Wish Listed

 

A Lilli Ann suit is on many a vintage loving gal's wish list. I found one for a bargain years ago and have cherished that fleck navy number since. Of course as a devotee of black clothing, a black Lilli Ann suit had always remained another vintage collecting dream (or as they are sometimes called "unicorn") find for me and my wardrobe.

Which was when I spotted this Black velvet trimmed Lilli Ann from 1952 for sale on Etsy at the end of truly terrifically terrible twenty twenty, I pounced. How often do vintage suits in my measurements pop up at all, but a black Lilli Ann? It's an investment, and they aren't making anymore suits from 1952, so I'll try not to feel too bad about adding this to my closet. Here is the original ad for this suit as shot by Richard Avedon for Vogue in 1952. 

And it does fit quite perfectly. I've paired it with pale mint gloves, a velvet belt (I've got the original belt too but it's pretty fragile), my suede heels from Remix vintage shoes, and a flocked vintage clutch handbag. Wish I could get a hold of more of these back seam fishnets but I have no clue when or where I picked them up!

Stay safe out there.

Creepy Crawlies

 

I bought bugs on the internet this week.

Is a sentence I never exactly expected to type. I have been having a lot of fun filming spooky atmospheric B-roll footage for my Victorian costuming videos, and now that I have decided to call the gown I'm working on the cicada gown (it's green and will have cicada details in the embellishment), I wanted to get a real cicada to film for more B-roll. So off I went onto Etsy of course to see if I could purchase a mounted cicada, and I found one in a vintage frame, but he looked a little lonely in there, so I ordered two more cicada specimens to mount in there with the first! I should mention...I am afraid of bugs. I both like and yet am very afraid of cicadas. The symbolism surrounding them is super interesting, their life cycles can be fascinating, they are beautiful, and also super SUPER gross looking. 

Anyways, here is a dress I made back in spring from Halloween quilting cotton. I love the insect and butterfly print. I paired it with this fantastic multichrome eyeshadow called see-weed from JDGlow cosmetics. This shade looks almost identical to jewel beetle wing casings, and I adore it. I also have their shade prismatic in my inner corner here and some other shades on, but the multichrome is the star of course. 

I hope you are all well this week. Honestly my insomnia is getting a bit ridiculous at this point, and I have to go to the doctor tomorrow (I haven't been in 10 years...I'm due for...many things including shots!) so I'm mostly just ignoring all that and trying to focus on nicer things. 

Regardless, I'll see you all again soon!

Outfit Details:

Dress: Made by me

Petticoat: Malco Modes

Shoes: Remix Vintage Shoes

Belt, Handbag, Brooch, Earrings, & Gloves: Vintage

Bracelet: Made my me

Falling Leaves

 

Long time, no blog, I know. YouTube is my job now after all!

Something rather casual no? Personally I don't find casual duds as "flattering" on me and my shape, but that's probably just insecurity talking I expect. Here are some Freddies of Pinewood jeans I picked up this last spring paired with a vintage Pendleton 49er shirt/jacket for a truly casual 50's ensemble for driving around the mountains to see the fall leaves.These jeans are the 1940's button style and I really like them!

I hope you are all staying safe and well. I'll be making a Victorian bustle gown over on YouTube this month if you're into that kinda thing ;)

Outfit Details:

Plaid Pendleton 49er, Etsy

Jeans, Freddies of Pinewood

Shoes, DSW/Eastland

T-shirt, Banana Republic

Brooch, Luxulite

Belt, Thrifted

The Vintage Woman Magazine // Vintage Accessory Editorial

I was recently asked to contribute to the wonderful Vintage Woman Magazine website and wrote yet another love letter to my beloved matchy matchy accessory sets. I had a great time shooting these fun editorial style flay lays of my vintage and repro accessories for the article and wanted to share them here as well. Check out the full text over on to The Vintage Woman Magazine here.

Black Velvet

A Vintage Style Gothic Lookbook // Happy Halloween!

I know I juuuust put up the Slytherin look book, but I still wanted to put up this other long planned short for Halloween! I created several outfits combining my favorite vintage styles into darker more gothic ensembles, and I even pulled out an old Edwardian gown of mine from my oft forgotten historic costuming closet :)

I had originally planned to put up the Slytherin video earlier in the month which would have made these back to back look books less, well, back to back, but my schedule got all sorts of delayed this month with building my new set. Now I am ready for a serious breather, and to get back to some sewing next week instead!

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

Vintage Slytherin Style Lookbook!

After several days of learning how to use power tools, spent covered in wood glue and paint, out having a rummage through the dried flowers and plants outside, and racing through a few last minute sewing projects just to torture myself a bit for good measure, the Slytherin house inspired lookbook is here! 

Oddly enough, I think I could have made even more moody black and green ensembles from the items in my closet, but I am saving a few for another video I will struggle to finish on time for Halloween ;)

The set behind me here, the large green wall, is actually 3 theater "flats" which are false walls build for stage shows and the like. One by threes and plywood, and foam trim cut into wainscoting and glued in place for the full "mansion wall" effect. I pained it an absinthe/minty inspired green this first time, but this set is about to preform many many transformations over the next few months! I knew buying new colors of curtains for my usual set up every time I wanted a change was going to get expensive, so I figured better to invest that money into a real set I could change up dramatically with just a new lick of paint. Now of course I have to make a false floor to pair with it, as the rug solution isn't the best. Back to the home improvement place for some laminate wood flooring in darkest brown to match all future endeavors...

I hope you enjoy these October ready more gothic inspired vintage looks, thank you for watching!

Caught In A Web

Really this is more of a summer suit, being short sleeved and cotton twill and all, but it works just as well for warmer autumn days. Perfect for Halloween season really. Here I've paired it here with matching black and a beloved spider brooch from Luxulite.

Truly I am overworking myself like never before, but hopefully if I can have courage (I don't like confrontation!) then I will soon be free of a long distracting responsibility and can devote myself full time to my real objectives with gusto again. It will require some rescheduling, new goal setting, planning, plotting, creative solutions etc, but I think the time to go all in may just be now. Well, it might not be, but necessity demands it. There is only so much time, and I simply cannot afford to waste anymore of it.

Also, if you like this suit, I showed how I made the jacket pattern and sewed it up over on my YouTube channel so I will leave that video here below as well. <3

Suit: Made my be
Earrings: Available here
Shoes: Royal Vintage Shoes
Fishnets: Hanes
Brooch: Luxulite
Hat and Handbag: Vintage