Vintage Style | DIY...kinda

If you know me well then you know how much I love vintage style. Seriously. If I had the money to completely redo my wardrobe, or the sewing proficiency (someday) I would do it in a heartbeat. Of course my era of choice would be a hodgepodge of the 1940s and 1950s decades..

Well, I have neither the money, nor the current sewing ability to completely re-start my clothing life as a 1950's housewife so until then I will have to settle for a slow but steady changeover with with outfits I created from finds at my local thrift store. Let's have a look at some shall we? First, let's look at some style inspiration. Ready for an onslaught of photographs? Ok, let's go...

Ok, let me just say...I love EVERYTHING about this outfit!

Oh Grace Kelly, anytime you want simple elegance, she's your girl..

I love these pants on Marilyn Monroe! Although I think she may have still been Norma Jeane here...

More Grace Kelly if you didn't get enough...

I love this shot of these 3 ladies on bikes but peep their shoes...you still have to be fashionable even on casual bike rides!

The late, great Ms. Lena Horne...gorgeous woman; elegant, sultry, and I love her hair in all of these photos!

And one more time for Ms. Marilyn Monroe...

Ok, now let me show you some of the outfits I put together that was inspired by these lovely ladies...

Outfit 1

This one is probably my favorite out of all of the outfits I put together. I was trying to channel Grace Kelly elegance. All I needed was a sleek bun...

Outfit 2

Here I was going for a Lucille Ball type casual outfit. I could wear this everyday...

 Outfit 3

With this outfit I wanted to channel what I thought a professional woman would look like in the 40's or 50's. For some reason I had a school director in my mind...

Quick makeup shot. Red lipstick is a must...

Outfit 4

Ahh the finale, I was going for casual, fun and flirty..

Don't mind my Rosie the Riviter-esque posing here, I'm a nerd 

And of course here I had to play into a re-enactment of the above photo of the women on bicycles. Except I opted for no shoes instead of the fancy ones they had on. I'm still in search of satisfactory shoes...

Anywho, here is my first attempt on vintage style, I am sure I will post another once I have acquired a few more pieces. If all else fails there is always the default to the poodle skirts and sweetheart necklines... I just wanted to put together a few outfits that did not include skirts or dresses, although that is my favorite style choice when it comes to 1940's and 50's fashion. We all need to get out of our comfort zones sometimes though right? 

I have a Pinterest board with all of my vintage inspirations, granted they are mostly pins of women from Old Hollywood, but I believe there are some links that could steer anyone looking for vintage style inspiration for children or men in the right direction...

And if you want to see a bit more of the outfits I put together, check out this video!

Until next time peeps!

xoxo,

Cass

Random Fact for the Day: To Have and Have Not (1945) is the only instance when a Nobel prize-winning author (Ernest Hemingway) was adapted for the screen by another Nobel-winning author (William Faulkner)

Casual Friday OOTD

Happy Friday peeps! And happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone! I just had to share my outfit of the day today. But first, let me take a selfie...

I think it is the perfect blend of cute & comfy, and with that let's continue with the OOTD shall we?

When I got dressed this morning I had no idea that I would head to work feeling as cute as I did while still being comfortable. Needless to say, I was feelin' myself so I took that opportunity to snap some pics in order to share in my joy.

The shirt is a Merona button down I got from Target. I don't own many button down shirts, most of my tops are blouses but I must say this is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

Le pants are SO jeggings I picked them up from Kohl's a while back (another quick fav). Jeggings are so great because you get the stretchiness of leggings with the stability of jeans. I would feel naked if I went out in a pair of leggings that weren't underneath a dress... The shoes are from DSW by Mix No.6. And how cute is that pop of color in the toe?!

Accessories include this rhinestone watch I got from Rue 21 and these gorgeous pendant earrings I got from a local accessory shop. 

Can you tell how comfy I am in my work day attire?? Almost made the work day fly by. Almost.

That's all I've got for today. Peace out homies.

xoxo,

Cass

Random Fact for the Day:

Memorial Day was not always known by that moniker.  During the Civil War, people decorated the graves of fallen soldiers on what became known at the time as "Decoration Day." 

OOTD

Hey peeps! Long time, no see! I have been super busy lately and haven't had much time to catch my breath but I thought I'd squeeze in a few minutes for a quick Outfit of the Day post. This morning when I woke up I had one thought, "must.wear.dress." Sometimes you just want to feel pretty at work, you know? So I picked out my "heart" dress I got from Old Navy a couple of years ago, the pattern on the dress is made up of various sized hearts. I must say I love the neckline of this dress.. I paired the dress with a cardigan I bought from Kohl's and finished it off with a pair of grey semi-dress shoes to complete the look. I think I love wearing dresses so much because it's like a one piece outfit; no muss, no fuss. Of course I did have to choose to wear a dress on the one day this week that the weather decides to be overcast and rainy. Oh well, I still look cute...

Yeah, I was sorta feelin' myself...lol

Have a wonderful night loves!

xoxo,

Cass

Random Fact for the Day:

(In honor of National Hi-5 Day..) The world record for the most high fives in one minute is 212, held by Deepak Sharma Bajagain at the GoldenGate International College in Old Baneshwor, Battisputali, Kathmandu, Nepal, on August 12, 2013.

A Week in my Co-Worker's Style

If you didn't know already, I am an engineer. Being an engineer, and working in an office in general, doesn't always provide the most exciting of atmospheres on a day to day basis and, due to my aversion to the mundane, I periodically need to create opportunities to entertain myself (and those around me). In October, it was dressing up for Halloween. I actually succeeded in getting a few people in my office to join me in dressing up.  I was a scarecrow.

 

Somewhere along the way in the past few weeks to months I got it in my head that I wanted to dress up as a few guys at my job, not to be spiteful or mean, I just thought it would be fun. I picked 5 guys that, to me, have very distinct styles and pieced together outfits from my closet, with the help of my husband, that I though represented their individual styles...

My first project was Thomas:

I would describe Thomas' style as a cross between metrosexual and hipster.  He's usually the dressiest guy in our office, looking like a clothing ad from GQ Magazine. In the picture above I actually think I'm dressed more like the usual Thomas than Thomas is (I blame it on the fact that he came in earlier than usual that day, so he was a bit more casually dressed than he would have been if it were a normal day).

I'm wearing an American Rag button up and paired it with a tie from my husband's closet. I chose black jeans because they helped me create a stylish outfit but keep it young and fresh. The shoes were the closest I could find in my closet to loafers. And although I don't believe Thomas wears loafers, they're the closest thing I have to men's dress shoes, plus I thought they completed the outfit.

Next up, Anthony:

I'm not quite sure I can articulate Anthony's style in words because I don't really know what to call it. Anthony's style is very simple, he usually has a neutral base with a pop of color. I went with the grey men's sweater from Banana Republic with a coral polo underneath and paired it with (my version of) a simple black dress pant. Anthony alternates between blue jeans and dress pants so I could have paired this outfit with jeans too if I wanted. The shoes I'm wearing are black booties from Target, mostly to make me taller like Anthony. 

 If I had it to do over again I probably would have gone with a purple polo, I dont think I've ever seen Anthony in a red shirt, unless it was an OU polo...


Wednesday was Brad:

We almost matched that day!

I would describe Brad's personal style as eclectic, although he doesn't necessarily dress eclectically from day to day. I should actually say that Brad has eclectic pieces that complement his style, his most notable, the bow-tie.  Any time I've ever seen Brad dress up for an event, meeting or just to feel snazzy around the office, he is sure fire to be wearing a bow-tie. He also has a wooden bow-tie that he's worn to work! (Hence, eclectic pieces..) I don't actually own a bow-tie and neither does my husband, so for this outfit I just made a bow and tied it around my neck using ribbon. I actually made two (the other shown below), because I can get pretty indecisive, and ended up going with the lace. Both will soon be re-purposed into hair bows for one of my nieces.

For my 'Brad-outfit' I wore a floral denim button down and paired it with a khaki colored sweater over it. Brad is pretty casual and goes for stylish comfort so I paired that with a pair of blue jeans and my canvas Tom's. And of course, the bow-tie finish.

Next, Cody:

For Cody, I had to take it a step further and assume a character. The most notable thing in Cody's style is his beard, and if you can't tell Cody's a ginger.. Being that I am obsessed with craft projects and also being weird, coupled with the fact that I have little shame and don't embarrass too easily, I had to do the beard..

I made the beard using cotton balls that I dipped in a bowl that had water, orange food coloring and paprika. I blow dried the cotton balls with my hair drier and proceed to hot glue my beard into fruition. For Cody's clothing style, he is very casual so I decided to go with a tee similar to one that he wore often (his said "keep calm, and chive on") and paired it with jeans and black sneakers. The beard definitely made the outfit though..

Last but not least, big boss-man Phil:

Yes, Phil is our boss. He was undoubtedly the outfit I was most excited to wear all week, which is why I saved it for last. Unfortunately, Phil was out of the office that Friday so he didn't get a chance to see me dress up as him, sadface. Phil's style is pretty simple, mainly because he's like an urban cowboy. He's usually in a button down, polo, or sweater and that is always, always paired with a pair of blue jeans and cowboy boots so it was pretty easy to choose my outfit.

For the top, I went safe with one of our company's Nike Golf polo's and paired that with a pair of blue jeans with a semi-worn look and my brown boots, which are not actually cowboy boots but they were the closest I was getting without buying a pair.

Dressing up as some of my male co-workers was the little jog I needed to get me out of my little wintertime funk. It's really easy to let the stresses of adulthood bog you down so it's good to remind yourself  to have fun in whatever you do, even at work! I hope my co-workers found my tribute to their style as entertaining as I did. Hopefully no one shows up in a skirt & blouse next week dressed up as me...

xoxo,

Cass

Random fact for the day: 

On this day (February 9) in 1971, pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige becomes the first Negro League veteran to be nominated for the Baseball Hall of Fame.