Reprise

So it seems Winter is most definitely here.  All my Summer dresses are packed away and out have come the jumpers, scarves, gloves and hats.  It’s depressing enough outside without looking as though you’re dressed for a funeral so my latest purchase of an 80s cropped red mohair jumper made the trip to East London with me. As did my new 80s Jacques Vert blazer. This thing has the most outrageous shoulder pads that make me look like a cross between Bryan Ferry and one of the shrunken heads from Beetlejuice but it fits so nicely over bulky jumpers that I don’t really care.
I was tempted to put my ace snake head belt over the actual blazer but it looked a bit too power dresser, if such a thing exists.

Vintage 90s Black Lycra Bodycon Dress – It’s At via Car Boot Sale
Vintage 80s Red Cropped Mohair Jumper – Marks & Spencer via Oxfam
Vintage 80s Oversized Shoulderpad Blazer – Jacques Vert via Oxfam
Studded Hi Tops – Reebok via Ebay

Day 29

We’re going on a day trip!

Day 28

Oh look, another pair of shorts. I am celebrating this day off by going into town to the charity shops, pretty boring by anyone’s standards but work always gets in the way of my fun.
I bought these loafers yesterday at a car boot sale. I had wanted a pair for ages but everything on the high street seemed so flimsy and I get through shoes very quickly. They were yucky beige but for £2, I thought I’d try out my black shoe dye. It has turned them navy instead but this is okay as I realised I only have the Bubbles non-trainers and a pair of heels in navy but lots of blue clothes.

There were better pictures but I thought this one was funny as the timer caught me trying to put my hand in my pocket. My face looks as if I have never seen a pocket before.

Vintage 80s White Shorts – Marks & Spencer via PDSA
Vintage Cropped Striped Shirt – Unknown via Jumble Sale
Navy Opaque Tights – Christian Dior
Vintage Navy Loafers – Curtess Shoes via Car Boot Sale

Day 27

It’s a grey kind of day and I am doing chores. I do love my houndstooth cardigan though and my new glittery pumps my mum got me yesterday. These things bring cheer to what is otherwise a gloomy day.

Day 22

What a dreary day. What’s needed on a day like this a little ra-ra.

I have had this dress so long that I don’t remember where it came from, I just know that it’s super comfortable. As is my weird teacher’s gown top. I am having to be inventive now as the bramble scratches are still raging away on my calves, thank goodness it’s coincided with a lull in the hot weather so I can keep my legs under wraps a little longer without melting.

Vintage 80s Silk Ra-Ra Dress – Marks & Spencer via Charity Shop
Black Batwing Gown Top – H&M
Black Leggings – Ebay

Day 21

I managed to wake up late again and not be able to fiddle with camera settings so this is a bit of a blurry effort. This dress was a calf-length, batwing monster of a frock when I bought it. I liked the collar and pockets so I decided that for all of the 20 pence it cost, I could try a little hacking. Sleeves off, hem up, waist in and it’s wearable once more.

It’s actually a lovely emerald green, I’ll maybe try again with the photo later.
Vintage 80s Altered Dress – Unknown
Leggings – Ebay
Black Patent Dolly Shoes – Marks & Spencer

Day 20

Back in black for a gloomy Monday. These are my only trousers, we don’t get on so well, trousers and I. It just seems to me that trousers like to make themselves known, with fiddly waistbands, too many seams and fabric moving against your ankles, they just won’t let you get on with things like a dress does.
That said, these don’t follow the rules. These are men’s trousers so they are cut and tailored entirely differently making them infinitely more comfortable. Trousers are a necessity today after having scratched my legs up picking blackberries yesterday, it was definitely worth it.

Vintage 80s Men’s Trousers – Pierre Cardin via Sue Ryder
Vintage 80s Silky Tank Top – Marks & Spencer via PDSA
Vintage 80s Gold Belt – Unknown, part of a beach set via Car Boot Sale.
Vintage 80s Gold and Blue Sandals – Clarks via Jumble Sale

Day 14

Last night, a group of people seemed to be having a Hen Night at 3am outside my bedroom window, complete with New Kids On The Block blaring out tinnily from a mobile phone. This disrupted my sleep somewhat. Waking up 20 minutes before you are due to leave is never a good thing, especially when you have to take a self-portrait before you go.

I don’t know if tiredness also gives you one giant leg but these are the things there was no time to correct.

I love this pink thing, mainly because I have no idea what it actually is. Someone has lovingly started making it and never finished, which is an all too familiar story for me. I often wonder what it would have ended up as but I do like it in its current incarnation. It makes me think of a 1930s aristo hobby artist, prancing about with gin in hand, which is a good way to make it through a groggy day.

Vintage Pink Chiffon Batwing Shirt – Home made via Jumble Sale

Vintage 80s Silky Tank Top – Marks & Spencer  via PDSA

Vintage 90s Lycra Skirt – Unknown via Car Boot Sale

Day 7

This is my absolute favourite skirt. My mum bought it for my birthday a few years ago and it has become something of a tradition that it gets wheeled out around Springtime. It’s not quite Spring anymore but maybe it’ll inspire some sunshine.

I love a full skirt and a bit of  volume. I spent a huge part of my childhood drawing ridiculous tiered and hooped dresses with bows, frills and drapes everywhere. They were quite hideous, but  it was the 80s. During a costume exhibit I asked my mum why it was that women did not wear dresses like that anymore, she replied it was because they made it very difficult to get onto buses. Which is a good a reason as any to give a child obsessed by flounce, but who needs buses when you can do this?

 

Vintage rose print full skirt -Mondi via gift.
Black cardigan – Marks & Spencer
Vintage 80s Silky Tank Top – Marks & Spencer via PDSA
Vintage Patent T-bar Heels – Unknown via Sue Ryder

Day 1

My inaugural post, somewhat overdue.  A close and muggy Wednesday, what does it call for? Why, a sombre combination of corsages and cut-up-and-stiched-together-again skirts of course.

Excuse the strange photo. This is my reconstructed skirt which I am very proud of. It’s one H&M a-line dress and one Marks & Spencer vest as waist band given a new lease of life after being left for dead in my charity shop bag. The top is an outsize silky tank. I like clothes several sizes too big, they often just hang and fall better.

My shoes were a happy accident. I came to work in shoes that seem to get progressively smaller throughout the morning so hobbled out to the charity shops in desperation. These patent t-bar heels were in the storeroom where the manager kindly let me try on all the shoes they had that were ‘Black, size 6 please’. 

Vintage 80s Silky Tank Top – Marks & Spencer  via PDSA

Vintage Patent T-bar Heels – Unknown via Sue Ryder

Houndstooth High-waisted Pencil Skirt – Home made