Happy New Leaf

Hello! It’s been a while, I know – there’s a year-shaped hole in this blog. At first it was unintentional: I was busy with other creative pursuits, but as 2020 wore on, beginning with fires then floods in Australia, and followed by a global plague and an interminable (or seven months to be exact) lockdown in Melbourne, I came to realise that 2020 was a year that deserved to be finished as quickly as possible and cast post-haste into oblivion. (If only everyone’s post had been haste this year, but I digress!)  So here we are, between my last post of 1 January 2020 and today’s post of 1 January 2021 lies … a blank, and it shall remain that way.

Today I strolled in the Botanic Gardens with one of my sisters, wearing a 1930s dress, parasol and handbag, and a great pair of modern Ray Bans that I bought recently for a song in a thrift store. As we passed this enormous-leafed tree, I asked my sister to photograph me alongside it, as an apt metaphor of New Year’s Day.

As you have no doubt already countless times read or heard elsewhere, may I suggest we now draw the curtain on that horrible year-that-has-passed and look forward – hopefully – to a brighter and healthier 2021. Though we might not be quite out of the woods yet, we can at least turn over a new leaf.

Taking Stock

Belated Christmas greetings, Snapettes. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday full of seasonal blessings of peace and joy, spent with family and loved ones.

I hope also your stockings were filled with good things, not lumps of coal, which would certainly ruin these fine vintage Schiaparelli stockings. I bought them a little while ago in a thrift store, but have not yet dared to wear them for fear of ripping them. They are a size 10½, which I discovered refers to foot length and indicates they are a UK shoe size 7. This is a little bigger than what I wear, but bigger is better than smaller surely! And how pretty is the pink print on one of the stocking tops?

Here’s to continuing festivities as we take stock of what’s passed these last twelve months, and countdown to a new year!

Summer Shade

I am always very chuffed when I manage to find an original 1930s item in a thrift store.

Quite a while back I found this little emerald green leather clutch bag on a lunchtime foray. The handle on the side and the style of the interior coin purse, which is on a separate frame and has a kiss lock are the giveaways that this dates to the 1930s, my favourite vintage fashion era.

I also like the wood-like texture of the leather, and the ruffle across the top. Although it is quite worn about the edges, the interior of the bag is in good condition and very clean. It would definitely benefit from a spit and polish with a good leather conditioner, although I have not yet got round to it because I lost the bag for a while in my closet! I eventually rediscovered it inside another handbag, where I had put it for safekeeping.

These darker shades of green are very appealing to me, especially when paired with white, which reminds me of peppermint candy canes, Christmas, and summer all rolled into one. I have a pair of 30s-style emerald green leather shoes with cut-out patterns, which possibly date to the 1970s, and a white cotton drill A-line skirt with green buttons down the front that, together with this bag, would make a perfect summertime sartorial statement. If only the weather would co-operate!

Photos: September 2019

Double Happiness

Bluebirds have been a symbol of happiness and hope in many cultures for thousands of years. This little pair are billing and cooing, so they are surely very happy.

I found this in a thrift store quite a while ago; I think it is probably from the 1980s. I collect brooches, but I prefer vintage plastic or enamel over rhinestones. However, when it is a novelty shape as opposed to an abstract, I do like the sparkle of rhinestones.

At the time of purchase, I put it into a zipped compartment of my wallet, and forgot all about it. As I’ve switched back to a tiny vintage crocodile leather wallet that can hold only a couple of plastic cards, I only recently went back to the longer wallet to look for a not-oft-used card, and rediscovered this brooch inside! It’s like being twice-surprised by a sweet find.

Photo: Today

Tanned Hide

Did you know that the word ‘tan’, which perhaps we are most familiar with when it denotes a specific shade of brown (or, of course, a suntan), comes from the traditional method of converting a hide into leather by soaking or steeping in a bath of tanbark?

Tanbark is the bark of the oak or hemlock, which is bruised and broken in a mill. How about that! Apparently you can buy this stuff in gardening stores, but since my thumbs are distinctly ungreen, I had no idea of this.

I do like tan shades in my accessories, or outerwear, but never wear it in other types of clothing because most browns don’t suit my complexion. If I am wearing it on a coat however, there’s usually a more flattering colour in between.

It’s handy to have a few tan-coloured belts in one’s arsenal, as they are a great neutral accessory. I particularly like plaited leather. Woven belts are most useful because you can buckle them anywhere, allowing you to wear them over different weights or layers of clothes.

Woven belts are most useful because you can buckle them anywhere …

I was sad to see this thrifted narrow belt eventually give way because the leather was old and no longer supple. When it came to disintegrating in the area where I most buckled it, I knew it was time to mulch it.

Luckily, I very quickly found a replacement in another thrift store: a dark tan belt that is punctuated with a row of hearts. Not the same as woven leather, but the continuous row makes it adaptable to layers, and it is probably sturdier as the leather is thicker. I love it!

Photo: September 2019