A Costume as Promised and an Update on the Hunt

Well, after my momentary lapse in costume confidence, the perfect pair of sunglasses and some hints from the fairy bagmother sparked a new willingness in me. It was just a weak moment. : )
The sunglasses are wonderful. They are mossimo, from Target and at just fifteen dollars they were the only shape that fits my face and just right for my costume. They are tortoiseshell and very glamorous and every time I wear them I want to start saying things like, "Do you think she's wildly attractive," and, "Thursday! It's too gruesome, it can't be!" Anyway, here they are in all their wayfaring glory. I do love a classic.Next on the agenda is the cigarette holder that I found a few months ago in a neighboring town and am debating whether or not to drive two hours to get it, because it really is one of the greatest things I think I could ever possess. It's wonderful.

As promised, another costume idea. This one was personally tried out by me and a friend who decided one day to race through a vintage store and put together a costume for oursleves as quickly as possible. It was great fun but the results and the pictures were even better.
So here it is, directly from my childhood, a costume that will win over the hearts of everyone, especially if you are the resident babysitter in your friend's world like I am. They'll smile at this.

Mary Poppins.

Clothes: Her shirt is a high collared white shirt with or without ruffles down the front but preferably with. Around the neck a red ribbon tied in a simple, small, discreet bow is perfect. Next, a grey or black pencil skirt which could be found anywhere from goodwill to a department store.

Coat: The one I'm wearing pictured here is nothing like any of the ones from the movie but looks as though I stole it off the set because of the fur. It's fake of course but it buttons down the front, isn't too frumpy, but most certainly is not fitted. That simply wasn't the style of coat a nanny wore back then.

Hat: This hat is really easy. Just find a black or possibly very dark brown rimmed hat. The rim should be short and the material really doesn't matter, because with hot glue you can cover most of the base with fake flowers. Any will do to make you look like Mary but the best are small and white and red, with some berries mixed in and maybe one large poppy.

Bag: This is simple. A bag is all it takes, but like she says in the movie, it must be carpet. You can find one at a goodwill for next to nothing because they aren't in style. It really should be big but doesn't have to be. The one in my picture below is small but was the only carpet bag I could find in the store. You'll probably have more to work with.

Accessories: And last but not least, little things. some plain white or lace-edged short gloves are wonderful. Hair should be in a tight bun that is loose in the front, put it up and then pull the bun upwards to loosen it in the right place. Glasses aren't needed but, as long as they aren't trendy or frumpy, they work. Shoes could be any flat you could find that matches the rest of your outfit, but should be as old-fashioned as possible to avoid total decade confusion. I always loved the idea of a measuring tape (practically perfect in every way or course) , A spoon that's not quite full of sugar, but close enough, or even a little fake robin to perch on your shoulder. Finally, you can't forget the famous umbrella. Any will do although I think hers was blue or green but the only way to make this costume practically perfect in every way is to try to find one that has a parrot handle.

No wonder that its Mary that we love.

And here's my impromptu dress up, I took my face out just because the page is public and its a really bad (not to mention slightly embarrassing) picture of me... : P

Oh, Halloween, how vexing you are,

Well, the mad hunt for my Holly Golightly costume pieces has produced no real progress except some long black gloves stolen from my mother's closet. Consequently, I have thought about creating another look. It breaks my heart but in my search for Audrey's black dress I have come to some startling conclusions about how easy it is to create elaborate costumes for forty dollars or so that look like you spent a fistful. You just have to know where to look and I may just have to use one of these myself instead if I can find nothing else.
And so, here is an early Halloween post for those of you going to elaborate parties like me or just love to dress up for the night and want to do it right. I'll post one today and more in the days leading up to Halloween. Any suggestions are welcome, I've had to create a lot of looks and something to do would be helpful. Most of these are movie characters which are easy to recognize and therefore easy to make, but are refreshingly original as opposed to batwoman and the slutty nurse.

Costume 1:Marie Antoinette

Wig: Wigs can be purchased premade, but its much more fun to make your own with very curly doll hair that can be found at craft stores. Buy some in blonde or white and purchase a hairnet that can also be found on the same aisle. With a hot glue gun start gluing in the middle or the hairnet and spiral outward, piling the hair upward. it might take a few packages or hair but they are fairly inexpensive. Next cut a few long curls and attach them to the back of the hairnet. You can get creative with the wig and give it many looks by pulling it tight in some places to give it a more pronounced style but this is the easiest and most straight forward way that I've tried. A toy ship can be glued to the top of the wig as long as the glue is well hidden for a festival version and for a masquerade version, flowers can be woven in and out of the hair.

Mask(Optional): If the Masquerade costume is more your style you have to have a mask. This can present a problem for some with limited resources but if you want something simple and easy try a piece of tulle tied over the eyes like Kirsten Dunst in the incredible movie. The elaborate version can be made with the plastic masks in the craft store but something crucial is missing. First, you need to cut the mask to fit your face with points at both ends. Most of them are far to big so this is necessary. Paper mache to stiffen the plastic is a great idea but on a deadline you can cover the mask in fabric, lace and ribbon as well as beads and trim that make it look as though hours have been spent on it, when really only a few minutes in front of the trusty glue gun have been spent. Last but not least, the feathers are crucial however they are most accurately plumes. The must be very big and really are necessary so antique and vintage stores are your best bet, I picked up three for a dollar and all in wonderful colors.

Shoes: After some toiling over my amazing Fashion through the Ages book that was a much needed just because gift from the mother, I have learned that while many elaborate Parisian fashions of the time incorporated the sweet pastry inspired shoes from the movie that float dreamily across the screen during a montage of I Want Candy, the true styles of the queen were lace up high heeled boots in white, at least when the shoes couldn't be seen under the dress. When they were however, the shoes were much like today's stylish heels, pumps, but not quite stilettos, maybe an extra bow on top wouldn't hurt.

Dress: Finally, the most important part, the dress. My favorite idea is to buy an old prom dress (as shown above courtesy of ebay $20.00), preferably a white one, and rit dye it any variety of pastels, complete with a poofy tulle slip and some sewing. White is all right also because if you are opting for a very original dress, you'll want something with a lacy skirt and plain satin bodice. Short sleeves are just fine, even no sleeves, we'll add those later. Most of these dresses can be found at the salvation army, goodwill, ebay or vintage and antique stores for twenty to forty dollars. Now, a trip to the fabric store. Bring the dress and if you need help ask the nice older women working there, they're saviors. Choose your color scheme before your trip and buy about eight yards of satin in the color of your choice. Try to match the satin of the bodice if possible because that means less sewing. With two yards or so of satin, construct sleeves if you so please. Simple ones are fine, the important part is that they are three quarter length and have long cuffs that drop downward as shown in the following pictures. Inside the sleeves, lace should be added and some trim, ribbon and extra lace can be added to the outside. Another option is to create a lace up bodice in addition to the sleeves or add some flowers to match your wig. Finally, the skirt is important to the overall look. With the remaining four yards or satin, sew along the bottom of the bodice, then trim, hem and make the bottom of your new upper layer very pretty with lace and ribbon. The result is that the original skirt should look as though it is now an underskirt as shown the pictures below.
Any of these techniques can be mixed and matched to create the dress you desire, combine them all for the most realistic look, but I'm sure no matter which one you use you'll turn heads.

(Very elaborate) Gown (RomanticThreads)
from the runway


Extras: And so, if you want to go even further, add a lacy fan, or some short gloves that match your dress and this insane look is complete.


I am thinking about creating this costume for myself, let me know what you think. I am very confused on what I should do! This would be so much fun to create but I need opinions and soon so I can get a head start. Hope this was helpful to anyone that needed it, more to come soon.

Some Steals from the City

Yeah, its been a month, but don't judge me, the craziness of my family opening a restuarant and having to work everyday has been a lot to handle. So, in light of my putting off posting about my trip, since my trip, I'll start from the beginning.

Alright, so after a long flight to houston, a long drive to austin, a flight to NYC, and a long drive to the hamptons in an insane amount of traffic amid bentleys and ferraris (gasp), we arrived. The town of bridge hampton was amazing (although slightly not my style). The starbucks within walking distance of the house and Calivin Klien's home (complete with two story shark tank) as seen from the other side of a six foot hedge, were definite pluses, but sad to say, the shopping was not. I enjoying looking, but the prices were crazy, understandably so, but still. Not only did the sight of my friend and I make the shop owners nervous, but the prices of their merchandise made us queasy. I have no problem with high fashion, in fact, I live for it, but passing off beachy-style boutique clothing for a few thousand dollars a shirt and calling it true couture, is not something I would ever live for , even if I could afford it. I would rather go to college.

Usually I wouldn't bother typing an ill word about any business but seeing as that some very ill words were shouted at me in the anne moore hat shop for laying a finger on a horse hair hat I was encouraged to try on, I will say that if you venture there, beware, the "oils from you greasy hands will ruin the hat!" My oily hands resent that remark. ; )

More my style were these patent leather blue ballet flats (below). No, I did not cough up two hundred dollars in the pricey vintage store where betsey johnson and isaac mizrahi frequent. I found them next door in the church thrift store for five dollars. I was very proud and I donated.

Next, in my favorite designer discount store, I found some rampage flats that screamed at me off the shelf as something I had seen in the newest Elle Accessories (top). They weren't the beautiful Miu Miu flats (bleow) in the magazine but they were very very close not only to those but also to these Devi Kroell flats on the same page (left).

Another thing worth mentioning. I found the Carolina Herrera glasses that I (lovingly) ripped off, in the same magazine in red lace. I'm obsessed. Oh, and here on the right is a bangle I found in a city thrift store for two dollars.

I finally found my faux Chanel wallet and some Chanel rhinestone earrings and matching necklace (left with some other things I created) that matches almost anything. I found someone in town who has a business going up to New York and bringing back genuinly good quality knock-offs. I already found a favorite of mine, a please return to tiffany and co. heart shaped necklace.

And last but not least , speaking of tiffany's, I go to a halloween party every year and creative costumes are a big part of the night. I have decided, in light of the exploding Holly Golightly fever that I will be Audrey in her iconic role. However, I will not only imitate the look generically, I'm going all out. I think I'll alter a dress to be identical and everything. Let the hunt begin, more on that later.

My Dream Shoe!

I'm back. Just a quick post with more to come later and lots of things I picked up in the Hamptons (at the local thrift store, nothing I could afford in those crazy vintage places.)

My topic of discussion at this precise moment however is this lovely shoe at the top. A brief history will reveal that it was created exclusivly for Audrey Hepburn, queen of the ballet flat, by Salvatore Ferragamo in 1954. It comes today in many varieties but the most popular are the black and natural snake skin versions like the one above. I have always loved this shoe but could never afford it so I put it out of my mind. The original, classic Ferragamo styles cost $340 and up. It wasn't until I was surfing the Target website and stumbled across these adorable Isaac Mizrahi shoes below that the Audrey flat was called to mind again.
There are only two differences. The top of the flat is rounded, not pointed as the Audrey traditionally is, oh. And this shoe cost $30.00. Thanks again Target. Making our fashion dreams come true...affordably. I'm unbelievably excited to buy these!

Some Revamping of the old and new.

And so, it has truly been a long couple of weeks and with my NYC trip looming and many innovative things coming back on the plane with me, I haven't posted much but I have most certainly been shopping.
My first inately lovely item was this metal flower pin that I bought in an antique store. It's reminded me of a colorful version of Chanel's latest metal Camilia accessories so I snatched it up for six dollars. Seeing as I don't wear broaches very often and I live in a very warm climate where scarves bejeweled with pins aren't exactly comfortable, I bought a hideous one dollar necklace that had a perfectly good gold chain just waiting to be reused and I super glue a jumpring to the back of the broach. This was my result. I'll keep my eyes out for a white camilia one and make a second.

Next I went a little crazy and bought an amazing plaid cape. It's vintage and very comfortable and warm but it came with ridiculously out of place gold buttons sewn on the front. For ten dollars I leapt at the chance to buy it and I ended up replacing the buttons with oversized indigo ones.


And last but not least. I finally created the stunning carolina herrera sunglasses that I saw on www.modernmagik.blogspot.com. As suggested I searched for a pair of clear sunglasses that I found for six dollars and then with some borrowed lace I created the look. Instead of using mod podge though, I went crazy with an old bottle of clear sally hansen's hard as nails and glued the lace down. it worked perfectly and even though I can't see out of them, they look amazing on top of my head!













Oh, and I bought a fabulous 50's-60's dress pattern. Keep your fingers crossed, it might just work but not until I get back from the big apple.

Steals from the past week...and a DIY

So, I went shopping a few days ago and found some wonderful things but probably the greatest thing I've ever bought, and the best value, was this Chanel purse. The woman who sold it to me obviously had no idea what she had which was a classic black quilted Chanel that was in near perfect condition with the exception of a missing tassel. She joked about it being an original Louis Vuitton and four hundred dollars before seeing the crazed, excited look in my eyes and laughingly saying she'd give it to me for seven! So here it is, one tassel more and much cleaner than when I bought it. I bought some gold metal paint to touch up the metal on the tassels and I'm planning to get some black to touch up the zippers. A few nights after I bought this I found it in last months New York Times Magazine. Go figure.
Now for a DIY. Marc Jacobs has featured the greatest jeweled accesories for his spring line and after seeing them in a magazine I decided to put my own spin on them. With two dollars of clear plastic crystals of various sizes from a craft store, a ribbon, and some velcro, I recreated it. The version in the magazine had colored crystals but I recommend and prefer the white ones. They're classier and more true to the pastels of Marc Jacobs, plus they're more eye-catching (in a good way) and look amazing with a fitted tee. Here is the headband version from the runway.
And my spin on it.

The Wonderful Beginning

And so it begins,
Here I am starting a blog of all things, probably the most random and spontaneous thing I could have chosen to do today. Most of what you'll find here will be fashion but rants and poetry will probably follow.
I live in a boring place with boring things to do with the exception of the vintage stores within walking distance of my house. I'll be posting Do-It-Yourself ideas regularly and with a trip to my favorite place in the world, NYC, looming in two weeks I'll be desperatly trying to save money so you can expect many of those.
I sincerly hope that this blog really is your cup of tea and that maybe I can find some people that enjoy Lady Grey just as much as I do.