Procrastination

This outfit post is really just one item in a long list of things I've done over the past few days to avoid working on my Archival Appraisal paper. What else is on the list? Well, on Thursday, my sister Amy and I dragged our mattresses into the living room and watched the entire 2006 Jane Eyre BBC miniseries for the first time. (Which I loved! I think it's better--in many respects--than the 2011 film version that I'm so fond of.) I also spent an embarrassing amount of time poking around online trying to find a vintage stuffed panda. (Amy is in love with a giant one at a local antique store, but it's marked $375...)

Plus, this morning I stopped by my friend Amanda's to pick up a special 20's dress; more on that in another post!

Not a whole lot of paper writing got done today (read: I didn't even start), but I've been meaning to post photos of this dress for a while, so at least there's that. It hits all the right notes for me, with the bowler hat print and off-kilter peplum. I wouldn't mind having an entire closet full of printed rayon dresses from the 40's!

Outfit details:
1940's dress via Eons Fashion Antique (a Pittsburgh vintage shop)
Coach belt
Golden Ponies heels

Beaded

I couldn't believe my luck when I spotted this 20's blouse at one of my favorite antique stores. It's in outrageously good condition, and it's a lot more practical (for me anyway) than the beaded 20's flapper dresses I love so much. I've also noticed that all the beads are black except for a few stray red and white ones. It almost seems like beads were lost in the past, and the blouse's previous owner took the time to carefully replace them with whatever colors she had on hand!

Outfit details:
1920's beaded blouse purchased at a local antique store
J.Crew jeans
Thrifted 1980's boots

On accessories

When it comes to getting dressed, I'm really not that big on accessories. I think I'm just more inclined to spend money on a really special vintage dress or a skirt that makes a strong enough statement on its own. However, these two pieces, a Gladstone bag from the early 20th century and a pocket knife pendant from the 60's, are the sorts of accessories I can get behind. I like that they're a little bit feminine and a little bit masculine. The bag's curvy lines are tempered by worn-in leather, and the daintiness of the necklace belies the fact that it's a weapon (well, sort of; the blade is completely blunt). Accessories like these are first and foremost incredible objects, and that's why I love them so much.

Ballerinas and backward hats

This dress is one of several I've purchased--on multiple occasions--from a woman who is slowly clearing out her late mother's things. This particular dress may be my favorite because of its wonderful print--menus, makeup compacts, fans, and ballet programs! Although, there's also a dress printed with roses and swirls that brings the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast to mind; that one's pretty great, too.

I know very little about vintage hats, so I'm not quite sure what period this one is from. 1940's maybe? I'm also nearly 100% positive that I'm wearing it backward, but it looked completely terrible the other way around! Can I just say that I'm "modernizing" it?

Outfit details:
1940's dress purchased at Trax Farms Indoor Flea Market
Vintage (1930's? 1940's?) hat purchased at an estate sale
Coach belt
1940's heels via GingerRootVintage

Yours Truly

Last week I found myself with a couple hours to kill (I showed up at my Archival Representation class only to discover that it was cancelled), so I decided to spend some time at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The museum is currently presenting an exhibition of vintage photographic prints called Yours Truly, and I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorite images here on the blog. These photos stood out to me for all sorts of reasons, from the enviable outfit that the subject of Atget's photo is wearing to the dreamy quality of falling rain captured by Doisneau, and I hope they are inspiring to all of you as well.

Garry Winogrand, Central Park Zoo, New York, 1963
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Édouard Boubat, Lella, Bretagne, 1947
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Robert Doisneau, Le Manège de Monsieur Barré (Mr. Barre's Carousel), 1955
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Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, Baba Beaton, Wanda Baille-Hamilton, Lady Bridget Poulett, 1920
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Clarence H. White, The Kiss, 1904
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Eugène Atget, Versailles, Maison Close, Petite Place, 1921
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Alfred Stieglitz, Portrait of Dorothy Norman, 1932
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