Your daily dose of pretty: 1960's White Silk Silver Beads Tea Length Dress

Good morning my pretties, it's Sunday and I've been up since 6am. I am not impressed, 6am is a completely ridiculous hour to be up on a Sunday, especially when I'm child-free because the kids are at their dad's.

Luckily I found Posh Girl Vintage - browsing pretty vintage dresses makes me do happy sighs. Even if I am doing it while clad in my pyjamas, dressing gown and ridiculously cute white fluffy doggie slippers.

In my head this is what I'm wearing:


Probably with some appropriate heels, I suspect the fluffy doggie slippers won't match.

Look at the beading:



*happy sigh* Pretty.

Unfortunately the 1960's White Silk Silver Beads Tea Length Dress is sold, but there are plenty of other pretties on Post Girl Vintage.

Recycling is good

I love trawling through recycled clothing shops. Although it does seem to me that now that we call them recycled or vintage clothing shops their prices are quadruple what they were back in the day!

Anyway, The Eccentric English Boyfriend and I did a spot of browsing in some suburban second-hand (sorry - 'recycled') clothing stores, and I found myself a couple of gems. First, and most outrageously, these:



How unbelievably delicious are they? I don't like flowers on shoes, and I'm not often swayed by wedges, but I am so utterly in love with the over the top frou frou of these shoes! NZ$15.00 from a lovely wee shop whose name (or even location) completely escapes me, but I know I will be going back there. I also found this:



Ok seriously, I have no idea why the image is turned that way - it was fine until I uploaded it! You'll just have to turn your head. Hardly worn and a bargain at NZ$20.00, the denim is beautifully soft and it fits like a glove. Those sleeves are even the exact right length, no small feat on my short arms. Obviously it was meant to be.

Then at another shop in Ponsonby I picked up this cute wee cotton skirt for NZ$21.00.



Lovely light cotton, perfect for hot summer days.

Excuse me for just a moment here though, while I have a little rant. New Zealand may be a long, long way from anywhere, but online shopping and international delivery mean that overseas shops are not the exotic novelty they once were. Also, most of us are not too shabby at doing currency conversions in our heads. So when I see a pair of shoes with their original Marks & Spencer price tag still on I'm quite capable of working out that the price being charged for them second hand converts to not much less than they cost new, and I am most definitely NOT going to be stupid enough to buy them.

End of rant. And something yummy and pretty that we picked up on the way home:



Not quite as yummy as the ones I tried in Melbourne, but look at the adorable little care bear on the bottom right cupcake! And yes I totally ate him, and he was ... well actually, he looked better than he tasted!

My grandmother's vintage

A couple of weeks ago I spent an afternoon with my mum going through boxes and cupboards at my grandparents' house. It was a bittersweet occasion, we had a lot of fun discovering hidden treasures in my grandmother's neatly organised storage, but we were doing it because my funny, loving and now alzheimers-befuddled grandfather has just gone into a home, and from the looks of it he had touched very little in the house since my grandmother died several years ago.

Sad as it sometimes was though, it was also at times hilariously funny, especially when we found some genuine 1950's foundation garments and couldn't for the life of us figure out how anybody (even my skinny minnie grandmother) could possibly squeeze themselves into them!

As much as my grandmother's habit of keeping everything (because you never knew when it might come in useful) means we have a big job ahead of us, it also means I came away with bags full of little treasures, most wonderfully these gloriously feminine gloves:


(Click on the picture to see it bigger.)

So ladylike, here's some close-ups of the embroidery detailing:



(Again, click to see bigger.)

These black ones are my favourites, and the ones I think I may actually find occasion to wear. I love the white leather trim and the button detailing:



I'm so glad I found these. Even if I never wear them they're such a lovely thing to have, and a connection to my wonderful grandmother.

Your daily dose of pretty: Cocktail Hour Swing Dress

Here's another possibility for my little brother's wedding:



My heart actually leapt when I saw this dress, it's so deliciously girly and pretty and retro. I love the bow at the back, the full 12 gore skirt and the cut of the bodice which would make my - *ahem* - bazoongas look pretty bodacious quite frankly, while still being relatively modest because of the simple black cotton underlay.

US$149.00 from mybabyjo.com and also available in royale blue, red, gold and for a limited time black, but I have to say I'm in love with the pink especially for a summer wedding.

Your daily dose of pretty: 1950's draped dress at Couture Allure

It seems every time I make a definitive statement about my dislikes something comes along to disprove it. For instance, yesterday I said I'm not especially fond of wearing pink clothing, and today this turns up in the What's New section at Couture Allure Vintage Clothing:



This Vintage 1950's Rosalie Macrini 34" bust party dress is US$750.00 at Couture Allure. Oh it is pink, but look at that beautiful draping, the twist detail at the hem, the way the silk taffeta catches the light and flashes purple and blue. This is a party dress like no other - with this on you'd be guaranteed to make an entrance worthy of a princess!

Here are some more shots of the gorgeousness:




Couture Allure say this is only the second Rosalie Macrini dress they've come across, so not only is it gorgeous vintage, it's rare vintage and worth every penny of that US$750.00. It's still way out of my price range, but also too small for me so I'll just have to go on dreaming!

Oh Wow!

Look at today's Steal of a Deal on Couture Allure:



Wow. And ... wow!

Not many people could carry this off, it's dramatic to the power of ten. I'm going to have to stop looking at it, because my cursor is hovering dangerously near the Add To Cart button ... I can just imagine myself wearing this, riding side saddle on a noble steed through the forest with a rakishly handsome man riding beside me. Sigh. (Yes I know, wrong era, but it's what my imagination comes up with!)

If you can't resist, it's the Vintage 50s Black Velveteen & Faille Full Skirt Swing Dress and it's reduced to US$72.50 today.

Your daily dose of pretty: Vintage 50s Black Sequin & Crepe Cocktail Dress from Couture Allure

If you're a lover of vintage clothing then Couture Allure is well worth checking out. The range of vintage from many eras is huge, with the option to search by era or size. Plus, if you follow the Couture Allure blog you'll be able to keep up with the daily 'Steal of a Deal' - one item from the shop heavily discounted.

And today's Pretty is also Couture Allure's Steal of a Deal:



That's the 50s Black Sequin & Crepe Cocktail Dress by Carol Craig. Sequins are a love/hate thing with me, but I really like the way they've been applied to the bodice of this dress. Here's a close-up:



Originally US$75.00, today it's discounted by 50% to US$37.50, and if it was my size I'd be snapping it.

Your daily dose of pretty: Julep Retro Swing Halter Dress

When I think of brown, 'pretty' isn't the first word that comes to mind. But dang if this dress doesn't confound me by being pretty AND brown.



Obviously the ivory polka dots help break up the brown, and I'm loving the swing skirt and bow at the waist. US$49.00 from Red Dress Shoppe.

Your daily dose of pretty: Unique Vintage mini swing dress

Oh my, how adorable is this:


This is the Black Flirty Cotton Mini Swing Dress from Unique Vintage. Look at the detailing: the bow at the back of the neck, the pleating on the bodice, the gorgeous pleated skirt. How cute and girly would you feel wearing this?

Here's a close-up of the bodice for you:


That truly is beautiful.

US$68.00 from Unique Vintage, who have a huge range of gorgeously covetable retro inspired clothes.

Pretty Audrey

Today over at Pretty Vintage Erin has a collection of photos of the beautiful, elegant and timelessly stylish Audrey Hepburn for you to drool over. Go there, look, sigh, and learn from the woman who embodied style like no other celebrity past or present.

Nancy Drew postcards

Ok so these don't necessarily qualify as style-related, but they are too cute not to share. Besides look at some of the gorgeous outfits she wears on those covers. When I was a young girl my love of Nancy Drew fuelled many daydreams in which my neighbourhood was filled with suspicious characters and it was up to me to unearth their secrets and reveal the bad buys.



These Nancy Drew postcards feature classic illustrations from the first 30 books in the Nancy Drew series. I don't think I could bring myself to post them, but they'd look awfully cute on the wall in my bedroom. Available here, NZ$20.50 for a pack of 30.

Pretty blogs: vintage

I love vintage style, love love love love love it. Funnily enough though I've never got round to wearing it. Some of the shoes in my vast collection would count as vintage, but none of my clothes do. This may require a shopping trip, I want to look girly and retro and pretty. And for my inspiration I'll refer to these two blogs:

My Vintage Vogue is a beautiful blog featuring photos from old issues of magazines like Vogue and Ladies Home Journal, including plenty of my all time style icon Audrey Hepburn.

Vixen Vintage is written by the gorgeous Solanah, who doesn't just wear vintage but also sells it. Her Etsy shop is well worth checking out.