A Fedora and a '66 Chevy

Saturday afternoon, we attended a vintage car show. We've attended the show in the past and have always found a blue 1966 Chevy Impala Super Sport. This year, I was looking forward to having my picture taken standing by the car; unfortunately, we were not able to find one. Why a picture? Well, after high school graduation in 1970, I got a blue 1966 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport. I wanted a Camaro, but got an Impala SS instead. I loved that car and had a lot of fun with it.

So, no pix with a car, but here's what I wore to the car show:

Jeans two days in a row ... a record for me. These RL jeans fit really well, if belted and shirt tucked; that's a rarity for me. The Jessica Bennett shoes get a lot of wear time; they fit well, are extremely comfortable and wearable for walking and standing for long stretches of time, even with a higher heel.

The details:
Thrifted Turtleneck:  Talbots here
Printed Jeans: Ralph Lauren
Leopard Print Fedora: Unmarked
Belt: Talbots
Shoes: Jessica Bennett
Watch: Fossil
Necklace: 90's Unmarked
Silver Bracelets: Old and unmarked

Thanks for stopping by! Comments/thoughts are always welcome.

Norma VanV

Oye como va? -- A Santana Homage

I'm not a stranger to skinny jeans, rock 'n roll, or a little edgier look. It's just not always appropriate for every day wear in my life -- not at the allergist's office, the market, the thrift shops, some luncheons, meetings, etc. Friday night cervezas with my husband before a quiet dinner at home -- you betcha!

I've read that Marilyn Monroe, after dressing, would always remove one item. I didn't think of Marilyn at the time, but I removed 2 items before we left home for the local pub.  The above picture was taken before I removed the leather banded watch.

And the picture above was taken before I removed the necklace. I also fixed the wonky seams of the skinny jeans and the uneven pushed up sleeves of the blazer before I left home!

Close-up photo of my Santana shirt, above. Manufacturer and date unknown.

I don't often wear jeans/trousers because it's nearly impossible to find a pair that fit! I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a love/hate relationship with trousers and would discuss in a future post. It's still something I want to discuss in a future post, but I'll supply a brief explanation here: plumber's rear is very unattractive and most trousers give me that effect. These jeans, as long as they are belted and shirt tucked, work for me. Of course, the longer jacket provides additional confidence.

THE DETAILS

Thrifted items:
Jacket: Vintage J.G. Hook here

Belt:  Brighton here
Shoes:  Carlos Santana here

Other items:
Santana Shirt: Unknown from my closet
Jeans: White House/Black Market
Necklace/Cuff Bracelet: Relativity

Thanks for viewing! Comments/critiques are welcome.

Norma VanV

Rafael Sanchez Belt, Vintage 80s

Vintage Rafael Sanchez Belt here.

Must be a spot on the lens.

But spot doesn't appear in this photo. Darn poltergeists.

Back view only to show the exposed zipper in the skirt, which doesn't show.

Intended to take pictures of the olive tiered dress (seen here), but ran out of camera battery life.

The Three S's -- Skirts, Shirts, and Shoes Plus A Bit of Vintage

Day 2 of last weeks thrifts finds. First, OOTD.

Autumn in the Midwest -- so unpredictable. Yesterday, I didn't wear a jacket and was a little cool with the blouse and dress combo. Today, short boots and a vest -- and just too darn warm.

BTW, I tend to plan my clothing choices for the week on Sundays; it's funny that I occasionally have planned to wear an outfit and Lisa of Dreamz-n-Wishz wears something similar :-) (Lisa, we're beginning to think alike LOL). I've changed plans before, but today I decided to go with the striped shirt.

The details:
T-shirt:  Talbots
Vest:  Talbots
Pants:  J.Jill
Belt: 80's and unmarked
Boots: Nine West Vintage America Collection

Thrift Items
All of these items were found at Goodwill; everything, except one pair of shoes, was found last week.

First up, a couple of skirts -- one summer and one gold silk.  The silk skirt has a couple of spots that I hope the drycleaners can remove.

 A brown corduroy vest -- great for this autumn.

 A short sleeve turtleneck shirt that didn't photograph very well.

 Two 3/4 sleeve knit shirts -- red and red print. Nothing special but couldn't pass them up.

This is a vintage (I think 80's) J.G. Hook olive blazer. I have plans to funkify it.

This is a sparkly midnight blue dress.

A vintage blue handbag, I think 60s, and brown suede pumps.

 Two pairs of shoes, slingbacks and ballet flats, for the summer.

And two more pairs of shoes, high heels and snake skin embossed kitten heels. The high heels were purchased from Goodwill this week and I plan to wear them tomorrow Friday in a post.

Whew! That's it for last week! I found even more this week. I think I may be addicted and may need to attend a thrifters anonymous meeting. LOL But can't wait to start playing with, and wearing, some of these finds.

The thrifted details:
Summer skirt: Talbots $7.98
Silk skirt: Talbots $3.99
Vest: Talbots $3.00
Turtleneck: Talbots $2.80
Red 3/4 Sleeve Shirt: Talbots $2.80
Red Print 3/4 Sleeve Shirt: Talbots $1.75
Blazer: J.G. Hook $3.99
Dress: Carole Little $4.99
Purse: Unknown Made in Canada $2.40
Brown Suede Pumps: Nine West $2.40
Slingbacks: Van Eli $3.00
Ballet Flats: Talbots $3.00
High Heels: Carlos Santana $3.00
Kitten Heels: Talbots $3.00

Thanks for viewing! Comments are always welcome.

Norma VanV

Animal Print, Thrift Finds, and a Duh Moment

Tuesday afternoons have become my thrift shopping times, so today's outfit is another easy on/easy off getup.

I wore this dress at the end of August for a Friday dinner date with my husband. This time I went casual, and following Lisa's (the thrifting queen of Dreamz-n-Wishz) wise advice, added a blouse underneath for trying on skirts/pants. Simply accessorized with flats, a necklace and a watch (I tend to lose track of time when shopping at thrift stores).

The details
Dress: Calvin Klein
Blouse: Anne Klein
Shoes: Nine West Vintage America Collection
Necklace: Old and unknown
Watch:  Fossil

The Duh Moment
Over this last weekend I planned to photograph the thrift finds of the week. As I was gathering items together, it dawned on me that I had a perfectly good antique dress form in the attic. DUH! Why didn't I think of this sooner??? Previously, I collected antique and vintage clothing and displayed items on the dress form. Unfortunately, after a few months both my husband and I found the dress form to be a little creepy (it sometimes startled us because of its human-like shape), so off it went to the attic. Well, I've rescued it from the attic, but will keep it put away when not in use. It's not perfect but it's in pretty good shape for its age. The tripod stand and the cap at the top are black painted cast iron, although some of the paint is chipped away. The fabric that covers the form is spotted and  in very delicate shape. The dress form is currently wearing an old camisole and half slip. I think she needs new lingerie!

BTW, I know the baseboard and wall are in need of fresh paint! The drop-down stairs to the attic are directly above the dress form and the wall there takes a little beating when items are moved up or down. (I think I created a new spot or two with the cast iron legs -- oops.) It's on the hubby to-do list and you know what that means.

Thrift Finds From Last Week
Lots of items found their way home with me last week. First up, items from the charitable organization for women:

A brown tweed straight skirt. This skirt will work with many items I already own.

A pale yellow sweater. I own just one item of yellow clothing -- a pair of jeans; I never thought it would be a great color on me but I decided to give this a try. I'm discovering that thrifting is a great way to try something different.

And this skirt.

This beautiful embroidered wool skirt should look great with boots this winter. I think I have the perfect suede jacket to wear with it.

From the Goodwill Boutique:

This striped shirt looks great with the tweed skirt. It's funny how that works -- you get home with items and find that they work together!

Both of the above photos are of the same fine wale corduroy shirt, but the color certainly looks different in the photos. The second photo is more accurate of the true coral color. I'm not certain how I'll use this shirt, but was drawn to the color and fabric for fall.

The thrifted details
Tweed skirt: Ann Taylor $14.99
Sweater: Talbots $9.99
Wool embroidered skirt: Talbots $9.99
Striped shirt: Talbots $9.99
Corduroy:  Talbots $12.99

I found a few more items at the regular Goodwill store and I'll post those tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by! Comments are always welcome.

Norma VanV

Tunic, Belted Low

Last Friday, I wore a tunic/kurti belted high. This Friday I wore another tunic, this time belted low.

Last fall I wore this tunic with leggings. I think I like it better with leggings. In order to balance this with the skirt, I had to pull the tunic up along the side shirring.

Time to give layered necklaces a try.

It wasn't hugely successful. Oh well.

The details:
Tunic: Relativity
Skirt: Max Studio
Belt: Ellen Tracy
Shoes: Jessica Bennett
Tassel necklace: Jessica Simpson
Elephant necklace: Relativity
Cuff bracelet: Talbots
Small gold bracelet: Unknown
Where I wore it: Shopping, errands, lunch, flu shot (ugh)

Thanks for stopping by! Comments/thoughts/critiques are always welcome.

Linking with Patti's Visible Monday @ http://notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.com.

Norma VanV

Thrift Finds and An Easy Peasy Outfit for Thrifting

Another week of thrift finds and, as long as the thrift gods are kind, I'll post these once a week. There is a one week delay from the time the thrift items are found and the time that I post, so these are from last week. The Easy Peasy outfit I wore for thrifting this week can be found at the bottom of this page.

Let's take a look at last weeks finds. To begin, a light weight fall coat:

I love this Ann Taylor 3/4 length coat; it's very dark brown, almost black. It's not warm enough for winter, but will work well into the fall.

Although the shoes look grey/black they are really navy on navy.  The belt is black and leopard print with silver buckle.  It wasn't a great bargain, but a very nice belt. It actually looks great with the Ann Taylor coat, above.

Again, blue just doesn't show well -- I don't know if it's the camera or the lighting. This shirt is a blue on off-white print and I don't believe was ever worn. Remember the Oscar de la Renta thrifted jacket from last week. For a pattern mix look, this shirt works great with the jacket and a solid blue skirt.

The following sweater has an issue.

It has a couple of stains on the right cuff; maybe I'll get lucky and the stains will come out. It's worth a try.

How else am I going to get a Brooks Brothers sweater for $9.99. This next gray sweater is 3/4 sleeves and will work nicely in my winter wardrobe.

I don't know about this next item. It fits perfectly, but I'm not sure about the dress style.

At the price, I had to give it a try. Later this week, or sometime next week, I'll try styling this dress, take a few pictures, and ask for your ideas and input.

I thrifted on Tuesday of this week and wore something easy to get in and out of. (I'll post new thrift items next week.) I also needed to run to the market when I got home and knew the outfit would be perfect for riding my grocery store bike. I wanted to take a photo of me with the bike. Unfortunately, my tires were flat, so I drove anyway. 

 The dress is a little too short -- I prefer a little longer -- but it's oh so easy to get in and out of and is very comfortable. I wore easy peasy fabric flats.

Briefly accessorized with skinny belt, necklace, and bracelet.

The details:

Thrifted

Coat: Ann Taylor $39.99

Shoes: Circa Joan & David $3.00

Belt: Brighton $14.99

Shirt: Talbots $9.99

Argyle Sweater: Brooks Brothers $9.99

Gray Sweater: Talbots $9.99

Dress: Talbots $7.50

Other Items

Dress: Soy Bu

Necklace: Added a chain to my 90's pin/broach

Belt: Unknown

Bracelet: Unknown

Shoes: Nine West

Thanks for stopping by! I love to hear your comments and thoughts.

Norma VanV

Tunic/Kurti, Belted High

Yesterday, I wore the Indian Tunic/Kurti for the first time. Showered, dressed, and stepped outside to find that the cold front had moved through. I was dressed for 80's, but the high temperature in the forecast was 70 degrees.

Back inside to add a shrug, change into flats, and remove the tassel necklace because I thought it looked "too much" in the mirror. After seeing the photos, I think it may have been OK.

I'm not certain why but this definitely looked better belted high, maybe because of my pear-shaped body. This was an incredibly comfortable ensemble and I received many compliments throughout the day, which made me feel that I made the correct decision when I purchased this tunic.

Here's a side view which shows the slit -- definitely need to wear something underneath this. I may be able to continue wearing this well into the fall with full leggings and maybe a turtleneck underneath.

I forgot to include this vintage designer handbag in my thrift post -- found at Goodwill for $3.00. I carried it for the first time yesterday with the tunic outfit.

Today, while running an errand, I found this necklace and couldn't resist.

The details:
Tunic/Kurti: Biba by Karuna & Shradha Khaitan $32 from vintage dealer
Capri leggings: Nikibiki
Gold belt: old 80's
Tassel Necklace: Jessica Simpson
Bracelet: Talbots
Sandals: Jessica Bennett
Shrug: Jessica Howard
Ankle strap flats: BCB Generation
Handbag: Alviero Martini 1a Classe $3.00 thrifted at Goodwill
Elephant necklace: Relativity
Where I wore it: Shopping, luncheon, errands

Thanks for visiting! I love to hear your comments/thoughts/opinions!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Norma VanV