Not Your Typical Summer Outfit

Head to toe gray and black, and bulky, heavy textures? Maybe I'm taking a quick break from the punchy colorful vintage I've been wearing as of late.

Sweater - Barney's

Trousers - Helmut Lang

Bangles - H&M

Bag - Chloe

Shoes - Lanvin

Buttoned Up

Dress- vintage { 1940s }

Earrings - my godmother

Bag - Elliott Lucca

Shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo

Watermelon Taffy

Dress - vintage { late 1950s/early 1960s }

Cardigan - vintage { 1960s }

Bracelet - vintage { 1940s }

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

For a Rainy Day

I love this dress - it has tiny umbrellas all over it.

Cardigan, Dress, Sweater Clip, Bag - vintage { 1950s }

Earrings - my godmother

Ring - House of Harlow 1960

Shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo

Dead to Me: A Wee Obsession with Deadstock

A common term in the vintage world used to describe clothing that still has the original hang tags attached is "dead stock." Some other oft-used terms and their corresponding abbreviations are new old stock (NOS), new with tags (NWT) and NIB (new in box).

I have two pieces that fit this description.  One is a bed jacket that is in the shop.  The other is a bright cotton dress that I bought from Dear Golden.  In fact, I will be ceremoniously cutting the tags off the dress soon because I seriously cannot wait to wear it.

How does deadstock happen?  Sometimes, a person really does buy something, never take it off the hanger, and there it stays as the decades roll by. Other times a store will box up unsold merchandise and it will go into storage until it is unearthed years later.  This happened once at my very first job. I was still in high school and worked at an indie video store and one day we found a never-opened cardboard box filled with promotional t-shirts for the movie Dick Tracy.  This was only eight years after the film had been released, but it felt like the archeological find of the century.  What can I say, it was a pretty mellow place to work.

If you like playing detective, hang tags can come in handy if you're not sure how old a garment is by studying it.  The style of the designa nd lettering can be clues, as their often reflect the aesthetic of the time the clothes were made.  An address of a store can help too - look for the presence of a zip code (those didn't exist in the USA until 1962) and how a state might be abbreviated - PA vs. Penna. and so forth.

That tag cracks me up.  Oh, how many more days than just three have passed since this dress was bought and put away!  Not like I'd take anyone up on their return policy anyway - it's totally a keeper!

A Little Bit of Hardware

Friday means casual dress at work. I played things more laid back than I usually do, and found that coincidentally I had a bit of metal on me, particularly my trousers and shoes.

Not an outfit I'd recommend to wear while passing through airport security.

Sweater - Barney's

Trousers - Isabel Marant

Shoes - Celine

Alaskan Artifacts

Most of you may not know this: when I was a little girl, our family lived in Alaska for about five years.

This was in the late eighties and early nineties.  Although indigenous peoples native to the region had lived there for thousands of years, western settlers didn't make their way up until the latter half of the nineteenth century, and Alaska didn't even become a State until 1949.

Tourism in The Last Frontier boomed after statehood was reached.  Remember that insane haul of 1950s movie star magazines that Ted found for me?  Tucked into a few of them were brochures on visiting Alaska and Western Canada from the early 1960s.  A random and fantastic surprise.

Seeing these images from another time reminded me that I have a funny little object whose age I am unsure of.  It's a child's wallet, made of some stiff plasticky material that doesn't resemble leather in the slightest.

The tallest mountain in the United States (and North America) is Denali, which of course resides in Denali National Park.  A little over 20,000 feet tall, 'Denali' roughly translates to 'the high one' or 'the great one' in Athabaskan, but in the 1890s an unknown gold prospector called it Mt. McKinley (after President McKinley) and that name really caught on, shoving the original name from the indigenous folks aside. It seemed as though Mt. McKinley was what many people called this mountain until around the time when we lived up there, when an effort to return to the original name seemed to be gaining momentum.  Little tchotchkes with 'Mt. McKinley' on them are a bit harder to come by these days.

In Bloom

Dress - Dries Van Noten

Necklace - vintage { 1980s }

Shoes - Jimmy Choo

Summer is Here

Aren't you excited? I know I am.

Sweater & Skirt - vintage { 1980s }

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

Standing Tall

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

T-shirt - American Apparel

Trousers - Isabel Marant

Necklace - Fenton/Fallon

Bag - Chloe

Shoes - Celine

Mama Tried: My DIY Moon Manicure

For a long while now I've thought moon manicures, common in the 1930s and 40s, were quite pretty and a classic twist on a traditional plane jane set of ten red nails.

Also known as "half moon" and "crescent moon," these manicures traditionally have a solid color polish (usually a shade of red) with an empty area (or filled in with a very light color) around the moon area of your nail.

I really wanted to give it a shot, and from what I'd read, you need reinforcements to do it up right.  I had to go to about five different drugstores because those things are not as common as they used to be!  The CVS on Market St. eventually came through in the clutch.  So I set up my little manicure station at home.  I advise shaping your nails into more of an almond shape than you are used too; that shape really works well with the moon look.

It was messy.  And I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I grew quite frustrated fairly early on.

(Keep some Q-tips and nail polish remover on hand for clean up.)

The reinforcements did not peel off easily, and they left jagged edges.  I can't believe I'm showing you these close-ups.  I think, ultimately, it will just take practice and better timing in the peeling-off process.

Vintage nail polish ad via Elegant Musings

Primary Colors

Blazer - vintage { 1950s }

T-shirt - The Seventh Heart

Shorts - 3.1 Phillip Lim

Necklaces - Fenton/Fallon

Bag - Balenciaga

Shoes Roberto Clergerie for Barney's

You've Got the Touch

Dress- vintage { 1940s }

Belt - vintage { 1980s }

Necklace - vintage Bakelite

Earrings - my godmother

Bag - Elliott Lucca

Shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo

Hold On Tight

Dress - vintage { 1940s }

Belt - vintage { 1980s }

Brooch - vintage { 1960s? }

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Prada

1950s Movie Star Magazines + New Swimsuit

A while back, Ted was at work and came across a stack of movie fan magazines from 1951 and 1952.  His supervisor was going to throw them away, but because Ted 1) knows me and 2) knows what's good for him, he saved them and brought them home.

I've gone through a couple so far (they smell musty and I've been kind of busy these days) but all in all he rescued about a dozen and they are all shades of vapid, cheesy and absolutely fascinating.

The content consists of equal parts gossip and super-staged "interviews" and photo ops.  The paparazzi existed in America in those days but it was not as common as it is today, and usually those photos were published in magazines of a more pulp-y caliber.  Of the magazines that Ted salvaged, Doris Day is the cover girl more often than anyone else.  Other ladies of note that grace the covers are Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, and Esther Williams.  Of course, the clothes and hairdos are something to behold.

The advertisements are just as great.  These magazines are such amazing snapshots of pop culture from a specific moment in time.  Once I go through all of them, maybe I'll post some highlights.

All this talk about Esther Williams reminds me that I got a new swim suit this weekend.  I haven't bought  one in about three years, so it was certainly time for it.  Best of all, it was on sale at Anthropologie, (a place I rarely visit) and the last size hanging on the rack in this lovely peachy-pink color. It has a vintage-ish vibe to it and is very flattering.  I couldn't really say no.

Chocolate Orange

Dress - vintage { 1950s }

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

Seeing Red

Dress- vintage { 1950s Suzy Perette }

Hat - vintage { 1960s }

Brooch - vintage { 1950s Ceil Chapman }

Earrings - my godmother

Bag - Elliott Lucca

Shoes - Salvatore Ferragamo

Blushing

Dress- vintage { 1940s }

Earrings - my godmother

Bag - Chloe

Shoes - Pour la Victoire

Shoes on the Chaise

At Barneys earlier this afternoon, this completely accidental yet perfectly lovely chartreuse and purple color story caught my eye.

And that, my friends, is what cameras on your phones are for: those in-case-of-emergency situations.

On Urban Weeds!

Last month during my trip to Portland I happened to run into Lisa Waringer, who helms Urban Weeds, Stumptown's premier streetstyle blog. I have been a fan Urban Weeds for years now and was delighted when she took my picture.

Click on over here for the full photos.

Red Pepper

Sweater and Skirt - vintage { 1950s }

Earrings - my godmother

Purse - Elliott Lucca

Sunglasses - Tom Ford

Shoes - Jimmy Choo

Blue Bubbles

Suit - vintage {1950s }

Brooch - Ceil Chapman { 1950s }

Earrings - my godmother

Bag - Elliott Lucca

Shoes - Christian Louboutin

Back in Business

I had to have a small hole in this dress fixed. It has finally been returned to me and I couldn't be happier.

Dress - vintage { 1940s }

Necklace - vintage { 1940s }

Belt - vintage { 1980s }

Shoes - Miu Miu

Thrifting and Vintage Shopping in San Francisco

Although I get my clothes and accessories from a variety of places (online retailers, local boutiques, big department stores) I often get asked by readers who are visiting from out of town about vintage and thrift shopping in San Francisco specifically.

So, a while back I decided to make an actual mini-guide here on Cuffington for anyone who cares to take a peek.  This is by no means an exhaustive, be-all, end-all list; it's just what I have found to be my favorite places over the years.  As far as where to go during your visit to San Francisco, it pretty much comes down to how much time you have to travel (neighborhood-wise) and price points.

Mission District
Here you will find the highest concentration of thrift and vintage stores, and you will also encounter the lowest price points. The thing is, it can be very hit-or-miss. If all you want to do is dig around, have fun, and get a bargain, this is the place to go. It’s kind of a big neighborhood, so things can be a bit spread out. It’s super easy to get a cheap lunch in this neighborhood too. Also, most thrift stores in SF have caught on that vintage is sought-after, so don’t be surprised to find stuff from the 80s or older at not-so-thrift prices. But sometimes they miss a few garments, so look for deals.

Thrift:
Thrift Town – Good prices. Weed through the roughage to find deals. Decent and very cheap shoe collection too.
Goodwill Flagship – Some SF Goodwills specifically weed out all vintage, but this one does not. They have a section that is marked up somewhat but still within reason. That said – what they label as “vintage” is laughable at times. Totally decent shoe and bag section as well. Best to go early in the day – it tends to get ransacked and fall into chaos with each passing hour.

Vintage:
Idol – Can have a costume-shop-type vibe but worth checking out. Weed through the double-knits and 80s prom dresses and you might find a gem. Medium price range.
Painted Bird – Cute stuff. Very affordable; almost nothing in this store is over $30. Vintage mixed with modern stuff that is vintage-inspired, don’t be surprised to see H&M and F21 in the mix. Time period mostly 1970s to present, and vintage that is on trend for urban twentysomethings.

Haight-Ashbury
I don't often come to this part of town, but when I do, it is to visit these three vintage places.

Wasteland – Wasteland is actually a small national chain. They have a mix of old and new. If you like to mix and match vintage with modern, this is your place. Major hipster vibe. It’s the kind of place where they buy most of their stock over the counter from customers, but they are very picky so their stock is excellent. Medium to high pricing.  There's also a photobooth in the back - fun!

La Rosa – Oh gracious. My favorite vintage place in the city. Very small boutique, very friendly and knowledgeable staff, absolutely gorgeous and hard to find clothing. Their time period is very specific – nothing is more recent than the early 1960s or so, with the bulk of their garments from the 1930s-1950s. Their garments are in premium condition, and a premium price is charged, for example, it’s rare to find a skirt for less than $50, and most dresses are around $100 or more.

Dollhouse Bettie – Vintage lingerie, most of it new old stock (never worn). Also a selection of lingerie made today that has a subtle retro feel. No real clothing though, so if you’re on a time crunch, best to skip it.

Elsewhere
Ver Unica (vintage) – Two locations a block away from each other in Hayes Valley. Very solid selection all around of jewelry, clothing, shoes and accessories. Smaller store has a more youthful vibe, larger store is where things can get fancy. Time period generally 1950s-70s, although they do have some pieces from the 1920s-40s too. I really like the clothes at Ver Unica, but be advised - prices can be up there. There is a vibe of relaxed glamour and boho chic.  Plus, they always play great music and the friendliness of the staff can't be beat.

Out of the Closet (thrift) – Far and away, I prefer their location in the Castro. Their stock can be a total toss up, and very hit and miss, but if you do find something you won’t believe what a great deal you got. Shoe, bag and jewelry selection is weak, go there for the clothes only. Oddly, they often have a decent selection of barely worn workwear (like Banana Republic, J. Crew and sometimes even Miu Miu and Jil Sander) and I have found many nice sweaters and pencil skirts there

Be advised…..as of this writing, sales tax in San Francsico is 9.5%. However, if you buy from a thrift store, you are not charged any sales tax, because the items are sourced from donations.

Apple Dumpling Gang

Blouse - vintage { 1950s }

Jeans - old Wranglers

Belt - vintage buckle, Levi's belt

Necklace - family heirloom ring on a gold chain

Bag - Chloe

Boots - Frye

Spring Fling

Sweater- vintage

Skirt - vintage { 1980s }

Earrings - my godmother

Shoes - Pour la Victoire

Keeping it Simple

Sweater - Miu Miu

Skirt - vintage { 1940s }

Shoes - Prada