zondag 20 november 2016

Autumn wardrobe: just some outfits

Many outfits I post on Instagram never end up here. Actually my Insta gives a better account of my 'wardrobe' than this blog. So I thought it'd be a nice idea to post some of my Autumn looks from the last month or so. I like Instagram because it is fast and immediate but I miss writing about the things I wear like I do here. In order to make this post more than just a repost of looks that is what I will do, write a little about my clothes & give some extra info and pics.

Coats and hats:

Autumn means starting to wear coats and felt hats again. The look above is an inbetween outfit I wore on a sunny and relatively warm day. A floral dress with a 'demi' coat and felt hat.

The hat was the first 1930's/40's hat I ever bought. It is typical of the style of hats I prefer: a general shape that is loosely based on men's hats but with a feminine take on it through details and the smaller shape making it perfect to wear tilted to one side.

The scarf was a gift my friend Lisette bought for me in Turkey. 
This picture shows the coat much better, not a very fancy outfit but I had to go out into the rain for the third time that day. It was very cheap but needed a lot of work. The hem was very sloppy so it needed redoing and I had to take it in at the waist.

Same coat, another brooch and my new Gerzon hat. I try to wear a hat at least once or twice a week. What makes it difficult is that you usually do things by bike in Amsterdam combined with the amount of rain during Autumn.

This is another coat I've been wearing a lot lately. It is too big for me but it works well oversized. The sleeves are so great: the bottom half is made out of astrakan fur and because they are narrow at the wrist they keep out any wind. It is the kind of coat I usually throw over when going out in the evening.

Continuing with the layering theme of my last post: I wore this late 30's shantung silk (probably summer) dress in salmon pink with a burgundy red cardigan, hat and shoes. To finish the look I wore a tweed early/mid 30's coat which has reddish brown in it.
The same brooch as on the blue coat and coral earrings.

My friend Annemarie and I went for cake and a pre-dinner cocktail after.

Going out in dressy dresses:

The less casual styles are reserved for special occasions. This dress had been in my closet for almost two years, it had some issues and I finally got round to fixing it up. All those details: lace, pockets, shirring and sleeves!


Sleeves were a theme lately. This taffeta dress has huge leg of mutton sleeves. I tried something different with my hair. Instead of brushing out my spongeroller curls I just left them. It makes for a good mid 1930's hairstyle.

We went to the theatre like this, most people wore jeans ;).

Another interesting sleeve. But so much more: all those bows and the color!

Playing dress-up:

You could argue I play dress-up every day but these outfits are more like costumes instead of 'normal' outfits.
There was Halloween. As 'vintage witch' I wore a 1930's dress that is really quite pretty so note to self I should wear it on a normal day. The cape is from around 1900 and is shattering, poor thing, but good for that witchy feel.
I recently puchased this sweater from &other stories. It works great with a 1930's style but really reminded me of an 1890's (cylcing) jumper from the MET museum. I had to try it on with a kind of 1890's style.

This is the jumper from the MET, a different color but the style is a clear refference to me.

In order to give the sweater a turn of the century shape I wore a corset. I hadn't worn it for quite some time and I always find in fascinating how easy it is to give your body an entirely different shape. Because the corset is an underbust I wore a brassiere with baleens (from H&M, can you believe it) to create the 'monobossom' fashionable during the Belle Epoque.

This is not really dressing up, but I almost never wear pants outside the house. I had a bad cold and I wanted to be warm. These are men's trousers that belong to a suit I once bought. The jacket is so big on me it would only be suitable for real dress-up but the pants work quite well as slacks. My look reminded me of a picture of my great-aunt Tilly. It reads on  the back: '1939, women in men's trousers the end of the world is nigh'

Little (dark) blue dresses:

On more casual days I wear LBD's. Mine are not black but dark blue. Black is so well.. black and dark blue is a color and does not attract too much attention. It might sound weird but there are situations where I don't want the first thing people say to be that they love my dress.
This dress is probably late 40's early 50's and I wore it with grey fully fashioned nylon stockings (you can just see the pretty top of those in the pic)

Dark blue is even better with some white!

So do I always wear vintage?

Well no, not when I'm at home all day.  I would not want to ruin a pretty dress over cooking & cleaning etc. I do own a few 'old' dresses I wear at home with an apron but most of the time I wear wide legged trousers (the lounging pj type) with a top or even a wool jumper when it is cold.
I look like the picture below, all H&M machine washables, no make-up etc. but some leftover curl in my hair.
I didn't post this casual look on Instagram btw. ;)

Will be back soon with some weekend looks and vintage finds

Birthe







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