Outfit: Paisley & an Up-Do

On Saturday night I headed out to town for Ruby's birthday celebrations. For once I didn't plan my outfit days in advance and ended up picking something on the day. I quite forget just how lovely this dress is to tell the truth...

Outfit details: hair flowers - ?; 1950s earrings - gift; faux pearl necklace - Adelaide Vintage & Fashion Fair; 1940s dress - etsy; stockings - Love Kylie; shoes - Rubi Shoes.

It's quite strange but I always feel slightly more self-conscious with an up-do...it's almost as though my usual hairstyle has become a bit of a security blanket for me (just as red lipstick has).

One of the many things I love about this dress is that it has a matching jacket!

Another thing I love is all of the lovely little details like the gathering at the shoulders, here.

Being the wallflower that I am (I'm not kidding - if I don't know an awful lot of people at a party or social gathering I generally end up spending a lot of time standing alone, trying my best to look lonely enough so that someone will come and make conversation with me...) I asked my friend Kate to come along with me. You might remember her from one or two of the ukulele videos I've posted.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Outfit(s): Friday & Sunday

The other week I watched Sally Potter's The Man Who Cried (which I mentioned in this post) and I've been meaning to do a post on it ever since. However, I have an awful lot of screenshots to go through and I hurt my foot today and I've decided to sulk a little bit and do an outfit post instead. So, here are some shots of me in two of the dresses I bought when I was in Melbourne.

I wore this one out to lunch with my dad last Friday:

Outfit details: 1950s/60s dress - American Rag Vintage; belt - ?; shoes - Rubi Shoes.

This was hemmed so that it sat above the knee. It was, in my opinion, yucky. Though you can still see where it was folded over for years and years (after pressing it twice, too) so we're soaking it and pressing it again. Anyway, much nicer length now I say! I wore it with a paper nylon petticoat I bought at Hero Vintage before they closed (er, obviously before they closed). It's quite different to anything else I own, which makes it a nice change, I think. As a side note, I was completely in love with my hair that day.

I do enjoy taking photos of my feet...

As an extra surprise Dad brought 'round his old portable Philips transistor radio for me to keep!

Isn't it lovely? I think it's from the early '60s. I really love the design and it's a very lovely shade of grey, too.

Then, today I wore this lovely pink dress...I've been wearing it belted but I'm having a lazy day today so no belt. I think it still looks OK this way, too.

Outfit details: 1950s dress - Vintage Garage; socks - ?; shoes - Spendless.

And here is a picture of my lovely mum looking lovely. She doesn't know I'm posting this! Sneaky.

Hope everyone is having a swell weekend! I'll be back with a post on The Man Who Cried, soon, as well as last night's outfit post.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Outfit: Green and White Casual Frock

Gasp! Would you look at that? I'm posting two days in a row. However, I don't think I'm feeling particularly wordy today so my pictures shall have to suffice!

I went into town, yesterday, to look for some bits and pieces for my possible Halloween costume (I'm leaving it late, as usual) and decided that since it was a warm, sunny day I would wear the dress I bought from 1385 at the beginning of last month. The label is 'Henderson Casuals', hence the title of this post.

Outfit details: 1950s hat - Red Ruby Vintage; vintage sunglasses - Salvos; 1940s dress - etsy; handbag - Salvos; bracelets - gift and Rubi Shoes; vintage shoes - etsy.

I got my mum to take these photos so the camera was on the auto settings, which ended up being a bit overexposed. Definitely not going to use them again. But I love this dress! It's gorgeous. Absolutely my latest favourite...maybe. The white and green made me think of Scarlett's dress from near the beginning of Gone With the Wind:

When I thought of that I felt like wearing my big 1930s straw hat but I need to attach some hat elastic to it (hat pins and I are not friends, just yet) so it won't blow away.

I also decided I would wear my new-to-me white shoes. I spent all last summer searching for the perfect pair of white shoes and I've finally found them! Hurrah. And they're relatively comfortable, too.

Here's a photo of my face, which I'm not all that keen on. The photo, I mean - not my face! I'm very fond of that. It's the angle I don't like but I was too lazy to get the tripod and whatnot out. I was also desperately trying not to squint - it was a lot sunnier than it looks in this shot.

I also forgot to take a shot from behind so you could see my hat, etc. Even though this is a bathroom mirror shot taken on an iPhone I kind of like the atmosphere. 

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Outfit: A Little '60s

Hello, all! Sorry for my brief absence - I had planned to do a few things and then my MacBook decided it didn't want to play anymore. This was on Sunday night. I, naturally, freaked out and spent the rest of the night watching television to calm myself down. I had also remembered that I still had the instructions on how to do an archive and install saved on my mother's computer from the last time it happened. So, I fixed it on Monday and didn't get my internet working until late Tuesday. Then I spent yesterday trying to catch up on what I missed out on. To cut a long story short (too late?) I had computer issues and now they are fixed. Hurrah! And I didn't even have to call any help centres. Double hurrah!

Yesterday I was in a little bit of a '60s mood, so I decided to bring out this dress mum bought me for my birthday back in August. 

You also get a bit of a look at my bookshelves...thrilling, no?

Outfit details: necklace - Fisherman's Wharf Markets; 1960s dress - Tangerine Treasures; shoes that you can't see - Rubi Shoes.

This dress isn't the sort of thing I usually go for but it's quite comfortable and I think it will be nice for summer. And, as you can see, I was having a lazy hair day.

Apologies again for the absence and for not commenting much on other blogs. Ooh, speaking of other blogs there is an interview with me up at La Ville Inconnue (which you should just go check out, anyway!) Hope you enjoy.

Love,
Andi B. Goode
x

P.S. You can still donate/sponsor me for Frocktober. I think if you go to the donate page at frocktober.org then you can enter my registration number (653702) in the confirmation page.

Outfit: Wear It Purple

I found out a little too late that today was Wear It Purple Day to show support for gay youth at risk. You can read about it here. Anyway, the short story is I don't really own anything purple but I ended up wearing my Pendleton 49er which has some mauve-ish squares on it. Although, if you mix the pink and blue of my skirt and sweater that would also make a kind of purple. 

At the end of the day, I suppose it doesn't really matter which colour I wore - it's an important issue and one that I personally think any decent human being should care about. And that's all that I'll say (mainly because I usually find it difficult to articulate myself when it comes to the serious side of life and I tend to ramble, too.)

Now on to the fun stuff - i.e. more pictures of yours truly!

Outfit details: Pendleton blazer - etsy; 1950s orlon sweater - Irving Baby; 1930s crepe skirt - Red Ruby Vintage; socks - We Love Colours; saddle shoes - Payless.

Because I didn't have anything purple to wear I thought I'd draw someone wearing purple, too. 

I watched Sally Potter's The Man Who Cried last night, so this is inspired by Christina Ricci from that film. I used to draw all the time and then I just stopped...so I've made a promise myself to draw more often, though it's mainly just for myself.

And here's a song that fits the theme of the day quite well, I think - The Lavender Song sung by Ute Lemper:

You can read a little bit about the song here. 

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Frocktober Round-Up #1

So, I’ve been pretty slack with getting my participation in Frocktober off the ground. Just about a week before the beginning of October, Luna (a very talented local lady who does so many things I wouldn't know what to list. She just recently took part in the finals of Miss Burlesque Australia, which you can read a bit about here) sent out a message to a whole lot of Adelaide ladies asking if we’d like to take part in Frocktober. Even though I do wear dresses an awful lot, I figured that, because it’s for such a great cause, I’d give it a go. Only, I’ve kind of forgotten to get people to sponsor me, so far! Eek.

Hmm. Anyone else think I might need to start working on some new poses? L-R: 1950s day dress bought at Red Ruby Vintage; Vivien of Holloway 1940s dress; made by mum from a 1950s repro pattern.

 

Apologies for iPhone + mirror photos but I've been feeling out of sorts lately and not at all in the mood to take photos of myself. L-R: 1950s day dress bought at Vintage Garage on Smith Street, Fitzroy; 1950s(?) dress bought at Retro-Star Vintage, Melbourne.

I was thinking of maybe using PayPal to get people to sponsor me? Only I can't figure out an easy way to do that. But if anyone wants to donate directly to the foundation, you can do so here. It doesn't seem very fair to ask people to sponsor me when I wear dresses and skirts so often, anyway! But I'm jotting down ideas for ways I can make next year's Frocktober a proper challenge for me.

Keeping with the frock theme here’s a look at the most recent frock I’ve purchased. It’s on its way to me from Adeline’s Attic – I’m super excited about it!

And if you want a chance to win your own very special frock, head on over to In the Heyday for a chance to win one of Heyday’s Fleur frocks…I've been drooling over this dress ever since it was released. It's a real stunner isn't it (just like its namesake!) Good luck to anyone who enters.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

EDIT: I think if you go to the donate page at frocktober.org then you can enter my registration number (653702) in the confirmation page.

Silver Screen Sunday {The Hairy Bird}

I was going to do this week’s Siver Screen Sunday on Hairspray (2007) but that would involve a lot of messing about with screencaps and what-not so when I noticed I had already screencapped another film set in the early ‘60s but never posted about it, I decided this week I’d look at that one instead.

The Hairy Bird aka All I Wanna Do aka Strike!, which is the only feature length directorial effort by Sarah Kernochan. The story takes place at Miss Godard’s School for Girls, which is run by Miss McVane, played by Lynn Redgrave, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

The girls find out that Miss Godard's is under the threat of amalgamating with an all-boys' school - some of them think this is a good thing but others see it as devastating, so they devise a plan in the hopes of throwing a spanner into the works.

This is one of my favourite films - I’m always fond of a storyline that focuses on friendship, rather than romance (possibly because I can relate to those films far easier) and I also love films that show just how awesome girls are. That, in my opinion, is never a bad thing. Actually, this film is almost like St Trinian's meets Dead Poets Society (or something else set in a boarding school) - the girls get up to a fair bit of mischief but it also touches on self-discovery and is, I suppose, a coming-of-age story in a way, too.

Some of the mischief - making moonshine in the attic.

There is also a bizarre group of boys who take photos of road-kill - they call themselves the 'Flat Critters'. Vincent Kartheiser is the 'leader' of the group and he takes a shine to Tinka Parker, one of the girls at Miss Godard's.

Pastels! Spring colours! And Tinka's amazing red+black dress.

This is one of my favourite dresses from the film.

One of my favourite parts of the film is a montage showing the girls getting ready for a dance - I think it's very visually interesting and there's something about the ritual of getting ready that I find very appealing.

It also has an amazing soundtrack - here is just one of my favourite songs (Easier Said than Done by The Essex):

The 'getting ready' sequence inspired me to find some powder puffs on etsy...

Found here.

Found here.

And a couple of record players to spin some tunes on:

This is for children but it's so cute! Found here.

Found here.

So, anyone else out there a fan of this film? As I said, it's one of my all-time favourites. And, as usual, there are more screencaps up on flickr.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Melbourne: Part Two

Now you all get to see what I bought! (If you haven't seen the snapshots, yet, the post is here). In no particular order…

I picked these sunglasses up at Lost and Found Market on Smith Street – I think the label said they’re from the ‘80s – I think they’re pretty darn cute! And I still haven't paid more than 20$ for a pair of sunglasses. I thought I’d use this photo as: 1. You can see what they look like on 2. You can see just how terrible my posture really is when I’m not posing properly.

I like getting postcards with quirky pictures on them (or just plain cute pictures) – these are definitely going to be framed and added to my wall. All of these (except the sailor bear) were from Metropolis Bookshop...I think.

I saw SO many books that I wanted to buy but books are heavy so I restrained myself – Queenpin is by Megan Abbott whose work I find very interesting yet somehow it makes me uncomfortable, too; Pulp is not only all about pulp novels but about Australian pulp novels; I don’t think I could have gone to the Tim Burton exhibition and not bought the programme! 

I always want to buy something special at Outré gallery but, unfortunately, I can’t quite afford the prints of the beautiful artwork there. This time I nearly walked away without anything until I saw this little guy sitting in the window out the front – he’s playing ukulele! I am thinking of saving up to buy an Angelique Houtkamp print very soon, though. If I do it will almost certainly be Lina.

This may not look all that great on the hanger but it looks very cute on – pink is one of my favourite colours but I don’t tend to wear it a lot. I picked this up from Vintage Garage on Smith Street which is one of the biggest vintage stores I’ve ever been to. There were so many cute dresses there but most of them didn’t fit me – this one is a little big in the waist but looks lovely with a belt. And it’s really comfortable too. It was dated as 1950s.

What a surprise…it’s another blue dress! I’ve come to realise that I own more blue dresses than any other colour – and it’s not even a favourite. This one looks a little school uniform-y, doesn’t it? I love it, though, and I love that whoever owned it had written their name on it (which is what made me think school uniform). This one was from RetroStar Vintage Clothing. I enjoy going to RetroStar but they don't date their clothes. My guess is '50s for this but if it is a uniform it could be later.

This isn’t the sort of thing I normally wear but I’ve been watching Hairspray a lot (and I saw the stage show whilst away) and that always makes me want brightly coloured, full-skirted dresses. I think the gorgeous citrus stripes will be perfect for Spring. This one was from American Rag, in QV. 

The hem definitely needs to be taken down (which surprised the lady working there - most girls my age apparently want their dresses taken up to halfway between their knees and their crotch...I don't see why they don't just stick to '60s and '70s mini-dresses and leave poor, beautiful dresses like this one alone but that's the vintage purist in me coming out).

These little fellas aren’t particularly relevant to my blog but they’re so cute I couldn’t not show you! I have a weakness for teddy bears but don’t often buy them for myself anymore…the fella on the left (who is bigger than he looks) is ‘Alfie’ and the sailor on the right is ‘Skip’. I'm a bit of a child when it comes to teddy bears - at the moment I want to take Alfie everywhere with me. Perhaps he could be my Aloysius?

And here is another shot of my new Alannah Hill jumper. I really like the stitching on the collar - very cute (maybe I will borrow that idea for one of my own projects one day). And I still can't get over the fact that it's called 'Valium in my Tea Cup' top.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x