My Vintage Hats

These three vintage hats are my absolute favorites.

The first is my mother's hat she wore with her wedding dress when she married my father. It's late 1980's, not really sure what the designer is. Someone added the flowers after the wedding.


The second hat is my grandmother's. It is soft and beautiful. I'm not sure the era or the designer. I love to wear it with a long coat in winter.

The third hat was actually made by my neighbor, so it's not exactly vintage. It's another faux vintage piece. She made ice skating costumes for her daughter, and I got them when she was done with them. I really love this hat. It makes me feel sophisticated.

~Inga

My Favorite Shoes

These are the most comfortable and fun shoes to wear. They were originally a Target product -- Xhiliration, to be exact -- but have long since been discontinued. I got 'em at a Garage Sale for a buck. But a few weeks later I saw the same ones at a thrift store for fifteen dollars. They add a lot of pizzazz to an outfit, but very subtly. I like them best with bell-bottom jeans.

----- Hannah -----

One of my Favorites

This is the first piece I found at The White Rabbit. It's a vintage, 1960's shirtwaist dress. I love the cornflower color. It doesn't have a label and the material isn't that great, but it was only $5, so I'm not complaining.

The belt is also vintage. It was my mother's back in the seventies. Now it's mine. You can't really see in the picture, but it's got a griffin on the buckle. This is my favorite belt ever and I love it.

~Inga

Pirate Bracelet hooray!

I got this bracelet at Pirate Island, an amazing pirate-themed restaurant in Orem. I can't for the life of me figure out who made it or how old it is, but you can find a lot of fun piratey-things at that store. And it ain't crap, either. This is a legit sheet-metal bracelet that gets people asking questions. It is a slip-on open band, which makes it a little hard to wear, but man is it amazing to look at.

----- Hannah ------

Cake and Frosting

A wise fashionista once told me not to shortchange the basics of an outfit for the accessories. "Girls these days spend their money on all this frosting, but never enough on cake," she would say. "Don't make that mistake!" While I haven't taken this advice as seriously as I probably should, this outfit is a fashion-confection success. In this case, I was going for simply a casual way to wear this flannel shirt my dad tried to get rid of. The colors were amazing, and it was rather warm. I ended up discovering kind of a cool-and-classy country look. Note the solid-color blue t-shirt I am wearing. Target. Under five dollars (Look in the sleepwear section for some unique bold colors). Solid-color t-shirts are my cake. They can go with any number of other colors and can be as loud or soft as you want. Again, the plaid is simply a thicker men's shirt that's tied at the bottom to add some shape. There's a subtle blue stripe in the plaid that matches the shirt, but you wouldn't notice that right away. What you don't see are the cordoroy black capri pants I'm wearing, but you really can wear this kind of thing with any pair of jeans or slacks.

As for frosting, I say less is more. A simple strand of some tacky plastic beads does the trick. I hope to get some in the same shade of blue someday, but the purple isn't that ostentatiously off-balance. Add a hat (or a corresponding headband) and tada!



Awkward facial expressioins aside, this is a decent look for me. I feel it could be a decent look for almost anyone. We all have some guy we can steal a flannel shirt from -- be it a husband, a boyfriend, brother or father. The one I have is a FiveBrothers creation. The beads are easy: WalMart.

Another idea: Try tying the shirt higher along the bust line.

Sarah Jessica kind of knows what I mean... I'm sure I'll show you some more of the pseudo-cowgirl look in later posts.

----- Hannah -----

Because Spring Is Almost Here

I thought I would share my big find this season: A Larry Levine coat at Ragstock. It was around $10, if I remember correctly. Larry Levine coats sell for upwards of hundreds of dollars new. This one was a spectacular find. There is some wear on the lining, but it is still a classy, double breasted wool overcoat.

~Inga

Just bought it...

One thing you gotta know about me way up front is that I am obsessed with Lady Gaga. I have always wanted a Gaga T-shirt, so yesterday when I went to the Provo Mall with my roommates, I decided I would spend 21 dollars to get one.

Of all the Gaga T-shirts I saw at Hot Topic, this was the one I liked the most. I like black and white, and of course "Boys Boys Boys" is great!
I got a larger size shirt and used a studded belt to add a bit of an 80's look to the whole thing. Add some skinny jeans and some glam silver disco jewelry... voila! Instant amazing!!!

----- Hannah -----

To give you an idea of what we're dealing with,

Here is a pile of my vintage/secondhand clothes.

And here they are neatly laid out. I will introduce each item individually and give the story behind it.

~Inga

Some Thoughts on Footwear

Good, vintage shoes are hard to find. Shoes used to be made of natural materials that broke down over time, and people used to wear their shoes out. So when it comes to vintage footwear, it helps to be creative. These are horseback riding boots. I used to ride horses. Honestly, I did. Anyway, I have had these forever, and not had the heart to give them away. They're my stompy boots. When I started playing around with my look, I found they came in handy. They look old (goodness knows they've been worn), but they still clean up nicely. They're not the most comfortable (I made the mistake of wearing them to the Mall of America with fishnets instead of socks. Long story short: blisters) and they look really out of place, but I still like them. If you want boots like this, by all means go to a place that caters to horse back riders. You'll pay way too much if you try to buy them from a normal people shop.

Hello and a Hat

I have recently been invited to contribute to this blog and I am muy muy muy excited for this opportunity to talk about some of my favorite things: My clothes.

I should tell you that a lot of the stuff I wear I find at thrift stores or down in my basement. So while completely duplicating my look may be difficult, I hope to emphasize that a unique look can be created just by looking around the house and looking in the cheapest places possible. Really. Some of the coolest stuff I have found has been in my mom's dress-up box. Also, it's not a crime to make something yourself. I have limited sewing skills. REALLY limited sewing skills. But I, like almost everyone else in America, can take a scissors, cut out a piece of fabric, and tie it around my neck for a scarf. I can bead a few cool charms onto a chain. I can iron on a patch or applique to a purse or a pair of pants. I can tie my hair up in a knot on top of my head and scatter a few butterfly clips here and there. That's not hard. Fashion doesn't have to be hard. Have fun.

Okay now for my first item I wish to share in my collection:

THE HAT

Nothing fancy, really. Just an old, generic hat I found in the lost and found at my high school. No one claimed it, so I just took it and gave it a home. The feathers were also found, this time up in the catacombs of my high school theater costume shop. I suppose I should have actually TOLD my superiors that I was taking them, but you think they would have figured it out by the way I was playing around with them as I left for home. I was rubbing it in their faces! The next day I wore them in the hat and they still said nothing. I do believe I am helping them achieve their full potential far more than they ever could have in the moldy costume shop. All I did was pin one side of the hat up and stick the white plumes in the fold. I have collected quite a few feathers of different colors and styles together to add some variety.

When I put the hat and the plumes together, my initial thought was "PIRATE." Pirates are a key inspiration for me in what I wear. Of course I don't go as far as an eyepatch and wooden leg, but the hat provides a nice piratical touch. Furthermore, it's quite the gimmick out here on BYU campus. Boys comment on it all the time. "Hey Pirate-Girl!" But I now realize there are far more things I can do with an all-purpose black hat. Flowers, pins, feathers, ribbons... the possibilities are endless!! You may be seeins some of these variations in later posts.

But for now, I'll stick to the Hat Piratical

Some of my many feathers. Beer bottles and Jack Sparrows make for a great piratey scene.

Here it is in action: Pirate Island in Provo, Utah. With a white sash around the brim.

Woods of Burnsville, Minnesota

----- Hannah -----

The Newest Piece in my Collection

I went shopping the other day while killing time. I was really hoping not to find anything, because goodness knows I don't need any more clothes. Well, I did. I found this gorgeous floral pleated skirt at The White Rabbit (my favorite store in Iowa city; it's all vintage and locally made stuff). I couldn't leave it. It's all my favorite colors. The thing about this skirt is I feel like it completely describes my style: Flirty, yet sophisticated and a little on the dark side. I am completely in love with it. By good fortune, I had purchased these tights at Ragstock a couple weeks before, and they go perfectly. Now I just need a top that actually matches. This white one is not my first choice. I don't know what era this skirt is from, because it did not say on the tag (usually The White Rabbit is good about those types of things), but I suspect it's from the nineties. Anyway, it is a welcome addition to my vintage wardrobe.

~Inga

The First Piece of My Collection

This is my mother's cameo necklace. It was given to her by her in-laws back when she was still married to her first husband, I think. Anyway, it's my favorite piece of jewelry. I had coveted it for so long, and my mother never wore it, because she doesn't like chokers. So, now it's mine. And I love it.

~Inga

Another Fashion Blog?

Well, it's two o'clock in the morning and I have a sore throat. I'm not going to sleep any time soon. Might as well start a blog.

The hope of this blog is to highlight the eccentric, yet wonderful, taste of my friends. Whether it's full function, with cargo shorts and t-shirts, or all for show, with poofy skirts and stilettos, they certainly stand out.

I like vintage clothes. I like one-of-a-kind pieces with a story behind them. I like finding things in out of the way places, and keeping them for years. I'll introduce you to my favorite vintage and second hand pieces over time.

~Inga