Thoroughly Modern Vintage: The Southwest Weekender

Jury Duty wiped me out. I'm not all here. I am very glad I wrote this post before. Good night.

Okay, so y'know how we all have our fashion guilty pleasures? Like some people who really actually like UGGs, or those saddle bag pants, or hippie wear, or grunge? Well I have them too. I mean I was a kid in the 90's who desperatly wanted to wear grunge clothes, and plaid shirts will always make me happy, and in jr. high and high school, I really wanted to time travel to Woodstock wearing crazy hippie clothes (and I still want to time travel to Woodstock wearing crazy hippie clothes), but my most recent fashion guilty pleasure is 50's style weastern wear. I know. Forgive me.

Like TexMex food, 50's weatern wear was not exactly accurate. My favourite scene in the last Back to the Future is the one where Marty shows up in the old west wearing 50's cowboy clothes. With all the ever practical fringe, pastels, satin (I wrote satan at first! haha!), and the Atom symbol, cracks me up everytime! But I really do like the weastern wear that was so popular then. I attribute this to my life long dream of owning a horse named Athena, and solving a crime on a dude ranch. Whatever the reason is, 50's style western wear is actually quite easy to pull off with modern clothing. This is my interpretation of it.

I cheated a little again (oops!) with this top, which is a late 70's top, but red gingham blouses are fairly easy to find. Even if you can't find one in a chain store, check out your local Goodwill or Salvation Army for modern gingham blouses. They literally are a dime a dozen. This was actually one of the first items I bought after I finally abandoned my jeans and hoodies and it came from Goodwill. I love the gathering at the yoke! I also love the versatility with this blouse. When I first bought it I paired it with white Keds, jean high waisted shorts, and some red lips for a more 40's look, but it looks equally cute with black capri leggings, a black belt, and flats.

For this more fifties casual look I paired it with a demin pencil skirt. This skirt came from a rummage sale and cost me maybe 50 cents. In it's former life it hit my ankles and made me look like a home-school mom (I was home-schooled and my mom was a home-school mom, so I can say that). I cut off a good foot or so and hemmed it and voila! easy-peasy pencil skirt. It's also totally modern. If you aren't into the pencil skirt you could also pair the top with cuffed or capri length jeans. If you're not into denim, maybe think about trying a brown leather skirt. And remember the more fringe the better! haha!

Because I was home all weekend and wanted to keep this casual, I went with my red mock Keds, which I bought at Target in January. I'm normally not a tennis shoe girl, but I love these! They're comfy and cute and have a definite vintage appeal. However, flats, sandals, or some cute cowboy boots would be just as great (my search for vintage cowboy boots is ever on going).

As for accessories I kept it simple for being at home. Just these button earrings my sister bought me from TopShop when she went to London, and these hair clips, which I am 90% sure came from Forever 21. If I'd been going out I would have braided my hair and worn a straw hat. Of course I didn't have a bag picked out to match seeing as I was home, but a vintage hand-tooled bag, or simply a brown leather purse would look great!

The key with all these looks is to go as literal as you want. In 1950 someone might have worn this same kind of outfit with a black circle skirt with some sort of western insignia on it, but personally I like the pencil skirt better. Last week's was my take on the early 60's little black dress, but a woman in the 60's probably would have worn a pair of black skinny heeled pumps, and maybe pearls. For those of you just getting into vintage fashion, it's going to take a little while before you find "your" style. My goal with this series is to inspire you to think outside the box and personalize the things you wear. So if any of you have a better, or different idea on how to wear this, let me see it! I love seeing the way other people put things together based off of one inspiration! The point is, wear what you want, the way you want, and you'll suddenly find yourself so incredibly happy with your clothing.

Also if anyone would like to see a specific look next week, let me know. I had one planned, but I'm afraid it is not going to work out (thank you shipping confusion). So if there's a specific kind of outfit you'd like to see vintage-ified, let me know! Oh and sorry for the long post again! I swear I try to keep these things short!