I See Red

Red is one of my favourite colours, it always has been. I think it may have started when I was a child. For proof, if you look through my Out of the Album section, you’ll see red features big, starting with me as a very cute little toddler in a red and white wool suit, and matching red shoes. (Is this why I love this combination so?)

Red bags and shoes in particular have been like fashion candy for me. This plump little bag that I use very often is made from buttery soft eelskin; the brand is Amorni. When I bought it second hand it looked as though it had never been used.

While my glove collection will never reach the proportions of my hats, I am beginning to amass quite a few vintage pairs. These red cotton Simplex gloves are vintage 50s, and feature decorative stitching forming a leaf pattern along the cuff and down the back of the hand.

The inexpensive Timex watch I bought purely for its striped wristband, but I bought it just in time (pardon the pun) when all my other watches were out of commission, requiring new batteries, or other repairs.

All of these items were bought in op shops – the red bag was what I refer to as a Holy Fashion Grail find: one of those desirable things one dreams of finding in a thrift store. But the colour red in general will always draw my eye – there are no connotations of anger for me when I see red!

Photo: May 2018

Bead-azzled!

Quite a few years ago I admired this exact necklace on a friend at work. I liked the simplicity of its design and the pleasing mix of textures: earthy wood grain contrasting with polished black.

I did ask her where she had found it, and it was somewhere unexpected like Target, or some inexpensive jewellery boutique. Then years later, I spotted it in an op shop (thrift store)! I pounced on it instantly and purchased it. Although it is inexpensive wood and plastic, it has a substantial weight to it that makes it feel higher quality.

That was delightfully unexpected – it always pays to keep one’s beady eyes peeled! That’s the beauty of op-shops, you never know what treasure you will unearth, or if it might even be something you missed out on purchasing in a retail store.

Incidentally, it’s taken me another two years to actually publish this image – because I never liked how my hair looked – long, and too fluffy. And now it’s even more startling to me since I’ve been wearing my hair short for such a long time. I feel most myself wearing some kind of short bob, as now.

Photo: August 2016

Love Takes flight

Recently I bought this original 1940s black velour hat from Jane’s Vintage on Etsy after falling in love at first sight with it. Wings! With silver lurex scrollwork! Irresistible. I really liked a second hat from the same seller as well, also 1940s, so dithered over them for a while.

One day when I returned to admire them, the second hat – a kind of inflated, tall Cossack number made of faux curly lamb had sold, so that made me make a decision in a hurry! I was very glad the wings had not flown, and bought it immediately.

In the second picture you can see in profile the hat looks like a tricorne – that triangular historical hat you might associate with pirates and buccaneers. I like to think though that it was inspired by the heroic aviators of WWII.

Fashion notes: jumper by Trent Nathan, jeans by Hudson.

Pictures: Today

What I Actually Wore #0139

Serial #: 0139
Date: 25/03/2013
Weather: 17.5°C / 63.5°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

This morning I was very indecisive choosing my outfit, and finally settled on my charcoal wide-leg pants because they are easy – without being boring standard black straight-leg trousers.

The metallic copper-dipped knit I wear is very holey, and it’s either that or the metal that makes it a top that seems to suck in the cold, so I wear a wool knit underneath as well. Both the pants and the wool knit were bought in op-shops, while the copper knit was a rare designer splurge.

For an accent colour I decide on cobalt accessories – a striking contrast with the copper – and five years later as I view this outfit from the archives, I am only surprised that I am not wearing a hat! I still like it, and would wear it today – and could, since I still own all those items. That’s the mark of a quality buy, if it can last that long in one’s wardrobe.

Items:

Top: Kookaï
Jumper: Bless‘ed Are the Meek
Pants: Ming
Belt: Alta Linea
Socks: Philippe Matignon
Earrings: handmade
Ring: souvenir (Vietnam)
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Wedges: Mollini

Photos: October 2013

That Thrilling Thrifting Feeling

I loved this grey silk blouse with a multitude of complicated pleating – but alas, it was a size or two too small.Who knows that heart-wrenching thrifting feeling when you find some fabulous item only to discover it doesn’t fit? Or it’s ruined somehow beyond repair? Or alternatively, that thrill when you stumble across some incredible, mind-boggling, once-in-a-lifetime find? I have been op-shopping for decades now, and I have hit both highs and lows.

Just look: HEART-SHAPED BUTTONS. (Sob.)A recent high was finding an antique Victorian pink wool cloak with cornelli embroidery and silk tasselled fringing, while a low was a gorgeous 50s dress and bolero set with a novelty London print (featuring the Buckingham Palace guardsmen in their bearskin hats) that was not only a little small for me but horribly ripped from some stupid person who had tried to squeeze themselves into it and torn the bodice asunder (not even on the seam). I could have wept! I was so overwrought in fact I forgot to photograph its wonderful print.

Here are some of my hits and misses of the past.

Periwinkle blue leather flats hardly worn? I won't say no!In fact, I also did not say no to the NEVER-worn black patent T-bar heels – they still had the original price sticker in them.I also took home this flocked cotton tee that charmed me in the store.I like matryoshka dolls, but I think I did not like the enormous size of this pendant (one time when I rejected exaggerated proportions!).So many shiny shoes! Remarkably I held my magpie tendencies in check and none came home with me.