Real Retro

Once upon a time, led astray by a well-meaning article in American Girl magazine, I came to believe that "vintage" was a synonym for "cheap." I always imagined that, when I actually began shopping for myself rather than living in gifts and hand-me-downs, I would be a bohemian but classy dresser, assembling clever little getups from the vintage shops that were sure to abound once I figured out where they were. Imagine my disappointment when reality struck, and I learned that "where they were" was mostly only New York City, and that vintage clothes are actually more expensive than they were when originally made and often more expensive than comparable modern articles, due in part to inflation and in part to their rarity. Thus, your typical Unfashionista does not often have the privilege of wearing vintage styles.

In fact, the first time I've actually succeeding in buying vintage, for the price at which I always thought it should be sold, was a few weeks ago, when I won this "vintage 1970's" dress on eBay for $8.04. Well, it was in slightly worse condition than I expected, and it had "that 70's smell," but that indicates to me that it really was a vintage style and not just some modern knockoff. I washed it, stitched up the hole that appeared in the skirt after I washed it, and, as the seller suggested, "put it with a pair of boots and WOW!"

Well, I don't know about the all-caps wow, but I do admit to being pleased that I finally got to add another decade of fashion to my eclectic style.

I wore it with a necklace and earrings that may or may not be period-appropriate, but since I inherited them from my grandmother, there's at least a fair chance.

Strawberry Fields

You'll have to excuse my red, shiny face and disheveled hair.
I took this photo just after riding home from work in 99-degree heat.

I date this dress at about 1999. It has the simple, straight-across neckline that really had me enchanted when I was in high school, and the end-of-the-millennium signature spaghetti straps

I wore it once last year, and once this summer for a brief evening while on vacation, but I was thinking it too dated and plain to wear many more times. It was on my "To Sell" list when yesterday I had a sudden craving to wear it. I laid it flat on the ground overnight to help heal the wrinkles, and it's a good thing that I had prepared in advance, because I woke up about 40 minutes late, and had to rush to get ready.

Fortunately, shoes to match the dress were an easy choice—the kelly green heels I was worried wouldn't go with anything. In my mad dash to get out the door, I also grabbed a pale green open-knit poncho that I'd just picked up at the thrift store (3$) earlier in the week.

In spite of it being solidly out of fashion, my dress still received a compliment from a coworker, which may mean there's life in the old girl yet!

Grafting the roses

Clip on earrings are all well and good if you don't have pierced ears, but if you do, then they are not worth wearing. Clip on earrings display their architecture in big, obvious loops that stick out over the bottom of your earlobes. Tacky! In addition, they pinch. Although they usually feel fine when you first put them on, after a few hours, all you'll feel is the pain.

I accidentally bought some clip-on earrings a few weeks ago, and rather than just write off the one dollar loss, I decided to "fix" them. Here's how I did it, in case you ever find yourself in a similar predicament. I expect you could follow the same process, using different findings, if you're a die-hard clip-on wearer who finds herself in possession of some pierced earrings.

1) Remove the clip. 

I tried numerous methods, mostly in the form of brute force and pliers, but those clips wouldn't budge, and I was starting to scrape the black paint off the metal. Finally I lopped them right off at the base using heavy-duty wire cutters.

These earrings fell apart once the backing was off, because the flowers were constructed of two layers held together by a metal post that was part of the clip-on backing. I glued them back together during step two.

2) Glue on a pierced-earring backing. 

You can find these stud backings at pretty much any craft store (I got mine at Jo-Ann Fabrics). I recommend attaching them with epoxy glue—an Unfashionista's second-best friend (best friend is a sewing machine). The nice thing about epoxy is you only mix up what you need as you need it, so it doesn't dry out in the bottle, but I have also had success repairing earrings with Krazy Glue.

 

3) Wait for the glue to dry. 

What? That's it!? It's true! This was one of the simplest Fashion-Fix-Its I've ever done!

Meet my new shoes

I already have 2 pairs of black high heels, one pair of black mid heels, and one pair of black flats (let's not get started on the black boots), but I just can't resist a bargain! So when I ran across a pair of cute black shoes with ankle straps at the thrift store for just 6$, 25% off, you know what I did. Now I have three pairs of black high heels.

They're not in the greatest condition, but I'd had a hankering for some ankle strap shoes, so they were perfect for me. As a bonus, I usually wear an 8.5 or 9, but these are a size 8 and they fit perfectly, making me feel dainty.

I wore them with this black tank top (which is currently one of my favorite articles of clothing in spite of its sober colors) and this black skirt in an ensemble that certainly won't win any awards--even with the addition of a bracelet. In a victory for old-school fashion, I untucked the shirt midway through the day because it looked stupid tucked in.

I also wore some black rose earrings that used to be clip-ons and now are studs. Want to know how I did it? Stay tuned!

Bad Jeans

Reader Geoff expressed an interest in seeing me wear baggy jeans ("cos you never wear baggy or jeans and it'd be unique"), so here goes.

Actually most of my pants lean more toward the baggy side, so I don't know what he's talking about, but my baggiest are these. This style of straight wide-leg jeans with an extended bottom hem reached the height of their popularity in the late 90's (bear with me if I'm off a bit. I didn't have a fashion blog then) and then vanished from the scene, only to be found in thrift stores, where I got these.

I don't wear them often, because the cardinal rule of Unfashionism is baggy pants must be paired with tight shirts and vice versa, and I just don't have that many tight shirts. I also don't have that much call to wear jeans. When I do, it's usually for activities that require athletic shoes, and these pants are so long I pretty much have to wear them with heels. But in spite of that, this is one of my favorite pairs of jeans cause they have a great silhouette and they're just so darn comfy!

I probably would have worn them with a pink T-shirt, but Geoff kind of ruined that forever, so I scoured my closet for something in a different color that was snug-fitting enough to keep me from looking frumpy.

This fluorescent green tank top fit the bill. With its tailored look, I thought it an appropriate way to dress up these really casual pants for work. And it just happened to match delightfully with my lime green shoes. I wish it were a tad longer, because the pants are riding a little low. Maybe I should blame the pants. They are, as usual, too large. I'll give 'em a wash in some hot water and see if that shrinks them, but if not, then I'll probably be cutting them loose.

Geoff wanted this post to be called "Good Jeans," but considering their poor fit, I thought "Bad Jeans" was more appropriate.

Vested in Me

Airborne hairbrush!

A few weeks ago, I went to the thrift store, looking, in part, for more sleeveless tops suitable for wearing at the office. I found this vest.

It looks to be straight out of ... well, some bygone era (though with the tags cut out, it's hard to tell much about it), which means it must be getting close to being cool again, not to mention it looks pretty spiffy on me! Fabulous find for only 2 dollars.

Normally I am loath to wear vests. It annoys me that they warm up my torso (which is usually sweating even when it's cold around me) while leaving my arms uncovered (my arms and extremities being the parts of me typically most in need of added warmth—this is one reason I'm so fond of arm warmers). But that's winter vests, and this little article is a horse of a different color!

For one thing, I have no intention of wearing it in the winter, so the need for warming my arms is negated. For another thing, it really only covers a small portion of my body (the zipper on front is probably about 6 inches long), with the rest of it being open and airy, eliminating the too-hot torso problem created by, for example, sweater vests.

I happily donned it yesterday morning, on a day when the high was forecast to be 100 degrees. Underneath it, I wore a white ribbed tank, and then puzzled over what I'd wear to cover my legs. White capris proved to be too squat and bulky, and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing black pants in heat like this. I really wanted to wear it with a black pleated miniskirt, but sadly I don't have one. I thought about wearing it with my short white skirt, but I think that's in the laundry. That left long white pants, which I was relieved to see looked pretty good, 'cause I was fresh out of ideas.

Black wedge sandals were hidden underneath, and black floral earrings rounded out the top.

Grape Fine

Just wanted to share with you these really great shoes I got for just 20 dollars from Just Fabulous. Twenty dollars is a lot, but Just Fab shoes are good quality, and when they sell them at half off, I just can't resist!

Before I bought them, I was discussing with a friend my concern that the color was so off-the-beaten-path that I would have nothing to wear them with.

He encouraged me to get them anyway. Because even if I didn't have something exactly that color, I could surely wear them with something in a different shade!

But that's what I always do. So I decided to try something different. When they arrived on my doorstep, I tried them on, found them only slightly smaller than I would like, and wore them happily with a completely contrasting color.

Purple and green. They really are one of my favorite color combinations. I'm surprised it's taken me this long to assemble an outfit with them!