Vintage Ray-Bans

I came across this ad in a vintage Vogue Magazine, June 1954. I just love these printed plaid sunglasses!

Here's a close-up:

Aren't they the cutest? I love the little plaid case, too.
I'm dying to find a pair somewhere...the search begins!

Summer Maxi Dresses

I don't know about where the rest of ya'll live, but here in LA there's been a serious maxi-dress thing happening lately. I have mixed feelings about maxi dresses for summer...I mean, if it's hot enough outside to wear a strapless or sleeveless dress, isn't it too hot for a long skirt? I love the look of it though...

I also have a huge fondness for those early 70's Hawaiian bark-cloth maxi dresses, probably because my Mom made matching dresses for the two of us to wear when I was a tiny kid. They were purple bark cloth, if I remember right, and we wore them to a Mother/Daughter luncheon at my school. I couldn't have been more than 6 or so!
Anyway, I digress...

Back to the maxi dress thing. There are some amazing dresses on Etsy right now! So colorful and summery looking! I thought I'd share a few of my faves. Enjoy!

                                   What a gorgeous print! From Threadechoes on Etsy

                                          A little Hippie vibe...Etsy seller rockstreetvintage

                                               MoMoDeluxeVintage on Etsy

The cute one above is by Waltah Clarke...one of my favorite vintage designers of Hawaiian & Aloha wear. I'll have to do a post about him later! Great clothes, great story :-) I'll save it for another time...

                                         A slice of juicy orange...from VeriteVintage

                                              Koi fish!!! From MoMoDeluxeVintage

                                         From PassionFlowerVintage on Etsy

I saved the one above for last, because it's my favorite! It's got a tiki print and it's green? It might as well have my name written all over it, hehe. It's really kitschy, but I love it anyway. Look at that fabric!
Hope you all liked these pix...what are your thoughts abut maxi dresses? I'd love to hear!

Viva Las Vegas, Part 2 ~ The People & The Stuff

So here are the other half of my pix from Viva...like I mentioned in the last post, we only went to the car show, but we had a great time and I met so many nice people, including Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!! AKA Cassandra Peterson. I was a huge "Movie Macabre" fan as a kid, so I was super-excited to meet her. She was very sweet and looks beautiful! (She was signing pictures under a red tent, so that's why she looks all red!)

Elvira in real life!

I also met this cute gal from Australia...wish I could remember her name. I complemented her on her adorable playsuit and she said it was made by a friend of hers, from vintage fabric, with vintage Bakelite buttons. I swear she gave me a business card, but I can't find it for the life of me. If anyone knows her let me know! 

this pic doesn't do it justice!

One of the things I enjoyed the most was seeing everyone dressed to the nines...I just love how so many people obviously put gobs of time and creativity (as well as cash) into their outfits. What fun!!!
This little guy was all of about 11 years old and he was dressed in full zoot suit:

There were pin-up girls in full regalia everywhere you looked, including the ones from Pin Up Girl Clothing, who were posing in their fancy booth:

Just the most amazing get-ups, everywhere my eyes fell. This guy and his cool shirt were in front of me while I was watching the Hot Rod Trio. He was a little hard to see around, but I appreciate his style :-)

I also saw so many fun things I wanted to buy! All I actually bought was a Viva tank top, which I love so much...it has a Tiki on it (yay! I love Tikis!) and a Bettie Page looking girl in a leopard dress. I'm sure I'll wear it to pieces.
I wish I had bought this flask, I just think it's funny!

I also admired this original painting:

Sailor's Regret by Gustavo Rimada

Isn't that amazing? The artist's name is Gustavo Rimada. He had tons of other wonderful artwork...a very talented fellow. Here's a link to his website.

Such a fun day, such eye candy...it'll keep me inspired for a long while. I can't wait to go back next year!

Viva Las Vegas, Part 1 ~ The Cars

Last weekend I went to Viva Las Vegas for the first time!!!  For those of you who don't know, Viva is a big multi-day party, officially titled a "Rockabilly Weekender". It's four days of rockabilly music, hot rod cars, vintage fashion and tons more. I'd been dying to go for years and this year we managed to get out there, but just for one day, because by the time my hubby knew if he could have the time off from work all the four-day tickets were sold out :-(
But we went anyway!!! And had a fantastic time!

Here are some pix from the car show:

me with the official Viva hot rod

I love green

my dream setup! Even the color is awesome

I honestly did not crank the saturation on this pic! It's that bright!

this guy was pinstriping, live...

If there was a Hot Rod Barbie, she'd drive this!

Stay tuned for Viva Part 2!

A True Role Model & Fashion Icon

The fabulous and uber-creative Iris Apfel

 Click here to go to ADVANCED STYLE, Iris Apfel

If anyone out there in Blogland has not seen the blog Advanced Style you must go! Right now! I absolutely adore the women (and men) that Ari Seth Cohen features. I have long been a fan of Iris Apfel and the video interview with her is so wonderful. If you watch it and aren't inspired then we just can't be friends, that's all ;-)

Last summer Architectural Digest showed a beautiful collection of photos of her amazing apartment in New York. It's definitely a "more-is-more" type of design aesthetic, but she makes it work.

Ms. Iris with just a smidge of her amazing wardrobe

Click here to go to Architectural Digest article about Iris

(photo above from Architectural Digest)