Outfit: Our Vintage Shopping Tradition
We're stateside for the holiday and hit the ground running, barely letting the dust settle and unloading our bags before venturing out into antinque shops with my family. It's a favorite tradition of ours around the holidays or otherwise. I grew up hunting for a good bargain in thrift stores and scouring antinque malls for curious finds and later, I introduced Thomas to the crowded old barns and former factories converted into shops filled with vintage treasures that pepper this region of the States when we were dating. He found our engagement ring in a vintage shop and we purchased our first piece of home decor for our future house together at an antique mall. There's a lot of history crowded under the roofs of these quirky shops, but the narrow aisles and crowded shelves still leave plenty of room to make new memories.
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Outfit: Put Me In Your Talkie
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Outfit: The Craic'd Pot
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Outfit: Queen Of The Coats
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A Clothes Horse x Mejuri Rings Giveaway
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Outfit: Modern Audrey
As my black and white movie recommendations will attest, I grew up watching more old films more than modern ones. So, I liked Audrey Hepburn from a young age before I knew that liking Audrey was a "thing." I was always a bit surprised in college when friends had Breakfast At Tiffany's posters on their walls since that was one of my least favorite Hepburn films and even more surprised when I learnt that some of those ladies hadn't even seen the film. Today her image and her words are remembered as often as her films and the former is probably the most enduring on those ubiquitous posters. Liking Audrey Hepburn has become so commonplace it's pretty much cliche; something you almost don't want to admit to for fear of seeming "basic." But I still do like her; I admire her character and the amazing things she did with her life and fame--and I simply like her style. Half of the pleasure of watching her films is seeing what is wearing and the natural elegance she adds to even the simplest attire. I find a lot of inspiration in her films (my favorites being Charade, How To Steal A Million, and Funny Face). My outfit today feels like something she would have worn in Funny Face--half beatnik, half (forced) ladylike from her new modeling contract. That film is such a visual treat for any fashion fan with winks to real people in the fashion industry and more beautiful costumes than you can count. My biggest departure from her classic style is probably all of the marigold yellow and quirky cat faces on my trench coat, but I'm neither a beatnik nor model and this is a quiet town not Paris...
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My Favorite Classic B&W Christmas Movies
To each, their own! I know many people who can't watch a black and white movie without dozing off or at the very least rolling their eyes excessively when viewing an old musical and the ludicrous way people randomly burst into song and dance. But for me, I can't help but roll my eyes and say something sarcastic with every meme I see online about how the best Christmas movie is Love Actually--or no, Love Actually is the worst, the Holiday is the BEST--when I can't sit through either film without cringing. To me, those aren't classics. They aren't even good. Again, it's a matter of opinion and I think in my case, nostalgia too. I grew up watching old films, I think that's where my love of vintage fashion comes from. It also means at Christmas, a season where we get especially nostalgic remembering our childhoods, I really start to long for some classic black and white movies. These are a few of my favorites that I look forward to watching every year.
It's A Wonderful Life (1946): It's no exaggeration to say this is one of best films ever made and worth watching in any season, although it is always especially poignant this time of year. It stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a man who throughout his life sacrificed his own dreams for others and finds himself suicidal on Christmas Eve. An angel, Clarence, intervenes and shows Bailey what his community would have been like if he had never been born. It's heart-warming and optimistic without being naive and I dare anyone to finish the film with a dry eye.
Christmas In Connecticut (1945): To anyone frustrated with Pinterest perfect homes and Insta-fame that seems to set everyone up for an impossible standard--watch this film. It's a comedy made decades before the Internet, let alone Pinterest existed, but it shows that trying to portray your personal life as something perfect (when it is anything but) is not a new concept. The film stars Barbara Stanwyck as a food writer who writes about being the perfect housewife in the country, but she's actually single, a terrible cook, and lives in a flat in the city. She has to attempt to live the lie when her editor wants her to host a soldier for a classic Christmas feast in her non-existent Connecticut home complete with make-believe husband and child. The holiday is a disaster, but through the chaos there's a lot of truth and love to be found.
The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942): “Guests, like fish, start to smell after a few days,” is perhaps the best briefest summary of this film about a critic who injures himself while at a dinner party and is forced to stay at his host’s home much to mutual dismay of his host and himself. It's perfect for anyone hosting family or friends this holiday and feeling the strain of a full house! The unwelcome guest list for this unfortunate family only continues to grow as the critic starts bringing his work, actors, penguins, and a mummy into their home. It will make you laugh and perhaps realize that sometimes even unwelcome guests can herald in welcome change.
It's A Wonderful Life (1946): It's no exaggeration to say this is one of best films ever made and worth watching in any season, although it is always especially poignant this time of year. It stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a man who throughout his life sacrificed his own dreams for others and finds himself suicidal on Christmas Eve. An angel, Clarence, intervenes and shows Bailey what his community would have been like if he had never been born. It's heart-warming and optimistic without being naive and I dare anyone to finish the film with a dry eye.
Christmas In Connecticut (1945): To anyone frustrated with Pinterest perfect homes and Insta-fame that seems to set everyone up for an impossible standard--watch this film. It's a comedy made decades before the Internet, let alone Pinterest existed, but it shows that trying to portray your personal life as something perfect (when it is anything but) is not a new concept. The film stars Barbara Stanwyck as a food writer who writes about being the perfect housewife in the country, but she's actually single, a terrible cook, and lives in a flat in the city. She has to attempt to live the lie when her editor wants her to host a soldier for a classic Christmas feast in her non-existent Connecticut home complete with make-believe husband and child. The holiday is a disaster, but through the chaos there's a lot of truth and love to be found.
The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942): “Guests, like fish, start to smell after a few days,” is perhaps the best briefest summary of this film about a critic who injures himself while at a dinner party and is forced to stay at his host’s home much to mutual dismay of his host and himself. It's perfect for anyone hosting family or friends this holiday and feeling the strain of a full house! The unwelcome guest list for this unfortunate family only continues to grow as the critic starts bringing his work, actors, penguins, and a mummy into their home. It will make you laugh and perhaps realize that sometimes even unwelcome guests can herald in welcome change.
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Outfit: All The Leaves Are Brown
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My Fox Clothing Collection
Remember my accidental fox clothing collection that I posted about last year? As I explained last year the collection began quiet unintentionally; I just looked in my closet one day and realized I had a lot of fox-themed pieces. Lately I've become more intentional about growing it and sometimes search my favorite shops for foxy things. It's because my fox pieces have been some of my favorite pieces for several years now and always get a lot of wear in my closet. My fox hat is one of my favorites on a cold winter day and all of my sweaters get worn so much once autumn starts. I know if I get more fox pieces they'll mix well with the rest of my closet and be loved for many years to come. Next on my list is a good fox print skirt and maybe a lovely vintage fox brooch. Lately I'm even sleeping in foxes with a cute matching set from Modcloth! I don't think I'm the only one with a fox obsession since every time I wear a fox piece I get asked where it is from and since most of my pieces are several years old at this point (and some were gifts) they aren't in stores anymore. But I linked to all of my new pieces and listed similar items when possible.
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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas At The Argory
I have a thing for manor houses; we spend many a weekend wandering the grounds of old estates and snapping pictures outside the stately buildings, but rarely do we venture inside. I've been working on and off on a list of "Manor Houses to visit in Northern Ireland," ones we regularly haunt that others might also like to visit, but somehow I've never finished the post. Perhaps I will complete that post one day, but for now if you're only visiting one manor house I'd recommend going to the Argory and if at all possible, go this weekend for their Christmas Fair. We've seen the Argory in early spring when their paths are lined with snowdrops and the height of summer when elder flowers are growing as high as your waist, but only recently have we tripped inside the manor house itself--and I can't think of a better season to view it in. The rooms are filled with Christmas cheer; towering trees topped with candle lights and ringed with presents, vintage Christmas cards cluttering the marble tabletops, and antique toys laid out on the ground--the whole house looks like a scene from a vintage Christmas film. You half expect Bing Crosby or Bette Davis to waltz down the hallway. I tried to do the scene justice in my newest Unique Vintage dress; feeling like the star in my own version of Christmas in Connecticut. Although I might be a slightly more adept cook than Barbra Stanwyck was in that film, I'm equally out-of-place in this grand old house. Our own humble home has also been decorated with tree and lights and although a bit less glamorous, the glow off the tree definitely brings some cheer into the greyest December day. Drop by the Argory this weekend for a chance to see how a family would celebrate Christmas in the 1800s between exploring the courtyard which will be packed with food and craft stalls and a traditional working carousel. I'm hoping to nip down on Sunday and see the festivities for myself.
*Unique Vintage dress (similar and similar), vintage necklace, old gloves (similar)*
This Unique Vintage number might be my new "Christmas" dress. I have a favorite dark floral dress I wear every Thanksgiving that I now think of as my "Thanksgiving" dress for the foreseeable future. It just fits that occasion so well and makes me feel lovely. I also like that I accidentally started a personal little tradition with that dress and each year I bring it out and re-live some of the memories that were made the last time I wore it. This dress with its super fitted but flattering cut in red plaid with just a hint of green feels like it could be my new Christmas equivalent. A dress I bring out every year around this season and make some new Christmas memories in it. It reminds me of the vintage dresses you find in thrift shops and antique stores that were the original owners wedding dresses, but weren't made in white, but were slightly more practical and got worn and re-worn through the course of their life on special occasions. Instead of holding one special memory, they held many. Of course, the fitted design does make it less than ideal for family feasts, but other gatherings or evenings wrapping presents are made infinitely more glamorous by throwing "this old thing" on.
*pictures by Thomas*
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