A wedding and an anniversary

Our friend's outdoor wedding last weekend called for light summery clothing. For me, this came in the form of a yellow 50's dress with a beautiful pleated bodice from Ruby Rouge. For Mr Vintage Style, a light grey three piece suit from Melbourne based menswear label Jack London was in order. I love a man in a three piece suit!


















The wedding was just lovely. The bride and groom looked so happy and relaxed. Especially lovely was the ceremony, which took place amongst the trees on Canberra's Black Mountain. It was followed by High Tea at the Hyatt where we stuffed ourselves full of tea and cake.


















Speaking of weddings, Mr Vintage Style and I recently celebrated our own wedding anniversary. As a result, I now have a beautiful bunch of roses which make me smile every time I look at them.

Electronic apron

What to do on a Sunday while working in a vintage shop? Clean of course. And what better way to do so than to borrow some bling for my neck...


















...and put on a vintage apron. This is one strange apron. It features a print of the Phillips electronics company logo.































I'm wearing it with a dress I got for free (that's my favourite word!) from a friend as it didn't fit her. I bought the espadrilles from Kmart years ago and only wore them for the first time recently.

Ooooh, Viva Las Vegas is on TV. I love a Sunday afternoon with Elvis!

Pin Up Girl

A quiet night in calls for a movie night. After watching Night of the Living Dead (I love zombie films), I needed to watch something lighter before going to bed. Pin Up Girl was the perfect anecdote. Made in 1944, it stars Betty Grable. Not only is Betty glamorous and elegant, but she also has perfect comic timing. And her wardrobe is to die for! Oh those shoulder pads and bullet bras! I also love her side-kick. She's helping fuel my librarian chic obsession. I think I need a new pair of glasses...
















While browsing online, I also found that there's a Betty Grable Pin Up Girl cut out doll book. Cute!

Librarian chic

A while ago my sister sent me a knitting pattern book. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. I don't quite understand what these three are getting up to in the library, but they sure make knitwear look sexy...

Shades of pale

Another month, another Fashions In Time meeting. Today's theme was knits, leather, luggage and lace. I stuck with the lace theme. I was running a little late to I forgot to grab one of the many vintage suitcases I own to fit in with the luggage theme. Oh well!

I wore an 80s lace dress from Ruby Rouge in Main Road which has a bit of a 20s/30s feel to it. I wore it with a faux fur coat (which feels like a teddy bear) which was my Grandma's, hat from vintage shop in Christchurch NZ, necklace from garage sale, bag from a long forgotten op shop and the 1950s watch was my Mum's and was a gift to her from my Grandpa on her 12th birthday. I bought the shoes yesterday at iShoes in Brunswick Street Melbourne. They look like something my Grandma would have worn. I think my sister would agree if she's reading this.

My new obsession

Image from here.

Part of the reason why I haven't been blogging much lately is that my back is a painful mess. I feel like I'm turning into a hunchback, so one of my new years resolutions is to work on my posture. I've practiced yoga and pilates in the past, but I've never been that into it. But I decided to give pilates another try. I picked Peace and Quiet in Sturt Street from a few options on offer in Ballarat. I'm a big fan on making decisions based on the quality of a business's website, and my choice of pilates studio was no exception. Peace and Quiet is primarily a day spa, with the pilates studio upstairs. The day spa smells and looks amazing so I'm also looking forward to treating myself to a massage there one day.

Before I went to my first class at Peace and Quiet I couldn't even come close to touching my toes. Ten days and five classes later, I can put the palms of my hands on the floor. It's pretty amazing that I feel so much better in less than ten days. I just wanted to let all of you in blogland know the siginificant change that pilates has made to my life already. I feel flexible, strong, healthy and in control of my body. I'm going to feel alot better about wearing pretty 50s dresses now that I'm not a hunchback!

I heart Summer

It's been such a lovely warm day today. I went to Melbourne for the day to the Drape exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. The exhibition features dresses by Versace, Dior, Comme Des Garcons and Vivienne Westwood, as well as classical Greek sculpture and artworks from the Gallery's collection. It's well worth a visit.

After my little excursion to the gallery, I met my lovely friend Mel for lunch at Babka Bakery on Brunswick Street. The food is a modern take on Russian cuisine. I had the most amazing smoked trout salad and Mel had delicious home made baked beans. If you go there you must have a glass of Beryl Sparkles: vodka infused berries in sparkling wine. So good!

Following lunch and a good catch up we wandered up and down Brunswick Street searching for a dress for me to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks. I didn't fall in love with anything I saw so Mel jumped on a tram to head back home and I started to wander in the direction of the train home. I decided to make one last stop into Sheila Vintage in Brunswick St and found the most adorable 50s dress. I haven't had much luck with vintage lately as everything has been far too small or far too big so I was thrilled to bits to find something that fits. I'm keeping it under wraps for the moment but will show it to you soon, I promise!

This is what I wore today:


















This cotton 1980s dress was purchased in Parkes, NSW a couple of years ago and has become a Summer staple this year. To be honest, today I actually wore Havaianas instead of my pretty pink and gold shoes. I also carried a much larger handbag but I wanted to show off this one. I bought it at the Mill Markets in Daylesford on new years day. I fell in love with it months ago, and was very happy when I saw that the stall it was in was having a 20% off sale.














It's made from white woven raffia-like material which is covered in plastic. It has a wooden handle and gold clasp and I just love it!

I'm now sitting here with a glass of sauvignon blanc. I couldn't think of a nicer way to spend a day.