Green+ Flowers+ Retro Dress = Awesome

2 posts in 2 days. I am now the proverbial short, fat balding man driving a big ass convertible. Totally overcompensating.

To move away from that vaguely disturbing image- I will move on to more exciting things. Like the happy and (Fliss perfect) combination of green, flowers and red accessory options all in the one retro dress. YUSS.

I am picking this dress to be from the 70's but it definitely has a hint of 50's about it too. It is a demure length with a slight swing to the skirt. Not a "fit for crinoline" kindofa shape- but swingy nonetheless.

I am not usually at a loss for what to call colours. In fact- I think I can go head to head with the best of them. This is largely thanks to my history of working in a frock shop- and also to my bumper box of crayola's from my childhood. I can give a fairly accurate (if not often ridiculous) name for just about any shade you can show me.  That's not pink- it's salmon. Not browny orange- but burnt sienna. Not bluey grey- its petrel. I'm sure you get the gist. The background colour of this dress is a bit of a conundrum for me. It's a "not quite" colour. Almost white but not quite. Almost pale green- but again not quite. For a moment you think it could even be cream but then you are back to not quite. I do not like that I don't have a name for this colour so have just made it my mission to come up with an accurate and believable word for it. Stay tuned.

The rest of the dress is easier to explain. Lucky for everyone really. The floral bouquets have a little house on the prairie 70's quality to them and mix in shades of white, peach, dusky red and a dark sagey green. This gives me many options on footwear, belts and hair accessories- but I have stuck to red to lift the flowers. (and also because I don't have a belt in the right shade of green. Rest assured I am working on that too!)

This dress was purchased from the Cuba St Recycled Boutique in Wellington. In fact- the last 3 dresses featured on Frockstar were all bought at the same time. It was a very fruitful stop. I will endeavour to post the shoes and sparkly waistcoat purchased the same day further down the street. The shopping gods were definitly smiling down on me that day!

RRREEEEEDDDD

Wow. It has taken me 7 whole days to get this post out. I have had the pic uploaded to the blog and just waiting in cyberspace for me to add some words. In my defense- it is Summer and I have a tendency to be lazy with these sorts of things from time to time. Stop judging me!

I have been very pro red in the last few years. It was historically a colour I stayed away from .Mainly due to my skin tone and having gone many years with my hair being red too. Red on red= not so win. (in my own opinion) Now that my hair is darker I have been letting red into my daily wear a LOT in the last 18 months or so. This has proved to be an exciting foray into new colours and options for me- and my only regret is not having done it sooner!

Now to the untrained eye (but trained enough to see me in my usual frocks out and about) I have one similar to this one. Located here. Not the best photo- in fact I could maybe update that.... Tangents aside- I'm sure you can see why I have paired these frocks together. Red with yellow and blue floral. Check and check. I may be grasping at straws here but the redeeming and tipping point that I have clung to in my decision to purchase this one is that this dress is a much brighter shade of tomato red. The flowers are bigger therefore making the contrasting colours more defined. The dress shape itself is different being a shirt dress with puff sleeves. (I do love those!) And last of all it has a subtle check in said tomato red background of the dress. See?

I love the options that this dress gives me. The last time I wore it I accesorised with a 1970's tuxedo cummerbund as a belt in a beautiful shade of turquoise then paired it with matching shoes. The dress works just as well with or without a belt. I can go for yellow or green accessories in shoes, handbags or hair flowers. It may be very similar to another frock currently hanging in the wardroom- but I have succesfully justified the shared existence to myself. Even if the rest of you aren't buying it for a second!

Yellow Fever

I thought I would start 2011 off with something nice and bright. In saying that - you don't get much brighter than this extreme shade of yellow.. Right? Didn't think so.

I pretty much love everything about this dress. I love the colour. I love that it's strapless. I love that it has an extremley high side split,. I love the flamenco ruffles. I love that it has a train. (assuming that isn't just because I'm too short for it!) I love that I already had the right shade of shoes and hairflower to accessorize with. I love that it has a vaguely "Love Boat" feel to it. I love it's overall ridiculousness. I love that it has all of these qualities in the one dress- and it only cost me $30!

Now I am in a familiar conundrum. That is where on earth am I going to be able to wear this? Usually I have a theory about not waiting for a reason to wear something. Wear it for the hell of it. While that may work for brightly coloured 70's summer dresses- full length flamenco styled ball gowns are a little bit different. I doubt very much that I could rock on up to work un-noticed in this little beauty. I'm sure I would raise a few eyebrows popping down to the supermarket too. That leaves me to attempt to be patient in awaiting the right time to bust this baby out. I'm not a patient person at all- so if I get sick of waiting I may yet host a dress up party where I can come as this guy or one of these. Whatever the reason for it's first official wearing - rest assured I will be damn excited about it!