Tag Archives: hush puppies

That 70’s Frock

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16

Dress: Thrifted via With Love & Swallow

Belt: City Chic

Shoes:  Hush Puppies

 

One of the reasons I love shopping vintage/thrifted clothes is for the wildly exuberant colours and prints that you find in thrift shops.

I know I’ve rabbited on about this topic in the past, and last year Jessica from Eliza Parker explained that from a manufacturer’s point of view it was really difficult to find printed fabrics. Why is that, I wonder? Are we just naturally more restrained when it comes to fashion than our mothers and grandmothers were? Is there no demand, therefore no supply? Chitra Mangma from Chitra’s Closet told me that – quelle horreur! – she’s practically had to give up on polkadots because they polarised her customers. Some loved them (moi!) but others couldn’t stand them.

Instead we get lots of neutrals, pin-stripes, block colours, and the occasional floral.

I find my statement prints at thrift shops in Melbourne or online at one of Etsy’s many vintage clothes retailers where psychadelic poppies and unlikely colour pairings are rife.

It can difficult to find in plus sizes – in Melbourne particularly, where I discovered there’s a tribe of hipsters who are in the habit of buying larger dresses in bulk and cutting them down to size, inserting elastic waistbands and bringing the hem up to crotch-skimming levels. I find dozens of the mutated poor things at shops like Retrostar which seem to cater exclusively for women with figures like eight-year old boys.

Every so often though, you’ll find a gem, so just keep looking.

 

Retro Red

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67

Dress: Bettie Page Clothing

Belt: JAG

Shoes: Hush Puppies

 

Oooh! It’s such a lovely day in Melbourne today – one last little taste of summer, and the opportunity to wear my retro-styled polkadot dress with scandalous red lippy!

I’m so lazy about wearing make-up: I never really learned properly how to apply it, and while I buy the stuff with some regularity, somehow I never seem to have enough time in the morning to put it on. I’m always worried when I wear red lipstick that it makes my already full lips look a little… carnivorous, and I’ve yet to find an eye-liner that doesn’t end up smeared all over my cheeks by the end of the day. I do tint my eyelashes, a pro-tip from my time-poor friend Haz-Mo’s Ma; and I’ve got some powder that I swipe over my cheeks when I’m feeling particularly shiny, but apart from that I’m usually au naturale unless I’m going out somewhere fancy.

My little sister’s become a master at makeup application, and she always looks so stunning when I see her that I’m usually inspired to make a bit more effort afterwards, but I’m too shy to ask her what to do (eyeliner: where? how? Blush? On my cheekbones, or under?)

Probably I should take a day course of somesuch, but who’s got time, right? Between working, blogging, girlfriending and attempting to expand my horizons to include some kind of free-lance writing gig my days are usually pretty well full up!