Easter Wishes

Happy Easter dear readers! Today I bring you fashion inspiration courtesy of Peter Rabbit. Now I don’t wear bunny brown all too often, but when it’s offset by a blue 1950s silk jacket, a vintage hat with a saucy feather, and lace-inset gloves, then staid beige becomes quite pretty.

I hope you all have a lovely and peaceful Easter, and as Peter would say, don’t stuff yourselves with too much chocolate – chew on a carrot instead! 

Vegie patch image from Northern Gardener.

My Funny Valentine

Most of us would be familiar with the dulcet crooning of Frank Sinatra singing My Funny Valentine, but let's just take a moment on this important holiday to really look at these words:

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

Wow! He's not pulling any punches here. What is he actually saying? Honey, you're quite unattractive and not too bright, but luckily since I'm a such a swell guy, I love you anyway. Gee, thanks, you're a real sweetheart Frankie baby.

But there are worse ways of communicating on the venerated day of Saint Valentine: a friend of mine posted a story on 'Vinegar Valentines' on Facebook this morning. It is a fascinating story about the history of nasty Valentine’s Day cards and the exchange of sentiments between enemies – not in today’s liberated and modern times, but from the 1840s until about the 1940s. Read about it at Collector's Weekly.

Makes me think perhaps Frankie's not so bad after all … Happy Valentine's Day kids.

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day …

Merry Christmas North and South

Celebrating the Roaring Twenties in a Special Series

If I was celebrating Christmas in the northern hemisphere in the 1920s, I think this is just the coat I would wear to ward off the cold. Isn’t it luxurious, with its fur trim and matching pompommed hat? I was very excited when I realised that my vintage 1970s Stephen Dattner coat was cut along very similar lines – it is just not so full, nor is the rabbit fur trim so extravagant. My fur-trimmed velvet cap is vintage too, even if it doesn’t match.

But here I am in the southern hemisphere in the twenty-teens, and instead I am wearing a vintage 1950s top and a 1980s gold foil rah-rah skirt with my new ikat print heels (scroll down below to see those). The top is not quite ikat printed, but its washy floral has a similar feel, and I was pleased to see that the colours of the shoes and top clash slightly – it’s so much more modern not to match isn’t it? It has a mini-peplum effect which is very now too, although it’s tight enough I might just have to cut back on that third piece of dessert.  

Merry Christmas dear readers, and may your day be beautiful, joyful and bright, wherever you are. 

Shoes of Christmas Past

It might have come to the notice of regular readers of this journal that I quite like shoes – amongst other accessories. This Christmas Eve, I thought it was high time to celebrate the shoes of Christmases Past. Let’s start at the bottom of the ladder and work our way up – that’s usually how it works.

At bottom left is a pair of black patent peeptoes by Nude. They have only a little platform, and I wore them six years ago in 2006 – at a guess, platforms were just starting to come back into fashion.

The red satin peeptoes at bottom centre are by Barkins, with vintage white pearl pompom shoe clips added. I paired them with a mint green 50s dress in 2009.

Also satin, the green d’Orsay pumps from Aussie chain store Sportsgirl feature a sheaf of jewels across the toes. I wore those two years ago in 2010, with a shimmery vintage purple dress.

On the first step of the ladder is a pair of snakeskin and black patent slingbacks by Wittner. I wore them with a blue silk dress by Ammo, in 2007.

Who could forget the red glitter Dorothy shoes on the second step? I gleefully bought them last year from Wittner, only to discover on Christmas morning that the salesgirl had put the wrong-sized shoes in my bag! I paired these shoes with a white cotton piqué David Lawrence dress. I just love white and red together.

I accidentally forgot to include in the photograph little silver sandals also by Wittner that I wore in 2008, when I was celebrating Christmas in Dubai with friends. They were matched with a mint and white striped dress by Veronika Maine (above right). And then in 2004 there were a wonderful pair of red patent low-heeled pumps (above left) that had a wonderful crackled and glazed appearance. They were from Zomp, and also were often likened to Dorothy shoes. I wore them until they fell apart. I wore those with a lovely vintage 50s dress in a delicious shade of Alice blue. I have no record of what I wore in 2005 at all, because in a horrible freak technical error I tragically lost nearly all my digital photos from that year. 

But what’s on the top of the ladder you are wondering? They are the Shoes of Christmas Yet to Come. Yes, that’s right, I’ll be wearing them tomorrow!

I was a bit Scrooge-like in my acquisition of them: they are also from Wittner (I live near the warehouse shop), although I saw them first online. They were quite expensive, so I resisted purchasing them.

A few weeks later, Wittner announced a pre-Christmas sale: all shoes were up to 75% off. Somehow I managed still to resist temptation at half price, and then all of a sudden they were sold out in my size. Then last week I was walking past the warehouse shop and, killing time (yeah, right), I wandered through. I like to check out what’s on the seconds and sample rack in my size. And there they were! A tiny scrape on one of the metallic gold heels, but they were reduced to $45. With my loyalty card I received an additional 10% reduction, so I finally paid only $41.35 for them. Now that’s what I call a Christmas Miracle.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone – one more sleep to go!

Summer Float

It’s officially summer down under, hooray! Slip on some little flip-flops like these and trip out to the nearest field near you and float away on that lovely sunshine. For ’tis the season to lie back on the grass under an old oak tree, stare up at the clouds and weave daydreams for the coming New Year.

But maybe not in white trousers. They and freshly mown grass don’t get along too well.