"i've always depended on the kindness of strangers..."

^^Ms. DuBois' famous line ... all will become clear as you read on !!

Hello hello! I hope your Memorial Day Weekends have been fine.

If you've been following me for a while, perhaps you remember this "songstress style" post, in which I obsessed over waxed poetic about the phenomenal style of one Mrs. Tracee Mae Miller, member of the amazing band Blanche!

Well, through that post I was able to connect with the sweet, generous and just plain lovely Corina Rose who sent me a box of Tracee Mae's clothes!! It seems she once was able to get to a garage sale at the Miller's home in Detroit, where she snapped up a bunch of Tracee Mae's garments. She's now passed a few on to me, and I couldn't be more thrilled! THANK YOU Miss Coco, I'm gonna wear these dresses 'til they're in rags, I love them so. I'm sending her a little thank you card and a couple of treats this week that I hope she'll enjoy!  ♥♥♥

A sneak peak at the goods:

Corina Rose has a dandy blog of her own that, if your tastes run similar to mine, you'll be sure to enjoy. This gal has an amazing eye for style and aesthetic stuff, superb musical tastes, and she bears an awfully close resemblance to the 1959 Barbie doll! In short, she and her blog are fabulous so go forth and check it out if you haven't already.

I miraculously have this belt that matches this darling 1980s-does-1940s frock perfectly, haha! Clearly we were meant to be ;-)

The Young Rider's Picture Book, 1936

...or, "Behold the Sartorial Splendor of the 1930s British Horsey Set"

I have had this book collecting dust on my shelves for a loooong time (I think I got it in Elementary School, when I was truly obsessed with horses). I've fallen in love with it recently as a source of style inspiration, surprisingly! Those monied Brits of the '30s really knew how to do riding apparel-- I'm in a swoon over those crazy breeches, bowler hats, tweed jackets, and cloches! 

(Sorry they're pictures-of-pictures, I don't have a scanner)

How I love these mothers-- no darn outing with kids and ponies is keeping them from dressing to the nines! 

Have a dandy weekend ♥

lilac time

It's Lilac Season, arguably the most splendid time to be in Vermont. 

There are many lilac trees on our property, and all up and down our road. When they all open up, the air is actually perfumed of lilac! The view is quite something, as well.

  

In celebration of this event, I chose to wear my little 1920s gingham day dress, which has a most appropriate color scheme. It's in marvelous shape for its age, and I just adore it. It's usually the humble cotton day dresses that tug the most at my heartstrings; evening wear is fine and dandy, but give me a sturdy little house dress any day. They seem to have the most stories to tell; can't you just picture this one on some curly-headed little gal in her 1923 class portrait or something?

Of course I brought some inside...

the vermont state fair, 1939

What vintage lovin' gal or guy hasn't daydreamed about the bygone days of the carnival? Now that I'm working my way through Season 2 of Carnivale, I'm especially inspired by the traveling midways, circuses and county fairs of the early 20th century.

These pictures are especially interesting to me, as they were taken in Rutland, Vermont, just an hour North of me. I've driven past the State Fairgrounds there a million times; it's so fascinating to see such a familiar site in these 1939 shots from the Library of Congress' archives. Pretty neat, eh?

To explore the LOC archives (caveat: may distract you for several hours; do not click if you have work to be done!) click on any image to visit their Flickr site.

PS: If you are ever up Burlington, VT way, make sure you pay a visit to The Shelburne Museum. They have an entire barn dedicated to vintage circus Americana that you have to see to believe! (And they even give out scent strips of eau de popcorn, sawdust, lemonade, and cotton candy for the complete experience. Magic!). Actually, the whole museum is the most incredible place ever, check out the website to see what I mean. 

rainy day

(1940s jacket; early 1960s dress; 1960s hat; TUK shoes)

Creative title, eh? Well, this gray wet weather has been dampening any shred of imagination I have, haha.

Even though I haven't been feeling very inspired by mid-century styles lately, when I thrifted this late 1940s suit jacket, I was excited to slip back into a New Look silhouette for a while! I'm thinking I'd like to replace those rhinestone buttons as soon as I can though, they're a bit tawdry looking in this context.

One cannot wear a veil and cateye liner without striking at least one cheesy Dovima pose... ;-)

Finally, I leave you with one of my favorite songs about rain... Annette Hanshaw's 1929 recording of "Singing In The Rain".... it has steel guitar and ukelele and it's just so wonderful:



Have a merry weekend!

all summer in a day

(1950s girls' hat; 1940s bolero, J. Crew blouse; 1950s pink gingham shorts; Restricted wedges)

Here is a very casual look (for me, anyway!) I donned to go about my day on Friday. I wore my amazing little gingham seersucker pin-up girl shorts I found at the antique store last spring, and I nicked this cute bolero from its matching dress (you'll see them together quite soon-- it's the cutest set!). It was beautifully sunny and warm last week, and a nice taste of summer. Unfortunately, we are now being shrouded in cold rain, such a shame! 

This is my room at my dad's house; it's a bit of a clutter of antiques, with my most delicate dresses and hats hanging up everywhere, but that's just the way I like it. I'm very lucky to have two lovely beds, though my canopy is my favorite for sentimental reasons. Also, it's perfect for hanging up Edwardian and Victorian chemises; forget dream catchers, I prefer to fall asleep surrounded by antique textiles!

A little Hank Williams on spin; some thing never change...

I hope you all had a nice weekend. It was very rainy here, but I stayed in to catch up on my sewing pile and have a '30s screwball comedy marathon-- quite good fun!

will you miss me when i'm gone?

No, I'm not going anywhere; I'm just listening to one of my favorite Carter Family songs on this fine Friday afternoon: 

I also read their biography of the same name recently; it has me thinking a lot about small mountain towns, the early days of radio, and, of course, charming little Depression-era frocks.

 I featured this late 20s or early 30s chiffon dress once before, back in the fall, but it's a special dress so here it is agin. Truthfully it's in awful condition, but fortunately it's so light weight that I can wear it over a slip if I'm careful. The story behind it is that I found it in the attic of the old, run down house my mother had just moved into! So it was free and it has a wonderful provenance, as the home had been in the same family from when it was built in the 1830s 'til when my mom bought it last summer! (The family matriarch, who probably owned this dress, had died, hence why the house was finally sold).

 Dog time!! I missed her sooo much when I was away at school!

This won't be half as exciting to you as it is to me, but they just turned out four adorable gamboling heifers into the pasture across the street from us, aww!

PS: As you may have noticed, Blogger sort of broke down yesterday; unfortunately about half of your lovely comments disappeared! Luckily I had a chance to read most of them, so thanks very much! And to whoever asked, my lipstick was (and is here) Revlon's "In The Red" from their Matte collection.


Have a great weekend!

springtime merriment... and some changes!

Well, hello!

I'm writing this from home now. My classes are over for the summer, and I have three and a half months of dreamy bliss yawning ahead of me!

(Watch, come July I'm going to be bored out of my mind and pining for fall... haha!)

I got this peach '30s number in November, and it's been hanging on my wall, taunting me all winter. Now, at long last, the weather is fine enough to wear it out! 

Oh, notice something different?

1. I gave the blog a li'l makeover. Tell me, how do you like it? Is the rabbit background too schmaltzy? Be honest, now ; )

2. My hair's short-- I got the chop! Nothing too drastic, mind you; indeed, the way I've been carrying on at home, you'd think I got an Eton crop. I would still consider my hair on the long side, but it's much lighter and holds curls longer now. I haven't had hair this short for years, it's so liberating!

summer daydreams

Hi all! Still busy with exams, studying, etc. (I get my freedom on Tuesday!)

In the mean time, here are some images of 1920s hairstyles I'd like to copy and dreamy places I'd like to be in (just a bit random, yes!). It's been such a long winter, I can hardly believe that the hazy, verdant days of summer are just around the corner... but they are.

Then this picture is not inspiring in any way, but it makes me ridiculously happy:

♥ See you soon! ♥