Zodiac Cuff Bracelets

Aren't these cute? I came across these on the Printer & Piemaker blog. These are definitely something that you could probably make yourself and fall into the "Why didn't I think of that?!" category! The ones shown are Taurus and Libra. Click on the photos to go to the product pages.

Rigby & Peller Retro Lingerie

Inspired by pieces from their archives, Rigby & Peller have come out with this gorgeous lingerie set! While a little on the pricey side, they would no doubt be perfect for Valentine's Day! Found via Retro To Go. Click on the photos to go to the Rigby & Peller site.

Designer Spotlight: Lena Hoschek Fall 2010

Have you ever heard of Austrian fashion designer Lena Hoschek? Yeah me either until I came across a sampling of her Spring 2010 show via Dotti's Dots.

Apparently Ms. Hoschek's work is favored by Katy Perry and is naturally very inspired by the silhouettes of the 40's and 50's. She began her fashion career by being an assistant to Vivienne Westwood in London and then she started her own label in 2006 at the young age of 24.

Here are some of my favorite creations from her latest show which was the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 line, shown in Berlin. I think you can see why I've become an instant fan of this designer!

Ms. Hoschek also has her own website which you can check out here.

Question of the day, why hasn't Dita been seen wearing any of this yet? Her and Katy are supposedly good friends.

Photos courtesy of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.





Also here is a video from the Fall 2010 show. Love all of the backstage scenes and the music choice which is perfect!

Blog Highlight: FIDM Museum and Galleries Blog

For those of you who are hard core into the history of fashion like me, I wanted to make sure that you knew about a blog that will not only educate but provide you will some seriously drool worthy close up shots of historical pieces of clothing.

Just to give you an idea of how much of a nut I am when it comes to historical fashion, my last spring semester in college I took a course that was about nothing but that very subject matter. For the final project we had to compile a lookbook of the various eras of fashion with current fashion that was pulling influence from the periods, i.e. a current collection that would have ancient Egyptian influences or influences from the Regency Period. Anywho, because it was such a crazy semester and I'm a very forgetful person, I completely left out one whole section of this 6 section lookbook and I still got an A for the class.

So yeah, I'm kind of obsessed when it comes to vintage or historical fashion. I wanna get in there and look at the seams, the buttons, the weave of the fabric. I'm not satisfied with looking at just the overall silhouette or color. So for those of you who share my sickness, the FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) Museum blog is one you definitely need on your blog roll! This is just one example of the many wonderful specimens that they have for you to ogle at your heart's content!

Art Deco Inspired Jewelry via Forever 21

I was introduced to these first two pieces via BonBon Rose, but as I explored the almost 1400 pieces of jewelry they have at Forever 21, I noticed that they have even more Art Deco inspired pieces!
Say what you will about Forever 21's quality or the fact that they mostly market themselves as somewhat of a teeny bopper store, but the fact that they are offering quite believable imitations of Art Deco pieces at these prices is pretty astounding.

Someone on their product development or buying team knows that at least a small portion of their clientele knows vintage or antique inspired pieces when they see them, and they're willing to offer pieces to tap into that market. I congratulate them for being one of the few stores to pull their heads out of their collective marketing ass! Click on the photos to go the product pages.

You can bet your hiney where I'm gonna be after yoga today!

Lovely Dresses via Modcloth

Well for anyone who is a regular within the vintage fashion blogosphere, Modcloth is by now, no mystery. While perusing Tales of a Retro Modern Housewife today, this lovely dress was brought to my attention. Also upon further inspection of Modcloth, it's offered in black and there are a few other lovely dresses available right now as well. And we all love a good wasp waist dress now don't we?! More modern shirt dresses are needed pronto!

So for those of you who have a craving for something new, but just can't seem to find anything you like in the vintage department, never fear! Modcloth has an abundant array of dresses that could easily pass for true vintage, they even have some that have a 30's feel to them!

Click on the images to go to the product description pages.

New Spring Items: Boden

I got the new Boden Spring catalog in the mail today. Such a welcoming sight on such a dreary day. I'm all for cold weather but in Texas if we have more than 5 days straight of clouds/rain or temps below 40 as the high or both simultaneously, people start to get a little stir crazy and I think that's what going on with a lot of folks right now.

The little white dots on this dress are actually covered buttons. Such cute detailing!

Anywho, Boden has once again offered up a good selection of retro/vintage inspired pieces and these are some of my favorites. I didn't get any from the last sampling that I posted about but when these go on sale, I just might have to get a couple. Click on the pics to go the web pages.

Kiss Me Deadly Lingerie Giveaway!!

Isn't this set lovely!! The lovely Fleur over at Diary of a Vintage Girl has gotten together with Kiss Me Deadly to offer these gorgeous pieces in a giveaway!! Be sure to post this on your blog and Twitter for extra entries!! Click on the photo to go to the giveaway post!

Molla Mills: Le sigh!

Why aren't there more outfit posts from Molla Mills? Have any of you ever seen her before? She's gorgeous! You've got some fierce competition Dita! On another note, I want her skirt and I need to recreate this first outfit. I will now be hunting Ebay and Etsy for a mustard floral circle skirt until I'm dead, I have no doubt.

Molla also has her own website where she sells crafty things of her own making as well as a portfolio of some modeling shoots. No extra "outfit shots" though. Sources have been linked to photos.

The Christmas Outfit

As promised, here are some more photos of the Zoe Rios snakeskins as well as what I wore them with on Christmas Day.

I bought this skirt awhile back from Etsy and as it's somewhat of an off color, what I would call Cadet blue, kind of blue, kind of grey and I was having a hard time finding a shoe that would go well with it. Natural snakeskin goes with pretty much everything so they seemed to be a natural pair. It's definitely from the 50's and from a department store in England.

The "embroidery", though not very much like embroidery, more like a strange cotton cording applique, is an off white, almost yellow, either from age or being in a heavy smokers home, or both. So the only top that I could think of was a cream colored cashmere twinset that I had ordered from Barrie Pace some time back.

All together, I think it was a pretty nice outfit. Sorry I don't have any actual modeling pictures of myself, but you get the general idea.

The inspiration for the shoes was a modern day pair of snakeskin sandals that I had seen but also, I wanted to get as close the post WW2 period as I could in regards to the style. The period when strappy sandals and more feminine silhouettes were coming into fashion while still maintaining the somewhat thick heel that was used throughout the 40's. I think Zoe did a wonderful job!!

New Year ~ New Things!

Hello everyone!

So sorry for the long absence. The holidays were somewhat of a whirlwind for me as I'm sure they were for you too! But I'm back and will have new goodies for you to peruse and here is a sneak peak of one of them.

My snakeskin ankle straps from bespoke shoemaker Zoe Rios were finished right before Christmas and I was able to wear them to my grandparents for Christmas Day! I'll have better pictures later this coming week but here is the promo picture from Zoe's website.

If you're interested in looking at Zoe's website and her wonderful portfolio, you can find it here.

She really is wonderfully talented and I'm so lucky to be living so close to her so that I can have beautifully handcrafted shoes made just for me!

So glad to be back in the blogging world and excited to see and comment on everyone's new posts!!!