we’ll be posting our reviews for the edification of other haunters. One can always find a better fake blood recipe.

Dress: ’40s vintage, thrifted

Scarf: made by me

Belt: thrifted

Sandals: Earthworks

it’s fall, dammit

Come September 1st, it doesn’t matter what the mercury says: it’s autumn, and it’s gonna act like it. Even if it’s too warm yet for swing coats and tasseled loafers, I’m officially done with summer’s whimsy. I’m all about sedate cuts, luxe hats, and my god, the textures. My brown velvet hat and tapestry bag are old favorites in that department. They add a little roughness to a sky(e)-blue dress. As for the dress itself – I’m pleased that my 1940s Molly Goldberg adapts so well from spring to fall.

Can you tell how hard I’m feeling blue and brown lately?

I took these photos after a doctor’s appointment and before heading home to crash. I was already running on far too little sleep, and getting blood drawn always exhausts me. I look put together in these shots, but I was running on the absolute last of the battery – I ended up sleeping for thirteen hours when I got home!