#VintageDecemberStyle Outfit #1: Tree-Trimming

As previously mentioned, I am in love with my Christmas tree.

I gaze upon it and smile. I insist upon showing it to my Internet ESL students. It is a thing of beauty, and thus, a joy forever.

I also like holiday outfits, so, oh boy, have I been enjoying Emileigh at Flashback Summer’s hashtag #VintageDecemberStyle. Hop on over to Instagram and behold the holiday sartorial concoctions. It’s fun.

This was my first holiday outfit opportunity–the trip to get the Christmas tree.

I am of the opinion that there are no bad Christmas trees. Artificial, real, live, aluminum, I like them all, Charlie Brown. I also am not picky about where to get one. I have a slight (entirely unsurprising) preference for little parking lot tree lots, but I’m flexible. This year, a restaurant down the street from us had a tree lot on their patio, and so we walked over to see what we could find. Continue reading “#VintageDecemberStyle Outfit #1: Tree-Trimming” →

Out and About: Laura Petrie at the AIC

“I have to stop objectifying Mary Tyler Moore!” I told B the other night.

We’ve been watching a lot of the Dick Van Dyke Show.

The jokes are great, the show is often very forward-thinking in it’s early sixties way, and the cast is just stellar. Though I love dark comedy, there’s something refreshing about a show where everyone is funny, basically decent, and trying to do the right thing.

Things I’m digging:

Rob and Laura have a loving marriage, and the comedy is never based on disrespecting each other.
Rose. Marie.
I think I’ve always had a crush on early sixties Dick Van Dyke.
All of the main characters are smart.
Male and female non-romantic friendship is featured prominently.
Holy. Cats. Mary Tyler Moore’s body was amazing. (See? I need to stop!)

So when the mister and I decided to take advantage of a free night at the Art Institute of Chicago, it’s no surprise that my sartorial inspiration quickly ran to Mary Tyler Moore’s incomparable Laura Petrie.

Continue reading “Out and About: Laura Petrie at the AIC” →

Wardrobe Wednesday: Sunday Go to Meeting

I don’t go to church.

There are many reasons for that, none of which I’ll get into at the moment. My readership is full of lovely people of various theological persuasions, and as an essentially private person, I don’t feel a need to explicate my deepest convictions in a post that is really about my stockings.

However, there are a lot of elements of religion that are pleasing, whether they’re attached to any greater meaning or not. Community, singing together, learning something deeper about one’s values, these are nice. So occasionally I’ll make the Sunday morning meeting of the Ethical Humanist Society, or as we call it at our house, “Atheist Church.”

Please note: “Atheist Church” is a pretty inaccurate description of the Ethical Humanist Society. For one, it’s not strictly atheistic–members have a variety of opinions on the God question. You can learn more about what the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago is about here.

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The Cutest Outfit You Never Saw

It’s spring in Chicago, so that means it’s time for Vintage Garage!

Chicago’s Vintage Garage is a monthly all-vintage flea market, held in a parking garage in the Uptown neighborhood through the warm months. Over a hundred vendors of vintage clothing, appliances, housewares, and various sundries gather, set up their wares, and sell to the vintage loving hordes. And for some reason, I had never gone. I always mean to go, then end up skipping it. Not this year!

Each month has a different theme, and May’s was Mid-Century Modern. Clearly, this requires a mid-century outfit. So I assembled one. It ended up being completely covered by my coat. It was so cold! While 50 degrees certainly isn’t the worst, inside a concrete parking garage it was much colder. I felt bad for the vendors. On the plus side, the people selling coats and sweaters probably had a great day.

This is the outfit I came up with. This is also the first time I got up the gumption to wear cigarette pants out in public. I think the whole thing is rather sweater girl and cute.

Details:
Sweater: Vintage, thrifted.
Cigarette pants: Reproduction, from Collectif.
Scarf: Vintage, gift.
Basket purse: undetermined age, thrifted.
Shoes: Super cheap navy blue Keds knock-offs.

Continue reading “The Cutest Outfit You Never Saw” →

Thrift Store Thirties

Most of my vintage style outfits, day-to-day, are not very complicated.

I usually don’t try to look like I stepped right out of a movie from 1952 on a daily basis. There are a couple of reasons for this:

I’ve got stuff to do, and not all of it is really suited to wearing puffy dresses.
I usually forget to wear accessories. I usually forget to change my earrings, honestly.
Weather. Public transit.
While I admire very curated vintage looks, I usually don’t go in for a complete “costumed” look, myself.

So this winter, I’m ending up wearing a lot of variations on this:

Take one sweater, and put it on top of another sweater. Add additional sweater if necessary.

Continue reading “Thrift Store Thirties” →