Shop Preview: Shoes! Parties!

We have a few fun shoes and party dresses to be listed in the next week:






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Flower Girl

I have a long standing crush on vintage brooches (you can find great ones here or here). It's kind of sad that they mainly sit in my drawer. I love the idea of making something like this so that they can see the light of day more. Any suggestions on how to make it so that the brooches can be worn too?

Found via BlueBird Vintage, but I can't find the original image

Faux-tage

I'm with Bex-- real vintage is better, but some of the stuff the kids these days are making is just too darn pretty to pass off. And, if we keep this stuff long enough it will be vintage, eventually.

Case in point. These wall cards from Webster's. I love the idea of decorating a nursery with these-- perhaps as a border around the ceiling, lining the back of a door, or in a series of frames spelling out the child's name? The price is right, and they are so quaint!

Dare to Design

A friend (thanks Alice) sent me a link to a Design Competition over at Shabby Apple Dresses. The website is asking readers to design a dress, and the top entries will be made and sold as part of their spring collection.

I tried my hand at a few designs. Nothing too fancy, but I often like simple dresses with cute detail, so it makes me think these would be dresses that I would actually wear. The vintage inspiration is obvious - a little 50s and 60s tossed in there with some modern fabrics (no polyesters ; ) to make them perfect spring wear.

I'm also still very into ruffles and bows and girly accents to make these looks cute and feminine. These are three of the designs I came up with.




Details here:
1) Rounded Peter Pan Collar Fitted Shift Dress

- I used muted colors here - I really like the idea of a soft gray dress with bright yellow bow accent, and a subtle yellow lace under the collar.
- zipper up the back




2) Sheer Illusion Peter Pan Collar Belted Shift Dress

- The fun thing about this collar is that it is actually sewn into the dress itself - the collar should be made from a sheer-ish material (not tacky like mesh, but something softer and silky but a little see-through). It would then be sewn right into the front of the dress for the illusion of a collar.
- Cute big buttons sewn down the front.
- Again, I was thinking muted colors. Maybe a print or subtle plaid of some sort, but still in a very understated color palatte. Maybe there can be some pops of color in the buttons or other details.
- Keyhole closure at the neck in the back. Probably with a fun button in the same contrasting fabric as the buttons down the front





3) Scalloped Ruffle Dress
- I can't decide if this would be two pieces or one. I like the idea of that ruffled part at the bottom sticking out from under the dress being a slip that could be worn under other dresses as well. Either way, the solid purple top dress would not be sewn directly to the ruffles underneath.
- The solid purple top would be a heavier material, and the ruffles or scalloped layer underneath would be something a little lighter.
- I like the idea of bright colors here - pinks, purples, bright blues...
- Little rounded scalloped detail everywhere. Yes.




And of course, all the models should wear animal heads ...

Shop Preview

We are getting ready for Fall over at Animal Head Vintage! We'll have coats, capes, sweaters, boots, brogues, and of course, a bevy of beautiful frocks.

Some of the fun coming to the shop this week:










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Judging Books by their Covers

I know it is pretty hard to beat the loveliness of a dusty old hardcover book with beautifully embossed cover, but Penguin is starting to publish the classics in a new line of some of the prettiest hardcover books I've seen, rivaling those old vintage covers (designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith). I hear they sell out all over, but Amazon is releasing this set at the end of this month. Wuthering Heights! The Picture of Dorian Gray! Pride and Prejudice!

Doesn't it make you want every one of them lined up on your bookshelf?







(order them on Amazon here)

I dunno. On one hand, I'm glad that we are producing beautiful products (I mean, if you are going to own the classics, they might as well be really pretty, right?) but on the other, I feel like this is another case of ripping off the perfection of the past and making it easy to own these vintage inspired covers without all the hard work of searching for the real vintage books. I feel like many people would still argue that the old books are more unique and maybe preferable to these new ones. What do you think?