What I actually wore #0017

Serial #: 0017
Date: 13/01/2009
Weather: yet another scorcher… 37°
Time Allowed: 5 minutes

The normally unreliable meteorologists had predicted another sizzler today, but since we’d been having a streak of hot days I knew they would be bang on the money again.

On a hot day a dress is the best option, and since – as per usual – I had not left myself much time to dress in the morning, it took me about two seconds between eyeing this dress and whipping it off the hanger. Although it’s lovely vintage polyester, it’s a loose-fitting shift so I figured it would be cool enough. I found it in the Salvo’s a year or two ago priced at about $10.

The pattern reminds me nostalgically of the Viennetta icecream of my seventies childhood.

Once upon a time I wouldn’t have touched such a dress with a barge pole simply because of its fabric, but I took an immediate liking to it when I saw it on the hanger. The pattern reminds me nostalgically of the Viennetta icecream of my seventies childhood. That’s why I picked the white patent wedges: they’re like a delicious dollop of whipped cream, the finishing touch to an indulgent dessert.

A purely practical accessory today, the umbrella (another vintage find, this time on eBay) nevertheless didn’t create quite enough shade to protect my legs as I walked home after work, when the temperature peaked. I could feel the heat radiating up from the concrete sidewalks. I really love the contrast of colours though: the turquoise a solid block of coolness against the richness of the coffee ripples. Icecream anyone?

Items:
Dress: vintage
Shoes: Scanlan & Theodore
Umbrella: vintage
Sunglasses: Agnès B
Earrings: vintage
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Rings: Roun

Flying away

Ph: Friedemann Hauss, Marie Claire (UK), early 1990s.

Tomorrow I’m flying away from here to the tropical heat of Vietnam. I’ve packed my tan leather bag with the lightest of summer clothes but I’ve left plenty of space for adventure. And shopping purchases of course.

I’ll be holidaying overseas, but I’ll still be posting so come back again in a few days!

Kisses,

A ring as fragile as love

This stone ring is my favourite piece of jewellery. It was given to me two birthdays ago by a man I loved. There is only one thing I adored more that he gave me, and I have not looked at it since the day I took it off.

Made of an apple-green stone on a sterling silver base, this dome-shaped ring is very fragile. And as much as I love it, every time I wear it I am filled with terror that I shall smash it.

We were wandering through the city one weekend and meandered into a little shop called Dittoday in Block Place, one of Melbourne’s delightful laneways. I saw this ring on a glass shelf and instantly fell in love with it. I was encouraged to try it on (just for fun) although I had no intention at all of buying it.

I saw this ring on a glass shelf and instantly fell in love with it.

As I admired the ring on my hand, turning it in the light, my former fiancé smiled and asked if I would like it for an early birthday present. My eyes must have lit up immediately because before very long the sales assistant was polishing it up carefully and ringing up a purchase.

She told me the ring was made from chrysoprase, a gemstone variety of chalcedony, and I should be very careful not to drop it as it could shatter. The faceted stone wraps around the sterling silver base, and is quite thick and heavy even at the thinnest part.

I felt it was such a treasure of a find. I’ve occasionally wandered back into that jewellery boutique, but I’ve never seen its like again, nor have I seen anything similar anywhere else. I’m glad to think I was given such a unique present, and so spontaneously (never a forte of his).

Now I look at it, and although it makes me a little sad, I wear it sometimes and guard it fiercely. I want the ring at least to last forever.

(L-R) Rough nugget; Chinese chrysoprase bead and sterling silver necklace by Ann Sheldon; cabochon; antique snuffbox; ‘Early Budding Vine’ sterling silver bracelet by Giftbearer; tumbled nuggets.

The bracelet can be bought at the Art Jewellery Collective, and the necklace from Ann Sheldon.

The Velveteen Easter

There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.

There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse, but the Rabbit was quite the best of all. For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.

“It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

…

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

…

“Little Rabbit,” she said, “don’t you know who I am?”

The Rabbit looked up at her, and it seemed to him that he had seen her face before, but he couldn’t think where.

“I am the nursery magic Fairy,” she said. “I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved. When they are old and worn out and the children don’t need them any more, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real.”

“Wasn’t I Real before?” asked the little Rabbit.

“You were Real to the Boy,” the Fairy said, “because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to every one.”

…

Margery Williams’ tender story about a toy rabbit’s journey from the nursery to the forest begins at Christmas time. He learns the love of the Boy will make him real, and for a time it does – until the day he ends on the rubbish heap. Yet an unlooked for miracle springs him into new life – a fitting theme for this time of the year.

I do hope your Easter has been very velveteen!

A hat retrospective

“Father has a business strictly second hand
Everything from toothpicks to a baby-grand
Stuff in our apartment came from father’s store
Even things I’m wearing someone wore before
It’s no wonder that I feel abused
I never get a thing that ain’t been used

I’m wearing second hand hats
Second hand clothes
That’s why they call me
Second hand Rose…”

Unlike Barbara, I do not find it such a tragedy to wear second hand clothes, nor do many others these days. In fact, I would be overjoyed if my father owned a second hand shop. What fun!

A while back a friend suggested I write a post on the difference between antique, vintage and retro. Many people probably don’t know the difference, and possibly don’t care. A few might be interested enough in the question to research it; I can point you in the direction of a succinct article on Wikipedia. For those of you who can’t be bothered clicking on the link, read on.

I decided to illustrate the definitions by comparing apples with… er, hats with hats. I thought about using other items, but as I am obsessed with hats, and actually own many from different eras, they seemed the obvious choice.

ANTIQUE

First up we have a hat c. 1910. Anything manufactured prior to the 1920s is considered antique. This wool felt hat is trimmed in the original ostrich feather and netting, very tattered. I used to wear it more often than lately, but you can see it here in context. I bought it many years ago in Castlemaine from a strange elderly woman who ran a vintage shop in an old building that was once a stately home, or perhaps a hotel.

My sister, who lived there for a while, took me there, whispering that the old lady kept a doll in a pram, and talked to it as though it was her baby. I found three hats there that I wanted to buy: a black 1920s hat and a gold straw bonnet of unknown provenance trimmed in Parisian roses, the lady told me, as well as this hat. I put this hat on the counter, and continued to look at her merchandise. When I turned round, I found she had put the hat back in its cabinet. I retrieved it. This happened a few times until I finally convinced that I did indeed want to purchase it.

VINTAGE

The second hat is from the 1940s, and falls under the distinction of vintage, as does any clothing made from the 1920s to 1980. I can’t recall where I found this little cap, but it’s very sweet and perches just at the back of one’s head. The two little flowers on either side make me think of mini Mickey Mouse ears.

RETRO

Retro, which is short for retrospective, usually refers to items that imitate those from another era, for example props from a costume department (which is what I guess this 1920s style hat is), or emulations, such as the Art Deco style prevalent in the 1970s. (Just think of Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde: set in the 1920s, but unmistakably made in the 70s.)

In the last twenty years or so we’ve seen every style of fashion from every era inspiring our modern designers. It’s certainly fascinating, and I gasp in awe at the creators and image-makers, but in real life, as much as I love vintage clothing, I don’t want to feel like a stray from a film set. I’ll still mix in some vintage into my wardrobe, but I’ll do it circumspectly. I’ll do it ‘My Way’.