What I Actually Wore #115

Serial #: 0115
Date: 10/04/2013
Weather: 25°C / 77°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

This outfit is a pick‘n’mix of quite a few vintage eras! It’s just as much fun mixing decades as it is clashing patterns. I was quite gratified, too, at the end of the day on my walk home through the botanic gardens, when a woman walking her dog told me I looked fabulous, like someone in a French film.

I am covering the Thirties, Fifties, Sixties and Teensies in this ensemble. The white straw hat is the oldest piece, and I remember the pleasure of buying it on eBay: it was a Buy It Now auction, and there had been more than one offer made, which had obviously been refused. I was surprised, for the asking price (around $30 if I remember correctly) for a hat of that age and good condition was not high. On the contrary, experience had taught me that was very low. I took great enjoyment in immediately clicking the BUY IT NOW button, wondering who I was disappointing. Snooze, you lose!

The Fifties coat is a standout cobalt colour. I love the three-quarter sleeves and the funnel collar. It has a matching dress too, the short sleeves of which I had altered to cap length after I tore one of them on a fireside poker after slipping and falling at a wedding (I was not all that inebriated either)! Anyway, the knee-length shift dress looks much better with the cap sleeves, so it was a fortuitous accident.

The Fifties coat is a standout cobalt colour … it has a matching dress too

I have very often carried that vintage Sixties patent bag, and it has featured many times in this journal. Despite being made of mere vinyl, it has lasted the test of time and is still in quite good condition. The grey leather shoes, by Finsk, were relatively new. I still remember when the package arrived at work, and how I struggled to deal with the multitude of straps – I felt like one of Cinderella’s sisters.

Underneath the dress I was wearing a printed Marni blouse, since given to my sister, and a finely-striped mint and white skirt that I donated to charity a year or so ago (I did not photograph them in this instance). All the other items are still present and accounted for in my closet.

Items:

Top: Marni
Skirt: Veronika Maine
Coat: vintage 1950s
Hat: vintage 1930s
Earrings: vintage 1950s
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Handbag: vintage 60s
Shoes: Finsk

Photos: April 2013