Early 1900's Tennis Dress

This historical tennis dress is from the beginning years of the 1900's. (My apologies for the poor quality of the photo it was scanned from a snapshot.) The details are hard to discern, but the top of the dress is a bib-type layer with a high neck and lace edged lightweight fabric hangs over the sleeves which are made of light, partially transparent fabric. I love the hat -- it adds so much to the outfit. Note to self: do NOT wear a watch when modeling historical clothing.

1850's California Inaugural Ball Dress

I have been fortunate to model in a number of antique/historical clothing fashion shows. This dress was worn in the 1850's to a Californian gubernatorial inauguration. Wearing this dress was especially meaningful to me because I grew up in California. The gown was ideal for my coloring and it fit me perfectly. I'll share more historical outfits in future posts.

What is that thing?

I cleaned out my closet last weekend and found this.
I can't remember who gave it to me.
At first I wasn't sure what it was.

A hat! Ingenious or just weird?

Crimes of Fashon

Every year I spend the third Thursday in November, my birthday, with the first person I ever met. Last Thanksgiving my mother handed me a stack of old photos that exposed decades of my fashion crimes.

Although my bunny slippers, hobby horse, and cute little puffy sleeve dress are gone, they symbolize my life-long pursuit of a unique fashion style like Twiggy’s, That Girl’s, Mary Richards’, Carrie Bradshaw’s or Lady Gaga’s.

Discouraged that I couldn't afford my taste (for things that cost more than the trade-in value of my car), I gave up and became a lazy dresser; a closet frump; a lost sole (sp). I convinced myself that comfort and thrift were more important than style.

The bunny slippers photo led me to begin reading fashion blogs. Through twitter I found a community that I wanted to be a part of. But where did I fit? Do other women want to feel pretty in spite of being visually imperfect or over 30?

I read magazines; I saved photos; and I bought clothes from hip websites; I wanted to be one of the cool fashion kids -- the ones who felt good because they looked good.

If we express who we are through what we wear, doesn't everyone have a unique style?

Designers don't create fashions for red-headed, freckle-faced women-girls who are as tall as runway models' legs are long. And what does one do with freckled legs? Should I showcase my one beautiful feature: long, narrow, well-formed, non-freckled feet? What if I walk on my hands and put a hat on my soles? Does anyone make shoes for hands?.

My fashion adventure begins today.I’ll search the web, magazines, fashion blogs, and clothing shops and share my findings while developing my own casual, fun, slightly edgy, quirky, natural style. Watch out fashion posse, I stand fearless.