but having said that, i have to get a head-start for fall, because if the cool summer was any indication of the weather to come, i better get myself ready for a chilly winter! and i’m actually quite pleased, because i’ve found yet another perfectly inspiring fall collection from an italian designer, vivetta. you just have to visit the site because even the little splash page is adorable!
wren lookbook!
back at the beginning of spring/summer, i was going gaga for the “geek chic” looks coming from charles anastase, 3.1 phillip lim (who’s nerdy glasses i bought for myself), and luella circa spring ’08, among many others which aren’t coming to mind at the moment… it probably stems from my roots as a high school nerd myself, complete with baby blue rhinestoned cat eye glasses and silly outfits borrowed from a bookish audrey hepburn in funny face. i kid you not! it was a bizarre combination. and i think i will always have an affection for the nerdy looks because i’m blind as a bat. it’s true!
these lookbook photos have got a lot of what i lust for in fashion right now. that adorable matching red turban and sweater, the vintage specs and hats, and those sweet little saddle shoes! not to mention that amaaaazing sheer lace dress on the top right up there. enough said.
a reservoir.
instead, we opted for a lazy afternoon at the nicasio reservoir. incredibly, we managed to find a completely deserted lakeside coast, just off the side of the road in marin county. it’s amazing how little you have to drive to find the most beatiful views out there! we bought ourselves some delicious deli sammiches, chips, and beer, and that was our afternoon.
since we expected to find ourselves stopping in bass lake on the way to our anticipated campsite, i was equipped with my new bikini, purchased from a lovely woman off ebay who said she bought it in 1946! as you can see, i was less than excited to get my photo taken in it. haha!
oh, and there are more photos on my flickr. actually, there are almost always more photos up on there!
black diamond mines
black leather belt
aldo low heel oxfords
standing in front of some refuse from an old sand mine.
so yesterday morning, we set out bright and early with coffee and muffins, and made our way out to the spot, filled with the anticipation of sighting the legendary “white witch,” the ghost of sarah norton, which is said to haunt the cemetary…
we got there and discovered that it was a part of a much larger regional preserve in the area, the black diamond mines regional preserve. the rose hill cemetery is all that’s left of the old mining town that used to be there. so we set off on a little uphill trek to visit the grounds. there were no ghosts and the little place has seen some tough times. apparently there was a lot of vandalism in the 70s and many of the headstones have been destroyed or stolen.
the bright bright light reflecting off the yellow hills created a most beautiful contrast against the dark blue sky.
i did not bring the proper foot attire. brendan caught me running back to the car barefoot!
that hair!
but i just had to share these two pretty pictures with you. i’m thinking a lot about hair lately because i haven’t gotten a cut in probably two months and it’s in desperate need of some attention. i just don’t know quite what to do with it because i’m fighting the fact that my hair is stick straight and very thick and i’m longing for some soft waves or curls like good ol’ barbara stanwyck over here. lucky for me, i finally found a really good hairstylist who can probably help me out with this. i should really make an appointment!
saturday spoils!
so i had all of these blogs posts to do this past week, but surprisingly, i ended up so busy that all of my content is still incomplete! i did a sewing project and turned a vintage feedsack into a lovely dress, and my mom sent me two more surprise packages in the mail. but when i sat down at the computer to write about it, the only thing i could think about were my estate sale finds from this morning! (though i promise to get back to those other lovely things soon!)
i managed to procure quite a few dresses and tons of old ephemera. in fact, i got a box full of adorable greeting cards and valentines, some of them possibly as old as the 40s, though i can’t be certain. and all of the dresses are very old. i even have a very delicate little 30s dress, which i’m pretty sure is not going to fit me. so that’s a hint to expect to find it in the etsy shop some time next week…
and there were tons of vintage handkerchiefs. it’s funny because just yesterday i dug up an old box of vintage hankies that i had buried in a drawer, and lo and behold i found some lovely additions to my collection. it’s a silly addiction since i seem to find them everywhere, but i just can’t help myself! and who knows what compelled me to buy that silly little stuffed dog? he just looked so cute sitting on the table all alone. ah, and i was just getting fed up with lousy estate sales. ;)
lydia!!!
ever since i first laid eyes on lydia, i have been in awe of her fun and quirky style. she has so many outfits, it was almost impossible to pick only a few to show you here! when it comes to thrifting, she’s got quite the eye. and when she isn’t finding amazing pieces out in the shops, she’s piecing together new dresses and accessories right at home. her latest d.i.y. le sac dress has gotten me so inspired, i’m going to do an entire blog post about it!i recently asked her a few questions about her inspirational style.
Hi, I’m Lydia. I’m currently a Barista at Starbucks… but I hope to become a stylist after completing a Fashion Merchandising diploma!
ok, now tell us about your style inspiration. where do you get your ideas for all of your amazing outfits???
My inspiration comes mostly from fellow bloggers! There are so many girls with amazing style on the Internet, it’s hard to keep up sometimes. A few of my favourite blogs (this is the very short list!) are Hand It Over (Wendy has a knack for making simple, comfortable outfits that still are astonishingly cute!), Garbage Dress (Zana is my hero, confidence wise. There is no messing with her!), Karla’s Closet (Best haircut, hands down. She was part of the reason why I chopped off my hair! So adorable with a killer collection of shoes), Taghrid (another girl with insane confidence), Ringo, Have Another Banana (Her vintage sensiblity is almost the exact same as mine), Neenee (She makes clothes that will blow your mind. So innovative and stylish, with a lot of color!), and of course calivintage (She’s got so many vintage finds I want to steal!). I also love looking at streetstyle blogs like Garance Dore, Sartorialist, Face Hunter, and Turned Out, among many others. Other than a lot of internet surfing (you should see my google reader, I either get inspired by random colors and ideas (All of a sudden, I will have an outfit in my head and have to go either hang it up, or write it down), or things in magazines like Nylon, Teen Vogue, Elle, Preen, Ruush, and Lula. I also look at online stores, designers etc. Basically, many MANY things inspire my outfits.
do you have any style advice for other young ladies out there?
My advice is to be fearless. Corny? Maybe. But honestly, 98% of great style is boatloads of confidence… Don’t be fearful of color and patterns. They are what makes a good outfit that much better. Also, check out thrift and vintage stores, which are an endless source of unique, fun pieces. Also, don’t feel like the only way to be stylish is strictly to be trendy. Trends are great, but so is individualism.
do you have any links to share?
I’m the proud owner of whistle.vintage, an online affordable vintage boutique! I also have a blog, Style Is Style and you can find me on Chictopia, Flickr, Weardrobe and Lookbook.
ringo, have a banana!
Age: 24
favorite color: A tie between green and yellow
what do you collect: Fancy shoes that I will never wear out of the house, little dresses, vintage milk glass, big vintage rings, Franciscan Rose dishes, cat ephemera
links, please:
for the birds
i tried to catch my boyfriend on his lunch break to take pictures of my dress, but he could only snap a few before he left. we went to the back of the building where a vine was growing against a wall. the lighting was perfect and everything, but when i loaded the pictures onto the computer, i noticed that there were two big plastic trash cans in the frame that i couldn’t crop out. oops. i really need to stop relying on him during the week for this kind of stuff.
so it’s back inside again with the camera propped on top of a book propped on top of the couch. and the lighting is bad. but i was determined to do an outfit post today because i’ve never shown you this dress. a few years back, i became obsessed with these little 80’s jersey dresses. a lot of them are done in that “80’s does 50’s” style and they’re suuuper comfortable. but then one day i realized that jersey isn’t exactly the most forgiving of fabrics. it sorta clings to the body in a most unforgiving way. so i sold most of them, and kept only two. i just love the green vines with two little sparrows perched on each shoulder.
boy by band of outsiders
anyway, i caught up on this reading the refinery29 blog because apparently they’re having a sale on the spring collection right now.