New Blog!

Hello! Some of you might have already heard but about a week ago I made the change from blogspot to wordpress and so if you are following me via GFC or blogloving you will no longer get an update when I have a new post up. I apologize for the inconvenience but the good news is that both of my blogs are now together on one page that is so much easier to navigate! You will see that there are a few options for how you can subscribe to my posts on there that makes it nice and easy for us to keep in touch. To see more photos of my latest outfit post on Deco Darling head on over to my new blog!

The Colours of Autumn

The first blog post of the season where it actually looks like - and feels like autumn! After a very balmy month, over night the cold winds started to blow and a proper chill settled. This weekend we went out of town and visited Toowoomba where we spent some time scouring antiques stores and enjoying the beautiful historic little town. I was very excited to come upon all of these beautiful traditional looking autumn trees, something we don't have any of at all where I live, so it was quite the novelty for me. I haven't really been able to experience the joy of having four seasons since I moved here from Russia and the large maple looking leaves brought back childhood memories of making colourful leaf crowns.

The cool change also gives me a chance to wear something more exciting than dresses! This particular jumpsuit brings to mind the ones worn by Anna May Wong who was well known for her fabulous taste in wide legged jumpsuits. While I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about wearing jumpsuits for how flamboyant they look, or because they don't enjoy wearing trousers in general - 1930s style jumpsuits come pretty close to being very similar to a dress in terms of comfort and freedom of movement.

Jumpsuits are especially a great piece to have in your wardrobe for the cooler months for days when you want to wear a dress but can't stand the cold chill on your legs even with a a pair of stockings. I love the way that this jumpsuit gives the illusion of a floor length dress if I stand a certain way and I look forward to dressing it up for a more glamorous evening look later this week when I head out for a friends birthday celebrations.

Wearing:

Miss Candyfloss jumpsuit - via Modcloth

B.A.I.T - shoes

reverefolie - earrings c/o

Ebay - sunglasses

Girls in White Dresses

With how pristine and fresh this dress looks, it may be hard to believe that this dress is in fact nearly a century old and not a reproduction. Hand made in the early 1920s, beautifully embroidered and extremely well cared for by it's previous owner, this dress bears no sign of the decades that have passed since it's original owner wore it.

I am very picky about quality so it is not often that I find myself buying vintage, as I like my clothing to be in immaculate unworn condition with no sign of damage or wear. So for a piece nearly a century old it is most impressive how well it has survived the test of time and the fact that it is in a condition that makes it so wearable for many years to come.

This is not something that can be said for the majority of today's mass manufactured items made in Chinese sweat shops that fall to pieces after a couple of wears. Whoever made this dress was extremely skilled with needle work and took great care embroidering those colourful flowers and the rainbow detail on the neckline. The fabric is soft and airy, but certainly not fragile.

One can't help but wonder who this dress used to belong to, and where did she wear it? To lawn parties? Picnics? Possibly on long hot summer days, sitting in a mahogany lined library of a manor house reading novels, or going for strolls in the countryside at dusk to search for berries in roadside brambles.

Wearing: 

Vintage 1920s - dress

B.A.I.T - shoes

Jumping for Beach Pajamas

And that is exactly how high I would jump if somebody said to me - would you like some beach pajamas? However as we all know, those are very rare these days and so I am forever on a mission to find something similar to the beach pajamas worn in the twenties and thirties, therefore I was pretty delighted to come across this pair. Really though, something about this jumpsuit just made me want to run around and do cart wheels this morning! I guess that's just how excited I was to wear it! I can't do actual cartwheels though, so jumping jacks were the next best thing.

I also had some fantastic luck vintage shopping this weekend as some of you already know from my instagram posts, so I was in a particularly good mood! The week ahead is going to be busy and grey, with lots of rain on the forecast but it is meant to be a very good mail week so I am already looking forward to it. I also wanted to let you know that I have a new tumblr, dedicated solely to the 20s & 30s which I would love for you to check out so I can follow back!

Wearing:

Miss Candyfloss - jumpsuit

Novo - shoes

Myer - hat

Ebay - parasol & sunglasses 

Hell Bunny Lily Dress

This dress will look familiar to a lot of you as it is one I have already blogged before, however since I last blogged it I ended up having some alterations done to the hem to make it look more vintage. Originally this dress had a mullet hem so when I saw the alteration Lauren made to her dress I was inspired to follow her Flapper Hack tutorial and do the same with mine! Here you can see the original blog post with how the dress looked before it was altered, however I definitely prefer how it looks now as I find this length to be more flattering without my knees exposed.

After having a quiet Easter and doing no Easter activities whatsoever (other than gorging myself on hot cross buns) this outfit was worn on a trip to the pub - an original 1920s pub which I will be posting about more on instagram later, and shopping for reduced Easter chocolate.

It's apparently autumn at the moment, everyone seems to have their fires going even though it's 30 degrees every day. People in Brisbane are clearly terrified of the possibility of it being even slightly not hellishly hot so they are doing their best to keep summer going all year long rather than enjoying the two weeks of cool weather we get each year - as my friend cleverly observed!

I too jumped the gun and wore this hat that I've been eager to wear for a while now, and since I spent most of the time in the air conditioned pub it didn't matter too much. You might have noticed that I am really loving Bait shoes at the moment - I have to admit I am obsessed. I am relieved to have finally found a brand that makes not only affordable, but very nice looking art deco shoes. In terms of sizing I seem to be the one of the few people who has not had any issue - I always go half a size up from my regular size and so far so good.

Wearing:

Hell Bunny - dress

Ebay - hat

Bait Footwear - shoes

à la russe

The early 1920s saw Western fashion start to experiment with Eastern elements. With a large Russian population now living in Paris following the Bolshevik Revolution, major couturiers such as Chanel sought inspiration from the costumers of the Russian ballet and elements of traditional Russian dress suddenly became a part of mainstream fashion. As a result of fabric shortages post war, embroidery became very popular as it was an affordable way of adorning dresses with an elegant design and enabled designers to use the simpler fabrics that were available. Embroidered dresses and blouses modeled off the traditional Russian peasant style were popular for their exotic appearance and nostalgic charm.

I love this style not only because of the association with my homeland, but because peasant dresses are the most comfortable dresses to wear, especially in this climate. While there are quite a number of authentic 1920s dresses available in this style, there are also some great reproductions too and with the cost of 1920s vintage as it is, not to mention how frail it is to actually wear...I would recommend going for a reproduction.

In an ideal world I would have loved to pack this dress on a visit home to Russia, to photograph it in the lupin field near our house, but sadly as it is I will not be going back this year so photos in the Australian outback had to do. Not quite the same, but how sweet is that cockatoo? I didn't even notice he was there until we finished taking photos - if you look carefully he is photobombing in the third last photo! We took these photos at my favorite hiking trail, the morbidly named Slaughter Falls. As you can imagine all sorts of urban legends surround this place about slayed picnicking couples and the rumor of a lady in white being seen, but not this afternoon, no, just me in this lovely embroidered white frock.

Wearing:

The Deco Haus - Dress

Bait Footwear - Shoes

reverefolie - Bebe Earrings courtesy of reverefolie

Peacock Flapper Coat

I bought this fabulous robe, or flapper coat - whichever you'd like to call it - in the middle of summer and so it has been a painful wait to finally be able to wear it. Apparently it's autumn now, and indeed it has cooled down very slightly so that I can finally take this gorgeous, most luxurious and fun to wear garment out of the closet. A cross between lounge wear and evening wear, I honestly don't care how flamboyant I look wearing this coat, therefore making the peacocks most appropriate! I wore this fabulous coat to the cinemas last week to see Hail Caesar and it kept me nice and snug in the chilly theater. It is fairly safe to say that I am obsessed with these coats and there will be a few of them making appearances on the blog throughout autumn and winter.

Something that I really love about the fashion of the 1920s is that accessorizing is so encouraged. I have never worn earrings on the blog before my last post because I have never actually had my ears pierced. I am terrified of anything sharp and painful so piercings have never been my thing, meaning my whole life I have missed out on wearing earrings. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I was contacted by reverefolie who have a fantastic range of handmade jewelry that offers customers the option to choose clip on earrings! reverfolie have a beautiful range of pieces inspired by jewelry from the 1900s to the 1950s with many fantastic art deco inspired designs. I love the instant glam that a pair of statement earrings like these add to an outfit and I get complimented non stop when I wear mine out.

Wearing:

Trashy Diva dress

thrifted flapper coat

David Lawrence heels

Miss Harlow Darling earrings & ring c/o reverefolie
Modcloth hair pin