Browsing Tag

vintage clothes

Taking it back to the old school

I came across an issue of Elle Decor from 1991 in the magazine rack of my gym the other day. And this ad is the best part of the entire magazine.

chanel-1991

It features Christy and Linda rocking a matchy-matchiness unlike anything I’ve seen since.

chanel-turlington-1991

I love this necklace. If I had a bracelet version, I would wear it every day. No really, I would.

chanel-ad-1991

I just can’t help but wonder how on earth Ms. Evangelista balanced that soccer ball while posing.

chanel-linda-1991

And that gold. Oh man, that gold.

sonja-gold

Which brings me to the accessories my friend Sonja (now a graphic designer) used in fashion design school in 1991.

sonja-gold-jewelry

The tassels hang off the chain belt. The earrings must be at least six inches long.

sonja-jewelry

And they were embellished with antique gold coin replicas. Because even embellishments needed embellishing.

These days, Sonja’s jewelry is much more subdued. And beautiful. Take look at her rings and earrings.

June 29, 2009 by

I had to wrestle with my tailor

But finally she agreed to hem this dress to the length I want. It fell below the knee before and it made it look like something you’d wear to the laundromat. Now? Not so much.

after-jungle-dress

My tailor disapproves of anything higher than just above the knee. We go through the same song and dance every. single. time.

Take a look at the sneak peek.

moms-bag

Wore the dress to dinner (happy birthday ma-in-law!) with my ma’s bag, which feels so summery, so vacationy. I just might have to bring it to Turkey with me (on Wednesday!).

June 14, 2009 by

A sneak peek

A preview of the newest member of my vintage family — a dress from who knows when that I found at Burcu’s Angels in Vancouver.

jungle-dress-detail

Its jungle print is asymmetrical, its fabric is see-through (that’s the thing about these old dresses; you’ve got to wear them with a slip) and I’ll be hemming it much shorter than my tailor would like.

Kind of wild, isn’t it?

June 11, 2009 by

Getting ziggy with it

Love the zig-zaggy pattern of this vintage skirt.

orange-skirt

Wore it with my new shbooties.

orange-vintage-skirt

My Wonder Woman cuffs and my ma’s bag from who knows where (or when).

orange-skirt-detail

I’ve always thought long skirts work. Especially for work. And when they’re this wacky and wonderful? You can’t go wrong.

June 8, 2009 by

after + before

At first I was afraid, I was petrified that I wouldn’t be able to make something wearable out of leather, chain and pirate charms.

gold-leather-charm-bracelet

But I’m sooo happy (and a little surprised) with how it turned out.

pirate-bracelet-after

And it was simple simple simple to make. I braided ultra suede strips with gold chain and hung charms off of it. I made it long enough to be a necklace or to wrap three times around your wrist.

leather-charm-gold-bracelet

Aaaaargh you as excited as I am about it?

long-black-floral-b4

Speaking of things I’m excited about, this dress is currently at the tailors getting shortened. It’s pretty as it is, just a little too heavy.

b4-long-blk-flora

Won’t be nearly as fun for the puppy when it’s shorter, but it will be far more fun for me. I’ll post the “after” shot next week.

June 7, 2009 by

Ahhh perspective.

It makes my baby beast look like a gigantic beast (pretty good shot of his lazy ear, though, don’tcha think?).

blue-vintage-dress-pleats

I don’t wear too many hemlines that fall below the knee, but I think there’s something nice about a long strapless dress so I didn’t have this vintage piece hemmed.

beaded-bracelets

My sister made the green bracelet, I bought the zig-zaggy one on the street in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

vintage-necklace

My sister also gave me this thrifted necklace for Christmas along with a gift certificate to Value Village (half joke, half perfect present).

vintage-dress-twirl

And I’ve still got her boots. Neener neener neener.

(On a side note, I love the light in this part of my backyard in the morning. The sun shines from the east and reflects off my neighbour’s window to the west and creates this beautifully artificial look.)

June 4, 2009 by

Give them the bold shoulder

The power suit was aptly named. Big, bold shoulders mean business.

top

This jacket reminds me a bit of the one Rachel wore in Blade Runner.

middle

The t-shirt is from Vincent Park on Main Street in Vancouver.

bottom

The boots are kind of my favourite ever. Take a look at the detail shots here.

shoulder1

But seriously, while I usually take the shoulder pads out of my dresses and blouses (how can you tell I buy a lot of 80s wear?), I’ve never taken them out of a jacket. They add so much structure. And a certain don’t-mess-with-me-ness.

May 27, 2009 by

Style for thought

If you could have anyone’s wardrobe — alive or otherwise, fictional or not — whose would it be? My friend Briony would chose the Queen of England.

briony-granville-island

For two reasons: one, she figures she’d still have all her clothes from the past eight decades; and two, she wouldn’t mind having the crown jewels.

briony-close-up

I’m having trouble picking one person’s. I’d love my sister’s wardrobe, and all my girlfriends’ too. 

antique-key-necklace

Briony made her necklace by stringing antique keys and a pendant on a piece of leather. So simple, so cute.

vintage-bag

Her bag is vintage.

briony-shoes

Think about it. If you could pick anyone’s wardrobe whose would you chose? Jacqueline Kennedy’s? Jane Aldridge’s? Carine Roitfeld’s?

May 18, 2009 by

One woman’s scrap is another woman’s skirt

Last week I went to see the WZRDZ at Lucky Bar in Victoria. Their drummer is my baby brother (the student and sometimes model) so my sister and I rocked wizard capes (obviously), but these two wore something just as magical.

victoria-dress-skirt

Kim and Megan crafted their ensembles from the same vintage dress. They found the original piece at the Patch in Victoria, then shortened it to create a dress and used the leftover pieces to sew a skirt.

vintage-dress-skirt

My scraps usually get scrapped, but this is sheer genius. 

vintage-victoria-dress-skirt

I plan to steal their idea. Isn’t it just brilliant?

May 17, 2009 by

I want my MTV (Canada)

Typically I’m out cold by 9:59 on a Thursday night (I have a gran-tastic bedtime). But this week, I downed an espresso and went to the Roxy(!) where one of my best friends (and favourite MTV host) Jessi Cruickshank was doing a shoot for MTV’s After Show.

jessi-mtv-after-show

We spent the night giggling about our friend Briony’s recent engagement (yaaaay!), getting denied by the band (turns out they don’t play Backstreet Boys) and trying to look natural while dancing on stage (to Emin-freaking-em).

mtv-after-show-shoot

Best dressed that night had to be Laura in her thrifted Moschino boustier, which Anji found for her in San Francisco.

mtv-after-show-jessi

No Mom, I don’t yet know when it will air, but as soon as I do, I’ll let you know.

Update: If you’re in Canada you can watch it on MTV.ca. You won’t want to miss our in-depth discussion about Twitter.

May 16, 2009 by