Almost immediately following my last collaboration with the amazing Lucy Baribeau, where we brought one of my most coveted vintage trompe l’oeil prints into a modern day reality, we started chatting about the next colorway. Truthfully, they have all stolen my heart in different ways, and it was only a matter of time before each one ventured to my sewing table…
At the start of summer, when months of warm nights and the freedom that comes from a lack of teaching stretch before you, you can’t imagine that autumn will soon be upon you. One day languishes into another – and you find yourself leaving work early, kicking off your shoes for a walk on the beach before dinner. Ice cold glasses of wine are pressed into your hand and things get put off until tomorrow.
I’ve always been a big fan of separates – they can easily be mixed and matched and, even though I know intellectually it’s just one garment, it always feels like multiple outfits in one. Having said that, I can be pretty picky with my separates – I need my skirts fuller than full and I need my tops to be the exact right amount of fitted, skimming my curves and tucking neatly into the waistband of a range of bottoms (I don’t really do untucked). Enter my latest collaboration with Heart of Haute.
Have you ever noticed that, for a lot of people, ‘dressing up’ is synonymous with laundry day? As in, there’s nothing else to wear except for the beautiful dresses that languish in the back of my closet, because everything else is in the wash? The other day I was racing to and fro (as I do) and a woman stopped me on my way from Point A to Point B. She complimented my floral dress and laughingly inquired whether it was laundry day. I winked back, “Nope, just Tuesday!”
To me, there are two key ingredients to wearing vintage: The first, hands down, is confidence. Wear it like you deserve it, cause you do. The second, is having a proper foundation. I’ve tried just about all the products out there (at least it feels that way). And today I’m sharing my thoughts on a company I recently discovered: Glamorous Corset.
There are few things in life that incite emotion more quickly than music. And it doesn’t even have to involve any words at all. The very best theme songs or movie scores are gripping specifically because there are no words. Think about the dread the iconic two tones from Jaws evokes. The uplifting feeling of adventure from Indiana Jones. And you say “Pink Panther” to just about anyone from my generation and you’ll be treated to a chorus of, “Badum. Badum. Badum-dabdum. Badum-dabdum. baduuuuuuuuum!”
I have been lucky to work with some pretty amazing small businesses in my time at the helm of this blog. True artists and entrepreneurs who are trying to release good into the world through what they create and how they make women feel. And the best kinds of collaborations (in my mind) come about where I get to work with an artist and know instantly that they simply ‘get’ me, with no explanation needed.
Over the years, I have amassed quite the vintage collection (yeah, no one is surprised). And with that collection comes the responsibility to care for it to ensure its longevity. Now, nobody likes laundry, but cleaning vintage is a necessary evil (even moreso in my southern climate!). On several occasions, I’ve been contacted by many of you lovely would-be collectors about tips for cleaning, steaming, and caring for vintage. Truth be told, it can be a daunting task – so I’ve decided to start a series here on the blog to help you navigate the sudsy waters.
I remember when I was just starting out in science as a fledgling PhD student, I used to sit and worry about running out of research questions. It was inconceivable to me that I would have enough words to say or things to explore past my PhD, so focused was I on my singular task. How can it be possible to sustain an entire career, I wondered? Is there a point in every scientist’s life where they simply have exhausted their lists of possible projects? Naively I thought there must be.
Things don’t always work out according to our plans. And now in my 30-somethingth year, I’m learning to be okay with that (for a Type A person who likes control and order, this is a tough one for me). As you’ve guessed by now, I’m a bit of a planner. I love lists and spreadsheets and checking things off with gusto. Sometimes I write things down I’ve already done just so I can check them off. And of course, I always plan my outfits for my events (even moreso since I started the blog) down to the last rhinestone encrusted…