Dressing Myself ... in vintage and clashing patterns

Hey you. 

Some days, when I think ahead to where I'd like to take my blogging and writing, I ponder over sharpening-up my content; focusing on real, messy, life stuff [such as sharing how strange it was when one of my tweets went viral last week in the aftermath of something awful]; chatting about hot topics and events. And then ... 

... on other days, like today, I just want to shut off and blog something frivolous; something non-taxing; something easy. 

After having voted in the EU Referendum before I'd even had my breakfast, I'm avoiding the real world for the rest of the day. I'm packing up craft kits, working on my book, and avoiding the TV until later tonight when I'll settle in to watch the last ever episode of The Good Wife. 

If you fancy joining me in forgetting the outside world for 5 minutes come here ... and let me show you the vintage skirt I found ... 

The vintage piece:

• I found this beige and brown, slightly stretchy, tropical leaf print tapered midi-skirt in the 'vintage room' of a nearby charity shop.

If you're local then head to Age Concern in Guisborough if you're on a true 'vintage' hunt. Their back room is an absolute retro treasure trove where I've found many great buys. The latest being a dress, shirt and skirt just yesterday! I will have to show you the dress. It's ... I can hardly ... I'm in love. Actually ... I shouldn't have told you to go there should I? Leave something for my next trip ...

• This particular shop often has a sale rail featuring its vintage items and this skirt [like several other items I've bagged] came from that rail. 
• And it set me back the princely sum of ... £1.99.

Yes, I did type that correctly. No I didn't miss out a digit after the 1. It was one pound, ninety nine pence. And for that kind of price you can afford to take a chance on an item you might not otherwise have thought of wearing. 

Saying that, I think I only wore it once before putting this outfit together, so I wanted to rectify that. I thought that if I could find a fairly relaxed way to style it I might get more wear from it. And, seeing as how for the last 7 years my Twitter bio has stated: "I write. I cut up paper. I drink tea. I wear patterns. I try to be funny." ... I thought I'd live up to at least one element of that ...

The outfit I built around it:

• So I leapt right into the patterns and combined the leaf print skirt with a denim shirt featuring an all-over small heart design. [The shirt is H&M from a few years ago and is so versatile.]
• I accessorised with a chunky necklace [a gift], opaque stone tights [Primark] and woven leather lace ups [Office]. 
• Hopefully the end result is interesting ... without feeling too much like I'm a historical re-enactor. I like to use vintage pieces without ditching to many modern aesthetics.
• Then I stood in my back garden, hoping my neighbour wasn't watching through the fence, and posed awkwardly while James took photos.

If you want more awkward posing, here's a previous outfit built around a vintage piece; this time I'm wearing a jumper on my driveway. [Now if that's not a teaser I don't know what is.] 

So how was that for you? A diverting interlude from the real world? I hope so.

Shall we do it again sometime? It's a deal.

Feel free to share your charity shop tales, triumphs and tips in the comments or catch me on social media. 

[I still haven't made an Instagram button for my sidebar - but you can leap to me over there from here.]

Later.

Julie x

Dressing myself ... in autumnal vintage [and bargains]

If family folklore is to be believed I've been dressing myself since I was tiny; from around 18 months, or so the story goes. And I reckon that, even before then, I was laying there planning outfits in my head, just waiting for the day my thumbs could tackle buttons and zips unaided and my nappy wouldn't spoil the line of my trousers ...

I'm telling you this to explain why I have the urge to share some outfits here occasionally. I've done it several times in the past but not for a long long time and I miss it.

So I'm planning from time to time to share some of the vintage/second-hand items I pick up on my travels [it's not just old paper I sniff out in charity shops] with the emphasis on how it's easy to introduce 'vintage' pieces into a regular wardrobe; proving that you don't have to look like you joined a historical re-enactment society to enjoy wearing retro clothes!
[I've just realised I should never have used the words 'sniff' and 'charity shops' in the same sentence. I can only apologise.]

And so ... here's an outfit I wore to have breakfast in town [in the Olde Young Teahouse] on the last Saturday in October.

[Note: If I look a bit awkward ... it's because I felt it! The photos were taken on our driveway and I was paranoid that the neighbours would see.] But anyway, the outfit...

The vintage piece:

• I picked up this autumnal coloured knitted tunic from the Oxfam stall at The Festival of Thrift, Darlington, this September.
• There's no tag in it so I can't gauge the age accurately, but it feels like something from the 80s to me. [Certainly the static it creates is reminiscent of the clothes I wore growing up whose sparks could light up a dark room.]
• When I first spotted it, I didn't know exactly what I'd match it with once I got it home ... but at just £2.00 it was worth taking a chance and leaving it open to experimentation!

The outfit I built around it: 

• I like the slightly preppy look of having shirt collars poking out from under a jumper/cardigan so I started off with a white shirt.
• I also like a bold/shiny focal point when I'm wearing a collar so I picked out a necklace I thought went well with the geometric shapes in the knitted design.
• Everything else fell into place after that ...

•  My latest favourite Gap skinny jeans [I only ever buy Gap jeans]: approx £20.00 from their outlet store. [I can't remember the exact price, but it won't have been a lot.  I only ever buy them from outlet stores.] 
• Faux leather/pleather/plastic-yet-pretty-convincing jacket: £19.99 from TKMaxx.
• Leibeskind leather boots £20.00 TKMaxx clearance shelf. [For the record, everything was paid for by me. No blogger promo freebies here!].

And that's it: a nice mix of comfy, warm and practical ... with the vintage element adding a little bit more of a story and the clearance/outlet prices taking less from my bank account!


"Does it look weird?" I asked James after I'd finished putting this outfit together.
"You've always dressed weird." He replied, comfortingly??

 

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Before I go ... I always like to try to make my posts useful to you ... even if it's only to make you laugh [because that's useful!]. But right now I'm not sure I've worked out if this post is or not/

If you've been laughing at my awkwardness or the bulging beneath my tunic - [why didn't I tuck my shirt in? And why didn't my photographer point it out? Although, on second thoughts ... he knows better to tell me I'm looking lumpy...] then I'll take that!

If you found any other redeeming features in the post ... let me know in the comments. I'm probably going to do more posts like this ... so we both might as well get used to it.

Julie x