Vintage Up-Do

I had planned an entirely different post for today, but the heat has gotten to me and I am currently laying in room debating whether I want to go out in the heat to get Frozen Yogurt or just die on my floor. Have I mentioned that I am a tab dramatic about being hot? Anyways, so here is a tutorial for the hairstyle I wore here, which is just perfect for these hot days! The hair comb in the video is one I made by hot gluing a strip of felt to the comb, and then hot gluing fake flowers onto that! Super easy and cute! Let me know if you try it!


Excuse the off voice, I'm not sure how to fix this on Youtube.

Black & White & Pink All Over

Barrette (I hate that word for obvious reasons)- H&M

Earrings- F21

Coat- Vintage London Fog

Diana the Huntress Brooch- Vintage

Cardigan- Target

Blouse- Thrifted

Skirt- Made by me

Shoes- Off Saks Fifth Avenue

I'm not very wordy today. This might not be the most amazing outfit I've ever posted, but I quite liked it. Very simple and work appropriate.  The park I photographed this in is a place I've been wanting to go for some time now. It's a very lovely park that is unfortunately bordering a pretty dodgy part of town. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the best tacos in town are also located in this area, which I have been craving forever.  I'll have to do a post on this place sometime, it's super cute!

Riverside has a few sister cities in various Asian countries. One of which is Sendai, which of course, was one of the towns in Japan that was hit the worst by the Tsunami and Earthquake. When this park was redone a few years ago they put in a Japanese garden in honour of Sendai. After the Tsunami the city set up a relief fund that goes directly to the city of Sendai. For all the crap I give Riverside, I thought that was pretty cool.

I'm still not sure about this lipstick....

Monday Inspiration # 43: Francoise Hardy

Back when I first began to actively wear vintage full time, I looked to the 1960's as "my" decade. It wasn't too far from my perpetual  high school obsession with the 70's, yet it was a little more grown up and elegant. Also my hair was made for the 60's. I fluctuated between the late 50's/early 60's Gidget- esqu look, and the super cool To Sir, With Love -ish mod vibe (my reality is entirely dependent on the films I have watched). I remember as a kid watching The Avengers, and James Bond and loving that mid 60's mix of London coo, and Paris chic. And while my heart will always belong to London, it's that Perisian effortlessness that I crave in fashion. To me the epitome of that will ways be the one and only Francoise Hardy. Her killer sense of style, envy indicing head of hair, that brilliant smile, and not to mention her incredible voice, the girl's got it all. If anyone ever knew how to evoke "cool," it was Francoise Hardy.

Flapper Girl

I have always had a deep love of all things 1920's, which is rather unfortunate considering that 20's style clothes look utterly terrible on me. But I love how over-the-top 20's clothes are without being vulgar. There is decadence in every detail, and yet everything is so sweet and simple looking. Which of these are your favourites?

 This and the following one are my favourites!

I'm posting nothing but 20's sewing patterns on my tumblr today. Check it out!

Night and Day

Today was, in a word, poop-tacular. My car over heated when I went out to dinner, My errands took forever to run, Grace is lucky I haven't ripped out her vocal chords, and I am currently waiting for my dad to get home so we can go see if there is any hope for my darn car. I nearly used expletives I hate. Grrrr.... Not even the at-least-I-looked-good-doing-it comfort has worked. So I'm listening to Ella Fitzgerald and googling how to get exploded motor oil out of your fancy vintage dress... I hope your Thursday is working out better than mine!

Edit: my dad just got home and has told me that based on what my car was doing I have blown the engine. grr. hiss. sigh....

Day:

Scarf- Vintage, thrifted

Earrings- Vintage, church rummage sale

Blouse- Thrifted

Cardigan- Vintage, thrifted

Brooch- Vintage, etsy

Jeans- Lane Bryant

Saddle Shoes- Payless 

Night:

Hat- borrowed from my mom

Earrings and matching Brooch- Vintage, Pilgrim Place 09

CAPE!-H&M

Necklace- Vintage, Pilgrim Place 10

Dress- Vintage, January Pasadena flea ($15!)

Gloves- Target

Stockings- sock dreams

Shoes- Thrifted 

Think Pink, I Think.

Dress: 50's/60's vintage, pasadena flea market
Slip: 50's vintage, wasteland in LA
Tights: We love colors (they're supposed to be red...)
Shoes: Off Saks
Earrings- F21
Bracelet- Vintage, thrifted
Hairbow- No idea
Lipstick- Sephora "maniac"

So as far as outfit photos go, these were kind of a fail. They are from last week and nothing seemed to go right. It was late in the day and I couldn't get the lighting right at all (thus the various locations), and then there were these tights. Sigh. In real life they are bright Fushia. Ask anyone, and they are fushia. But magically when photographed, the come out the colour they were supposed to be when I bought them, which is red... So the bright pink lipstick, and the pink hair tie look kind of funny, but I assure you that in person they matched. Grr..





This is one of the dresses I bought last Sunday at the flea market and I think it's probably my favourite one. I don't know why, because it is so very simple, but I seriously love it to bits! It's a crepe-like rayon, cozy, and can be dressed up or down... What's not to love. Especially when it only sets you back ten clams! I don't usually go for these more late fifties/early sixties looks, but this was fun. This was actually the second time I wore it last week. It is definitely a keeper!



I also bought real, good quality shoes. I'm tired of my shoes dying after a few months of wear. These were on sale at Off Saks for $50. They were regularly $199. When I get my next paycheck I'm going back to get a pair in blue and red. They are like wearing clouds, and! they have leather soles! Leather soles make my heart go pitter patter. So lat night I began the somewhat traumatizing task of going through my closet. It was time for my quarterly clean-out anyways (I'm so not joking about that either...), and considering that a) I couldn't see the floor of my closet because of the mountain of shoes and b) I had to dig just to find a pair, so I've pretty much been wearing the same three pairs that I could find for the last month or so, it has come at a good time. I've decided to grow up a bit in my shoe buying. Those basics that I wear again and again are getting replaced by good quality ones that won't break after a few weeks of wear. And of course I can have some "fun" shoes in there, but ones that get a lot of wear need to be better quality. I am just too hard on my shoes!



I should also mention that this lipstick is something the girl at Sephora talked me into. I wasn't sure it would look okay with my hair colour (it was the last one, so I couldn't try it on), because, hello, it is bright freaking pink if you haven't noticed. I hemmed and hawed, and said okay, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. The girl kept telling me it would look great since I already wear such bold colours (I was wearing red, which I have actually never thought of as a bold colour of lipstick), but I'm not sure this "bold" is what I'm going for... I may look more like a cheap hooker than a girl wearing an eccentric lipstick colour....

I Will Live My Life As A Lobster-Man's Wife

Many a time I have tried to express my absolutely weird dream of living in a lighthouse as a lighthouse keep's wife. I know. But it makes total sense when you realize that I spent my entire childhood visiting the lighthouses along the west coast. We always ended up going on vacations over my birthday and because all trips had to educational, lighthouses were the Historical Point Of Interest of choice. On my 10th birthday we spent the day at Yaquina Bay  and it remains my favourite to this day (and is only and hour from my soon-to-be school!!). We even fondly refer to it as Ashley's lighthouse. It was my favourite of all the ones we visited mostly because it had the best ghost story. (I still have dreams about tiny blood drops on those wooden stairs! lol!)







Things you need to know about 10 year old Ashley are thus: I was precocious, I had an imagination that could give Willy Wonka a run for his money (and really hate that movie by the way), was far too romantic for my own good, and spent far too much time reading Nancy Drew, and watching The Eyes of The Amaryllis, and The Secret of Roan Inish. Basically, I have never changed. But I was always fascinated with the idea of sea life. Boats amaze me, and the best nights sleep I ever had was on an overnight ferry from Wales to Ireland. I was one of the two people who did not get sick on that ride. Truth be told I feel so much more at home on a boat than on land.







I think this fascination is why Californian beaches bother me. There's nothing darkly romantic or mysterious about them. I like ships, and sailors, and rainy, stormy nights. I could not get enough of the ghost stories (I do not believe in ghosts btw), or the loves lost in the fog. I wanted nothing more than to live in one of these beautiful old buildings making clam chowder, singing old sea shanties while wearing billowing long skirts that would get caught in the wind. This, dear friends, is my life long dream.







So yesterday we took a little trip down to San Diego. We decided to go down to the Point Loma tide pools, see the Cabrillo National Monument, and the lighthouse. And as luck would have it, a glorious, raging storm was coming in. The whole day was grey and gloomy and at times freezing cold (the wind chill was brutal!), and I could not have been happier! We climbed on rocks, wades through the ocean, stowed away seashells (which is totally illegal!), breathed in the salty air, ate fish and clam chowder, nearly got pushed over by the wind, and ended the day by getting coffee at SeaPort Village where the rain began to pour down as me and my, probably insane, family walked about without a care in the world. It was perfection. We drove home in pouring rain which continued all night long. Today is another gloomy day, and if the weather report is right, it shall be until Wednesday.








So far, I'm digging Spring.










Knit Cap & Belt- Target
Cardigan- Thrifted
Dress- Vintage, etsy
Tights- ?
Shoes- Payless



As always there are a ton more here.

And as a bonus this: