We all have our style comfort zones. Although I like to experiment now and again, I tend to gravitate towards the things that work for me. My body type really suits the fit and flare silhouette – I have a proportionally tiny waist in comparison to my larger bust and then those blessed flared skirts cover all kinds of business (especially the squishy areas we all tend to be most insecure about). So most of the time I stick with that which is comfortable.
Over the last week here in Australia, I can feel the first chill start to set into the air in the evenings. The Bostonian in me instinctually feels like I should be out shopping for school supplies when I start to feel the crisp fingers of autumn start to unfurl. And yet, being that’s it’s April, my northern hemisphere brain still can’t resist pastel colors and floaty chiffon dresses. They’re like a magnet tugging on my vintage-loving heart. And therein lies the dichotomy…
You know that feeling of responsibility you have when determining whether or not to buy something? Weighing the pros and cons of cost vs. the gap in your wardrobe that needs filling. You see a gorgeous item and the mature thing to do is walk away because you really don’t need another dress/pair of shoes/handbag/fill-in-the-blank-with-appropriate-fashion-obsession? You are highly conscious of your budget and that keeps your visa card planted firmly in your wallet.
I was skipping across campus the other day, my head in the clouds, when a lovely woman stopped me to admire this 1950’s border print dress. She told me how much she loved the 1950’s style and would kill to wear a dress like that. When I asked if she knew of or would like advice on some great vintage shops in the city, she immediately said, “Oh no,” shaking her head with a self-depricating shrug, “I can’t pull that off.”
We all have ways to unwind. One of the biggest for me is lazily perusing all of the beautiful things I’d like to just appear in my closet. The things I would love to jump onto my walls. I am certainly not secretive about my love for things from bygone days, so it won’t surprise you that my most favorite place to get lost is always on Etsy. To flip through the clickable racks and imagine what life would look like perched upon the perfect midcentury sofa. To drool over gauzy chiffon and wonder if my evenings would take on a sepia tone…
A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by one of my favorite bloggers, Have Clothes, Will Travel as a Featured Fashionista and was completely humbled and honored to be chosen. She and her husband don’t call one place home, but rather travel all over and see the world, staying as little or as long as they like in one place. I am completely in love with that idea…though I have no idea how I would cart all of my shoes around, there’s something so alluring about a nomadic existence and traveling to whatever country strikes your fancy.
Welcome to the inaugural post of The Dressed Aesthetic, a vintage style blog where I plan to cover wardrobe planning and daily outfit adventures, vintage shopping and modernization styling tips, my designing and sewing undertakings, and life as a marine biologist. To answer your first question: Yes, I wear a dress to the lab pretty much every single day.