Queen of the hill

 

1950s dress - Jumble sale

Belt - Charity shop

Bag - Jumble sale

Sandals - Topshop

Listening to ~ Braids - Lemonade ~

So, more holiday photos. I wasn't going to post these, as I was expecting to be into autumn outfits now but since we are experiencing a bit of an Indian summer here, I thought I would. I was so delighted when I found this dress at a jumble sale. It's so hard to find anything older than the 80s these days, but someone threw it in my direction and I grabbed it, assuming it was a table cloth. It needed a couple of repairs and is missing a belt but it's otherwise perfect. I like how it manages to be both floral and checked at once and has those contrasting black buttons. I was waiting for the right occasion to wear it, and chose the day we drove to Nice and the hill top village of Eze, where these photos are taken. My pictures don't really do it justice, it is very high up and at the top of the village is a ruined fort and a succulent/cactus garden. Apparently the mayor decided to build the cactus garden in the 1950s and is a bit strange climbing to the top of this hill only to find lots of exotic cacti.

The Spoils

I can't get over how hot it is at the moment, I know it's summer but that doesn't always equal sun. I'm so happy to be having a real summer this year, all the barbeque's and Pimms and lying about in the sun. Watching the football and the tennis and visiting Brighton and eating frozen yogurt on the beach.  Aside from these activities I have been doing a good bit of thrifting lately. Here are some of my recent finds.
  
These brooches - I feel rather bad about the cream one because it was fine when I bought it and for who knows how many years before that -  but having been in my bag for a day it came out broken, oops! The other one is just so sweet. The charity shop (oxfam) had a few different ones, all made of old embroideries put into different sized  frames. Again I almost didn't buy it, but I'm so glad I did. I mean it's a bluebird. How could I not?

This bag -  I'm never sure I will use clutches, I prefer bags with straps to keep my hands free but I have a few more formal occasions to dress up for this summer so I think it would be a great bag for that.

These Books - I think I just liked the cover of the D.H Lawrence book and the bird print would look nice as a dress. Although I have been trying to read a bit more poetry. I collect these little observer's books. There are a lot of them. So far I have: birds eggs, birds, wild flowers, trees and shrubs, pond life (my favourite) and now astronomy.

These patterns -  I found these and also some great old photos in one of my favourite shops, Snooper's paradise in Brighton. The blouse has buttons up the back and the pink or black shift looked fairly average until I looked closer and saw the scalloped hem. I've wanted to give scalloped hems a go for a while and now I can. I would also like the first navy polka dot dress exactly as it is.

This chocolate  - a little gift from my sister. Elderflower and chocolate, actually a very tasty combination.

That's all for now. On a different topic, I can never seem to find any vintage shoes these days, does anyone else have this problem? Charity shops seem to have less and less stock that is pre-1980's generally but vintage shoes are getting especially tough to find. Also I just wanted to say a big thanks to Lisa for featuring me in her fab five post. I am so thrilled to be featured, especially alongside so many stylish bloggers. Thank you!

Gently

The thrifting gods (or godesses) have been good to me lately. Sometimes is seems almost impossible to find anything older than the 1980s in charity shops but on the odd occasion I can still find something. Like this dress. It is the exact blush pink colour I was longing for in this post and actually matches the 1950's lace suit exactly. Perhaps it was a popular colour then? Anyway this dress is from the label Victor Josselyn, which is a 1950s label based on my Internet research. It's a very simple style with a nice ribbon trim around the neck.

The cardigan is hand knitted - I added the leather buttons to make it a true grandpa cardigan, it is super warm, still useful even in spring. The shoes are also rather grandma like, maybe I am secretly a little old lady? They are woven and go with pretty much everything. Finally the magazines - The four were sold together, and are from 1940-41. Called Lilliput with the slogan 'the magazine for everyone'. I find it incredible that someone kept these stored away somewhere for 70 years. The content ranges from poems to short stories and these funny photo comparisons, like in the last photo. Some of the photos are quite interesting fashion wise too which is a bonus. I will try and do some scans of these soon.