Polka dots and mint

I think I have mentioned that I've gone back to university (again) this year...right? Well, I have! For anyone who is interested I'm attempting an MA of Art History. I'm still sorting out my thesis argument and to do that I need to read. A lot. So, on Friday I went into the city to get some more books and take myself on a dumpling date. And this is what I wore...

This unamused look on my face says 'I wish my neighbours would just be quiet for once!'

I love this dress but I think it's only made it onto my blog once before!

I also did a spot of shopping on my way to the library. The dress on the right will be going up in my etsy shop when I eventually get around to restocking it. Which probably won't be until I've finished my dissertation in November...but it will get there! It's tiny, or else I'd keep it. And the dress on the left is staying in my own collection. It doesn't fit me properly but I honestly don't care because it's perfect. It actually reminds me of the dress in these photos.

And remember that you can still enter the competition to win a Cone Bra from What Katie Did. Details are in this post!

Win a Cone Bra (plus some) from What Katie Did

Any lover of both vintage and lingerie (or perhaps either/or) will certainly be familiar What Katie Did, at the forefront of vintage styled lingerie and with fans worldwide. Needless to say, I've been a long-time fan, myself.

Well, the lovely team at What Katie Did are giving one lucky lovely reader the chance to win one of their new cone bras and some matching pretty underthings (including a Harlow suspender belt, Harlow knickers and retro-seamed dot stockings) of their very own. Huzzah! Photos of what you could win are pictured below (or can be seen on the product pages)...

I am completely in love with the cone bra. Just like the famous bullet bra, the cone bra is adapted from a vintage pattern but gives a more subtle, yet still era-appropriate, shape. It's incredibly pretty with the sheer organza at the top. 

It's the kind of bra I don't mind being visible through a sheer blouse. (Which is obviously not included in the competition).

As well as the cone bra, the competition offers the Harlow Suspender belt shown below...

A six strap suspender belt is a must have for wearers of stockings and the Harlow Deep suspender belt is a dandy choice to keep your stockings where they ought to be. 

And the Harlow knickers, which are obviously perfect to wear underneath the suspender belt. You can see the knickers clearly on the product page. (The petticoat is from my own collection and not part of the competition.)

And some retro-seamed dot stockings!

You may be wondering, and rightly so, what you have to do to win! Well, you just have to head over to the competition page at What Katie Did and fill out the form. Easy peasy!

The competition runs from now and will close at midnight (GMT+1) on the 3rd of May.

Here's the link again. And good luck to anyone who enters!

Vintage in Les Amours Imaginaires

When I saw Xavier Dolan's second feature film, Les Amours Imaginaires, at the cinema I spent the entire time enraptured and a huge part of that was due to the way this movie looks. From memory, the film received some negative criticism for being derivative (and also for obviously being made for young people, which doesn't make sense to me when Dolan was only about 20 when he made the film) I think it's a beautiful and very honest film. And, as I said, it looks gorgeous.

But in terms of sartorial style it is Marie, played by Monia Chokri, whose wardrobe stole my heart.

The first time we see Marie she's sporting this soft flip and a cute '60s/'70s mini dress. 

Pink cardigan! And phone! And beaded curtains!

I won't deny that I pretend I'm Marie whenever I hear Dalida's version of Bang Bang - I try not to start walking in slow motion, though. Ha. 

Her shell top reminds me of one that I own. Now I want to pair it with some blue pants.

Her styling is perfection down to the last detail.

Another great beaded shell top.

The colours of this shot are so beautiful. And the scooped back of her dress! Swoon.

To say that Dolan has an eye for detail is quite the understatement. Also, his penchant for slow motion scenes made it much easier for me to capture these images. How considerate of him! Ha.

I very much enjoy Marie's colourful coat.

There's a great scene where Dolan's character, Francis, tells Marie that not all vintage should come back or something to that effect (after she tells him the dress he has called 'outdated' is vintage) and Marie just blows smoke in his face as an answer. I love it. You can see the scene here (the part I'm referring to is around 50 seconds) but there aren't any subtitles. 

Though it is interesting how Marie's wardrobe becomes less 'vintage' until at the end she is wearing a tight mini dress reminiscent of Romy (of Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion) or Casandra in Wayne's World. Still gorgeous but quite different from her style at the beginning.

I could say so much more about the film but I really wanted to focus on Marie's wardrobe for this post. One day I may write up a feature post on my movie blog...maybe. 

Polyester and Orlon

Two of my outfits over the past week have included a late '70s/early '80s polyester dress and a '50s/'60s Orlon cardigan. It works well, I guess! But I only got iPhone snaps of both outfits, unfortunately.

The beading on this cardigan is gorgeous. It's actually a bit small for me but I like wearing cardigans open and with the sleeves bunched up a bit so it works out well. This dress is very thin, sheer polyester but it's still too warm for summer so I was happy to be able to wear it without sweating as soon as it's on.

And the second outfit - this is one of those dresses I was going to get rid of but my mum saw it in the 'to go' pile and salvaged it, somehow knowing I would want to wear it again some day. How do mums just know these things? Ha. I'm glad she did, anyway.

Some of my newest vintage dolls (wearing clothes I already had) - my first two Bubblecuts! I'm in love with them. And I already had a painted hair Ken...but he is a blond.

It was also Record Store Day over the weekend! There were only two records on the list that I was searching for and I found both...but could only afford the Gotye 12" pictured above. I love the '50s inspired cover art (which you can see in action in the video for the song). And, you know, the pink vinyl doesn't hurt. So pretty.

I'd also like to apologise for my absence the past week - I'm struggling a lot with study and balancing it with Life in general and I'm currently trying to figure out how to fit everything in, so my posting may be sporadic until I settle in. That said, I should have a pretty exciting post coming up sometime this week...

Pink, gold, hearts

On Friday night I went to Fork on the Road for dinner with a friend. I was pretty excited because I kept seeing people at the event via various social media (or at the food trucks when they are at other places during the month) but I missed the first few myself. I'd have been excited, anyway, because of the possibility of yummy food! (And it was definitely yummy though there were so many choices it was hard to make a decision).

It also gave me the opportunity to wear my new favourite dress, which I wrote about buying back in this post.

I haven't felt this good about an outfit in so long. I love pink. And I love hearts. And I love pink and gold together! I also love my hair shorter like this. Just a lot of love, basically.

As I mentioned before, I'd intended to swap the pearl buttons that were originally on the dress for some others - I settled for these cute white hearts.

I used to feel like I had to weigh pink down with a black cardigan or black accessories but, while I still love pink and black together, it's fun to just let pink be and speak for itself, I think.

This is kind of an awkward photo but I wanted to show off my newest pair of sunglasses up close(r).

Obligatory shoe shot!

Oh, and I finally got to try some of the delicious homemade soft drinks from The Little Van That Could. Who doesn't love an adorable vintage caravan? Even better when it's used to sell delicious things, no?

Cute bunting, too.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

P.S. I'm not sure anyone really misses the Murder Mystery Mondays, but I'm a bit busy with studying so, if I get to it this week, it may end up being a Murder Mystery Wednesday or Friday. Eep.

Peach and pineapple (accessorised by Style Me Betty)

Another outfit! It looks like it may just be outfit posts for the foreseeable future so hopefully they don't get dull...

Ha. So I've just realised I'm flanked by posters of Guns 'n' Roses and Rosie the Riveter. Hmmm.

The lovely jewellery that I'm wearing in this post was sent to me by Style Me Betty, an online vintage shop run out of Denmark. The whole experience was incredibly lovely. The shop can be read in English or Danish and is set out in a way that is very easy to navigate, which is a huge plus (and should be a given but I've been to so many counterintuitive sites that something easy like this is a relief). 

I chose the two pieces of jewellery (and I've just noticed some incredibly gorgeous new stock in that section for the accessory inclined) which were sent out promptly and packaged safely. And here are some photos that show them off better...

OK, no one really needs to get this close to my ear but look at my earring! So so adorable.

Here's a less uncomfortable photo of the both of them together.

My Twin Peaks brooch snuck in to the shot...I've had this brooch for five or six months but I don't think it's made it to the blog, yet?! It's a favourite, so that's kind of surprising. But the focus of this photo was meant to be the necklace...

So I took this photo to hopefully show it off better (and ignore my terrible nail polish job haha). Isn't this a great necklace? An instagram follower informed me that one of the charms is ackee and another is meant to be a cocoa bean, which I am embarrassed to admit I didn't realise.

As I said, my gorgeous earrings and necklace came to me thanks to Style Me Betty. I appreciated the strawberry and flowers to decorate the business postcard, too. Little touches like that make me smile. The pricing is quite reasonable, as well, I should mention! (At least, in my opinion).

Just realised the shipping page has info for Denmark and the EU so I've sent off an email for more information should anyone want it - watch this space! 

Edit: shipping outside the EU is available upon request.

Style Me Betty

Love,

Andi B. Goode 

x

PS if you've not seen some of your comments show up it's because some went to spam. Sigh. Thanks, blogger! They should be published now, though.

Some lucky finds

It isn't often that I find clothes that are remotely vintage at op-shops, these days, but I quite fortuitously found a lovely 70s/80s pink dress whilst out last week. Fortuitous because I'd been longing for something a little late '70s and for more pink in my wardrobe!

If I'd paid attention to the measurements on the tag I would have let this stay there thinking it was about three or four sizes too small for me. Well, it fits really well!

I'm going to replace the buttons as I'm not too keen on pearly buttons. Plus I think they're a wee bit small.

I also managed to snag this Raffia (or Raffia look as it's probably plastic) bag on the same day. And it will actually fit most of the things I like to carry around with me in it! This is rare for a vintage-y bag in my experience. (I say vintage-y as I'm not entirely sure when it's from. 60s? 70s? Earlier or later? I'm not exactly a bag expert, unfortunately.)

I don't think these are very old, from the feel of the plastic, but the design is quite mid-century.

And I got to pick up a Barbie set I've been anxiously waiting for for months now, today. Midge is my favourite of Barbie's friends/family (OK, close draw with Francie) so I'm excited she's getting a bit of attention for her 50th birthday this year.

Oh, also, I know I've let my Murder Mystery Monday feature fizzle out but the weather's been quite warm and I've just not been in the murder mystery mood. Maybe I can pick it up again if winter ever arrives! I know many of my Northern Hemisphere friends are longing for warmer days - if I could control the weather I'd send some your way. Alas, I cannot. (But I can still dream about it...)

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Mauve & leopard

Today's post is brought to you by my iPhone and mirrors. Apologies for that! I wore this to uni yesterday and then to meet a friend for a drink after.

Took a changing room shot of myself whilst waiting for my friend. I've never been a big wearer of colours in the purple family but I love the colour of this blouse, especially with my leopard print pants.

Was in a rush to leave the house when I took this one...

My accessories for the day. The lipstick brooch is from Modern Girl Blitz. The badges have been with me for years.

More mirrors...

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Still thinking about this Beetljuice-esque blazer that I didn't buy.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x