Silky Party Dress

One of life's finest joys has to be accidentally finding the occasional genuine op shop. They sadly seem to be a dying breed these days with hoards of people trawling fro quality vintage and then re-selling for a huge profit. Don't get me wrong. I think it is a great business model I just miss having a larger selection of op shops to trawl myself. I found a great little hospice op shop in the back streets of St Kilda while on a bit of an exploratory stroll. It was certainly in the afternoons highlights. Right above the tropical fish store that we spent about 45 minutes in- but that's another story...

I was very restrained in this store. Possibly due to the fact that I remembered anything I purchased would have to be lugged around with me for a week before it got home again. This is a very good thing to remember when starting to get excited about vintage crockery and vases. I left the brick a brack section and headed straight back to the rack of frocks.

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I found this cute little silk number and it made my day. I estimate it as early to mid 70's. A silk party dress with sweetheart neck line. Almost off the shoulder- and  puff sleeves. Slightly flared skirt and all in a great mix of buttery cream background, orange and yellow flowers, the occasional stone fruit (maybe peaches?) and teal squares with a semblance of vertical stripes for good measure. Whoever designed the fabric may have been having some acid flashbacks of some description. It is a pretty odd combo of things to have all happening at once really.

All of this in one frock and for the fantastic price of $10.00. This was still ok even after I mentally calculated the exchange rate. (I was much better at doing that this trip!)

I have chosen to accessorise to pick up the teal squares. This is mainly as it is the easiest way to lift the whole colour scheme to take away the fact that my complexion is possibly too fair to be wearing a colour this pale right next to my face. Also- I feel like I should be carrying an elaborately wrapped present to a birthday party. Now the only thing this dress is missing is a party hat and goody bag to take home for afters.

The Seamless Transition Between 09 And 0-10

I am getting into some bad habits here and I apologise. I have been dreadfully slack at updating this blog daily as I should be and I endeavour to make these much more regular. At LEAST daily. (if you're lucky maybe even more than once a day!) While I could go on about my slackness/ laziness/ new years/ sunstroke recovery- I will stop that right here and get on with the post shall I?

First up is the last day dress of 2009. (sounds so regal when I give it that kind of title!) I wasn't feeling too hot on New Years Eve so went for comfortable. Comfort to me often means wearing something that could be easily converted into a tent should I ever get lost in the woods. This dress was no exception.

It hailed from the Aotea Markets of days gone by- and cost me about $40.00. I was very happy with this purchase until I saw that they were being mass produced and made in 3 other colours in Shanton... I don't usually class myself as a clothing snob. (God -I will wear almost anything!) I was just disappointed at my seemingly "one off from an independent designer that sells their wares at the market" dress suddenly turned into the exact opposite. My dream may have been dashed but it is still a nice dress. Albeit very long on me.....

I am a sucker for anything green and frocky- so this fit the bill quite nicely.

New Years Eve was pretty good this year. A party at our place followed by a party at my friend Ruby's place followed by Whammy bar... a good night was had by all. Especially me once someone pointed out that I didn't need to commit to the same dress for the while evening. My GOD it's so obvious yet somehow I have never thought to do a mid-evening outfit change! So I actually had 2 New Years party frocks over the night- and sadly both have been posted about already so no new photo's for you!

New Years day was quiet. I got up briefly to pass a cell phone and a bag back to their rightful owners - but that was literally all that was achieved. I didn't get dressed so there is no outfit to showcase for the first day of the new decayed.

Yesterday was much more productive. I got dressed AND left the house! (Productivity just needs a little perspective from time to time I think...) I spent the afternoon in the park under a tree on a picnic blanket with my boy, a subway sandwich, an instant kiwi crossword and a Chuck Pahlunuck book. It was AWESOME.

The dress I chose for such activities was a simple off white and floral number that I've been wearing for quite a few Summer's now. It came from the op shop that isn't there any more in St Kevins Arcade. I don't recall paying more than about $12.00 for it - and I have certainly got my moneys worth from it.

It has an in built petticoat so as not to show the world my underwear. It's made out of a slightly stretchy lycra- and while it seems to be from the 70's it has the 50's in built bullet bra thing going on too. It needed a yellow hair flower yesterday- although the colours in the fabric make hair accessorising quite easy.

Today I am back at work. That 3 day weekend went very quickly. There wasn't a great deal of thought in today's outfit. Mainly as I started work at 7am and woke up at about 6.40.

This was a trademe purchase from a few years back. It is a little too big for me at the moment- but such great fabric I chose to wear it anyway.

The pattern is a great bright orange, turquoise, blue, yellow, black and white in an overlapping bubble print. There is quite a lot going on just in the colour spectrum- so have accessorised with black jandals and a navy blue hair flower.

Now as there were 2 whole days that didn't get their own posts/ photo's- I am going to put up 2 separate and special outfits just to redeem myself. (I have been saving them because the titled puns have been in my head for a while now!)

Sorry for the wait. I'll try and be more regular I promise!