Here She Comes

The Queen of Dresses, or at least the queen of the dresses in my humble shop :) . The most beautiful Dress i've ever found and possibly ever seen.

a 1950's, (possibly late 40's) gown, which i believe to be made of organdy. a ruched section dances around the skirt of the dress. and the pattern is reminiscent of a watercolor painting in the most wonderful colors. She's coming into the shop by the end of the week.

Photography this lovely made me realize how an artist falls in love with his muse. i had so much fun photographing her, that i took 53 pictures, though i need only 5! and these darn pictures do her no justice.

She is not without her battle wounds, but i am determined to find her a home that sees her beauty past her small stains (her tears have been most craftily healed by my seamstress, Laurie). anyway. I was excited to share :)

sorry i've been a bad blogger this week

thanks for reading, m

Polka Dots and Heartbreakers

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to, "The girl who only wore blue and white." okay, not really but i've realized since i've started chronicling my outfits how much i love to wear blue, white and cream.
I wore this outfit to the Tom Petty concert, which we kindof got tickets to by accident. It was not my type of concert as it was in a ginormous venue (the sprint center), super loud, overly air conditioned, etc. BUT it was fun to hear all the Tom Petty classics. and he does some pretty amazing dancing for a man who is nearly 70.

1950's Blue Polka Dot dress -abandoned old warehouse

bourbon leather sandles--borrowed from the shop, (sorry, sold)

white pointelle sweater--thrifted.

vintage necklace, thrifted.

what fashion ruts do YOU get into?

I think i'm going to try to wear more color! we'll see how that goes.

thanks for reading,

m

Think Outside the [Jewelry] Box

well, you already know i am smitten with the Brass Razoo from this post, but the images of the frames with jewelry hanging inside really stuck with me.
They spurred me to do a little DIY project. I executed it a bit differently because i wanted each piece of jewelry to stand out more.
and now i have my own little art piece with my favorite bits of jewelry and since i see them more, i have been wearing them more, too :) I am ecstatic that I recently got to add this beauty from Jean Jean Vintage to the display. I would give instructions of how i did this but i think its pretty obvious. all you need is a large frame from a thrift store and some nails, plan out how you want it to look and go for it!

Thanks for reading,

m

Shop Update

Brown, Chartreuse, Caramel.

And tons of pretty blues :)

Shop Away!

thanks for looking,

m

A Mini Holiday

When I stay around home for the weekend, I become very tempted to work, or clean, or "get stuff done." So, Steve and I decided to go for a tiny country holiday and get away from all of that. We both have a soft spot for small country towns so we escaped just an hour and a half away to Boonville, MO.
I wore this wonderful 1940's dress i just got from Bonjour Dolly. Its the coolest, comfiest cotton and was perfect for traipsing through rural towns.

We had no agenda, except to spend time together and enjoy life, so we were able to stop wherever we wanted. this was one of our favorite shops:

Steve found a round fan and some vintage bottle openers which he has been looking for for a long time.
Then off to Glasgow, MO for the best cheese cake in the world, at the Rolling Pin, ah...I've been wanting this cheese cake for months. Can you tell?

well. um. that's a new idea.

We stayed at the Hotel Frederick, built in 1905 right beside the missouri river. Completely restored by its current owners and they did a gorgeous job. What surprised me about it was how simple and modern their decor was. Just stunning and peaceful (which seemed to be the theme of our trip). If you are ever in these parts, you should stay there.

dinner at glenn's cafe, on the veranda. i would LIKE to apologize about the poor quality of this picture of my favorite person, but i can't. It was caused by the sun setting behind him, which i could never apologize for. I brightened it up in editing so you could see his nice smile.

a pretty building in Boonville. Steve and I both have a liking for painted signs on old buildings. and how perfect is the elderly man reading on the front stoop?

Last, we stopped at our friends, Roger and Elzan's, farm. I was born in Columbia and lived around this area until i was two, so coming back always feels like home.

The drive out there was so beautiful; I felt such peace and joy watching the green hills rush past my window. There is something intensely beautifuly to me about the lush, treefilled, hilly landscape of Missouri, with its vegtable gardens and sleeping sheep and rusting brokendown trucks in front yards.

oh, back to "real" life.

thanks for reading,

m

Shop Update

This update was SUMMER, full speed ahead.

sundresses, rompers and sandals! enjoy

MOST of these items are still left in the shop :)

I went on a mini-vacation this weekend and I cannot wait to share some bits from it with you :)

Thanks for reading,

m

I Keep Chopping

I PROMISE I will not become a crazy reconstruction queen trying to chop vintage here and there until it loses all of its charm. But after that discussion of maxi dresses, i just thought I'd give it one more a shot. Now, I am one of the biggest supporters of puff sleeves...i totally dig them. But when you have 16 yards of floral fabric, lots of lace and puff sleeves, it can be come a bit "little house on the prairie" (as dalena would say:). I gave this dress a few weeks in the shop in its original form. Although I try not to pay much attention to "hearts," i think they can be a good indication of what the public likes. According to hearts, 1 in 100 people liked this dress. bad ratio.

It just needed to simplify and i think its much more wearable and more lovely with a bit less fabric.

My friend and seamstress, laurie, helped me a TON on this dress :)

thanks for reading,

m

Cherry Picking

A few weeks ago, i got to go cherry picking with one of my very best friends.

One of my best friends, Ryla, happens to be 2 years old. I was Ryla's nanny from age 3 months to age 1.5 years and she will always hold a very special place in my heart. We share a love for fashion, cereal, playing outside and singing silly songs.

She picks out almost all of her own outfits and gosh, i wish you could see her creativity.

Peek

Hey, its hard work, people. mmmm soymilk.

Lisa, the cabbage patch doll, came too. She wore fishnet stockings, which wasn't very practical if you ask me.

Bffs :)

Bounty

I know this post was picture heavy, so thanks for sticking it out :)

maria

A Celebrity Post

I never thought that I would do a post about a celebrity on my blog, but alas; here I am. Its not that I dislike celebrities, its just that overall, I don't keep up with them very well.
But I must admit, Carey Mulligan has caught my eye. A few weeks after I watched 'An Education,' (which, by the way, I thought she did an incredible job acting in) I looked up an interview with Carey mulligan on youtube. And as is so easy to do on youtube, I ended up watching one after another. I was surprised at how down-to-earth she was and how easily she gave up that charming giggle. I tend to be drawn to celebrities that I feel like I could hang out with and miss mulligan is definitely one of these.

I also like that she relies on her talent, rather than her sex appeal to establish her place in celebrityville. I had to laugh when i got this issue of vanity fair, where most the other starlets are putting out the sexy vibe, carey is wearing her classic little smirky smile, dimple and all. She seems quite serious about her acting career and carries herself with class and an almost demure sensibility.

It's probably pretty obvious that I love her haircut. She was definitely one of my more current inspirations for getting the pixie (I especially love her 1920's Marcel wave hairdo in the first picture below). And, although I wish I could get her in real vintage (Shop at Adelaide's, Carey!) , I feel the silhouettes she chooses have an extremely vintage feel, drawing heavily from the 40's and 50's.

Thanks so much for reading, and indulging my celeberity crush,

maria