Suzanne Carillo

Evolving Style – Becoming More Visible With Age

Magic Vintage Hostess Dress

This dress is groovy.  It made me feel happy like an old time movie.

In case you are too young to recall those are lyrics from this catchy song, Do You Believe In Magic? by the Lovin’ Spoonful released the year before I was born.

This is the one piece of vintage clothing I bought when we did the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show just over a month ago. I spotted it hanging in someone else’s booth and thought there was no way it would fit me. I guess the stress of the show made me shrink a bit as I managed to squeeze myself in.

When you shop on the fly like I did you don’t always notice little things, like the fact that the dress is a bit short for me.

(That never happens!)

This is a handmade piece so the gal that owned it previously must have been even more vertically challenged than I am.

This length shortens me visually but it screams “I refuse to be ignored!” which is kind of what I go for some days.

This extra large bold floral print does what all large prints do, they make you look larger.

On a smaller frame oversized prints are hard to carry off. I’m doing my best here. What I lack in height I make up for in enthusiasm.

The dress is so wildly happy. As a vintage reseller I certainly would be hard to miss which is kind of the point.

I get to wear items that most people wouldn’t and possibly couldn’t ever consider due to their work situations. I don’t know how often you’d see someone running around an office looking like this. That is the bonus about being a vintage reseller, not only do I get to share my passion for vintage with the world, I get to dress as outlandishly I want.

I discovered a long time ago when I had my other business designing and selling wholesale scrapbooking supplies that it was important to create a memorable image for people to associate with you.

It is part of creating a brand. I was the artist and the brand. My company at the time was called Bisous (bee-zoo) which means little kisses in French.

The photo below was taken at the Craft And Hobby Association trade show in 2009.

 

My outfit looked similar to this…

I wore comfy motorcycle boots that helped me get through the ten hour days on my feet selling or teaching classes.

I always wore a hat because few people do. It is an image defining accessory.

In the photo above I added a massive stone necklace. Yes, that is my real hair colour, blond. I went red a few years afterwards.

As you can tell this was also before I paid attention to makeup. I still don’t wear makeup daily but I do like it when I go out or take photos. Otherwise it is difficult to decipher if I have eyes or not in photos. I didn’t even learn how to properly apply eye make up until a few years ago.

#truestory

I used to take photos of all of the outfits I would wear during the trade show. It was part of my show preparation. While at the show I need to be focused on sales knowing that the other details were already looked after. I also did this for trips. I will share some of these outfit photos in another post. I think it is very telling to see how my personal style statement has evolved over the years becoming brighter and bolder as I age.

 

When we did the Toronto Vintage Clothing show a month ago I dressed like this…

 

This was the car packed before the show…

 

Not an inch to spare!

 

This was my wonderful helper that flew in all the way from Hong Kong…

 

And this is what I wore on the second day of the show…

 

My style evolution is becoming louder, more eclectic (some would say eccentric) and more visible as I age.

 

How has your personal style evolved over the past ten years? Are you becoming more or less visible? Why?

 

 

I had to take a break from my gingham dress challenge today as I had “gingham fatigue” but I still have another post or two coming soon.

 

Linking up and remaining Visible with the lovely ladies over at Visible Monday 

and Turning Heads Tuesday