Weekend Finds/ The Clothes Off My Back ( 2 for 1!)

Good morning!

Usually, Monday mornings are a good time to share weekend finds, and being as it's been an actual millennium since the last time I posted a picture of myself in pursuit of my true occupation, clotheshorse, I thought I would combine the two. These are some pretty extra-ordinary dresses that I've found in the last month, and don't think it hasn't killed me not to show them off before this! However, Sunday was the first day I managed to get my act together enough to take pictures. Or, more accurately, have Matthew take pictures. Thanks, mister!

On with the show:

Item 1: The Ten Dollar (!!) 1920's dress:

Or maybe earlier? I found this dress at the flea market hanging on a wall with a $15 price tag. LOOK. AT. THE SKIRT AND SUSPENDERS. In mint condition but for a small dark streak in the front of the skirt, the wool-set is the deepest purple possible without passing into grey-black, and consists of an underpiece of skirt/suspenders, with an overpiece of a mutton-sleeved jacket with a beaded overlay just on the collarbone. Now, riddle me this-- the skirt fits perfectly. I could not have bought a custom-piece that fits me as well as this does and that is truly something to crow about...the button details are adorable (there are three at either side of the bodice and three at each of the pockets...it almost seems like overkill but I love it). But the top over it won't even come close to buttoning correctly! We're talking a two or three inch gap between hook and closure, which frankly, vanity aside, is baffling. How did the person in the skirt wear the matching top if they're of two wildly varying sizes? I couldn't tell you. I'm just happy the less-costumey piece is completely wearable, and hopeful that I can somehow diet (or...remove ribs?) to get into the top some day (though then the skirt would look crazy on me...what is the deal, 1920's clothesmaker, whoever you were?). At any rate, I used my flea market idea of just freakin' always asking if they will take $5 less than any item over $10 is marked and, as in the other three times I tried it, this totally worked. TEN DOLLARS FOR WEARABLE HISTORY. I could die.

Item 2: The 7.99 Goodwill Dresses of My Dreams:

The dress on the left is a floaty, sixties'-bridesmaid type dress in the style of those Fembots from Austin Powers...it has a tight sheath dress as the base, and then two flowy overpanels that create what must be a flattering silhouette on the tiny modster it was originally made for, but pays no favors to the vertically overendowed, pear-shaped-as-the-day-is-long vintage blogger in question. So, I've added an elastic-and-faux-leather Gitano belt from the early 90's that I'm obsessed with right now, and my favorite 80's velour bolero. Instant update! Likewise for the dress on the right, which I actually found Saturday night at the Charlotte Goodwill (which should be the name of an off-Broadway musical). I picked it up and went...hm...this is different. It was then that I saw the MARIMEKKO tag from...wait for it...nineteen seventy four. I just about fainted dead away. Besides the gorgeous, in your face print and cut of this dress, and the fact that it actually fits me how is this possible, I am tickled pink about this dress's illustrious provenance. You can read more about the Finnish superstar op-art textile label here...I'm just counting my lucky stars I was in the right place at the right time to snatch it up and enjoy it!

Item 3: The Dress That's Almost Too Good For Me to Believe:

At the same flea market as the first dress, I was in an aisle full of animal enclosures and saw the tulle-and-satin underlay of this dress frothing over the lid of a waist-high cardboard box, and just about died. Is this real life? To a girl going through a re-addiction to the album Bella Donna, can you imagine anything better than a perfectly wrecked black fifties' ballgown made of satin and lace and tulle? And I am talking ball. GOWN. The thing swooshes when you walk like a straight up antebellum hoop skirt dresses, and you sort of glide on a sea of layered lace rather than walk in this dress. I really haven't ever seen anything like this in real life outside of wedding gowns...though the material is damaged in places, it was obviously an extremely expensive dress in its day. I didn't know any of that when I bought it, just that the man smoking a cigarette in an orange hoodie had asked me to yell if I needed help with anything, and this! This I needed help with. He asked $25 for the actually-heavy-there's-so-much-material bottom layer of the dress and the voile over-dress part, and I offered $20. Did I mention it has three hand-sized satin red bows down the back of it (not pictured, but take my word for it)? It does. He accepted and helped me lump the dress into a huge plastic bag to be guiltily carried around the rest of the flea market (it was too far to the car...imagine trying to navigate the already tight confines of a booth with this fifteen pound plastic bag full of dress). OVER. THE. MOON. I may have to rethink my whole wedding so I can just wear this instead of your traditional white gown. It's a dream!

Item 4: Bonus Feature

That's it for dresses I still can't believe I own, but I had to show you this picture Matthew drew on the kitchen dry-erase board. This board is supposed to be for items to get from the store (eggs, ketchup, etc) and things that are too far ahead on the calendar to write down (Caroline's bachelorette party, see bottom), and things I ask Matthew to write on it when I can't find a pen ("I WANT A BLACK AND DECKER MATRIX SYSTEM FOR XMAS. WRITE THAT DOWN SO I CAN REMEMBER IT TO TELL MY PARENTS!"). Last week, Matthew kept saying, "Hey, I think I heard a weird noise in the kitchen, kind of like a...I don't know, it's gonna sound crazy, but it kind of sounded like a tiny party?" Each day as I checked the refrigerator's erase board, I would find another crazy illustration of all these weird little creatures at a huge party. I think it started with that scarab bug and ended up with aliens, DJ bats, demons, Pacmen ghost...just the whole nine yards of his cute inner-mind. It was delightful, and I thought you might get a kick out of his scribblings. So there you go! :)

And thaaaaat's all for today...did you find any crazy, awesome, spectacular things at the sales this weekend? Let's share our successes! Tell me all about it!

Have a great Monday, even though it is Monday, and I'll see you tomorrow!