Sunday, June 30, 2013

Fun in the French Quarter

Mike and I went over to New Orleans today to hang my featured artist show at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. As I have mentioned many times before, we travel a lot and New Orleans is my favorite city in America. Lucky for me, it's only an hour from home. 

We have our favorite agenda each time we go to the city, including breakfast at Croissant d'Or and lunch at the Pizza Kitchen. Today we stopped off at the Junque Shop on Frenchman to browse the vintage goods, including this My Fair Lady-esque hat.   

I'm wearing my brand new dress:

Dress: Trashy Diva "French Quarter"
Hat: Stein-Mart 
Sunglasses: Trashy Diva
Shoes: Via Neroli
Pearls: Mikimoto


The closest I will get to a spider without a rolled-up newspaper in hand. 

I've been searching for cat eye sunglasses for years and finally found them!

The French Quarter dress features a turn-of-the-Century print of the Crescent City, including wrought iron balconies and horse-drawn carriages. The dress is fully lined and the fabric very high quality.  


Guess who?

No visit to NOLA is complete without a visit to the one-and-only Trashy Diva!
                                    


Imagine my surprise finding my long-lost twin sister working inside the boutique!


I also went by the Garden District location and again found my doppelganger! (Love her hat, too!)


The best accessory of all? A cute husband! 

                                                   


Dibs on the Dots

Here I am again exploring vintage separates! They are a nice switch-up from the dresses and very easy to put together.
I can't stay away from polka dots, as I've mentioned lots of times. I have polka dot outfits in just about every color.

Shirt: Bettie Page
Skirt: Queen of Holloway 
Shoes: Steve Madden
Belt: Pinup Couture
Purse: Hobby Lobby
Pin: Vintage inherited from my grandmother


I purchased this skirt from Queen of Holloway, a reproduction vintage brand from the UK and manufactured in China. Though their prices are cheaper than other well-known pinup brands, I must say the quality of the product does not match the price.

Here is the skirt as advertised on the website. See how full and billowy the fabric appears to be in the picture? Not so in reality. I know, internet false advertising is nothing new, but I never had that problem with brands like Hell Bunny, Pinup Couture, or Trashy Diva.

Nevertheless, it is a cute skirt and I will continue to wear it.



I hardly take pictures with my glasses on. This is my studious professor face.

My new obsession? Vintage pins!


Saturday, June 15, 2013

Doe, a Deer

In my quest for the prefect retro style, I have always bought dresses. But recently I have been inspired to explore the world of separates. My inspiration? Amy Adams' wardrobe in the latest Muppet Movie, I'm not ashamed to say!

I love the feminine print blouse and colorful, flared A-line skirt. When I saw similar skirts come available at Modcloth.com, I ordered them in blue and orange.

A-O Sway from Modcloth
  I've always been a fan of Bettie Page Clothing, but recently have found that they make beautiful separates as well. My favorite is the 1940's "Bambi" blouse.


Blouse: Bettie Page
Skirt: Sunny Girl Ltd via Modcloth
 Shoes: Victoria Spenser
Purse: Kasper




  


Sweethearts' Dance

This year I wanted to find a special way to celebrate Valentine's Day. Mike is a romantic guy, and he takes me out to dinner and a movie quite a lot. So, what could we do for Valentine's Day that was different?

While we were engaged, we started taking ballroom dance lessons so we'd know how to do a little more than the "high school sway" on the dance floor at our wedding reception. We had a lot of fun with it and continued to take lessons for a couple of years. we stopped when we started working on our Master's degrees, so I thought it would be fun to go back to Amour Danzar in Long Beach for one of their Friday night dance parties. 

I admit my love for ballroom dance is fueled by movies from the 1950s, especially this classic scene from White Christmas with Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen:

Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen were right-- "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing."  

I found my pink "debutante" dress at House of Tux in Gulfport while being fitted for my wedding dress. It fulfilled my 1950s dance movie dreams and I had to get it! It is the perfect dress to wear for waltzing and doing the foxtrot.  

Dress: B2 from House of Tux
Shoes: Naturalizer
Purse: Target
Pearls: Mikimoto





My Valentine's gift from mike was the diamond bracelet which matched my wedding ring! (I got him a Star War's blaster belt to go with his Han Solo costume).

A flower completes the look. 

Silver accents in the accessories.