༺ Dustin’ off the Ol’ YouTube ༻

Ack! Finally I have filmed something new for the YouTube channel…

There hasn’t been anything new for … Um, years? But I’ve been filming more for the Teacup Girl YouTube channel ~ which you should totally check out if you want to know more about brooches, or brooch making and all the creative art-y stuff I get up to over there.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I’ve been having a lot of fun making those videos and it’s inspired me to comeback to YouTube for Lavender & Twill.

So our comeback is a thrift haul ~ and you’ll just have to watch to see the treasures I found!

xox,

bonita

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༺ A Decade of Style Challenge ༻

I’m in the middle of a very fun challenge on Instagram called “The Vintage Fashion Challenge”.  Created by Carla of Tiny Angry Crafter, Jenny of @jenni.lee.knits, Sara of Canteen Cowboy and Mena of @makethislook, it’s a really great way of connecting to the vintage community on Instagram!

I’m not participating strictly, as I really just want to do this for fun and not because I have too, but so far I’ve managed to post for 4 of the 6 days from the first week. I’m basically picking my favourites to post about. :P

Along the way I had to look up a bunch of photos for Day 5 – “Style Evolution”, and I had so much fun I decided to create my own blog challenge based around that concept. Because of course I had too many photos and far too many words to fit it all in an Instagram post…!!

“A Decade of Style Challenge” is exactly what it says ~ the challenge is find pictures of your style over the course of ten years and have fun seeing how much it can change! Write about it if you want too, or don’t. You can also participate on Facebook or Instagram if you aren’t already doing The Vintage Fashion Challenge over there and would still like to join in. Anything goes, interpret this challenge how you will!

As I went with the “photo-dump-and-lots-of-words-to-explain” type of post, let’s jump right in…

It was definitely tricky for me to find photos from 2008 as I would never have thought to take a picture of my clothes. In fact, I had only just gotten my first digital camera so up until then I just didn’t take very many pictures at all!! Luckily, my sister and I went traveling in Europe for six months and we took a few pictures while over there, as you do!

The first two pictures were taken in Scotland, the wall at Inverness, and in the Natural History Museum in Glasgow. The last picture here was in 2010 – so we skipped a year as I had nothing for 2009 that I know of. I had been reading the Modcloth blog during the month of June 2010, and was fascinated by this thing called fashion blogging.

I have always adored clothes and “dressing up” for as long as I can remember, and on this particular day, I thought I’d try and take a mirror shot of my outfit to see if I could blog that way. I loved the thought of fashion blogging but was petrified to ask anyone to take my picture as I was afraid I’d be considered super vain if I wanted photographs of my clothes to post on the internet!

I quickly realised that there was no way I’d be able to blog with just a mirror, and I was actually very disappointed. This was something I really wanted to do, but I just didn’t know how I could do it. It took me a bit of time to work up my courage, but I think that day or the next, I nervously asked the Mister what he thought about fashion blogging…

He thought it was a really weird idea, but that if I wanted to do it ~ why not. So that day I brought my camera with me to family dinner, and asked my youngest sister to take some pictures of my outfit! My family all thought I looked like a librarian. I didn’t care. Haha!

I think it was my sister who snapped the first few outfits for me, but it wasn’t long until I plucked up my courage and asked the Mister if he could take some pictures as it really wasn’t convenient for my youngest sister to help out when I needed pictures.

He was willing to help, although he still thought it was a weird idea!

My style was definitely all over the place at this stage… I was heavily inspired by Japanese Gothic Lolita and skater style as teen ~ I loved wearing cargo pants and skater shorts as well as vests and fedoras and flared jeans ~ paired with black lace and cute jewellery. I never wore skirts or dresses ~ like ever. I liked being a tomboy, very active and as “street” as a white 18 year Aussie girl could be in the early 2000s.

So through the years of 2010-2013 my style was undergoing a lot of change. For the last half of 2010 I played with the idea of vintage, but I would also drop into Hime, Dolly, or Lolita inspired looks a lot.

I had also spent the last five years straightening my hair, so it was weird to embrace my natural curls again. I was very inspired by Liz of Delightfully Tacky, and chopped a heavy bang to match her look.

I soon realised bangs didn’t roll into victory rolls very well and as that was the only true vintage hair style I knew of, I promptly started to grow it out!

It was 2011, and I was also pregnant with our first child by this stage, so also had the added trouble of dressing a baby bump. I didn’t do a lot, but I did have fun trying to go as vintage as I knew how! Boy, I had sooo much to learn…

2012 and our Theodore was born and that’s when I really started to get into the swing of vintage style.

I turned back to sewing with my very limited beginner skills and determined to learn to sew vintage dresses so I could wear the styles that I couldn’t afford at that point. {If only I knew how expensive vintage would get!! I thought $80.00 including shipping for a detailed 1950’s dress was way too expensive back then… For real..!! I’d only buy them if they were under $50.00. I have no idea what I was thinking…}

I was busy learning all I could about vintage style ~ I read all the blogs I could find, trawling through post after post. I didn’t really have a lot of vintage resources, but I was obsessed with the few things I thought would create the perfect “vintage” outfit. It was all about those Bakelite bangle stacks, Victory Rolls, and red lipstick for me in the beginning days!

I would do my best to thrift vintage appropriate pieces from the op shops, but that was fairly challenging in itself as I was still learning what silhouette, fabric prints and colours would work in a vintage wardrobe.

I also got really into sewing. I started with a dress from all old vintage quilt cover, and then I drafted a circle skirt, and made it extra complicated by making it reversible. End of 2012 and I was pregnant with our second child. I had another go at dressing my bump vintage style, but never really quite got there. I stopped sewing over that time period because funnily enough, it’s really hard to sew for yourself when your body is changing daily {if not hourly…!}

After Isabelle was born in 2013, I bleached my hair blond and dyed it pastel pink for 6 months or so, but you aren’t getting any photos of that because 1. it looked terrible :P and 2. I stopped blogging during that time as I really couldn’t handle blogging and adjusting to a toddler and a newborn.

Sometime before she was born I really started to embrace my love of pastels. I’m not sure if it began around the same time as my love of florals, but the Swirl dress below was my first ever pastel pink item of clothing in my wardrobe and I adored it. I also had no idea what a “Swirl” was and how desirable a 50’s Swirl was when I bought for it for a staggering $50.00 including postage. FIFTY DOLLARS FOR A SWIRL! I’m shaking my head at how times have changed, but I digress…

Baby number three came along in 2014, and I was lucky as I had managed to pick up a few vintage maternity items by then, my absolute favourite being a 1940s lilac maternity frock. It was most definitely the cutest maternity item in my wardrobe.

In 2015 I continued down the path of all the pastels, and discovered my love for hats and wicker purses. And I also figured out that vintage reproduction shoes where really a good investment for a vintage wardrobe. Modern shoes can sometimes fit the bill if they are in a very classic style, but when you really want to finish an outfit off, you can’t go wrong with matching accessories, a hat, gloves and a pair of really good vintage style shoes!

I did buy my first pair of actual vintage shoes when I was pregnant with the third bubba, but never wore them as my feet ended up growing a whole size {almost a size and a half!!} by the time I was done with the three pregnancies. I was sooo glad that my feet didn’t grow any further as I could juuuust squeeze into most of my shoes, but quite a few have bit the dust since then and I’m not so sure that wasn’t thanks to the feet growing. Literally one of the worst changes from pregnancy. Just saying…

After Charlotte was born I spent the rest of 2015, 2016 and 2017 battling with Hypothyroidism and all the tolls it takes on my body. I have briefly touched on that in a post before, but it remains hugely relevant to my style changes.

My chronic illness has meant that I have gone up multiple sizes, sometimes two or three in a year – depending on how badly I was swollen and bloated. I was a solid size 10, and yes, while pregnancy changes your body drastically, I know hypothyroidism has also played a major role in my size 16/18 curves. It has been difficult for me to loose more than 90% of the true vintage that I’d collected and loved over the years, basically all that was left to me were the gloves, purses, hats and other accessories… Which has absolutely led to my obsession with brooches for the last two years, and also cost us a lot of money when I’ve had to buy a whole new wardrobe several times over…

But I think that’s a post for another day, so I will leave it where we are now: living in lush, tropical Thailand!

The tropical environment has definitely focused my wardrobe to breezy sundresses, strappy sandals and loads of wild, naturally curly hair {thanks humidity}. While this summery, casual fashion is not the closest to my favourite vintage aesthetic of a glamorous, tip to toe vintage looks from the 1940s or 1950s, it still feels like a fun, beautiful style to wear. Vintage on vacation if you will!

So I hope this post wasn’t too crazy long of a read, and if you enjoyed it, I want to pass the challenge on to you! #adecadeofstyle to share on social media, and please tag me if you do it! I would absolutely love to see what your take is on this challenge, and hear all about your own fashion journey over the last decade…

xox,

bonita

P.S. ~ This could also be a “Watch My Photography Improve” post; yeesh…! Some of those early ones are shocking! Haha!!

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༺ WoreSawHaul: AAVGM 2016 Rock’N’Roll ༻

It’s that time of year again ~ the Annual Aussie Vintage Girls Meetup {AAVGM ~ a mouthful I know… :P Here’s last year’s post}!

This time we were at the Rock’n’Roll Markets being held at Sydney University. I thought this worked quite well as it was slightly less crowded than the Round She Goes Markets in Marrickville Town Hall we were at last year. This was mostly because at this particular venue, all the vintage vendors where outside the building and the rockabilly/pinup/retro vendors where all inside with the bands and dance floor upstairs. 

We browsed, coffee’d up, shopped, chatted, shopped some more, then decided to go for lunch. So after a short walk and a long {relatively, haha!} photo session, we ended up at a gorgeous café for delicious food and tea. It was such a fabulous day! ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡

But as I have a whole post dedicated to what I wore, let’s skip that bit and head straight to the SawHaul parts…. :P

~ WHAT I SAW ~

~ These gorgeous ladies! L to R: emmaamie, ladylaurabell, awildteaparty, lilajeanvintage, ….& me – lavenderandtwill! Thanks to the lake’s bridge we had a great prop for the camera. Though, as LilaJean pointed out, anyone spectating would have wondered what on earth those nutty ladies where standing there smiling at… Why, a fence post with a camera on it of course!! … As you do. Naturally… ~

~ Sydney University, with loads of lovely architecture; more coming later… ~


~ Park near Sydney University which we walked through to get to lunch; but first! Stop and paparazzi time…!! #bloggerlife #vintagegirlsgoout ~


~ Outside at the Rock’n’Roll Markets ~


~ More park scenes ~

~ Saying goodbye to the girls after lunch; so didn’t want to end the day, but I had to drive back home to Canberra… ~

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~ WHAT I HAULED ~

Surprisingly not much. There where some decent prices, and pretty vintage {always pretty vintage to drool over… Haha!} but nothing that really caught my eye or struck my fancy. I did pick a couple of things though ~ a wooden découpage handbag from the 70’s, some clip on earrings and the cutest Deer Arrow brooch.

I was really pleased to find the Blue Birds brooch as I’ve been thinking about buying this particular piece for a while. I do love a lot of the Deer Arrow designs, but somehow it took me a long time of thinking before I made the plunge and bought my first brooch.  When I found it in person though, I knew I wasn’t walking away without it, and I didn’t! 

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So that was my day out in Sydney with the girls ~ I had such a lovely time, and once again had a lot of fun just chatting and giggling over all the the things that girls do.  Our meetup was a bit smaller than originally planned, we were missing some ladies that couldn’t make it, but that’s okay, we will see them next time hopefully. ٩(+๑╹+ꇴ╹)۶

Large or small groups, long or short times ~ hanging out with your friends is always a good thing!!

xox,

bonita

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༺ Golden Fox ~ Thoughts on Modern Vintage Style ༻

Here’s the thing… I wear vintage style because I want to.

I like playing around with the looks and fashions of the 1940s and 1950s. And sure, I do try to keep my outfits fairly accurate. I’ll mix up pieces, but only if the style fits ~ i.e., a 70s does 40s blouse in a 1940s look, or 1950s gloves and hat styled as 40s accessories {Most “imposters” are in my 1940s looks rather than the 1950s ones due to the difficulty and expense of collecting genuine 1940s vintage}.

But in the end, I know that I’m not going to always be able to recreate authentic looks {as much as I’d like to}, and you know what ~ I think it’s fun to be able to play around with the styling a bit too!

But I’m sure your wondering what on earth has bitten me and the reason behind the random ranting, right? No? Oh, well you can always skip to the bottom, but be warned ~ there’s a rather long session of pondering plonked into this post!  (•   •๑)｡｡｡ ₎₎ ₎₎

So the Mister and I were out taking the snaps for this shoot, and a random elderly gentleman stopped to comment on my outfit ~ saying that it was a lot like what women used to wear fifty, sixty years ago. I laughed, and agreed ~ that was the idea after all!

But when I explained that my look was based on 1940s styling, he said that I couldn’t be dressed like that, I was far too modern… He thought that I looked like I was from the sixties where they were much more progressive!  I replied that it’s a work in progress, and he went on his way.  And I must say, I do think my daily style really is a work in progress. But the whole conversation got me to thinking…

I’ve come across some of this attitude before ~ that if you don’t wear authentic, genuine 1940s vintage and look exactly like a 1940s photograph {or 50s, 60s, etc.}, then you can’t claim to be wearing vintage style. To be honest, this doesn’t really sit right with me. What is vintage style? Only wearing vintage garments? Is that really how vintage style is defined? Because that seems like a fairly narrow restriction, given that the price of vintage is climbing all the time ~ and also the scarcity of the vintage garments themselves.

I feel like if we were to constrict ourselves to the definition of vintage style as only being allowed to be called such when the person calling their style “vintage” is only decked out in authentic garments, or at the very worst, high end, quality reproduction garments that strictly follow authentic styling and quite often command just as high, or higher price tag than original vintage… Well, where will we end up while trying to follow this “rule”?

One, new comers who are interested in vintage style will find it extremely difficult to wear the style, even if it does appeal to them. The budget needed to create an authentic wardrobe is quite ~ well, large. The prices are rising, the supply is diminishing, and as such this alone will be a huge limiting factor for not only those that are already wearing, collecting vintage ~ but again, will be a big barrier of entry to those wanting to start.

Two, what will we all do when the vintage runs out? This isn’t really a separate point, as I did mention it above, but this is actually a big issue that I feel isn’t actually being addressed much ~ if at all ~ by those that subscribe to the “only authentic vintage can count as vintage fashion” theory.

Yes, a lot of vintage reproduction has a long way to go before it reaches the same sort of standards that a lot of vintage clothing has ~ even with its ageing and deterioration, a lot of vintage stuff is “better” than reproductions ~ the fabric is sturdier, the notions, like zips and buttons hold up better, the detailing is so much more clever, ingenious, and imaginative! Now, this is not to say that there isn’t fantastic quality vintage repro out there ~ because there certainly is, and I enjoy wearing it greatly.

It’s more to say that all our much beloved vintage is becoming scarcer and scarcer ~ it’s falling to bits, it’s being collected at great rates, it’s being *shudder* repurposed, and even tossed out into land fill. To put it simply ~ it’s a finite resource, and there isn’t anymore. When that limited amount is all gone ~ then what shall we do?

Companies can only do so much to fulfil vintage lover’s desires, because demand is a very real issue for creating detailed vintage reproduction products. And the demand for one vintage dress may be high; in that ten ladies world wide that are interested in the one piece, but flip that around and you have ten dresses with less than one lady interested in just one dress from a global market due to the niche nature of the vintage reproduction market. Well, you can see where it gets tricky.

So, should vintage reproduction be dismissed from vintage style just because it’s not genuine enough? I really can’t think that that is the answer… We are simply going to run out of vintage at some point and then what are we going to be? Certainly not vintage enthusiasts, or even vintage fashion wearers according to some people. I guess we must just be random people that still like to dress like their grandmas!  (~￣ 3 ￣)~…

But back to my little rant up the top ~ and the bias of being too modern to be vintage… Be it the ‘modern’ clothing you wear, or the fact that you just don’t look old fashioned enough ~ I don’t think those are the defining factors of vintage style.

Vintage style to me is solely this ~ using the styles and influences of past fashions from the eras {for the sake of clarity, let’s say from 1910 to 1960} defined as vintage to create your own look and style that mimics these fashions of bygone times. You can be as authentic and as accurate as you like, or you can wear a knee length skirt and a cardigan and call it vintage.

To be sure, I do believe there is a line between dressing twee/kitsch/pinup/rockabilly and true vintage style, but I believe that the difference has to do with the way you style your outfits and not so much the amount of actual, genuine vintage you wear. Embodying the spirit of vintage style is the key to dressing vintage, and again, not the authenticity of pieces you put together.

And for the sake of clarity, the spirit being the cuts, colours, fabrics, accessories, hair styles, make up, outfit silhouettes, etc. ~ and yes, obviously that is vastly helped by wearing the genuine thing, but I don’t think that should be a hard and fast rule…

I believe the beauty of vintage comes, as with all fashion, when you make it your own. When you take what is there, and use it to express you. And sometimes that might not be “authentic” from a historical point of view, but if it’s authentic to you then that will be where the beauty of your style is found!

But altogether this post took are rather unexpectedly serious tone, oops! From a random rant to a story to a dissertation on the spirit of vintage style…

My bad! However, if you stuck with me thus far, what are your thoughts regarding the elements that constitute vintage style? Have you ever come across the ‘must be genuine or not true vintage style’ theory before? I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on this, so please do comment below.  (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡

xox,

bonita

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Black Double Bow Clip | Old
Lacy Black Collar worn as open Snood | Old
The Foxy Pinup Dress | Bernie Dexter, via The Pinup Gal
Vintage 50s Black Bow Gloves | eBay
Bamboo & Frond Woven Purse | Thrifted
Patent Deco Heels | Thrifted

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༺ Top Ten Outfits in 2015 ༻

I really wished I could have done a “Twelve Days of Christmas” outfit count down, but I wasn’t organized enough. By the time I thought of it, it was too late! However, I’m still throwing in a Top Ten outfit round up à la Cici from Cici Marie.

I shalln’t count them down, because I don’t really think I can rank them, so here they are in order of apperance:

♡ Merry Frolic

I just adore how the array of pastel color in this photo series matched with my outfit! I was so worried I’d missed all the good light and it was too late to take photos, but these turned out beautifully ~ a happy accident!

♡ The Dress & The Kirkyard

I didn’t realise how well the Traveling Dress coordinated with the sandstone of the church building ~ but it turned out to be a beautiful compliement of colors! I also really loved this dress ~ it made me feel slim again for the first time after Lottie was born, and trust me, that’s a gift beyond words for a mother with a newborn!

♡ Stitching Stories: Going Dotty for Spotty Cotton

One of the easiest sewing projects I’ve had all year… It came together so smoothly! At this point I was still feeling optimistic that my sewing goals might be met for the year ~ well, that was not the case, but I’m so glad I made this blouse. I just love the fabric and the buttons and the cut!

♡ Mother & Daughter: We ❤ Mother’s Day

I thought this outfit was too simple when I first put it on, but it’s one of those ones that ended photographing really well and that’s why it’s in my top ten. The pastels and the halo light probably have a lot to do with it…  : P

♡ Mother & Daughter: Lilac Sprinkle

This dress featured twice in my Instagram top nine ~ and obviously, from the amount of photos here, I love it too. This is actually my favourite shoot of the year ~ I am absolutely in love with Charlotte’s gorgeous face in these pictures, and I really am glad that we took these photos together. They are super precious, especially now that she’s getting so big.
(♡ヮ♡) ∠ ❀❤❀!

♡ Story of a Dress

I’m glad I finally got the chance to document this dress properly. It was one of my first pieces of vintage, certainly one of the most special pieces, and I really have never had the chance to do a shoot with it. That’s done now, and I’m so glad! 

♡ Mother & Daughter: Pretty in Pink

All the matchy matchy! Yes, my baby girls are living dolls for me to dress up… : P  When they are old enough to say if they don’t want too, they won’t be anymore ~ but at the moment, I just love how we can dress in harmony. Yes, I coordinate our whole family. Yes, I can’t help it. It’s too much fun!!

♡ Perfectly Pill-a-licious

This outfit is one of my favourites ~ not only does it feature a sweet gift from a new friend of mine that I met through this blog {how fun is that!}, but it also features a pillbox hat{incidentally, that post had the word “pillbox” in it 21 times!}.  I never thought I’d be a fan of the pillbox, but I sure changed my tune after wearing this adorable topper, and now I’m totally won over.

♡ Winter Blossom

I didn’t get to wear this new-to-me vintage jacket very long before winter ended, but I think for about two or three weeks straight I wore it with every outfit when I walked out of the house! This was my favourite look that I wore it with ~ the camel, sage green, bright red and black tartan aren’t an obvious combination, so I was surprised with how cute it all looked together, but happy that it worked!

♡ High Tea for My Party

Ending with a high note, and a high tea party I shall never forget ~ partially because I turned 30{!!}, partially because I still can’t believe these photos worked out in the rain, and mostly because this dress really is the princess dress of my dreams… I was floating in a cloud of tulle and I adored it! ✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:* \(◕▽◕✿)/ *:ﾟ･✧*:ﾟ･✧

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I hope you enjoyed this round up from the last year of outfits ~ do you have a favourite out of all of these? Or is there another outfit post that I missed that you liked? I thought it was interesting that as I was picking out the top ten, my choice didn’t revolve solely around what I was wearing as whether or not I ended up really liking a series of outfit photos.

For me, the crucial element is the photography. The co-ordination of the background color palette with the outfit, the complimentary lines and contrasts in the framing, and that all important lighting. Halo lighting is my favourite look, and while it’s not always easy to get it right, when it works it’s just perfect!

I’ve worked a lot on my photography this year, and I’m so pleased with how it’s been improving. My favourite thing that I’ve learnt? …

Don’t be afraid to use the automatic mode!

Usually I like to fully adjust my settings manually, but I’ve learnt that sometimes ~ particularly with indoor photography sans a decent lighting/studio set up ~ it’s easier just to flick it to auto, and not only that, most of the time you get better photos too.  It sort of feels like a step backwards when it comes to learning how to handle my camera better, but at the same time, if it works {and it does} there’s no reason not to do that. Maybe year next I’ll play with setting up studio lighting, and see how I get on with that.

xox,

bonita

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