Out of the bargain bin

 

 

I’ve been wearing vintage for a really long time. Even back in the day where I was a complete rock chick/tomboy, I would drive over to Wooloowin where a lady had a retro store in a house called The Retro Stop, and buy 60s and 70s men’s pants (grandpa pants as they were known as in my house). But when I first started to change my outfit to being vintage-inspired and then pinup, I had no money to buy repro or the really expensive, highly curated vintage beauties you see at retro stores. I’ve mentioned before that I changed my dressing style by buying cheaper clothes from Kmart and Target if they had a vintage shape, or adding vintage hairstyles and makeup to modern clothes. But the other thing I did was shop the bargain bins.

Back in the days of the Love Vintage fairs (vintage shows that traveled around Australia and that were pretty much the best for getting a lot of shopping done in one place), I would dive straight for the bargain bins. That’s where you’d find dresses with a hole or a tear, things that needed a stitch here, a new hem, or a good soak to get stains out.

This dress is a bargain bin dress. It’s in perfect condition, the only thing wrong with it was that it was missing a couple of buttons. So for $15, I bought it, found some buttons in my cousin’s huge collection and resewed them.

I love the dress because it incorporates so many different colours and I’ve worn it with bright yellows and reds, oranges and green. It works in the summer (though, it’s a nice coarse poly blend that isn’t the most breathable fabric) with sandals or in the winter with tights. Or, like I am today, a warm spring day but a cool night, with brown boots and a brown belt.

So, don't discount the clothes in the bargain bin! They just need a little TLC.

And now, because the outfit is vintage and you can't buy the same (though the belt and boots are from Kmart Australia), here are some derp photos from this set (it's sad when you like 90% of your derps better than the serious face pictures). 

Jungle Dress

Boy oh boy am I excited to hit the button on this post!

For as long as I've been blogging I've wanted a halfway decent camera and finally, I've got one. Actually, I've had it for a couple of months now, but I've had enough practice to start sharing images with you. My pictures will get better, so bear with me (and definitely pass on any tips). I can't make any promises on regular outfit wrap-ups, but I'll do my best to share with you.

This is a vintage (ish) dress which is actually a hand-me-down from my (little) sister. It comes from Vintage Junkyard and it's one of my favourites for when I haven't pre-planned an outfit. It has an amazing jungle print complete with animals and plants and has lots of muted colours against the purple. Reaching for novelty prints is a good choice when you're pressed for time in the morning. Yes, some prints can be too out there for some workplaces, but dresses like this with more muted colours and subtlety in the print give you lots of options to accessorise quickly and without too much thought, but also look work appropriate.  

 t's surprisingly versatile and I've worn it in the summer with a brown belt and sandals or with navy tights and brown oxfords. But this week I went with a blazer and matched a black belt with my black tights. One thing I did forget to photograph was my shoes, but they're just simple black lace-ups with a chunky heel. 

I don't feel quite right without a brooch when I wear a blazer, so I rummaged around in my pins until I found this fern shape which was my nanna's. It's a nice complement to the plants and trees in the print. I usually wear an elephant necklace my other nan gave me with this dress, but it was lost in the depths of my jewellery box and I was running late, so he stayed home. 

This picture makes me look super washed out (and reminds me that I should put my lipstick on before I take pictures. And that I need to fill in my eyebrows a bit heavier for pictures) but I wanted to show the Mimco headband I'm wearing. My hair was clean (Monday is day one for me) so I ran the straightener over it and added the headband to keep my fringe (which I'm growing) out of my face, but it added a pretty touch, which I think for this outfit, is the difference between looking put together or not. I have a drawer full of hair accessories and think they're pretty essential, with some outfits, to finishing!

So, pretty good for a hand-me-down, hey? Tell me about your favourite hand-me-downs or thrifted finds. Do you have dresses that you always wear with a certain accessory (like my long lost elephant)? And the kicker question: anyone seen anything like this dress before? I'd LOVE to work out how vintage it is (I suspect not very vintage. But I do love it)!