vintage leather coat Archives

We all know that life is constantly changing, evolving and moving forward. Sometimes it feels like we are stagnating or moving backwards but that is only our perception. We continue on our own path inching forward daily.

The One Constant In Life Is Change

how to wear vintage over 40 suzanne carillo — All items vintage, thrifted except the belt.

One would think by the age of fifty-one (soon-to-be fifty-two) I would be accepting of the inevitable changes that occur in life. I should understand that every moment gives us a new beginning and a new ending. Changes should be celebrated and not feared, yet I find myself railing against major changes in my life more so now than I did when I was younger. Instead of viewing them as an opportunity I worry about their consequences and how it will affect the trajectory of my life. Instead of remaining in the moment I’m years ahead of myself.

I’ve lost that magical connection to the present.

The ability to breathe and appreciate where I am.

Remaining in the here and now is a skill set I excelled at in my early years.

Didn’t we all? When the world was our oyster and nothing would stop us from achieving whatever we wanted?

With age comes acceptance and sometimes acceptance can slow us down.

Allowing reality to step all over implausible dreams is another way of saying we have matured and acquired wisdom.

Acceptance of reality without abandonment of dreams is the sweet spot.

Reality has a way of poking crater-like holes in my dreams until they are finally just fluffs of air that blow away with the slightest wind.

I’d love to have some of my youthful naivety back.

That blissful ignorance that propels us to react without reflecting, jumping without looking for a place to land.

I stumbled across this quote and it resonated with me today…

“Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” – Robin Sharma

Do you find that you are more or less accepting of change as you grow older?

Linking up with Fancy Friday

Visible Monday

I had a whirlwind weekend with two blogger meet-ups and The Toronto Vintage Show.

This post is just about the Toronto vintage show.

I was an exhibitor at this very show about five years ago selling my handmade necklaces which often included vintage pieces like this one below with a vintage brooch in it, currently for sale in my Etsy shop.

This time round I was all about the shopping. We arrived as soon as they opened, spent the full day there and felt rushed to make last minute decisions as they were getting ready to close. We didn’t even sit down to eat or drink! I’m that serious when it comes to vintage shopping. I need an intervention.

We chose to start our shopping on the wrong side of the hall, in booths that were more focused on jewellery and home furnishings. I wasted precious time admiring pieces I had no intention of buying when I should have been on the other side shopping like a mad woman in the clothing section.

the toronto vintage show 2015 suzanne carillo — Top row left, gorgeous but overpriced 1960’s dress, centre, stunning embroidered couture maxi skirt, right, fringed leather vest (fringe is everywhere!). Middle, lots of pretty 1950’s-60’s dresses in a row. Lower, two of the stylish attendees.

Sorry some of the photos are so blurry, I was frantically shopping and taking photos with my old phone at the same time. I’m such a pro. Ha!

I was overwhelmed. There was too much awesomeness stuffed into one building. I’d fallen into vintage nirvana and the clock was ticking down.

I really could have taken home twice as much as I did.

I’m kind of regretting not buying those last two dresses here. I really wanted to take them home.

The bronze one on the right was a slinky, sexy, luxurious knit, but it was going to require a tailor to shorten it ( probably $20) and I was worried it might snag (it was made out of some kind of poly/acetate) and I would probably need to wear Spanx with it. You remember how Spanx have tried to kill me before.

I really, really loved it though. {heavy sigh}

The black wild one…is AMAZING!!! Gah. I felt like a moving piece of art wearing it. I flippin’ LOVED that dress. Sad thing was, (and this is an important vintage shopping tip) when I started to carefully check over the piece before purchasing I noticed the entire back seam had come apart and needed to be restitched. That in itself wasn’t a huge deal, but then I noticed that the lower seam on the hem and the bottom of the hem would also require stitching, which would need to be hand stitched as there was an actual hole. If the dress had been $25 okay…I don’t mind doing all that extra work, but I was only able to negotiate it down to $50 from $75 and I felt like $50 was too much for a dress that would require so much work. Now of course I’m looking back on it I wish I’d bought it. Especially since a bunch of people commented on my Instagram how much they loved it.

Damn you Instagram readers for being overly generous with your compliments!

If I had any events planned I probably would have taken both of those dresses.

My life should be about cocktail parties, red carpets and celebrities but it is really about dog walks, beige carpets that desperately need vacuuming and a diva husband that thinks he is a celebrity.

Okay…enough complaining! Now I get to show you what I did buy!

Why an orange leather jacket? (Factory Girl Vintage) Because I just bought these the day before on super sale!

Yes they are an exact match in colour! Now I will be known as Orange Leather Woman.

That doesn’t sound remotely attractive.

(shrugs)

This piece looks just ho hum on the hanger, but it is a very chic avant guard jumpsuit from the 80’s that is weirdly figure flattering. (See it modelled on Cry Violet Vintage)

It has things that fly out at the hips that look a bit like bat wings. (Just what everyone needs at their hips…bat wings!) I know, I know, you’re thinking I’ve lost my mind, but trust me…it looks really cool on. I had to convince my skeptical husband of this as well.

Remember how I wanted some tall black leather lace up boots? These are the next best thing. They are fur lined, so I will be able to wear them even when the snow falls. I need to get some new laces for them and polish them up a bit.

When I came out of the dressing room wearing this dress (Primetime Antiques & Collectiables) a guy came over and took my photo. I either looked ridiculous or really good.

Either way, it came home with me.

It reminds me of a dress I had as a kid for my Barbie.

I’m living the dream guys!

Wearing my Barbie’s clothes. I’m expecting Apollo or Starbuck any minute to pick me up for our date in their red corvette.

I can remember sometimes my Barbie would go out with both Apollo and Starbuck at the same time because she couldn’t make up her mind. She was a bit of a hussy. I quite liked that about her.

And finally the last dress I bought, a more traditional style 1950’s dress in a fantastic woven print

that fits like a dream and has a wonderful neckline. (Kate’s Vintage Kloset). It is currently in my basement waiting to be hemmed. It came as a suit but I didn’t care for the jacket and Kate was nice enough to offer to sell it without the jacket.

That’s another tip when shopping vintage…just ask!

Every time I bought an item I asked the vendor if that was the best price they could do, and every single time they offered some kind of reduction. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

And just because hubby didn’t want to be left out he bought himself a bowler hat (Primetime Antiques & Collectables). Yep…I’m not the only one that loves some good vintage in this house. I really want to see where he is going to wear this. It isn’t going to look good in the corvette.