The Sunday Snag – Caramel Coated Autumn

Don't you just want a great big hug?! Believe me, I understand. I wanna hug myself in this coat! The weather here is a mixed bag and can have normal cold autumn weather and then throw in a few days in the low 70s, which makes trying to figure out a cold weather closet a bit challenging. Plus, I tend to get cold even when it's warm outside, so having layers and a few coat options is a must. 

Since I've only been adding vintage items into my closet for one year now (weird right?! I feel like I've been wearing this stuff my whole life sometimes!), I'm still trying to figure out which pieces might work best. Winterwear and cold weather apparel is a conundrum that I'm testing out slowly. It is super duper easy to get a pretty lightweight dress in the summer, but garments can start being a challenge come cool weather. 

Last week you got to see my first cold weather outfit (see here) that showcased one of three vintage "coats" that I have secured for my first vintage winter. I say "coats" because last week's was technically a cape. This week though I bring out the beast!! Okay, it is more like the beauty and the beast mixed into one wonderful garment. 

This coat is delicious. There is just no way around it. I bought it back in the heat of July during a sale at Wild Honey Pie Vintage (along with this beauty of a hat seen here) and when the package came in the mail I could barely lift the thing! This is the heaviest freakin' coat I've ever encountered! There is just no blasted way you could be cold in this and I love it! It is a 1940s chubby mouton coat (best name ever). Mouton for those that don't see this word often is from a sheep but made to resemble beaver or seal fur. The color is the most beautiful burnt caramel brown and the fit very oddly looks rather slim and tailored for feeling so ridiculously huge and heavy. The inside is lined in colorful pastel silk stripes which is rather unexpected and adorable I think. The collar can stand up too!! And there's pockets! Wins all around!

As for what I'm wearing under that beautiful beast of a coat...whaaaaaaat???? A 1970s sweater??!!!! That's right! 1970s! An era I don't find in my closet until now. I picked up this striped lightweight knit from Raleigh Vintage at a vintage fashion show that I recently got the great pleasure of being a model (more on that in a future post!). After the show, a bunch of vendors were selling their wares, including Raleigh Vintage, and you know I can't pass that sh#t up! I pulled this sweater off the rack and was like "huh", I like this. I know it is the 70s and not my usual thing, but. Yah, I like this. So in a very weird haul I bought this and a tiffany box blue 1950s party dress. I bet they were surprised to share the same bag home!

The sweater's cute though right?! It has such a random mix of styles with a 50s type peter pan collar mixed with the winged sleeves and orangey color of the 70s. Seems fitting for the fall though in that pumpkin spice type hue. It really needed a belt though. The fit with those sleeves and large stripes made for a rather unflattering sight without one. But a skinny belt fixed that right up. This one is actual snakeskin from the 40s or 50s that I snatched up for under $10 at Beggars and Choosers (what a deal!). Some of the little snakey scales are coming up so I will need to get out some glue and make sure they don't come off completely in the future.

My jeans you've seen before (here) and my shoes you've seen a number of times (here, here, here). Jewelry for the day was kept to a copper and brass palette so as to match my toffee and caramel ensemble. The ring is an antique vine and berry design in brass coming soon to my shop. The antique necklace is a pretty copper colored ivy design that someone in Canada snatched up from my shop only two days after I listed it! Hope they love it! 

Note: I've been getting some specific questions about makeup, photography, clothing, etc. which is so great! I love getting questions and chatting with you about details! Keep 'em coming! I was thinking of maybe doing a Q&A type post where you all could ask questions and I could use them and my answers to start a Frequently Asked Questions page on my blog. What do you think?

Outfit Details

Coat: 1940s Mouton from Wild Honey Pie Vintage

Sweater: 1970s Knit from Raleigh Vintage

Jeans: Skinnies from Anthropologie

Belt: 1940s/50s Snakeskin from Beggars and Choosers

Shoes: Reproduction 30s/40s Oxfords from Remix Vintage Shoes

Necklace: antique "Ivy in Autumn" from my shop ChatterBlossom

Ring: antique vine and berry, coming soon to my shop ChatterBlossom

Last Week's Sunday Snag:

Fox and The Houndstooth

Saturday Shop Talk – The Serpent's Kiss

 "The Serpent's Kiss"

Personality: The Desperate and Fierce
Places you'll find yourself: Facing crisis and choosing for yourself which path to take

Okay, granted, this isn't very festive for December, but it is so beautiful and I just had to share it. This necklace is made with the most detailed antique button! It depicts Cleopatra laying in her hammock beside a basket. For those that know the old telling by Shakespeare, that basket holds the asp that will take her life. The button was made from between 1890 and 1910 and may actually have been modeled after an adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.

"The Serpent's Kiss"

View my entire shop here.

Last Week's Saturday Shop Talk:

Sugar Plum

Friday Photo Swoon – Vintage Winter Elegance

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First, look at those amazingly huge buttons on the coat above!! Wowee!! Isn't that grand?! Vintage winter apparel is a beast that I've yet to tackle. It's like I didn't believe they had winters in these glamorous eras. I rarely see photos of bundled up beauties with red noses and frosty toes. I had to search a lot longer to find these images you see below.

Coats throughout the 1900s are just so elegant and luxurious compared to our puffy coats and sports jackets. They really went all out with fur trims and muffs, felts, tweeds, and velvets. Makes you want to wrap yourself up into a soft and fluffy hug! I think I would just pet one of my arms for most of the day in some of these furs. I don't really know what you all think about the fur thing, but I think that it is a complicated matter that people must figure out for themselves. I personally think vintage fur is A okay as they are decades old and it would be a tragic waste to not wear them just because someone 80 years ago had it made. It's like abandoning a 100 year old house because they didn't source the wood from a sustainable forest at that time. But c'est la vie and to each his own. Like I said, it's complicated and not nearly as black and white as these photos.  

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Last Week's Friday Photo Swoon:

Right to the Tippy Top

Thursday Thrill – Blossom in Balboa

Back in October I put out a little announcement that I would be vending at a dance event located here in Raleigh over the Halloween weekend. Today I'm giving you a much belated recap of the event and my booth! Better late than never! *My apologies for the photo quality. The hotel had yellow like lighting that I didn't have time to figure out how to compensate for and took most of these very quickly.*

The Eastern Balboa Championships, or EBC for short, is a weekend long dance event for a vintage swing dance style called Balboa. This is my very very very VERY favorite dance, so you can imagine my excitement that this event is located in my town! I started dancing this type of dance a year and a half ago and last year's EBC was the very first balboa event I had ever attended. It was outrageously fun and easily secured this dance style as my most loved. The event is the creation of Chris and Holly (pictured with me above), an entirely driven and loved couple in the balboa and swing community. They have been organizing and running the event for the last 10 years, making EBC an internationally known and attended event with hundreds of amazing dancers coming from all over the world. 

To our great sadness, this was the last EBC ever! Chris and Holly have been busy busy busy for 10 years straight and it was in their best interest to bring to an end this all consuming event. This is why I was even more thrilled and honored that they let me be a vendor. It was a milestone event and I had the absolute pleasure of being a part of it! I personally know them both (they were the ones that taught me Balboa!) and I have taken lessons from them for the last year. They are the most wonderful, generous, and hilariously fun people and I am so glad to be able to call them friends.

Okay, so here is the major bummer for me: I was sick you guys! I was sick for a week before the event, sick during the event, and sick for the week after! BLARG!! Luckily, with the help of my amazing husband, I managed to set up my booth and make it through, but I didn't get to dance! I level tested the first morning with a fever and a week's worth of fatigue on my back, but I managed to get through the dance tests. But that was it! Couldn't take any classes and couldn't attend the nighttime dances (which are amazing by the way!). Alas! At least I was able to be at my booth during the day and meet all the wonderful attendees. 

This was a big event so I wanted to bring everything I had (my entire online shop stock plus nearly 100 more pieces). I decided to try and make the display a bit more uniform so the gazillions of tiny button jewelry didn't get overwhelming. Plus, I don't have the funds to deck out a display. I just wanted something that would seem inviting and interesting enough to stop and check out. 

Here is what I did for my booth:

- basic black jewelry holders for most of the items on the tables 

- cardstock paper tripod like holders with my business cards attached for a few pieces

- old frame with just a print out of my shop name for a sign (I hung a beautiful black lace necklace on it for a little something extra)

- shoeboxes covered with pillow cases to prop up pieces in the back and utilize height space

- a large frame from home (I wrapped a large vintage lace table cloth around mat board and secured it inside) that I used to hang necklaces on (saved a ton of table space!)

- a bamboo like screen to attach hair flower clips

- photo booklet of my blog that I got through IPhoto (but you could do one using Shutterfly, etc.) 

When I wasn't at my booth, I was over at another of the vendor's, Raleigh Vintage! You've seen many a Sunday Snag featuring gorgeous items I've purchased from them. They are also one of my blog sponsors, so it was super fun to be able to vend, chat, and shop with them while I was there! Actually, I felt like I may have been over at their booth shopping more than selling at mine! Hahaha Andi and Isaac (the owners of Raleigh Vintage) would sneak over to my booth and buy something and then I would head over to theirs and do the same. They had so many great pieces that they brought along! I got more than a few items that I'm sure you will see in future Sunday Snags.

I had so much fun (even though I was sick and couldn't dance)! I got to chat with so many great people, I had many ChatterBlossom pieces go to good homes, and I got to be a part of the last epic EBC. My favorite swing band, The Mint Julep Jazz Band, also played and I at least got to hear a bit from them before heading home to an early bedtime. Laura, the vocalist for the band and an avid swing dancer, also has a terrific blog, LindyShopper. She did a review of all the vendors (including Creations by Crawford, who is a dear friend but that I didn't have photos of for this post). Find it here. 

A HUGE thank you to Chris and Holly for organizing such a fabulous event and letting me be a part of it!!!! 

Last Week's Thursday Thrill:

Happy Thanksgiving!!