What I Actually Wore #0077

Serial #: 0077
Date: 31/07/2012
Weather: 15°
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

It was a blustery day with weak sunshine. This outfit seemed just the right weight for the temperature, and I wore it when I was interviewed by a journalist from a local newspaper last year.

The outfit is reminiscent of the 40s, although I can’t date the vintage items precisely. Very likely the hat is 70s-does-40s, and the knit could be from any time in the past decade or three. That particular cut of sleeve with the puff on the shoulder and sleeve tight to the wrist is called a ‘Juliet’ – after Shakespeare’s Juliet that is. It was a very popular style in the late 60s, influenced by Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. (Incidentally, it was the first movie that made me cry, when I was about eight. I watched it on our black and white tv late at night – undoubtedly long after I should have been in bed.)

My red suede platform heels are amongst my favourite shoes, and certainly have a 1940s look. My trousers though are a little big and must be belted else they fall down – but I love them too much to get rid of them! They are so wide-legged they flap in the wind, and I have almost been squashed by a car because of them, after almost tripping over the yards of fabric while jay-running across a busy road. Tsk tsk! Suffering for fashion …

Items:

Top: vintage
Pants: i67
Belt: vintage
Hat: Otto Lucas Junior, vintage
Earrings: Baku
Rings: (onyx) souvenir, (silver) Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Wittner

What I Actually Wore #0076

Serial #: 0076
Date: 27/07/2012
Weather: 14° – brrr! 
Time Allowed: 8 minutes

This simple workaday outfit started with the hat, and, with the chilly temperature in mind, warm woolen trousers. The striped jumper added a graphic element, and the raspberry suede heels a shot of delicious colour. The 50s velvet bandeau is new, and I am utterly smitten by the periwinkle colour. How funny that is such an American term – Aussies don’t use it at all, and would simply say ‘bluish-purple’, or possibly hyacinth. This is most likely due to the fact that periwinkles are not a common flower here at all. But I just love the colour.

Most of my pieces of jewellery are souvenirs: the ceramic earrings from Spain, the red carved jade bangle and the onyx ring from Vietnam. A lady at work tells me I look very French, but, given my Slavic heritage, I suspect that is due to nothing so much as that old cliché of the black and white striped top.

Did you notice I am wearing black trouser socks under my peeptoes? Once upon a time I would have considered that a profound sartorial no-no, but these days I am fine with it. On the other hand, I would not wear sheer pantyhose with peeptoes or sandals though – that would ‘seam’ a bit wrong!

Items:

Top: Meredith
Pants: Ming
Hat: vintage 50s
Earrings: souvenir
Bangle: souvenir
Rings: (0nyx) souvenir, (silver) Roun
Shoes: Zoe Wittner

What I Actually Wore #0075

Serial #: 0075
Date: 26/07/2012
Weather: 16°C, cool
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

Last winter I was on a bit of a Ballet Russes kick – that is, I was enjoying mixing up prints and textures and layering my clothes.

The wool cable knit dress needs layering in winter certainly, and that was provided by a fine knit striped tee from Free People with a silk short sleeved vintage 80s shirt on top. Since the shirt was spotty, I thought it would be cute to echo that shape with pompom earrings that I made myself, and my 1940s pompom headband. That accessory always draws stares.

Instead of boring old black opaques, I wear chocolate brown stockings and tower on suede shoes that have patent wedge heels. I love the contrast between the two types of leather. The blue is such a brilliant pop of colour too. When the weather is so dull and dreary there’s no reason to blend into the landscape!

Items:

Dress: Far Away From Close for Anthropologie
Tee: Free People
Shirt: Milo’s
Headband: vintage 40s
Earrings: handmade
Rings: (onyx) souvenir (silver) Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Mollini

What I Actually Wore #0074

Serial #: 0074
Date: 24/07/2012
Weather: 16°C, fine
Time Allowed: 8 minutes

Although I was only off to work as usual, I had a birthday dinner with a friend in the evening, so I felt it behooved me to wear something festive. As it was also winter and I would be gallivanting about the city in the evening, I needed to dress warmly. A new vintage beaded wool jumper fit the bill. It is beaded all over in red and white sequins, and little red pompoms dangle along the waist and cuffs. Red, white, pompoms, shiny! It was a case of love at first sight when I saw it on Etsy.

Now some people might feel this top would be a little much for their office – luckily I work at a theatre. I did dress it down with a camel suede skirt and cable knit tights, but everyone felt compelled to remark on how glittery I was. There were also two counts of Dorothy shoe comments and the magical powers thereof – I wish, especially when shivering late at night waiting for a tram home. A vintage velvet hat kept my head warm – but apparently that old chestnut that one loses most of one’s body heat through the top of the head is sheer bunkum. Not that I need an excuse to wear a hat!

Items:

Hat: A Pyreneés Model
Top: vintage 50s
Skirt: Chine Collection
Earrings: vintage
Ring: Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Zoe Wittner

What I Actually Wore #0073

Serial #: 0073
Date: 23/07/2012
Weather: 16°
Time Allowed: 6 minutes

Put your hand up if you were scarred back in the 80s by taffeta? Although I was not quite old enough to have many occasions to wear this rustle-y – and often iridescent – fabric, I entered adulthood with a passionate hatred for the material. Then suddenly, last year I conceived a desire to own a taffeta skirt, or dress. Plaid taffeta was momentarily in fashion, and I managed to find this skirt on eBay for a fraction of the retail price.

Back in the Eighties, taffeta tricked out prom dresses with ruffles, bows, giant puffed sleeves, and ruching. You all know exactly what I mean. Who hasn’t seen pictures of bridesmaids’ dresses gone awfully wrong? But this little plaid skirt was unassuming in its subtle petrol blue and maroon checks, and I dressed it down even further with cable knit hemp stockings (much softer than wool – no itch! – and also an eBay purchase), and a bright wool knit. 

The shoes and hat were also eBay finds. I bought those peeptoes just before the world went wild for wedges – they were in such good condition I suspected the original owner had bought them by mistake, and never worn them. The wooden heel is rather heavy but it is so much nicer than cork (to my mind).

The shape of this floppy velvet cap makes me feel as though I ought to be sledding in Aspen or something. It’s vintage 1940s. I didn’t have much time to do my hair, so went for a low-maintenance pony-tail, and a hat is a perfect cover up for a boring hair day (as well as a bad-hair day). And the bonus? It keeps your head warm on a frosty morning!

Items:

Top: Kookaï
Skirt: Cue
Hat: vintage 40s
Hairclip: vintage
Earrings: Moyou
Bangle: souvenir
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Stockings: eBay
Shoes: Aldo