Print Cocktail

I’ve broken the rules. Gasp! No, not the fact that I have mixed my prints – because as we all know, that is so very au fait right now – but rather the fact that I have ignored the scale rule, and I have mixed three different patterns.

The most important thing about mixing patterns is tone. When the patterns belong to a similar colour family, they will harmonise in a much friendlier way: to you figure, and to the eyes of innocent passers-by. After all, we don’t want to make random strangers’ eyes bleed, do we?

Some fashionistas advocate not mixing more than two prints, or teaming them with another solid block colour. I have chosen to flout this rule.

I already mentioned another rule I have broken – that of scale. Usually I would recommend pairing a bolder, large-scale print with a daintier, small-scale print. Here, however, I have brazenly combined three prints all of similar scale. Two of the prints – the cherry tank and the floral 70s silk hat – are so similar that to the passing glance they are the same. The third print in the shorts has the same cream background, with red shapes the same size as the cherries, but the overall pattern has a denser coverage. And somehow they all work together. It’s a fun little summer outfit.

If you’d like to attempt this yourself at home (but are feeling nervous), make it easier on yourself by starting with one key piece and building around it. Either polka dots or stripes are great mixers with other patterns, and they work brilliantly together too. Another, subtler way to mix patterns is to use textured fabrics – perhaps a tweed skirt paired with a printed blouse. See my example above: both items are navy and white. I love this combination!

Use plain-coloured accessories to tie the outfit together: a wide belt or large envelope or clutch bag that will not be overwhelmed by the patterns. Jewellery should be simple – a thin chain necklace, or some chunky wooden beads.

For some more inspiration, click on patterns in the tag cloud at right. Have fun!

When in Roman Sandals

Gladiator sandals have been around for a long time. Ever since, well, the gladiators – that is since Roman times, at the beginning of the first millennium. Undoubtedly sandals were worn long before that of course, for their practicality and comfort in the warm weather.

Roman sandals from the first century AD discovered in LondonAbsolutely no Roman citizen would appear in public with bare feet. This would indicate dire poverty. Roman citizens wore sandals (soleae) – footwear without toe coverings indoors and shoes or boots (calcei or calceus), footwear with toe coverings with straps which covered the ankles, the calf, or up to the knee, outdoors. Sandals are believed to be the first rigid shoes crafted. A stiff sole was attached to the foot by leather cords, straps, or braided thongs. Sandals were generally the most worn type of footwear in warm climates such as the countries surrounding the Mediterranean – the Roman Empire. [Roman Colosseum Info]

Delicate sandals feature in this painting of a slave dressing a young girl’s hair; painting from Herculaneum

Parisian sandals and Grecian style dress in 1798In my tome A History of Costume in the West by François Boucher (Thames & Hudson, 1988), a silver pair from 6th century Switzerland rate a mention. These look a lot like engraved flip-flops – Havaianas for the wealthy. Sandals do not appear again in the book until Regency days, when the Grecian style – brought into fashion by Josephine Bonaparte along with all the tomb-raiding that was going on in that era – was all the rage.

In her book Vintage Shoes (Carlton Books, 2008) that celebrates shoes of the twentieth century, Caroline Cox does not mention gladiator sandals until the very last pages, when they reappear fittingly at the dawn of the second millennium. This current incarnation is most similar to those worn by the original gladiators, and most likely was inspired by the rash of films set in the ancient world.

gladiator sandals … reappear fittingly at the dawn of the second millennium

Gladiator sandals by Urban OutfittersI first remember wearing very simple brown leather Roman sandals (probably similar to the sort Roman slaves wore, for only Patrician Romans were permitted to wear red-dyed shoes) when I was a child in primary school. They were ubiquitous in summer. I owned another pair of white lace ups when I was about 16 – they left horrible tan marks on my feet, I wore them so much. Now I own this flat pair, and also a high-heeled pair in black patent that go up to the knee. Now, a real Gladiator chick wouldn’t be caught dead in those … or maybe she would have been – dead, that is, in those heels. 

See more gladiator sandals at ShopStyle.

Blue Ribbon

This past winter I fell in love with a 30s style white silk blouse by label Kinki Gerlinki, from the Victorian boutique Vintage Now. It was patterned with periwinkle blue playing card icons – hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds, but sadly it was missing a belt. Rather than simply finding a modern belt to fit, I decided to take a vintage approach.

Since I was quite on a periwinkle blue kick at the time, I purchased some gorgeous vintage 30s/40s Swiss velvet ribbon from Etsy store Fini Ribbon. All it needed was a vintage buckle. I found that at Wee Sparklies, also on Etsy. Shop owner Carmen refurbishes vintage jewellery, and was sweet enough to include a second buckle as a present (“Oops, it fell into the package,” she told me).

Once both pieces of the belt arrived from America, I put them together. Of course, I might have known the buckle would be too heavy for the ribbon, but I found stick-on Velcro dots that I adhered to the end of the belt. Not the most elegant of solutions, but at least they are invisible, unlike other closures that I may have had to sew on.

The belt looks very sweet on the blouse, and finally Melbourne’s weather is warming up enough so that I can wear it!

Floral frame courtesy of The Graphics Fairy.

The Case of Bell vs. Pill

Background image: watercolour by Sonia Delaunay

While clearing out my closet in the past weeks, I came across this curious little hat in a hatbox full of hats I cordially dislike. For years I have kept them because they are interesting or strange. It was time to decide on their fate, and also photograph them for posterity (thereby freeing me of the guilt of casting them off like an old shoe).

I originally purchased this particular cream hat because it was somewhat reminiscent of the 1920s with its close-fitting bell-like shape. (Cloche means bell in French.) However, it was extremely tight-fitting, and I only wore it on one or two occasions. I had a strong suspicion that it was in fact not a 20s repro, but a 1960s pillbox, and it was meant to perch on top of the head – or ought perhaps be stuffed with a beehive. 

Background image: 1960s wallpaper

The 1960s are my least favourite fashion era …

The 1960s are my least favourite fashion era. In particular I dislike most 60s hats. Shapes in fashion besides the aforementioned cloche and pillbox include bubble toques, knitted skull caps, berets, newsboy caps, floppy wide-brimmed hats and long scarves that were wrapped and tied around the head. I admit to two berets and one newsboy cap (which I don’t really like much actually – I feel like a train-driver wearing it) and one or two others, but pillboxes are loathsome.

In this case of bell vs. pill, Princess Tatiana rules in favour of bell. Although the hat is still too small and unflatteringly helmet-like, so it will be sentenced to a week of community service on eBay. Case closed.

Fascinator Baygon!

I loathe fascinators. They are an abomination. They ought to be crushed underfoot by any self-respecting woman with any pretensions to chic. In fact, that is the photoshoot I hoped to bring to you today, on this Melbourne Cup Day holiday but it was not to be, alas. I have no fascinator in my possession to destroy.

Feathers, ribbons, sinnamay, fie!

These lamentably ubiquitous accessories seen on female heads everywhere during the Spring Racing Carnival look like nothing more than a plague of insects have landed in the city. They have even been forbidden at Royal Ascot. Feathers, ribbons, sinnamay, fie! If only we could spray them with some Baygon Protector Multi Fascinator Killer – that would soon rid the city of these pests.