When I was visiting a friend last week she showed me a beautiful pair of enamelled bluebird earrings she’d just inherited from her mother. Tiny, perfect and just so vintage charming. There are certain images that strongly evoke a feeling of the 50′s and this is one of them. The Blue Bird of Happiness isn’t something we see so often these days, occasionally on Christening jewellery, and Sailor Jerry tattoos, but other than that, she’s all but disappeared from the realm of modern accessories.  For a little while there I saw loads of bird imagery in necklaces, wall decals and all manner of hip interior pieces; but an actual ‘blue’ bird not so much.  So I’ve been hunting.

As usual, Etsy has a gorgeous selection of vintage blue bird pieces, from linen to jewellery.

And a quick search on eBay uncovers some real stunners.

No hunt for vintage jewellery would be complete without a visit to Ruby Lane.

It is this last little guy with his Disney eyes that has stolen my heart though. Might be time for an early Christmas present, after all, these are heirlooms!

Do you have a formula for how you accessorise your outfits each day? Is it just down to necessities, current trends, mood or colours? When I see a woman who has put as much thought into her accessories as she has into her outfit, it always blows me away.   More often than not, even bothering to do their hair is seen as too much for many women ( yes, lady in the lift this morning who bothered to put on a suit but tied up your wet hair in an elastic band – I’m talking to you!).  It is the difference between looking good and looking fan -friggin-tastic!  It is that extra effort that leaves you gobsmacked in the street wondering just how they managed to pull together something so cohesive.

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I have a few friends who are always so perfectly accessorized that I can almost see their wardrobes materialise before my eyes.  It isn’t just about matching black bag to black shoes and gloves, but down to the finish.  One has total crocodile finished sets in an alarming array of colours. Another has her shades and opalescence of yellows down to such a fine art, she appears to be cast by the hand of Murano.

When I see these women I also imagine that their methods for storing and cataloging said accessories must be far superior to mine, and that if perhaps I found this secret to storage, my own efforts would end up a similar testament to orderly beauty. But then again perhaps not…

We all have different ways of thinking about the “cherry on top” of our looks, and my own methods vary greatly depending on the day, the mood, and what hasn’t been ransacked by small hands. (I recently found three missing earrings in three different boots in the house).  I have a method of storing all my accessories which also determines how I wear them.  I have several jewelry boxes and each one houses things not by colour or type, but by feel.

For instance, one box houses only vintage jewelry sets from 1950-1960, another houses only pink lolita style pieces. There is a small glass coffin that houses all the more goth pieces, the chokers, the lace, the black; and yet another that houses all the modern rhinestone pieces. Of course if it is vintage rhinestone it has to go in its era appropriate case.  It may sound like a chaotic system to some, but at this point it works for me.

But I’m curious. Curious to know just how do you accessorise? What is you method of finishing your look and what is the logic behind how you keep all your pieces stored? Perhaps I can learn something to keep those earrings out of boots…. or perhaps I should just buy a safe!

It seems that just about every blogger out there has done a “What’s in My Bag” post over the course of time, but not me. I’ve been asked to do this several times, but just keep forgetting to photograph. So when I came across my Holy Grail handbag at Wintersun this year, it was a great excuse to combine showing you this beautiful bag and to illustrate just how amazing it is by showing you what I can fit in it!

The contents of my bag vary slightly depending on the day, but this is what I carry most days.  I decided to shoot all this on my Hello Kitty tea tray so that you can see the relative size of each piece as well; and also just for gratuitous use of cute props..

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Top row: iPhone, coin purse, handcream

Bottom row: Mirror, key case, wallet

I’ve made it a point to collect matching silver vintage GloMesh and I love the way it is all coming together. Next on the agenda is a DIY silver mesh iPhone case!

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Top row: Compact powder, fold up parasol, breath mints,nail glue, eye drops, lace trimmed handkerchief, homeopathic remedy.

Bottom row: Business cards, lip pencil, lipstick, lip gloss, tape measure, comb.

All very important and in the bag every day.

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Top row: Vintage hand fan, mini video camera that doubles for stills, sunglasses

Bottom row: Gorilla tripod, Cigarette case (for holding all manner of small bit and bobs, like mini sewing kit, earrings I take off and don’t want to loose etc..)

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So this is rather a lot to be carrying around each day without resorting to a large shoulder bag or the whole ‘schelping’ thing I fear.  And this is the reason I took all these shots on the tray, so I could also shoot the handbag that holds it all on the same tray and show you it’s Tardis-like qualities!

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1950′s, painted leather, framed handbag with gold detailing and little gold feet!

Best Bag Ever!

And for 20 bonus points it even has a RED interior!

I don’t know if I could love this bag anymore than I already do.  I’m treating it to regular conditioning and top shelf placement in the hope of having it last another fifty plus years.  Do you have a favorite vintage bag that works with everything and what sort of things do you carry around?

Something special…

Outfit Details

Dress – 1940′s cocktail dresswith tiny silver metallic studs

Snood – via eBay

Flower – Wisteria

Earrings – Vintage pearls

Stockings- What Katie Did

Shoes – “Japan” by Wittner

Lashes – Eylure

Today I finally got my act together and have started listing some of the bits and pieces from my wardrobe that need new homes. But before you go wandering over to that section I wanted to share with you another super cute dress being sold for a very good cause.

The lovely Bernie Dexter has created a special edition dress to raise funds for her best friend, Kitty Von Purr, who is suffering breast cancer. 100% of the proceeds of the dress go directly to the fund and support Kitty through a very tough time.

The dress is a soft, stretch jersey and having seen it in the flesh I can say that it looks spankable on!  So it is a very good reason to need a new dress – look hot and do a good deed at the same time.

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So yes, finally I have found a little time to start clearing out my closet (which is in desperate need).  Last time I did this and sent it all off to the op shop many of you asked why I didn’t sell it here, so I decided that it was a good way to share some of my most loved things and find new homes for the best pieces.  Everthing you’ll find in my shop comes either from my own wardrobe or the occassional piece I may sell for a friend.  I don’t buy in, I’m not a vintage dealer and I’m not sourcing items on request. What you see is what you get and I’ll be adding more and more over time – either that or my wardrobe will have put me in the poor house!

I have still to finish the accessories section which will appear in the next week, but given the enthusiastic response so far, I decided to open it up as I keep on adding things.

SKM’s Wardrobe Shop

Now, I’m off to photograph some more!