• Violet millinery flowers pinned in hair – vintage shop in Seattle
• Teal earrings – urban outfitters
• 1940s? floral dress with flower baskets and purple ric rac – buffalo exchange
• purple plastic flats – Melissa, from my trip to Brazil

What a lovely little frock I’ve found! At first, I was drawn to it because it looks like a pinafore apron, especially because of the ruffly shoulders. It has little purple and teal flowers ribbon trailing out of baskets. And ric rac! I’m such a sucker for ric rack. Unfortunately, we were hit by a giant thunderstorm this evening, and as I was running to my bus stop with my bike in a downpour, I slipped and fell with my bike on top of me. I suffered a scraped shoulder and arm, and my dress was crushed with dirt and blood. I also had my millinery violets in my front pocket, and they bled a huge purple stain down the front of the dress. As soon as I got home, I soaked the stain in my own personal savior, Biz Laundry Stain Fighter and the stain has nearly disappeared! I first found out about Biz when I worked at the Antique Expo in Portland, during a conversation with a woman whose hobby was to restore Edwardian linens. She swore by it, and now that I’ve been using it for two years – I do too!
My tattoo is now two years old, and I’m still smitten by the design. My friend Grace drew the bunny and the hand is based off of Victorian mourning jewelry. Annie Mess is my artist for this piece and my Valentine leg pieces, and if you’re in the Austin area I highly recommend her. She likes to brought cupcakes to tattoo appointments

This is one of those dresses that I seem to have a million of: 1950s silhouette, plaid, kind of brown. I swear I have at least six. I picked this one out because it has purply undertones and I like to haul out my purple accessories every once in a while.

This seems to be the formula for my outfits lately:

1. Headband from Louise Black and/or a beret
2. Light Cotton dress (with lots of underslips)
3. Black cardigan
4. Colored stockings
5. T Strap shoes

• Avocado ribbon as headband
• Purple knit sweater with little silver rose buttons – Buffalo Exchange, Eugene, OR
• Faux orchid – craft store
• 1950s floofy dress worn as skirt
• Black knit socks
• Avocado Greta shoes – remixvintage

I like these shoes, but I am nervous about color families and whatnot. I’ve been wearing them with very basic palates like blacks and navy, but I also want to wear a jeweled colors with them so they really pop.

• Millenry flowers – vintage store in Seattle from my trip last week
• Wooden earrings with Damask print – gift from my sister
• 1920s black necklace
• 1950s lace dress with rhinestone buttons – Buffalo Exchange, Austin, Texas
• Green belt – Decades Vintage Co, PDX
• Violet Stockings
• Violet Socks
• White t strap shoes – Dollhouse

What a find with this dress! It incorporates all of my favorite vintage details:
LACE!
CREAM!
NIPPED IN WAIST!
RHINESTONES!
All for $17… thank you friendly neighborhood Buffalo Exchange. I literally work around the corner from the store so I go frequently on my lunch breaks and I would say that I find about 3-4 stellar dresses per month. So, that’s about thirty six dresses per year… which, looking through my flickr for verification, is about right!

I used to wear lots of rings every single day but in the past five years I’ve shed daily jewelry in favor of larger, silly pieces. The Mint Green Cameo is from Uncommon Objects, in Austin and the giant ring with Valentine script (“To the one I love”) is from the Betsey Johnson store in Seattle. I had to keep taking them off today to use scissors!
I love these garters. I got these stockings for Christmas but they are too short for my long legs so I snipped them off and now I just roll them down and secure them with the garters. Instant fix!

“There’s pansies, that’s for thoughts”
I’ve been on a real violet/purple kick as of late. I can’t tell if these are violets or pansies? I think they are pansies.

Point of fashion: A Smile and a Ribbon in my Hair

• Red ribbon
• Marie Antoinette heart on cheek
• 1Blouse – Paul & Joe
• Red bowtie – thrifted long ago
• Purple skirt – thrifted
• Purple flats – Melissa from my trip to Brazil

A smile is something special,
a ribbon is something rare,
So I’ll be special and I’ll be rare with a smile and a ribbon in my hair.
To be a girl they notice,
takes more than a fancy dress,
so I’ll be noticed because I’ll dress with a smile and a ribbon in my tresses…

This is the debutant slouch pose.  I’ve never owned such a frank purple dress before so here I am modeling it before I’ve had it properly tailored!

• Forest green beret – antique store
• Pale green headband with crystals – <a href=”http://louiseblack.etsy.com”>Louise Black on etsy</a>
• 1940s purple dress – Flashback Vintage, Austin, Texas
• Forest Green gloves – Alexandria’s, PDX
• Forest Green socks – Sockdreams.com
• White tstrap shoes – Dollhouse

• Ribbon (Violetina Blythe) wears Can Can Cat stock outfit.