Category: vintage
Transitioning..
It’s easy to feel nostalgic as the summer slowly sinks to it’s demise, but I rather enjoy the dissecting of what worked and finger pointing new desires…
For next summer I’m after loose, 90’s style t-shirt dresses with low v necks, slouchy shoulders and clever rounded pockets.
Where did this come from? But I’m feeling the love for a pair of proper thin leather Roman sandals in WHITE. I think it started with Vanessa Bruno’s SS13 collection and lusting after the heeled gladiators with 3/4 length trousers..
Autumn is almost better than New Year for a fresh start and the urge to turn out unwanted bits, to salvage and re-invent..and my heart is drawn to denim, crystallised, I suspect, by Miu Miu’s iconic SS13 Collection..
The shapes, the nostalgia, the witty lining of duchesse satin ..I completely and utterly fall..and am only caught by the price..
Still, there are a number of 90’s (that era again..) vintage options with great shapes.
This with a pair of Dicker boots..
How gracefully they smoothly integrate into the inevitable downward slide of the thermometer.
Perfect for layering – the ultimate rehearsal clothes..before winter has us in it’s freezing grip..
Laters, Kate x
The Obsession Continues..
Navajo Blanket Coats are not the only fruit. An integral part of Canada’s fashion history is the Hudson Bay Blanket Coat..they hit you right in the imagination..gotta love those pockets..
(Photo from http://www.geekychic.ca)
As an example of love, craftsmanship, necessity and creative courage they are genius.
Looking through pictures you’ll find each one just a little bit different.
Such a simple idea that still packs a punch. Check out www.pointblankets.com for more historical information.
But I likey this tartan blanket coat too with it’s clever use of the fringing. 
And that zip-off collar…sigh
Now..where are my scissors……..
Laters, Kate x
Oh the joys of packing…
When the kids were babies I soon realised that to avoid the crying of souls (mine) I needed to be excruciatingly anal about packing, particularly as it’s not and never will be an art form that comes naturally to my psyche. The truth be told:
1. I hate it.
2. Even the impending thought of it gives me brain-swell.
3. I AM a self-proclaimed light-packer. Until I pack.
4. I could just take cut off shorts, a white t-shirt and flip-flops..but why suffer clothes envy if you can avoid it?
5. How DO you take the minimum clothes for the maximum occasions?
6. I’m continually haunted by the idea it’s all wrong anyway.
7. There’s a profound anguish that the weather is undoubtably going to go through an unprecedented solar flux and be the opposite of what I’m reasonably expecting. Even though it never happens.
8. Will it really be hot/cold at the equator/in the mountains because it’s not hot/cold here (delete as appropriate).
9. How can I pack the stuff I’m wearing now?
10. What do people mean when they ‘throw a few things in’?
11. How do I know I won’t be invited to tea with the Queen or Beyonce or Karl Lagerfeld?
12. Why do I always have the most cases? I packed light..
13. And why do they never shut?
Burnt too many times, I learnt to make furtive lists on the computer in the hope that nothing vital in my then sleep-deprived-likely-to-find-hairbrush-in-fridge-state like nappies, nappy sacks, first aid kit, tranquillisers..would be disastrously and time/happiness sappingnly forgotten and there could be hope yet for my marriage.
Those days are (almost) gone, but the discipline has proved invaluable and certain rules still stand:
1. Start packing 5 days in advance and wear tea towels if necessary.
2. For a week or more pack 5 sets of underwear plus 3 of each for the rest (t-shirts, shorts etc)
3. Summer holiday for me…just dresses, the ultimate capsule wardrobe…beach dresses..other dresses..end of.
Until this year..
When my two vintage jumpsuits leapt into the suitcase..they were easy, different, could be dressed up with a pair of gold gladiators or worn with flip-flops and radiated just enough visual flair for a laid-back edge.
Minimalistic packing is over-rated..Long live the jumpsuit!
Laters, Kate xxx
Sigh..
The ultimate in bikinis, non?
We are slowly getting back to the rhythm that is normal life with the holiday now a retreating paradise rapidly disappearing into the horizon…but it was a brilliant break.
Holidays are tough with kids: No matter how exotic the place, the beauty is sometimes the only positive of being away..which actually isn’t enough. Expectations are so high, the relaxation so needed..but the chores still remain the same: Planning, shopping, cleaning, cooking, sick wiping, world war 3 crisis talks, bottom wiping, parenting..but with none of the normal safety nets like toys, dvds, sound proof rooms, play dates, drugs...added to which you don’t know where anything is, it’s stinking hot and no-one is sleeping at night…
Spotted at Faro Airport. An unfortunate name…
Generally I embrace the grot that makes the foundation of home life, but sometimes, just sometimes….I want someone else to take over so I can step off the continual conveyor belt of care and re-charge my own batteries..
In Portugal we had meals provided, a kiddies club from 9-12.30 in the morning for both children, then again at 2.30-5.30 for Bella if she wanted it. Kids tea at 5.30 or they could eat with us later. More games (rounders etc) with her friends for Bella at 7.30 pm if she wanted (she did!) followed by a film and bed till we picked her up at 11.00. And a film club and a bed for Charlie from 7.30 – 11 pm. It was utter and absolute bliss..I read books!!..with never a worry a child could be drowning, I swam for myself..I went to the toilet – BY MYSELF..The Husband played tennis, mountain biked..we had romantic meals together..we drank, we ate, we talked..we became human beings again..
Which lasted..until we got through our front door and found the washing machine was broken..Oh life. With one hand it gives..and with the other it taketh away..
Laters, Kate xxx
Maybe-time Style..
( Caroline Siebar in Paris, photo from http://www.glamour.com)
It’s unusual by any standard to wear night clothes as day wear. But I love it. The length of this jacket and the sleeves are perfection. As are the trousers and the subtle white edging, cunningly avoided on the sleeves to dilute the pure pyjama look. Finished with ideal almost-there shoes. Not just cool for summer in the City, but Super Cool full stop.
(photo by Catherine at Treadmill.com)
An oh-so-simple short version demonstrating an innovative way of re-defining classics as a rich alternative to the insipid mass-market conveyer belt: Let personality speak.
Loose, sophisticated and effortlessly hip. But note to self: They have to have pockets in the trousers as well to truly work. Just wasted in a bedroom.
(Photo by Ari Seth Cohen)
Hats off to the infamous Tziporah Salamon of Advanced Style fame radiating a high degree of self-understanding intoxicatingly mixed with inspired wit in a 1930’s three piece Japanese silk set combined with dainty embroidered ballerina pumps and those totes amaze sunnies.
I may never get dressed again.
Laters, Kate xxx
Eye Want White x
I’m having a serious limerent moment with retro sunnies..which has led to these heady pics..
Windows to the soul or the opportunity to hide behind a mask..the choice is yours…
Laters, Kate x
Inside Anna’s House..
I Heart Mr Morris x
But as a rule, it’s been because of his interiors..however..
Nigel Weymouth wearing William Morris Jacket with Rufus Potts Dawson, Amanda Lear and Jess. Photo by Colin Jones 1967.
George Harrison also sporting a fetching number… And the modern equivalents..
Alice and Olive floral skirt. Style.com
Oswald Helgason A/W 2013 Collection..seriously worth checking out.
Crossing the centuries: Maria Sethe.
Which goes to show, when it works..it works.
Laters, Kate x
SHOES! What SHOES?!
It’s like being a child again and knowing Christmas is around the corner..or getting a private invite to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory..and it’s happening TODAY..we really are going to Vogue House to show the Collection to Vogue and Tatler…Anna’s wearing the black Bergman…I’m thinking the Billie or (frillie) Billie for me…but SHOES..
Elegant, faithful favourites. But probability of face-plant? High. I’m not sure pigeon steps are a good look and I have an irrational fear of stilettos on marble floors – do you think they HAVE marble floors?..golden gates..angels?..with wings?…
Understated, simple, easy..and very, very..flat?
Love my Hasbeens – comfortable, quirky, and….loud….would be like arriving with my own personal set of percussion players..
The ideal. By Belstaff. That ankle cuff. Sigh. The compromise..
These. Found in a little local shop…just enough of something..I hope.
Think of us!!
Laters, Kate x
Quirky Appeal x
I’m a sucker for vintage children’s illustrations and have found myself photographing the back of a free magazine every time it comes through the door…it might be advertising for a local estate agents, but they’ve still got something..
And then today, I thought I was in for the usual hamster-in-a-wheel trip to the supermarket..but the Gods must’ve been smiling.. look what I found in the car park!
Broken glass and a bit damp, but it soon dried out.
Sigh.
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 
