Weekend Finds

Good morning, folks!

And phew, what a gusty, blowsy, overcast and drowsy kind of Sunday it was yesterday! Friday I went to the flea market with my pappy, Saturday I feel like I ran errands all day (and bought out the 70's paperback occult books section of McKays...when you feel a hankering for good trash non-fic lit, you feel a hankering!), and Sunday, I met up with fellow bloggers, galore! Lauren from Lladybird, three traveling Chicago-based vintage collectin' connossieurs, and I all descended upon the last day of the flea and hit some Goodwills and Athens Family Restaurant. Laughs were had! LA Gear backpacks (well, singular, but still) were bought! Leilani, Sarah, and Kyla, it was great to meet you and I can't wait to see all the fabulous pictures you took on your respective blogs! Hope the results of the times I was behind the lens aren't too fuzzy. :)

There's a lasso like ribboned embellishment that the camera didn't pick up-- know that it's there.

I'll tell you, I came out pretty good on the first day of the flea! This one, endearingly gabby seller was at the fairgrounds in the Antiques Shed when I went with Rae and Travis a few months ago, and upon my buying a red, patio squaw dress from him for five dollars (And Travis found it after I'd walked by the booth twice. He and Rae are pro level item spotters), he said he would be back in the spring with a whole table full of old clothes. The seller, who may be distantly related to Andy Devine, he's a dead ringer for the old actor except in Liberty overalls and a long hair/beard thing going on, didn't tell any lies, either. When I got to the shed, there were PILES, AND PILES...two feet high!... of musty, dusty, pulled from someone's barn clothes. And clothes. AND CLOTHES. I saw sundresses with matching belts, and button-up-the-back blouses begging to be worn with skinny sixties' capris, in every color of Kool-Aid and impressionistic flowers spattered across them.

Oh là là, mesdames et messieurs! Voilà "le crinoline"!

Now, mind you, nothing was in particularly good shape. Owing to its provenance more likely stretching back to a long neglected attic or hay loft type thing, there were holes and stains and faded, ripped things as well as some real gems. I pulled out the taffeta, I-Love-Lucy era skirt you see above (with surprise built in red crinoline!), three black wiggle dresses, a white dress with lipstick-red polkadots and a lipstick-red swing coat with matching lining, and satin dress you see below:

This thing is in poor shape, but that material is actually to die for.

And talked the man down to forty bucks for the whole kit and kaboodle. Six dresses, a short coat, and a skirt. More than I usually spend, sure, but I was buying in bulk! And this satin dress....whooo, this satin dress, folks. If I can get it cleaned (it has a water spot on the shoulder, some staining, and is in desperate need of pressing), this may well be a wedding dress candidate. The skirt is SO. FULL. Imagine what it would look like with the white crinoline I've been hoarding just for the occasion! If I can just squeeze down another inch or so in the waist measurement (those wrinkles are actual signs of life at the rib cage, because I think I made one every time I drew breath...this thing is tight on me!)...it's super cute.

On the trip with the girls today, I found this Whiting Davis mesh bag from the fifties' ($8), and this pin with parrot/birds on it made of celluloid ($10...I always end up buying some extravagant pin at these things, but it's so hard to find delicate brooches in good shape!). Do you see the weird, box-like way the purse opens, rather than the traditional envelope clutch style thing? After this picture was taken, I went and shined the silver clasp of the purse with some polish and you can see yourself in it now!

I've also been hoarding wire racks when you weren't looking. This record rack ($2.99, Southern Thrift) looks completely innocuous without records in it, and totally awesome when they are present:

See what I mean? I always have stray records laying around out of pocket, so this will be a cool way to not have them stacked up behind the actual container in which they're kept (overflow, accounted for!). This magazine rack ($10) was at the second day of a Patterson sale two weekends ago, and my, isn't it yar:

This hairpin, sharp, sharp atomic stuff is something I'm seeing less and less of out in the wild, so I had to get it. Plus, it holds my Valley of the Dolls cover issue of LOOK and this copy of Blood and Glitter by Mick Rock with grace and aplomb. Tangent: have you SEEN the stuff they have at the V & A right now? Bowie, Bowie, BOWIE, Bowie, and more Bowie. I might do a whole post on it soon, it makes my heart literally swell with joy to see things the man himself actually stood onstage in. Imagine seeing them in person!

Speaking of costumes, one last thing...my friend Caroline is getting hitched in Texas, as I've repeatedly said...I have two dresses vying for supremacy for this very special social occasion! I might just wear one to the reception and the other to dinner wherever we go in Austin the next night. Or I might just never take either off, because I love them so much. Donelson and Rivergate Goodwills, respectively, you have been very good to me lately:

Choice A, The Cher Affair

I somehow managed to photograph a little dumpy in this, but I really don't think I've worn a more flattering dress in any of my nine lives. Tight but not uncomfortable in the top, perfectly cut at the straps, and flowing down to a full length hem. It's all yellow polyester gathered in a faux pearl encrusted diamond at the center. When will I otherwise have a glamorous enough occasion to wear this?

Choice B, the Blanche du Bois dress

I really should be flouncing around the quarter in New Orleans, accessorizing with some "inexpensive summer furs she's had a long time!" (my style icon...oh, my literary style icon), in this dress. It's a sixties' or seventies' piece by "Miss Elliette", but it looks so thirties and dreamy to me. Now that I've said it though, I might well accessorize the former with a stole...again, when do we get occasions to be as dressy as weddings! I am not wearing something simple, even if I have to wear it on the plane with me, by Godfrey.

Anyway, I have to get going....how do you like my weekend finds? Which dress do you think I should wear to the wedding? Did you find anything crazy out at the sales or the flea market this weekend? Let's talk, let's talk!

That's all for today...see you kids back here tomorrow. Til then!