Polka-Dots and Powder Blue

Here is just a quick little post showing my outfit for today. 

- Vintage powder blue blouse with lace peter-pan collar. 

(You can see it more clearly here)

- New/old red and cream polka-dot skirt

- Vintage maroon handbag

- Vintage maroon t-bar heels

- Cream lace socks

A bit early 60's with a twist today, I think.
And you would not believe the looks that a swarm of
parked bikies gave me today whilst walking to the bus stop! 

Today was a lovely day to be out. Overcast with thick, heavy clouds and a slight cool breeze. Perfect. This type of weather is my very favourite. I feel a lot more motivated to get things done or go out and explore. What sort of days do you like best? Whilst out I picked up these sweet decorations. When the boy and I were at our old unit we never really had anything to decorate the place. Next place we find I am planning to liven it up a lot more, so I've been keeping my eye out for things here and there.  The candle smells quite amazing too. I am tempted to begin burning it now.

Recent Acquisitions

Here are some knick knacks that I have acquired recently. Funnily enough as I was just about to publish this post some more things fell into my hands. But I've decided to leave them for another time. I do apologize for the awful quality of these pictures. I miss having big beautiful windows.

A nightie, pink fabric purse and original 1960's stockings box from Kolotex. All three were little surprises from my mother. There are no stockings in the Kolotox box, but I love it all the same. It looks very nice sitting in my cupboard above all my vintage dresses. It's that poodle cute?

A pair of mary-janes with criss cross straps, a vintage stow-away pocket mirror, a copy of "A Lion Called Christian" and a sheet of vintage body/nail stickers. I was very excited to find the pocket mirror. I now have a small but nice collection of these nifty mirrors. Perhaps I shall share them in a future post. 

The sheet of body/nail stickers was a gift from a close family friend. She had had them from the late 1960's and used to stick them on her manicured nails. She had them sitting in her cosmetics box since and decided to give them to me. I think they are just perfect. 

These are the two latest vintage dresses that I've added to my collection, both from the 1960's. The black dress I bought cheaper than its selling price as there are a few places on it where the seam has been split. I bought it knowing that it could be easily fixed and simply because it was too darn pretty to leave. It fits very nicely and the length of the hem and sleeves are just right for what I look for in a vintage dress. 

The second dress, I actually didn't like on the rack when I spotted it amongst a mass of sale items. The print caught my eye, but I wasn't fond of the style. I thought I'd try it on anyway just to see how it would looked and to my surprise I fell in love with it! The two bits of fabric hanging down wrap around the waist twice to make a sweet little bow under the bust and there are bright orange buttons on the cuffs. It fits perfectly too. It just goes to show that you should always try something on first before buying or leaving!

And lastly this groovy little vintage purse in amazing condition and a cute little red belt. I could never have enough vintage bags or belts. Have you picked up anything snazzy lately? Or have you ever not liked an item of clothing but fell in love with it upon trying it on? I'd love to hear. 

Flipping For New Hair

And so here is my new hair!

(I'm not very adventureous, I am?)

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to get my hair done. Not just cut. Done, which is something extremely rare for me. Growing up in school I was known for never wearing a different hairstyle, and was sometimes teased for it. I've never frequented hair dressers, having only been to them a couple of times within my life to be honest. I've always had family to cut my hair for me, and myself to look after my fringe. But something got me pining for a change not too long ago. I began dreaming of gorgeous 1960's flip styles. I have always wanted to get one professionally done for years, but I never got to it. Things had been quite stressful at the time so I decide to treat myself and just do it.

These were the ladies who were my main 'flipspiration' at the time. I had recently watched Tim Burton's film "Dark Shadows" (2012) and was swooning over the hair of the character Victoria Winters, and her fabulous set of costumes mind you. This was the change I wanted. Add Jean Shrimpton's volume and Cynthia Lennon's sheen and bounce, and there is a dream hairstyle of mine! I was very happy with how the style turned out. I felt pretty fab! But I feel so silly now as I didn't think to take any pictures of it! The style lasted for about 3-4 days, loosing it's shape a little bit each day. It was fun while it lasted though!

I am currently on the look out for some new rollers and pins so I can replicate the style myself at home. The hair dresser was very lovely and gave me tips throughout the whole appointment on how to do it on my own. She also cut it in a way that the ends would flip up a little on their own without any styling which was very nice. Anyway, here is the outfit that I wore the other night out to the movies. My new hair made me feel like I'd just stepped out of 1964 from a Beatles concert.

What sort of things do you like to do when you feel like a change?

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Beyond Retro - Lucy Loves Sixties Sweet

Blouses - Smart Blouse Red with a Draw String Neck

Dresses - Short Dress Black with a Round Neck

Bags & Purses - Vintage Shoulder Bag Coffee Brown with Multiple Compartments

Shoes & Boots - Vintage Heels Chocolate Brown

Hello again lads and ladies! This evening I was contacted by Beyond Retro to enter a blogger's competition. How exciting!

Beyond Retro is a vintage fashion clothing retailer that is based in the UK and stocks an incredible amount of beautiful, unique and stylish vintage clothing including dresses, blouses, skirts, handbags and much much more. It is really worth having a browse through their incredible collection. There is bound to be something there to cater for everyone's style and taste.

The competition requires entrees to create a collage of their favourite items from their collection and display and describe how and where they would wear them together in an outfit. The winner will receive a 75 pound voucher to use at Beyond Retro, a chance to be a part of the team for a day to shoot their top styles for the season and be interviewed over at their blog. Four runner ups will also be selected to be featured on the blog with a mini Q&A. Sweet!

So here is my entry: "Lucy Loves Sixties Sweet"

It is inspired by perhaps my very favourite year in the history of fashion, 1966. My look focuses on the sweet and youthful look of the mid sixties. Layering pretty blouses underneath shift dresses and pinafore dresses was considered very stylish then and tied in with the whole 'dolly-inspired' look of the day. Toss in a really lovely bag and some cute lace-up shoes and ta-da! Wonderful! I would accessorize this outfit with some black or red knee high socks and wear a black alice band in my hair. I think it would be great to wear on a chilly day whilst out hunting for vintage treasures, perfect for winter coming up soon here in Australia. 

A New Dress and Other News

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I'm now right into my studies at the moment and having been trying to better organize my time to complete assignments by their due dates. So far, so good but things are getting busier. I hope that I can keep my posting up. I'm also hoping to get back into my piano. 

Anyhoo, I've recently acquired a nice little stack of vintage dresses and accessories and I will hopefully be posting some pictures of them soon. This is a dress I bought amongst them. Not vintage, but I thought it was just too sixties looking to pass up. I'm very glad I bought it. Whilst having lunch with the boy wearing this I tell you, I received many a weird look from a fleeting stranger. More than usual. Not entirely sure why though. Perhaps it is because the dress is so shiny!

In other news, these are also the last pictures you will be seeing of me with long hair for a long while. On Friday I just got the chop! It was a bit of an impulse decision but I'm glad I did it. I shall be explaining more on that soon tool! Hope you have all been keeping well!

There She Goes Again

Another "There She Goes Again" post. This time with Twiggy and her incredible shoes in approximately 1966. They are red patent leather mary-janes with a small, sensible heel and white straps and trim. I can't quite find out who was responsible for producing these beautiful shoes but it is clear that our Twiggy liked them just as much as I do. Do you have any ideas who the designer/brand could be?

For a modern day go-to equivalent to these darling shoes I would choose the Milly Shoe in Red & Cream by Orla Kiely for Clarks. Hands down. The resemblance is just amazing, don't you think? Unfortunately all sizes for the shoe are currently sold out but you can still have a look at the shoe here if you are interested. 

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Old Makeup, A Mug, Broken Shoes and A New Table

Not long ago my sister came up from down south to stay with us. Before she went back home we all went to the movies together and saw "12 Years A Slave". Have you seen it? My goodness, what a movie. It certainly makes an impact upon you and I found it very emotional to watch. This here is what I wore. One of my latest wardrobe additions, a mini dress with a pattern on it that I couldn't resist. If you were to look inside my wardrobe you'd find an armful of dresses with curtain-pattern-looking-prints on them. Not only did I give my old signature 60's makeup a whirl but also these fringed, suede sandals. I'm not big on sandals, or flip-flops (or as we Australians call them, 'thongs') for that matter. I'm sure most Australians would call me crazy for that. It's been said before. But I quite like these. Not sure where they came from, they were given to me by my Dad, but I'd never worn them before and thought they'd go well with my outfit.  With just my luck when I came out of the cinemas I discovered the right sandal had been broken whilst we were watching the movie. Drat. Superglue?

In other news I got this gorgeous mug the other day at a local second hand store for 50 cents. It wasn't in a set or anything, just on its own as it has a little chip on the rim, but I thought it looked lonely and deserved a nice home where it could be appreciated so I bought it. It's now been sitting on my desk for a week for I think it's so groovy looking. Are you one for buying things in a set or do you not mind the odd knick knack here and there? The last picture is of the top of a lamp table that my cousin made for me. It is made from camphaloral tree and the patterns in it are so beautiful. 

Seeing Double

Yet another "Seeing Double" post. Now I'm sure many of you will have seen this image of Jenny Boyd, looking the adorable sixties dolly she was, posing in a red London telephone booth before. The picture was taken in 1965, when London boutiques were then overflowing with shortened hemlines and bright, and playful designs to reflect the changing face and place of youths in society. Here is an image of another model wearing the same dress as Jenny and striking a different but very sophisticated pose. The dress is called the "Sunburst" dress, and was created by designer duo Foale and Tuffin. It was made of crepe wool and featured a matching tie belt as can be seen in the images. There are certainly no questions asked as to why it was titled as so. The gorgeous colours and sloping lines like rays from the sun speak for themselves. 

Which model do you think wore the dress better?

Both simply look stunning, but I must say I prefer Jenny's modelling of the dress as I think it better encapsulates the idea of the playful and youthful nature of fashion at the time. 

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