Marais

Marais shoes come courtesy of a couple of stylish young whippersnappers from NY. Super cute and stylish but cheeeeeep.

These puppies aren't available to buy until May, but my gosh they're cute. And well-priced. Maybe international shipping might render them otherwise. I'm not gonna think about that right now.

(via Cup Of Jo)

How much are you willing to pay for vintage?

We do a lot of vintage shopping. A LOT. It's all about the thrill of the hunt and getting an original piece for a bargain.

Some pieces are great enough to pay a premium for. But I wonder how much is too much? On our various online trawls for vintage buys we often drop by Damsel Vintage. Her shop is super popular, and deservedly so - her shop is well designed, she takes great photos and most importantly, the pieces are always quality.

So we're watching this dress (I seem to be having an issue with uploading pics to Blogger at the moment, but I'll try to get one up soon), a lovely indian cotton 70s maxi dress. A bidding war ensues, and the dress finally goes for $711.18. That's Australian dollars, by the way. That's about $550US, or 300 British pounds. It's beautiful dress, of course, but I confess my heart broke a little, thinking of all the other fine vintage goodies now sitting un-bought and unloved in favour of this one dress. Now I have been known to overpay for things from time to time because I loved them that much, but I've never parted with $711.18 for anything new, let alone a vintage piece, let alone one without a designer tag sewn into it.

So riddle me this, blog readers, how much are you willing to pay for vintage? What sort of criteria to you apply when making your decision? And if it's not to gauche to ask, how far have you gone in the pursuit of your dream vintage piece? Did you regret it, or are you wearing what you bought right now, as you hang out on the Internet, to get your money's worth?

Chimney sweeps - shine your shoes eh, guv'nor?

I'm not a super dressy person. It took me a long time not to feel like a total tool in a dress. Absy, of course, totally discovered her hotness years ago, which is why the site and store are largely carried photographically by her fine form.

I confess that most of the time I'd like to dress like Amelia Earhart:


Or maybe not jodhpurs, but be-tweeded bookish Oxford androgyny, like this:


"Oh I'm enjoying the sun, and Thoreaux, and thinking about philosophy, before I go punting on the Thames eh what? Chortle, chortle" etc. I watched a lot of British TV and stuff as a child.

This pic is from the Toast sale that I'm currently self-barred from, due to the aforementioned prohibitively low Aussie dollar. Tweed jackets, you guys.

I even want the strawberry blonde/ginger hair and the alabaster brow. Pity I am Asian.

Then I came across Old Town, and I realised that what I really want is to dress like a chimney sweep. Forget your 50s retro Mad Men obsessions for a moment, and hear me out! Let's take this vintage thing to the 1800s.


This lad is not a complete chimney sweep, but he does appear to be doing the Funky Robot. It's a lovely but oddly anachronistic image. To me.

Old Town, based in Norfolk, UK, makes sturdy, classic English workwear. Quality stuff. Unaffordable but something I'm filing away for future reference.




And for the ladies still obsessed with the Current/Elliot Boyfriend jeans (and who isn't?), I ask if this:



might not do for this:


???

(pics from Toast, Old Town, and Current/Elliott)

Le Bouton

So I've been a little slow to catch on and I've only just discovered Le Bouton.

Such classic lines and styles - they were on Etsy but they've branched out on their own now, making lovely clothes for children and grown ups. Making lovely clothes for children in grown up sizes too.

I would happily invest in a Broad shirt if only the Australian dollar wasn't so worthless! I'm feeling that initial aching and longing one has when one can't have what one wants. Note to self: no more writing in the royal "we".

(pics via Le Bouton)

Rain Boots

I would like a pair of these, please. These are so simple, but stylish (for a rubber boot especially!) and you can roll these suckers up and pack em away in a little bag if you wanted.

(from nastygal)

No Wendy NO!

Tragedy!

I got a pair of black corduroy lederhosen from Built By Wendy from my sister for Christmas. I've worn them about four times. They're so comfy and warm.

I should say that they WERE comfy and warm because I just put them on and sat down and there was an almighty ripping sound that freaked me out, and there's a giant rip in the fabric and the pants are ruined. What the WHAT? I'm still in shock. Not so shocked that I couldn't take photos and email them to the Built By Wendy online store like, immediately. But shocked because I just got used to having new warm pants, and I already don't know how to live without them.

Just to clarify, my bum is not what broke these pants. I've been doing lots of walking, thank you very much.

Mine on sale!

At Standard Deviation you can find some of the items of the Autumn/Winter Mine collection by the lovely and talented Katherine Pont.

Observe:

OMFG Built By Wendy SALE!!!!!

Head over to Built By Wendy, where there is a 50% sale going on. I have my eye on these items...