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

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

What I Actually Wore #0152

Serial #: 0152
Date: 19/10/2013
Weather: forecast 26.5°C / 80°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

It was a Saturday evening on quite a warm spring day, and I had a date with a friend to see the 1945 film Brief Encounter in a pop-up outdoor cinema at Federation Square. I had not planned to dress up, but my friend insisted I had to, so I wore a new secondhand dress I had bought on eBay, by Australian brand Witchery.

I have long liked woven ikat fabric, and also watered silk, and this dress combined the two effects prettily. It is a rather shapeless tunic and I wore it with a grosgrain ribbon as a tie-belt as a leather belt felt too heavy for the delicate silk fabric. Although it was still balmy, I took a wool cardigan just in case – another eBay purchase. It has Juliet sleeves – that is puffed in the shoulder and then tight to the wrist – and delicate patterns down the front. (My knitting knowledge is practically non-existent so I don’t know what that technique is called.) I omitted to photograph it on, but you can see the cardigan here.

As I was walking, I needed a pair of comfortable shoes, and I chose this ice-blue pair of wedges and took them on their first outing. I ended up giving them away to a different friend as they were too big for me. Sadly this is another brand that has since closed down.

I still own my other accessories: chalcedony earrings and pendant necklace, the turquoise ring which was a souvenir bought in Barcelona, and the green eelskin bag, which I bought from a thrift store. I was carrying it so much during this time that one of the straps became detached – it’s been languishing in a basket for quite some time, awaiting repair. The dress though, as much as I loved the print, I ended up giving away as I just didn’t like its shape. I do like the summery sorbet of colours in this outfit though.

Items:

Dress: Witchery
Cardigan: Nanette Lepore
Bag: vintage
Shoes: RMK
Necklace: Portobello Lane
Earrings: self-made
Ring: souvenir

Photos: January 2014

What I Actually Wore #0151

Serial #: 0151
Date: 10/10/2013
Weather: 21°C / 70°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

As always, if I wear a lot of black, I add some pops of colour to brighten it. I wore this black and cobalt outfit to work, with the rhinestone cat ears headband added for evening as I was going to see a play at the Melbourne Festival. My friend, who came with me, was delighted by the whimsical headband.

The black knit top has a subtle lurex thread going through it; it and the skirt are both great basics. The top I bought from a warehouse store on sale, and the skirt came from a thrift store. I still own all of these items, except for the silver ring – a favourite – that slipped off my finger one day (in action like the One Ring, although it didn’t make me invisible!) never to be seen again. As the night was cool, I was also wearing my beloved white leather trench coat (you can see it in this gallery), which I forgot to photograph.

It was a fun night – the play was an enjoyable UK production of Brief Encounter, after the film – and one of the actors even complimented my outfit out in the foyer of the theatre, probably because of that eye-catching headband.

Items:

Top: Country Road
Skirt: Kenneth Cole
Headband: Diva, now Lovisa
Shoes: Mollini
Earrings: self-made
Ring: Roun (silver), souvenir (onyx)
Watch: Kenneth Cole

Photos: October 2013

What I Actually Wore #0148

Serial #: 0148
Date: 04/10/2013
Weather: 22°C / 72°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

The first thing I have to say about the above photograph is: MY HAIR! That bob is immaculate and newly shorn, and I must give another shout-out to my awesome hairstylist Alex from Lady Marmalade, who has been cutting my hair for more than a decade. Secondly, I very, very rarely wear all black – or even almost all black as I did on this day over five years ago.

That is my credo in fact: never to wear all black! And it’s why I didn’t on this occasion – I wore a pair of animal print ponyhair pumps, and a vintage 1970s brown leather jacket.

The third amusing detail about this outfit is that it is quite ill-fitting! The 70s style knit blouson-sleeved top I still have, but the pants I eventually donated to charity because they were too big (you know pants are too big when you don’t have to undo the zip when you go to the bathroom); the shoes, currently buried in a storage bag of footwear intended for eBay, were a size too big for me even with insoles, but I bought them anyway because they were a $10 bargain; and the vintage 70s jacket was too small across the shoulders and in sleeve length, and has long since also been donated to charity.

That was a particularly regrettable loss. The leather was so fine, and it was a chocolate shade of brown that I like. If it had a label, I can’t recall what it was. Sadly, the jacket was missing its belt, which I guessed was a long soft leather tie style. Here, I am wearing it with a vintage 80s plaited taupe leather buckled belt – it was never a pairing I was completely satisfied with, but I had never found a suitable replacement for the original. I had intended to try to sell the jacket, but it was accidentally toted off to a thrift store – whence it had come, so I can’t regret it too much. I hope someone with a smaller frame pounced on it with joy!

Fourthly, I must note that all of these items – excepting the souvenir jewellery, and the shoes which were seconds from a warehouse store – were bought in a thrift store, which is wear I buy most of my clothes and accessories. 

My jewellery is a mixture of vintage souvenirs and boutique purchases. The silver necklace is Moroccan and came with an antique coin attached; I have over the years added a number of mostly sterling silver charms, with the exception of a Victorian cash register key. I have not worn it for some time, so this outfit from the archives is a nice reminder to do so – and to make an overdue appointment at the hair salon!

Items:

Top: French Connection
Pants: Dizingof
Jacket: vintage 1970s
Belt: vintage 1980s
Shoes: Wittner
Earrings: Mimco
Necklace: souvenir
Ring: souvenir (onyx), Roun (silver)

Photos: October 2013