vintage

Belated July 4th

Hats off to America! And where better to celebrate its birthday than the nation’s oldest city? Spoiler alert, though– if you want to watch the fireworks in St. Augustine from the Villano Bridge, they don’t actually start until it’s dark! Either way, we had a wonderful time together waiting for the fireworks, with undoubtedly the best spots on the bridge (3 hours early will do it for you). We even got a little appetizer to the display when a ratchet family decided it would be prudent and wise to burn firecrackers beside us. The picture looks more magical than it was. Afterwards we came back and celebrated the Georgia way with some good ol’ peach shortcake. As a brief aside- if your peach does not have fuzz on it, it is not a real peach. Full stop. You are eating a second-rate, castoff plum mutation (steps off soapbox).

How did you celebrate your Fourth?

Outfit Details:
Hat: Vintage
Dress: French Connection
Belt: Gap
Shoes: Bally
Purse: Kate Spade

Do you Believe in Magic?

Greetings from Harry Potter World! In anticipation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I’ve incorporated a bit of a 1920’s flare. The costumes in the trailer are perfection, don’t you think?

This picture isn’t mine.

After a few roller coasters, I took the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade over to Diagon Alley for lunch. Shortly following was a delicious steak pie and too much butterbeer! For those cream soda lovers out there- butterbeer is heaven.

Pro-tip: If you know you are going to spend a certain amount of money in the park, you can go to the Gringott’s Money Exchange for real Gringott’s bank notes (or a money voucher you can use anytime in the park). If you use the note for less than it’s value, you get muggle change. But you have to watch out for this guy:

Outfit Details:
Shirt: Marni
Skirt: New Look
Kimono: Boutique Find
Shoes: Primark
Bag: Kate Spade
Glasses: Isaac Mizrahi

Roaring Prohibitions

Today in bar prep, I have been “furiously” reviewing Criminal Procedure. All the terminology stirs the imagination towards gangster movies. “Terry” frisks? Search and Seizures? Warrant based off an anonymous tip? You gotta be kiddin me… I got my rights!

You know the Hollywood schmaltz.

In the fervor of the period, here’s today’s selection from my very own rotating crap game. Don’t ask questions. After all, you know the score, kid.

Now scram (if you know what’s good for ya).

School Day Blues

School has been overwhelming lately, and it’s made me a bit nostalgic to write about something other than law. I’ve had this post on queue for a while — Jack and I actually shot it last year during our first Breakfast at Tiffany’s attempt (failed but fun nonetheless — here was the better result). And he’s been such a dear helping me learn LaTeX, I thought I’d come out of my nest to post it as a sort of thank you for all the work he’s done (and a reminder it shouldn’t go to waste). For the vibe, think sort of Carey Mulligan in An Education…

P.S. I don’t encourage smoking, and — Isn’t he just the cutest?

Une Pomme de ma Tête

Isn’t it funny the things that we become attached to? When I look through my room, I have so many things: books, hats, clothes—the list goes on and on. And yet, when you ask me to point out the things that I would take with me if I had to leave it all behind, it’s the funny, nearly valueless things that mean so much to me. Now I’m not saying I would leave me rings and jewelry PUH-lease. It’s just some of my favorite things are quite unexpected. Take for instance this picture:

I randomally picked it up one day in a cute shop in Oxford called Arcadia (really a haven for vintage papers of all kinds). I think I probably got it because it was the only old magazine reproduction that was under 10 pounds, and yet, it has brought me so many smiles. One of my friends even referred to it as the “naked girl” picture. But that little French adventurer is more than a sometimes naked girl to me. She’s sort of my spirit animal. Well, the other day I looked at it and found myself caught looking at the white outfit. I couldn’t think if I had any hat that would be anything like hers and more or less gave the idea up. Literally, less than 5 days later, I was browsing an antique warehouse and came upon the on I’m wearing in pictures for 5 dollars. It was fate! I hope you like my interpretation.

Outfit Details: Hat: Thrifted | Shirt: French Connection | Capris: J.M. Collection | Heels: Loft

Eccentric Glamour Link-Up: Carousel of Color

Hopelessly delayed, I bring you this month’s Eccentric Glamour link-up. In the back of my closet I found this cashmere light pink V-neck, and really went beserk pairing it up. In St. Augustine, there is a carousel at the intersection before you turn towards old town or take the bridge to Villano Beach. The carousel runs almost all day every day and is only a dollar per ride. I think it’s kind of a fixture of the city, and was happy I could pay homage to it with this rather carnival-esque outfit.

Due to the state of my wifi (and the relatively small feedback anyway), please share a link to your link up in the comments below- and I’ll try to get an in-linkz in the next day or so.

Ode to Katharine

I have never gone golfing. I feel like it is something I really need to do. One of my best friends golfed in college (and I’m waiting for her to take me out on the green *hint hint*) , but I have never been invited or had a chance to go golfing. Now I could say it was for the learning experience or my future networking endeavors, but I would be lying. The beginning and end of why I want to go golfing has everything to do with Katharine Hepburn and almost nothing to do with my physical prowess. No one does casual athletic elegance like Katharine Hepburn.

Honestly, I see myself jaunting around in a pair of breezy pants, oxfords, and leather kid gloves, making very witty comments with a knowing grin. Basically, I would probably be terribly obnoxious and think I was a lot smarter than I actually sound. But it would be all so terribly marvelous, and who knows… I could meet the next Howard Hughes.

Sunlight to Grow

“She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
“Winter is dead.”
―A. A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

I love straw hats on sunny days. Whether worn with overalls or pencil skirts, they always fit. Straw hats and lemonade. When I travel, I miss lemonade like we have here in the South, or really America in genera. But I think when it comes down to it, there’s something about the climate mixed with Southern lemonade that make it taste better here than when I drink it in Indiana. Sitting outside (or should I say being stifled) in clothes that can’t be cool or loose enough, gulping down lemonade. Isn’t it funny we always miss what we hate? Half the year I go on and on about how cold it is and how I wish I was back in Southern weather, but as soon as I’m here, I’m dying in the heat, gulping down lemonade. I never remember that discomfort. Later, in my mind when I think of home, I sip my lemonade outside, savoring it unconsciously through conversations. Is it that I never have what I want? Or is it there all along, winking in the sunlight?

Spice Up Your Life

After the repeated navys, khakis, and whites of nautical week (and it’s spill over), I thought I’d switch it up with something a bit more bold. Like yesterday’s romper outfit. This ensemble requires little work for the resulting polish. A strapless dress, espadrilles, and a big hat seem old hollywood in a way that will make you look like Grace Kelly even when you’ve just rolled out of bed. I’ll be doing a similar look later this week on the blog, so for now, I’ll just leave it at that. Make sure to turn in tomorrow (ok really almost today… later) for this Wednesday’s woman!

Outfit Details: Hat: vintage | Dress: Anthropologie | Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters | Shoes: Coach | Wallet: Fossil

Getting Jazzed for the Tonys

Get excited theatre lovers! Today is none other than the Tony Awards!! To celebrate the occasion, I had to don something sufficiently zany, but (if I do say so myself) wholeheartedly FABULOUS. Can’t you just see Gloria Swanson walking down a boardwalk adorned as such, tipping her sunglasses and crooking those ominous eyebrows? Or maybe I could belatedly join Anything Goes? I think the closest aesthetic I could fit to anything currently playing would be the King and I, up for a best revival nomination, but it’s quite a stretch (and I’d need to trade in the trousers for a hoop skirt). Ah well, I will have to content myself to watching. For those of you who don’t know, competing for Best Musical are:

An American in Paris: two (coincidentally very good dancers) fall in love in Paris after WW2- think old Gene Kelly
Fun Home- a woman realizes she’s a lesbian at the same time her father struggles with the fact he is gay- based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel)
Something Rotten- two aspiring playwrights try to outdo Shakespeare in the 1590s by writing the first musical- the makers of Avenue Q and Book of Mormon collaborate on this for nothing short of comic hilarity
The Visit- the richest woman in the world returns to her poverty-stricken hometown. What will happen?- based on a Swiss 1956 play of the same name (but in Swiss)

For Best Original score, switch out An American in Paris and add The Last Ship, or Sting’s (you heard me right) new musical currently on Broadway. The musical focuses on a man who returns to the shipyards of his hometown after his father’s death and tries to woo an old flame…

I am very conflicted as to what to vote for. Fun Home is probably the most controversial, and though it addresses issues not covered before of the Great White Way, to me the modern musical scores are kind of hokey. Ring of keys (the song that will be preformed from it tonight) centers around the word “swagger,” which ends up annoying me so much that I can’t listen to it. Telephone Wire is catchier, but uses what seems to me an obvious metaphor that feels stale when it becomes more of a symbol than an object.

I haven’t heard how they’ve redone an American in Paris or anything from The Visit. Something Rotten is very funny but has frequent language (making it, I think, less applicable to universal audiences, even if it is truer to Shakespeare’s usage). Further, as the title promises, a lot of the jokes are “rotten” as in more base toilet humor, which I find boring after a few times, personally. So! I guess I’ll just have to see who wins.

Real talk: Today’s outfit was shamelessly inspired by the wardrobe of the heroine in my new favorite Murder Mysteries Mini-series (scoot over Angela Landsbury). Meet Miss Phryne Fisher of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. There will be more to come on this topic in future posts.

The Clothesline

Style for people blowing in the wind