How to Remix Your Vintage Fashion Finds

Imogen Lamport’s blog, Inside Out Style, has great suggestions about all kinds of style questions. 

These can be especially helpful when you find something unusual and one of a kind at vintage clothing shop—but aren’t sure how to style it.  Below are links to some of my favorite posts from Imogen.  They are illustrated with items from my vintage clothes shop. 

How to Wear Stripes

How to Mix Prints and Patterns

Adding Color to Black

Re-fashion, Re-vamp, Recycle, Renew

 

and, last but not least:

How to Hide Your Tummy (these cute models don’t have tummies to hide, so there’s no photo for this)! 

Go have a look at Imogen’s blog

Technorati Tags: cute vintage clothes,Chronologie Vintage,fashion remix,hipster clothing

!  And for more cute vintage clothes, you can visit Chronologie Vintage here. 

sallymandy

Will the Real Favorite Color Please Stand Up?

Country Living Magazine Online

A while back, I was with a group of women talking about being completely wrapped up in other people’s lives—spouses, children, bosses.  So wrapped up that one could lose her sense of herself.  So wrapped up, in the words of one, that she “didn’t even know what my favorite color was anymore.” 

Though I do know how it feels to be too focused on another person, the favorite color issue didn’t register at first.  And then I felt annoyed.  What did she mean, she didn’t know her favorite color? 

Finally it hit me.  I’ve said my favorite color was blue since I was a small child.  But that day, I realized it’s not. 

It’s my mother’s favorite color. 

It took some courage to admit this to myself.  But I knew right away that my real favorite color is not blue, but pink.  Pale, peachy pink like the inside of a seashell.  This is my favorite color.   It’s kind of hard to come to grips with, though.

Something in me has considered pink too girly and vulnerable for daily use.  It doesn’t strike me as independent, sophisticated, hip—qualities that I suppose seemed important for a certain stage of life. 

And yet… pink makes me swoon!  It literally affects my emotions, mood, and outlook.  When I wear it, I feel happy, pretty, and alive.  Is there a way to embrace pink without reverting to girlhood? 

I think it’s time to explore this question. 

What’s your favorite color?  How long has it been your favorite?  Is it the same one you had as a child?  

 

Are there colors you love but don’t use in your clothing, your house, other parts of your life?  Colors that make you happy or peaceful or joyous?

Simple+Pretty

My Two-Dollar Red Pashmina

I picked up a red pashmina today for two dollars at a thrift store. It's 70% pashmina, 30% silk, made in India. That's 1.42 GBP, 2.57 Canadian dollars, or 3.11 AUD.

Now, what about that color? And really...do I need a pashmina?

In January I posted a story about colors that look good on everyone--quoting the Pantone Color Institute in a Real Simple article. The red of my new pashmina is one of those colors.

Imogen Lamport, of the wonderful blog Inside Out Style, has doubts about this shade being good for everyone. I tend to agree--not because I know about other people, but because I've basically given up wearing red. The few red pieces I've owned in my life have always stayed in my closet.

And there's this. Word on the Web is that pashminas are passe. Passe-minas. Or no: they were out, but now they're back. Is that right?

Then there's the fact that I don't know how to wear a pashmina. Seems like one tosses it casually over an evening dress. This is how many times I've worn an evening dress in the last five years: 0.

Regardless of all that, I couldn't pass up this deal. Even though pashminas are cheaper than they used to be and I suspect the one I got is on the cheap end, there's just something about a pashmina that my small town heart can't resist. I imagine something like this: It's a dark night and a cab awaits. I am wearing my little black dress. I say breezily to my handsome escort as I touch my perfumed hand to his wrist, "Attends un peu, cheri. I must fetch my red pashmina."

Restored: Colors That Flatter Everyone

Today I found a cashmere sweater at a thrift store while shopping with my sister. The sweater's a like-new turtleneck from Nordstrom's in a pretty teal color.

I don't normally buy this color, but I decided to throw the sweater into the five-dollars-a-bag bag when I remembered something I read a few years back. It's an article from Real Simple Magazine about colors that flatter every skin tone.

The colors are "true red," "Indian" teal, "mellow rose," and eggplant.

Here's what the article says:

"Some colors work for all skin tones and hair colors, because they fall into the middle of the color spectrum, meaning they're not too warm or too cool," says Leatrice Eiseman, author of The Color Answer Book (Capital Books) and director of the Pantone Color Institute (http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx), the international authority on color.

The Pantone Color Institute site is also very interesting reading if you like color, or would like to know who the people are who decide what colors are going to be trendy next year in fashion and home decorating and stuff like that.

The 2009 "Color of the Year" is a brightish yellow-gold called "Mimosa." I'm not sure this color looks good on everyone--I know one person who won't be wearing it--but that's just me.

Moral of my story: With my new dark-framed bifocals, my cashmere turtleneck kind of makes me look like Velma from Scooby-Doo. It's not because of the color, though. I love the sweater. I that it cost me fifty cents. And I love the color: Indian teal.

Groundhog Day or Candlemas?

Winter seems awfully long right now. The holidays are over, and real spring is two months away. The valley I live in is almost always covered in gray clouds that sit like a lid on our town.

Yesterday was February 2, or "Groundhog Day." This day is also the traditional British festival called Candlemas. It's the midway between the shortest day of the year and the equinox, and is called Candlemas because traditionally Christians lit candles to mark the formal end of the Christmas season.

I find it interesting that this week I'm especially antsy for something to change. Nothing in my closet this morning worked except black, so I went to my job in black. I sent a whiny email to a co-worker. I came home wanting to be taken care of by my family. The dirty snow in the streets was really starting to bug me.

When I remembered that this week is Candlemas, it all made sense.

Mostly what I want this time of year is color. Two years ago I asked my husband for a sky-blue fleece ski jacket for Christmas, because I know what happens in February. He, being the nice man he is, bought it for me. I didn't like the texture of it and I felt like a marshmallow, but I kept it anyway. The color makes me feel like the sun's shining even in the dark.

Next week I'll be working at the floral studio down the street for Valentine's Day. Every year when I do this, I inhale the scents and the colors and dream about them at night. There was a blizzard one year, but the panicky guys kept coming and coming, and we worked until after dark cranking out the rose dozens. I know these flowers come from South America mostly, and that the conditions for the workers aren't good. Even so, I allow myself to do this work every February because it lifts my spirits to be around the organic shapes, the colors, and the scents.

I found the beautiful scarf pictured above on Etsy and it made me happy today. The colors are just what I need: sky, early spring green, and yellow. The scarf is designed and made in Belgium by Acke and can be found on Etsy. http://www.acke.etsy.com/. Please visit her site.

Restored: Risk-Free Updates For Twyla Tweeners

“Twyla Tweener” is a name for all of us in this life stage between “young” and “old.” A lot of us feel or have felt it’s selfish or superficial to devote much time to our appearance. But we still care about it.

Here are some ideas I'm using as I leave my fashion past behind and live in the present. They aren't meant to be rules. But I needed some new ideas to help me feel good in my clothes as my body and life changes.

1. Make a new color combination from things you own. By new, I mean break a rule that’s maybe left over from the 1980s or 1990s. I like dark brown (“espresso”) with black or navy. I think it works best to do this with simple pieces like a t-shirt and jeans.

2. Reconsider dainty jewelry. Small works if it’s modern or classic, but cutesy or old-fashioned can look...old-fashioned.

3. Try the “Golden Ratio” applied to combining pieces: 60% non controversial or “boring” items, and 40% funky or creative.

4. Try this. Make an unbroken line with a well-fitting bottom and top of similar value. Then accessorize. It doesn’t feel like a formula if you wear pieces you like. I have to admit all-black seems slightly costumey to me, because it's a standard trick. The idea, I think, is to tweak a standard trick enough to feel individual.

5. Put thought into shoes. Try to find one pair in your closet that has style as well as practicality. Wear every day if necessary. I like sneakers for exercise only, unless they have some inherent style value, like Converse.

6. Have something to look at around your face. Glasses count as an accessory. One or two other things are enough, but I think four are too many. Color is good.

7. Try some white around your face. Lots of people have said this, and I agree. It looks good on everyone. I don’t, however, care for flipping one's collar up to elongate the neckline; I think it looks like flipping up your collar to elongate the neckline, because I don't see anyone else doing it.

8. Wear at least one makeup product. This is for those of us who are afraid of looking "done up."

9. Look for chunky accessories.

10. Put your hair in a style that puts most of the volume above your nose.

11. Cinch up bra straps.

12. Avoid decorations on body parts you don’t care for.

Have fun! And let me know how these work!

Some of these ideas originally came from Kendall Farr's book, The Pocket Stylist, or Sherrie Mathieson's book, Forever Cool. Some I made up myself.

(All the original comments for this post were lost.)

Restored: Colors for 2009 Point to Rough Economy

Here are all the colors the Pantone Institute has picked out for 2009. Remember the "Color of the Year" is Mimosa.

A news article on http://www.iconoclast.com/ said: "It's kind of an odd palette. [W]henever they show this much beige, it usually means the stock market is in for a rough ride. Clearly, the fashion industry thinks the recession will still be with us for spring, but the little pops of bright color show at least a modicum of hopefulness for an economic recovery. "

I didn't know that beige is connected to a poor economy. Did you?

Leatrice Eiseman, who runs the Pantone Institute, thinks Michelle Obama's yellow inauguration dress was a good color for the economy.

[All original comments to this post have been lost.]

Everything You Need to Know about Fashion over Forty (or Fifty)

I started this blog because of a conversation the day I got my first pair of bifocals.

The lady helping me was admiring the frames I’d picked out, and I told her, “Well, my book about style over forty says plastic frames are flattering for my age.”

And she said, “You have a book about fashion over forty? What else does it say?”

So I told her about my book—two of them in fact—and as I drove home, I thought, what are the rules? And why are there rules? Should there be rules? Should we care?

To me, clothing is the tip of a deeper iceberg that incorporates who we are as individuals and in relation to the rest of the world. It’s not that clothes matter more as I get older: it’s that enjoying the beauty in all of life matters more; being authentically myself matters more; quality matters more; and all these things make a difference in how I dress.

I’m not a fashion professional, but a professional researcher and writer who has design and art training. And: I know what I like. My posts are a reflection of my own learning as I navigate the changes in my life and closet. The best part about writing in a blog is the give and take with readers. I continue to learn and find new inspiration. I hope you’ll join me!

To get started, here are my favorite posts about personal style:

The Differences Between Fashion and Style

Do This First: Read The Pocket Stylist

Elements of Design: Proportion and the Golden Ratio

Elements of Design: The Line of Beauty

Elements of Design: Line Part II

Colors that Flatter Everyone

What a Difference a Shoe Makes: One and Two

Risk Free Updates for Twyla Tweeners

Elements of Design on People over Forty (or Fifty, or Sixty)

Fashion Colors for 2009