The Original Candy-Striper

When I was a little girl, I loved the English children’s storybooks about Milly-Molly-Mandy. They were written and illustrated by Joyce Lankester Brisley, and were set in about 1920. The stories are set in a quaint English village, and follow the simple, every-day adventures of the title character, who lives in ‘the nice white cottage with the thatched roof’. Her full name is Millicent Margaret Amanda, which is shortened for ease. (According to my Oxford Dictionary of First Names, Molly was actually an alteration from Mally, a pet form of Mary.)

The original illustrations were darling, as was Milly-Molly-Mandy’s seven year old style. She wears a simple pink-and-white striped dress, a straw boater, white socks and black Mary-Janes – a children’s unisex classic shoe that in the Roaring Twenties transmogrified into adult women’s shoes and have never gone out of style since. (Check out this gorgeous children’s outfit at Sewpony, made by a modern mum who lives in country Victoria.)

I wonder if here is the genesis of my long love of the short bob, Mary-Janes and striped clothing? Inspired by one of my childhood heroines, I’ve styled an outfit for the grown-up Milly-Molly-Mandy, who now of course insists on being called by her proper name. She’s grown her hair out, but she still loves pink and white stripes.

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Fashion Notes

The short-sleeved seersucker blouse is from Australian high-street store Witchery, the pleated skirt is by Moschino, the punctured brogue-style, patent T-bar heels by Scooter, and the striped elastic belt is, I think, vintage 80s. I can’t believe I forgot to include the boater however! All of these items I bought second hand.

Photo: December 2016

What I Actually Wore #126

Serial #: 0126
Date: 10/06/2013
Weather: 16°C / 61°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

It was a rather chilly day today, and I dressed for the weather. This outfit was built around the cashmere jumper, which reminded me of a cheerleading sweater when I first saw it on eBay. It’s in a favourite shade of robin’s egg blue, and I also love cherries!

The pleated navy and cream houndstooth wool skirt is a vintage (possibly 80s) find from years ago, while the 1940s beret-style platter hat is a purchase from Etsy. The jewellery is a mixture of handmade (silver bauble earrings) and souvenirs from travels (various ‘charms’ collected on a sterling silver chain).

The suede shoes are also favourites; I still wear them, and will continue to do so until they fall apart! They’ve already had their soles repaired once or twice. I used to have a pair of tights that exactly matched the cherry-red of the leather, but after they were ruined I was never able to find another pair that matched so closely. These are over-the-knee socks I am wearing, held up by suspenders as they always sag.

I call this cute look preppy with a vintage cheerleading twist and a cherry on top!

Items:

Jumper: vintage
Skirt: David Jones
Stockings: Sock Shop
Suspenders: Warners (on Shop Style)
Hat: vintage
Jewellery: handmade, souvenir, vintage
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Wittner

Photos: October 2013

Vintage Attachments

I love that it is still possible to find genuine vintage items in charity thrift stores. These items are getting more and more scarce, it’s true, but for the dedicated treasure-hunter, there are delightful discoveries every now and then.

Screw-back earrings are accessories that seem so quaintly old-fashioned. Actually, they have not been around that long: they were only invented in 1894, while the clip earring appeared forty years later in 1934; the latter subsequently became the favoured option for women with unpierced ears.

Past experience with a pair of ceramic earrings had taught me that screw-backs were painful, but when I found these 1940s or 50s earrings in a charity store, I couldn’t resist purchasing them. They were so pretty, made of lightweight seed beads forming a knot. I paid only a few dollars for them, and happily, they turned out to be quite comfortable to wear.

The secret to wearing screw-backs is in tightening them just enough to bear the weight of the materials. In my experience, if the earrings are heavy they are going to hurt your ears after a while no matter how they are attached. (If you can’t try them on, weigh them in your hand.)

I wasn’t put off by the tarnished base metal either (earring backs can be cleaned easily with some methylated spirits), and it is the age of the earrings that delights me. I love knowing that vintage items have stories attached to them – even if I don’t know the stories themselves.

Photo: April 2016

New Year’s Shoe Lessons

Oh my, look at this! It’s a brand-spanking new year, and a bright sparkling new day. It’s all shiny and lustrous, no spots or scuffs upon it, just like these silver Christian Louboutins I’m flying high in. I found these beauties in a thrift store for the princessly sum of $4 a couple of months ago. (That is at least one lovely thing that came out of 2016 for me.)

I have made some New Year’s resolutions. Some of them are serious, but there’s no need to make everything hard for oneself, so I threw in some that’ll be a shoe-in. One of these fun ones is Wear More Cool Shoes. Also, Never Resist the Opportunity to Make a Pun.

Another resolution is to Read More Poetry, and with this in mind, this line above is from one of my most favourite quotations of all time, by George Gordon Byron, from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:

On with the dance! let joy be unconfin’d;
No sleep til morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
to chase the Glowing Hours with Flying Feet.

Isn’t it beautiful? And no more apt quotation for New Year’s Eve could be found surely.

I hope you had a fantastic evening of celebration and you’re ready to launch yourself into the new year!

Photo: Today

Sayonara, Not-So-Sweet Sixteen!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of 2016. I’m not just shaking the dust off my feet – I’m grinding it underfoot into an unrecognisable smear and scattering the fragments far and wide with as much disdain as possible. It’s getting chucked out like an old pair of shoes. Which is exactly what these little red leather Moroccan slippers that I bought in Fez are.

I am sadder about the slippers than this year however. Made from very soft and comfy tooled leather, they gave me good service. But I am always ruthless about shoes: when they start to disintegrate, it’s time to trash them.

And I think we can all agree this year has played out like a bad dream globally. It’s time is up. However, let’s not dwell, but say farewell. Goodbye 2016! Adiós, arrivederci, au revoir, auf Wierdershen 2016! Vamoose! Begone! Scat! Skedaddle and skidoo! And, finally – SHOO!

Hurrah! Let’s all heave a collective sigh of relief for a

Photo: September 2014