Category Archives: photos

A Fashionable 1930s Wedding

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The weekend before last we were fortunate to attend the wedding of our friends Robert and Ashley (of Miss1940sVintage).  They are quite the couple from the past- and totally immerse themselves in their chosen eras of the 1930s and 1940s.  When they announced that their wedding was “Garden Party Circa 1930s” themed, we were not in the least surprised.  Given the lovely and creative dressing of the vintage scene in Los Angeles and San Fransisco (as many of the guests came down for the wedding) , the guests relished in the chance to dress the part to celebrate the union of their friends.

The bride wore vintage, with a borrowed lucky veil which belongs to talented singer and pianist Sara, of Sara & Swingtime.  All of the bridesmaids are clad in gowns created by the talented custom couture dressmaker and Simplicity pattern designer Theresa LaQuey (whom I finally got to meet for the first time at the rehearsal dinner).  The bride and her bridesmaids were picture perfect and the setting at Forest Lawn looked like it was just right out of a real 1930s film!

The Bride looked gorgeous and her flowers were period perfect!  They were made by Sharlene of LA Deco Flora.  The bride’s makeup was done by the talented Katharina of GoForKat (who also did the makeup of several of my photo shoots for Wearing History patterns).

The groom and all his groomsmen looked impeccable in vintage morning suits.  The joy of the groom in this photo, taken just after the ceremony,  makes me happy.

And, of course, all the guests looked fabulous!

The talented up and coming music artist, Mary Simich.  Her outfit was created by her own personal couturier, Mr Tiny of Wacky Tacky.

All the old cars were parked in front of the church for a fabulous photo op.  Here’s my husband’s top hat he wore at our wedding is perched on top of our friend’s Packard.

Of course, when you get old cars together you sometimes get the…. unpredictable.  In this case, we watched some of the groomsmen and guests give a friend a push to get it started.

En route to the reception we had fun following our friend’s car and seeing two of the European visitors getting a kick out of riding in the rumble seat.

The reception was held at our friend, Nathan’s, beautiful Edwardian home.  Here’s some snapshots from the reception.

Guests listening to toasts.

My husband looking very distinguished in the library.

And hamming it up, as usual.

I wore a vintage 1930s dress I had held onto for several years, waiting for just the right occasion to wear it.  This fit the theme perfectly!  I made the hat to match by converting a horsehair hat I bought at the thrift store to a more 1930s style.

Many congratulations to the bride and groom!

Great Los Angeles Air Raid, 2013

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Wow! It’s been about a month since this event! How did that happen?  Well, I’m a bit late, but here’s my favorite photos I took at an annual event in San Pedro, CA, at Fort MacArthur Military Museum.  This event is called The Great Los Angeles Air Raid and is a WWII themed dance and re-enactment that happens once a year, commemorating the time during WWII when they believed they spotted foreign aircraft over Los Angeles. Panic broke out, and in the end it was a weather balloon (or a UFO, depending on who you ask). You can read more about the real event here on Wikipedia.

This was my first time donning a real WWII uniform.  I was fortunate enough to come across an original British ambulance driver’s uniform. I guess you can tell where some of my heritage is from, as it fit me to a “t”!  We couldn’t find a helmet, and finding other parts of this uniform is proving somewhat impossible, so my husband and I made the hat to go with the jacket by looking at real WWII photos of women ambulance drivers.  I actually also have the matching overcoat, but for once this event was too warm to need it!  We all usually freeze at this event!

Here’s some photos of friends and I at the event.

Hope your week is going wonderfully!

High Adventure- Indiana Jones Style

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Last weekend we went to a very fun event- one of the ones that we look forward to the most every year.  In fact, last year was the first we had missed in a long time, and so we were anxious to go back and check it out again.

This is an adventure day- part of the several day long IndyGear Summit for the Club Obi Wan message board- an Indiana Jones fan board.  I am a huge Indiana Jones nerd, and I love the excuse to dust off the adventure gear.  This day is our favorite- a day we all get together for some sort of adventure at Fort MacArthur Military Museum- the same museum that hosts the Great Los Angeles Air Raid event once a year.

This year was different than some years past.  Where previously we did a sort of scavenger hunt all around the fort, this time we did a mock archaeology dig, and the fort was transported, via WWII British re-enactors, to 1942 England.  Quite fun!  We met up with several friends there, including Beth from V is for Vintage blog, and had a great day out.  Here’s some of my favorite pictures. Warning- there’s a lot of favorites, so lots of pics ahead!

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My friend, above, made her entire outfit and Beth and I were highly tempted to kidnap the jacket, especially.  So picture perfect that I thought it was actual vintage!

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 My outfit was composed of different finds and out of the whole outfit I only made my blouse.  The breeches were from Wear It Again, Sam, when they had a vintage shop in San Diego, and they are vintage 1944 dated British military jodhpurs.  The boots are vintage and were an eBay find.  The belted back jacket is vintage 1970s (but I think it passes well for 1930s) and was bought on Etsy from JLVintage.  The military belt and gun holster are vintage and were borrowed from my husband.  And the pith helmet is vintage and was bought at Fort Mac at their military timeline event that happens yearly.  The scarf was borrowed from Beth’s husband just for photos, and promptly returned.

I love adventure style! I really need an excuse to wear it more often.  It feels more “me” than dressing up in fancy clothes :)

You can see the rest of my photos here on Flickr.

Hope you’re having a great week!

At the Beach

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What a gorgeous day it was today in Southern California!  It was my cousin’s birthday and we went for a visit with family, a beach walk, and a wonderful dinner out.  Quite a lovely day!  I thought I’d share a few photos

Since a few of you have asked over time to see me in a non-vintage outfit, this is also a sort of outfit post.  This is me on a “good” everyday day.  I don’t usually post photos of me unless I’m in “dress up”, but here ya go ;)


Outfit details:
Glasses: Vintage, from Etsy.  My tried and true daily pair. I seldom wear contacts.
Dress: Express, thrifted.
Necklace and flower brooch: Vintage, estate sale finds
Shoes: Indigo by Clark’s
Hair Flower: Courtesy of my husband, from an obliging bush.

The Great Los Angeles Air Raid

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We’re back from an annual WWII fundraiser dance for the Fort MacArthur Military Museum!   The Great Los Angeles Air Raid is probably my favorite vintage event of the year, and this year was no exception.  There was quite an impressive array of military displays and vehicles present, as well as several vintage cars (my husband and I drove up in his ’39 Plymouth), and a great swing dance and firework show.  This event pays homage to the Battle of Los Angeles, a 1942 event that is still under much debate. Was it a weather balloon?  Was it a UFO?  Whatever your stance, the event is great fun and the proceeds all go to the museum.

I know I say this with almost every event post, but I wish I had taken more pictures! The event goes by SO quickly, and it was packed this year! I really had to search for friends who I knew were showing up!  I’m glad of the extra turnout, though- more money for museum funds is a good thing :)

The lineup of vintage cars.

My husband wore a vintage sailor uniform to the event this year.  He had these tires for a friend to pick up for his old car, so cleverly devised a way to drop off the tires AND add to the wartime ambiance.

The newly engaged couple, Rob and Ashley of Miss1940sVintage on Etsy.

Josh Curtis, author of Sunkissed, with Beth from V is for Vintage blog.

Beth and I posing on top of a Sherman tank. How cool is it that we got to climb on top of this monster thing? The re-enacting unit that brought it drove it around quite a bit and it was fun to watch, and we loved getting to check it out and walk on top of it.

Checking out the inside of the tank and this gentleman answered some of our questions.  It was really neat!

Kate in her awesome vintage nurse uniform.  Love that phonograph!

Me in my ensemble.  I had no clue what I was wearing until that morning. I had great plans for making a patriotic ensemble, but ran out of time.  The Air Raid gets notoriously cold for Los Angeles, so warmth was the ultimate goal!  In a last minute hope to cobble together an outfit, I thrifted the shirt the day before the Air Raid.  How did I not have a single basic 40′s white or ivory shirt?  Added to my to-make list for sure! It’s a modern shirt but had a vintage looking collar shape, so I added vintage buttons to make it look more period.  I wore a vintage wool skirt (part of a two-piece suit), vintage jacket (gift from a friend) with “V” pockets, mustard vintage overcoat and gloves, vintage shoes, and vintage hat which I added new feathers to match.

We had a great time this year and are looking forward to next year’s event!

Palm Springs Mini Vacation

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Hope everyone had a lovely holiday!  We had a great Christmas with my family.

The day after Christmas my husband and I headed out for a much needed little mini vacation with the destination in mind for Palm Springs.  We left on Boxing Day and headed up first to visit a good friend who filled us in and gave us a grand tour of his house restoration project and did a little antiquing (I found a bound book of 1903 Cosmopolitan magazines I’m itching to share with you!), and some good old time together hanging out.  He’s a Hollywood memorabilia collector as well so I got to actually try on Gene Autry’s suit jacket.  How cool is that?  I didn’t take any pics, but you’ll have to take my word for it, that jacket was completely awesome.

We arrived after dark in Palm Springs area (La Quinta, actually) where we checked into the La Quinta Resort and Spa.  We were last minute with planning this trip so I spent several frustrated hours on Christmas eve trying to find a decent hotel in our price range.  I finally gave up and booked a hotel for one night through Hotwire.  It was the first time I had ever been on that site, let alone used it, but I was so frustrated by hotel searching that I finally just broke down and thought “whatever we get we get.” as they don’t actually show you the hotel you’ve booked until AFTER you’ve paid for it.  Wouldn’t you know, we got the actual hotel I REALLY wanted to stay in for about half the price?  I know that’s probably pure coincidence, but it was completely awesome to be able to stay there.

The hotel was originally built in 1926 and was composed of several casitas made in traditional adobe with spanish tiling, and a common area.  The hotel has been built on and built on, until today they have over 400 casitas.  We stayed in one of the modern ones which was not a casita with our room only, but a grouping of a few rooms.  I actually really liked it and didn’t mind at all being in a modern building.  It was nice and clean and had an in-room gas fireplace and a vaulted ceiling.  Neat!

The grounds were quite spacious and included over 40 pools.  Here’s a picture of the oldest one on the property, built in 1937.  I wish we had stayed a few nights so I could have taken advantage of some pool lounging time!

The hotel had a veritable who’s who of old Hollywood stars who frequented there. When we checked in I asked for if they had any brochures of the history and got a neat little complimentary booklet with stories and names of old Hollywood stars who had stayed there. Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, and Katharine Hepburn just to name a few.  Ginger Rogers even got married here! So fun! It’s still quite posh and it was very busy with lots of people who looked much more accustomed to the upscale surroundings than ourselves (we may have been the only occupants planning on making thrifting excursions the next day), but it was so relaxing and the staff were SO friendly and helpful.  My only complaint is that there was a resort fee which was additional to the booking fee, and I didn’t happen to read that before booking.  Still, it was awesome and we hope we get to go back for a stay at the historic hotel. It was so picturesque and so RELAXING.  Definitely a much needed little getaway.

Here’s a little shot of me in my western getup. Any excuse to break out the westernwear!

I suppose I should post the fine print: I wasn’t approached by the hotel or reimbursed or paid or anything to post about it here. I just really liked it and wanted to share a few photos.

Ship Ahoy! Back from the Queen Mary Art Deco Festival

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We’ve safely docked from our 1930s transatlantic cruise!  This past weekend was the 7th annual Queen Mary Art Deco Festival in Long Beach.  It was a wonderful time, and so fun to see so many Art Deco fans from around the world in one spot.

The weather for the weekend was absolutely glorious, which made going to the top deck of the ship the first place we wanted to be.  Not only is the Queen Mary an absolute treasure of art deco, it’s the perfect place for time travel.  It’s easy to immerse yourself in the era with such wonderful surroundings.  They have added some great deck chairs to the top deck to make the ship board experience complete.  As someone who would have been very ill on a real crossing, I love that the ship is firmly planted- all the benefits of a make believe crossing back in time without the seasickness ;)

My husband and I were able to attend two events on the ship this year- the Grand Art Deco Ball with fantastic 1930s by Dean Mora and His Orchestra (they played some of my favorite 30s tunes!), and also the Art Deco Tea Dance.  We had previously only attended the tea dance so it was a great treat to be able to attend more of the weekend.

Of course, I packed more outfits than I actually wore, but I was so happy to be able to wear the  outfit above- a vintage mid 1930s two piece dress which has been in my collection for years.  I paired it with an old store stock hat I found at the Paris flea market a few years ago and new two tone spectators which were bought on Ebay after a lead from Nabby of This Old Life.

My outfit for Sunday was this sailor dress I made from vintage plaid fabric with vintage button accents.  The collar is new white cotton piqué trimmed with red braid.  The belt was bought at a thrift store and the shoes were new from Ebay.

The biggest highlight of the weekend for me was finally getting to meet Jill from Tea with the Vintage Baroness and Adeline’s Attic.  I just love her to pieces!  She is just as charming and sweet in real life as she is on her blog.  On Saturday Jill, Beth from V is for Vintage blog, Beth’s husband, my husband, and I got a chance to take advantage of the beautiful weather, nice ship, and good company to spend a relaxing afternoon together before the ball, which is when most of these pictures were taken.  We also got to meet the amazingly talented Kim on NudeeDudee in person on Saturday.   I was so glad to meet her and her beautiful new daughter.  Of course, they were both perfectly attired in Kim’s creations!

Beth is a stellar seamstress, and she made her entire ensemble on the photo on the left.  It suits her to perfection and the fit is amazing!  And she made the matching hat from the Sporty Toppers pattern.  Whee!  Looks so cute!

I love the photo on the right because I feel like we’re in an old travel ad ;)

I wish I had taken more photos of events and such- it was such a nice time seeing friends-  many of whom I didn’t get a single snapshot of and regret not pulling out the camera more!  The event is fantastic and a lot of the proceeds go to ship restoration, since it’s paired with the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.  We’re so thankful to have this lovely old ship to be able to visit, but hearing the music and seeing folks dressed in period attire is really something else- it’s a neat experience and we are thankful we were able to go to a few of the events of the weekend.

You can see Beth’s post on her blog about the weekend here, and Jill’s post about the weekend here.

>1910s Outfit- Photos by Jerry Abuan

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This past weekend we went for the day to the Gaslight Gathering- a Steampunk and Victoriana convention.
The very talented Jerry Abuan snapped some photos of us, so I wanted to share!
Here is my outfit.  I actually made this for Costume College last year but only wore it for about an hour so it was nice to dust it off and wear it again.  The blouse and vest were made from an original 1910s pattern and the skirt was made from a Past Patterns Attic Copies reprint of a 1917 skirt.
The fabric of the blouse is cotton batiste with French cotton laces and covered buttons for trim.  The vest is made from a silk blend fabric and decorated with original Victorian buttons.  The skirt is made from a vintage wool and has black silk shantung trim for the welt pockets.  The hat is original vintage.
 Since it was Mothers Day I thought it would be great fun to take my mom to this event.  She enjoyed getting dressed up and wore a hat she bought at Costume College several years ago with an original 1910s jacket. I had not seen the jacket since I was younger and it truly is beautiful with rows of buttons and a neat faux belt.
On the right is a photo of my husband and I together.  His suit is original vintage, and he made the tie himself from vintage ribbon.  I think this is my new favorite photo of us :)
Many thanks to the talented photographer Jerry Abuan for these photos and allowing me to post them here!  I highly suggest you visit his website so you can see how beautiful his photos are!
http://jerryabuan.zenfolio .com/
The rest of the photos he took of the event are here, and there are some gorgeous costumes, including some of Val from Time Traveling in Costume, and Jennifer from Historical Sewing.

>A Sunny Saturday in the Country

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 Today was such a beautiful day! I cannot believe that last weekend was cold and snowing in some local areas.  Today it was 80 degrees and sunny.
My husband and I went out to visit  my dad today, who has a hobby of making wine.  He’s making the coolest (literally) storage space for his barrels, so we went and poked around to see his current obsession.  I seriously marvel at what his brain comes up with.  It was such a fun afternoon, and I toted the camera along to take some snapshots.  The shot above is a view out to the horizon.  It’s like instant transport to Italy.
 I wore one of the first dresses I ever made from a vintage pattern. It was from an early 40s pattern and is made of eyelet printed with a floral pattern with blue eyelet edging and vintage buttons.  All the supplies were thrifted or found at estate sales (other than the thread), and the shoes are Indigo by Clarks in a style called Gelato, which I wear to death.  My friend Addi made my hair flower.
Such a fun and relaxing day!

>Outfit Post- LA Air Raid, Photos by Gar Travis

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I am so very thankful to the talented photographer Gar Travis for sending me these photos of me at the Air Raid!  Now I have photos to share of the outfit I wore in the evening. Yay!
Gar Travis is an extremely talented photographer.  You can see more images from this event here on his website.
Coat: Vintage late 30s/early 40s gray with faux fur.
Sweater: Vintage 1940s knit top
Bolero: Vintage Angora (on which I’m wearing a vintage plastic sailor pin but you can’t see!)  Hard to date, but I think it’s early 1940s, since most of the stuff from the estate were from that era.
Belt: Made by me- white linen with vintage red buckle.
Skirt: Made by me of gray wool from early 40s bias cut skirt pattern.
Vintage “L” pin: gift from friend.
My inspiration for this outfit was Betty Grable in “College Swing”, but with added layers for warmth :)