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