• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Bloglovin
  • Instagram

Suzanne Carillo

40+ Adventurous style solutions for the uncommon woman

1980’s Vintage Dynasty Dress Styled Contemporary

by

You know I love a good estate sale. They are exciting and a bit addictive. You never know what treasures you’re going to find. Sure it means getting up extra, extra early on a Saturday morning which normally I would hate, but if you have your heart set on something special sometimes you don’t mind sacrificing a bit of sleep.

If you’ve never been to an estate sale they often work based on a ticketing system. The organizers state a time they will be handing out tickets at the door and people line up (often hours in advance) to get a ticket that holds their place in line. Once you have your tickets you must wait until they allow entry to the premises which is often two hours later. People are then admitted entry to the house based on ticket number.

The last few estate sales I’ve gone to I haven’t had much luck.

I was delighted when I spotted a fantastic bar cart a couple of months back in the estate sale preview photos, exactly like what I’d been looking for.  We thought we’d arrived plenty early, about thirty minutes prior to them handing out tickets.  Turns out we were #35 in line. Some people had arrived at 3 am!  Someone else promptly went in and scooped up my bar cart before we even got in the door. Annoying! 

A couple of weeks later I spotted another sale where they had a fabulous oval 1960’s teak coffee table…perfect since my pug broke the wonderful 1960’s vintage glass top we had last year. We arrived very early, we were only the fifth and sixth people to get into the home but the third and fourth people ran straight downstairs and bought the table out from under us. GRRRRR!!!

By this time I was beginning to think the Estate Sale Fairy was mad at me.

I gave it one last try in a smaller town called Kitchener about 45 minutes from where I live.  I thought there would be fewer people attending and less chance I’d be deprived again of my prize, which happened to be an immaculate ankle length pink 1960’s cocktail dress with black bodice beading.

A true treasure straight off the set of MadMen!

We arrived very early but STILL managed to be the forth and fifth people in line. What is it with these people getting up so dang early on the weekend? 

However, after so much perseverance the illusive Estate Sale Fairy had granted my wish!  Not only did they have that swoon-worthy Ginger-from-Gilligan’s-Island cocktail dress, they had others as well that were only just discovered on the morning of the sale!

No one else was even looking at the clothes so I didn’t have to fight anyone.

They were mine! All mine!

It was finally worth missing an extra three hours of sleep.

This week I’m showcasing some of the pieces I scored at that estate sale and thanking my lucky stars that the owner was almost the same size as me.

1980’s Vintage Dynasty Dress Styled Contemporary

The first dress I’m featuring isn’t my normal style, being both black and voluminious. 1980’s fashion is borderline vintage for me. This dress really reminds me of the dress I wore to my graduation which is made out of the same crepe material, and yes, I graduated high school in the early 1980’s.

As soon as I saw the sleeves and the neckline I thought, “Dynasty”.

my dynasty dress how to wear vintage over 40

It has shoulder pads but they are very small. I almost wish they were bigger because I have small narrow shoulders and I think it would help the drape of the sleeve.

black 1980s vintage dress suzanne carillo
Dress – vintage, Belt – Anthropologie (old), Clutch – Anthropologie, Shoes – Nine West (old), Earrings – Vintage

 

1980s vintage dynasty dress in black crepe suzanne carillo

The skirt is wonderfully full. This would be a great dress for dancing a ballroom waltz.

how to wear vintage when you are over 40 suzanne carillo

It may be a bit large on me, but I think it isn’t too noticeable with the belt. It does come with its own belt but I like the additional sparkle and colour.

1980's vintage dynasty dress styled contemporary how to wear vintage over 40

What do you think of the dress?

I actually think it looks quite contemporary aside from the longer hem length.

vintage 1980s dynasty style black crepe dress styled contemporary suzanne carillo

I switched out my winter clothing for my summer clothing and it appears that somehow I now own too many dresses. How is that possible? I need a bigger house. Don’t call the hoarder police. I will be arrested on the spot.

I’ve decided I don’t have enough events to attend. My pug/agent/assistant isn’t booking me enough fancy cocktail parties and red carpet events.  It may be time to start selling a few choice dresses on Etsy. Either that or get a new pug, which is kind of like saying, get a new husband.

Tempting…oh so very tempting…but a pain-in-the-ass to retrain someone new from scratch.  I know you all know what I’m talking about.

Wednesday I’ll show you a truly unique 1970’s maxi dress I discovered at the same sale.

 

 

Linking up with Visible Mondays, Turning Heads Tuesdays,

Keep Thigh High Boots From Falling Down

by

 

This skirt is too short. I’m wearing it with tights and thigh high boots.

how to wear velvet and suede over 40 suzanne carillo

I took this skirt to the consignment store but they weren’t able to sell it and now it is back home.

I keep trying to convince myself to donate it but it is a very high quality, well made piece.

It frustrates me when I take brilliant pieces into the consignment store and they don’t sell.  Don’t people recognize quality anymore?

how to wear over the knee boots over 40

I will freely admit, I have a hard time giving up any Anthropologie or higher end pieces.

bold style for women over 40 suzanne carillo

I keep toying with the idea of taking down the hem to make it a bit longer but it seems quite complicated (ribbon hem edge) and I’m worried that the fabric will show where the hem was previously.

Instead my solution was to wear it with very opaque tights and thigh highs which is basically the same as wearing it with super skinny pants…right?

Ha!

Let me live in my delusion.

 

Do you ever have this problem?

When you wear a skirt or dress with OTK or thigh high boots and the boots keep slipping down, resulting in “ancient elephant knee”?  I already have wrinkled knees when I’m not wearing boots so when I’m wearing OTK or thigh high boots I expect my legs to look like ballet dancer legs, flawless. This wrinkled suede look was no bueno.

I came up with a DIY solution how to keep thigh high boots from falling down when wearing a dress or skirt (that isn’t as short as the one above).

 

DIY solution to keep thigh high boots from falling down when you are wearing a skirt or a dress

If I had room I would have added ” WHILE YOU’RE WEARING A DRESS OR SKIRT” to the title.

DIY: Keep Thigh High Boots From Falling Down

You need 4″ x 2 of ribbon that matches your boots, some scissors, a sewing machine and an old fashioned garter belt similar to this one used to hold up stockings.

This method will work well for faux suede boots like mine or thin leather boots.

I sewed a small loop with the ribbon into the top of each boot at the front and the back.

If you’re stitching on leather make sure you have a strong enough needle in your sewing machine.

DIY solution to keep thigh high boots from falling down when wearing a dress or skirt

Clip the ribbons to the garter belt just like you would stockings to keep them from falling.

The solution worked well but the double looped ribbons were a bit too thick for my garter belt.  I’ve cut the loops now and only clip a single ribbon  to the garter at the front and back.

When I’m not using the garter I just tuck the ribbons inside the boots.

Melanie had another suggestion which was to use very small, strong magnets which could be placed between your jeans and your boots to keep them up.

Do you know of any other solutions to keep thigh high boots from falling down?

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)