It is that time of year again. The weather is still miserable, the wind still bites, but I’ll be darned if I’ll give in to it. I’m already yearning for the sun on my (sunscreen protected) skin and a scotch in hand, while the days get longer and the parties start to arrive. This is the same time of year I get restless with my wardrobe and start to listen to that little internal voice of inspiration that tells me what I want to be wearing in the coming months.  This time I’ve come over far more casual than I usually do and that can only be a good thing as I need a little more ‘relax’ in my current wardrobe.

Of course, because I always seem to be so far ahead of the curve, it isn’t likely you’ll see looks like this in store for a while yet, but when you do, you’ll know where it came from!

This time, for something different, I’m giving you more of a window to my world and adding the music I’m listening to as well! Just click to listen, and as usual, just click each image to see the details of the what and where’s of each outfit.

These Boots Were Made For Dancing

This isn’t your usual nightclub attire, but then it isn’t for your usual nightclub girl. It is for springtime evenings, house parties, kicking up your heels with friends, closing your eyes and jamming in your mind.

I’m currently dancing to Ezra Lee - Mean What I Say – Ezra Lee From his album “Can’t Stop a Freight Train” available on Prestone Records. I highly recommend you check out Ezra’s Myspace and get yourself a copy of this album!!

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Cocktails at the Saloon Bar

Tell me any eligible eye candy could miss you in this number! Loads of swank, licks of sexy and lots of lucky! Stretch those pins and start smouldering.

Propping up the bar in style to Reconsider Baby – Lowell Fulson.

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Fancy a Drink Cowboy?

I never thought a cowboy hat and I would ever see eye to eye, but after my photo shoot with Helen McLean I may just be having a little secret love affair. This is how you do Country style with an eye for City Chic. There’s nothing dusty about this!

Tipping my hat to That’s Alright Mama

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Country Princess

The perfect Day to Night party transition outfit. Just change up the top, swap your flower for a bejewelled bow, crimson lips and you’re good to go. You’ll already know that denim is huge for this season, and while double denim remains on the no go list for me, this is about the only way I’ll work anything close to it into my look. With a beautiful satin and denim bra top with vintage style.  Yes, it could be a little racy, but paired with a sequined cardigan its all lady out the outside but the business underneath!

Kicking back to Jackson – by Johnny Cash & June Carter a personal favourite!

You just never know where you’ll find fashion inspiration that captures you’re mood of the moment, but one thing is for sure; whatever you wear make sure it captures YOUR mood, not just the prevailing trends.  This is where you’ll find the best answers to your wardrobe dilemmas!

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?

The lovely Violet Le Beaux and Valerie of Dweam, have recently been writing a series of Sunday posts called Sneaker Sunday.  The idea is that once a week we should give our feet the treat they so badly deserve and spend at least one of the seven days in sneakers.  Given that we three are known for wearing elaborate and often sky high heels, this seems like a most sensible plan, however, unless I’m on a treadmill or climbing a mountain, I don’t wear sneakers. Generally I wear ballet flats for running around the house, but these don’t offer much in the way of support and often leave my legs aching worse than when I wear heels. I was determined to find a suitably SKM style solution, so I went on a quest.

A quick street snap of Violet Le Beaux and I on Sneaker Sunday heading out for clay pot lunch. Yum!

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Before I hit the shops wallet in hand, I decided I needed a plan of attack. I needed a rough idea of the sort of shoe that would work with my vintage-y outfits, the level of quality and support they would need to have, the sort of activities I wanted to do in them and just how much I was prepared to spend.

Firstly, what was I going to be doing in these shoes? Well I figured that I needed something I could walk in for hours on weekend shopping excursions, something I could dance in (I’m told that learning Swing Dancing in heels is not usually the thing and I’m a bit of a freak like that), and something that still looked good while doing all this.  The trick about flat shoes and me is that while they may *feel* comfortable on, they also make me feel like I’m a three foot tall lump. So to pass the psych test, they would have to be pretty special.

I knew that looking in sports stores was out of the question so I decided to look somewhere totally unattainable first. My 1940’s Sear’s footwear catalogue! Yep, totally unachievable because they don’t even make them anymore. But, what this did do was give me a strong mental image of the sort of shoes I wanted, the silhouette, the colours, the support style. It also told me that in order to find anything remotely like this in stores I needed to resort to my previous summer sandal hunting technique and target stores that catered for a much older (read retirement home) market. Here’s where I went…

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I headed to the Kumfs store at Westfield Doncaster.  Kumfs are a New Zealand brand known for their comfort shoes and quality construction. They are also known for not being particularly high trend but more classic, so perfect really.

And here are the those that have won the title of my “sneakers”. The “Bromley” from Kumfs.

These are without a doubt, the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned. They have amazing support and cushioning, good width, and a nice lower cut around the ankle which is more flattering on me.  A few of you who saw the photo of Violet and I on the weekend asked for details on the soles and their suitability for dancing.  For me these are perfect. They have no grip to speak of, but also aren’t as slippery as dancing on suede soles. It also means I don’t have to change shoes when I get to a dance as I do hate carrying shoes around.  They didn’t come cheap and from memory were about $240 AUD, but I am told they are currently on sale in store so there may be bargains to be had.  The thing that totally sold me on these though was that Kumfs has a 30 day,money back comfort guarantee! Who does that? Wear them for one month and if you don’t like them, they take them back and refund your money. The shoes also have a 12 month warranty, so spending good money on shoes I know I’ll wear for years to come seems like a very good investment to me.

While I was in store I was also on the hunt for another pair of shoes that could take the place of heels on days out where I have lots of walking to do, but still look good when I’m quite dressed up. And then I found them there too!  I came across these faux skin, wedge heels that have a distinctly 1940’s ‘cockroach stomper’ feel about them.  Once again these have a comfort factor of 100 and still look fantastic with my seamed stockings.

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Even though I have been wearing these with almost alarming regularity this last month, I don’t have a single outfit photo on file to show them to you in action!  (Must remedy that this week) they are called “Krista” and were also found in store at Westfield Doncaster.  Sadly, I haven’t found either of these models online to link you to, but it might be a case of calling your local store to see if they have them if you’re on the look out.

So there you go. Now each week I can participate in Sneaker Sunday, even if I don’t have a huge variety of ’sneakers’ to showcase. Check out Violet Le Beaux and Dweam’s blog for more on Sneaker Sunday.

With all this delightful immersion in my favorite music of late, I’ve let my mind wander to a very fun place. A place where I get to spend the evening hanging with some of my favorite musicians, shooting the breeze over a drink or two.  Like any occasion this begs the question of what I would wear on such an imaginary date, and yes I would wear all this in real life too as you well know.

So I sat down with good ol’ Polyvore on the laptop and the tunes cranked up loud to put these few together for you.  As always, if you click on the image it will take you through to Polyvore where you’ll find the complete product list for everything used in the sets. But rather than being about the specific garments or brands, it is about the whole look, the feeling, the ambiance of the occasion.

Join me on some fantasy dates…

Jerry Lee Lewis Loves Me

A warm Saturday afternoon music hall review, sitting just off stage where the not- so- subtle amber hue of my heels catches a sliver of light from the rear window. Jerry Lee is rocking the ivories, working the crowd into a lather, flashing a winning grin ever so slightly skewed to stage left, that says,” How ’bout that drink?”

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Johnny Cash Baby

The phone rings it’s tin can bell sound. The man on the other end inhales slowly, drawing me in with a long breath. The crackle of the long distance connection keeps us from conversation but the message is clear; pack your bags baby, Johnny’s coming to town.

Swinging with Ella

Sometimes it takes a woman to know what you really need. Voice like a velvet gloved hand that runs slowly between your shoulder  blades, your skin warms and your lips curl into a cozy smile. Strangers sit, eyes closed as waves of smokey tenderness rock their heads and their hearts in unison. A flicker of fire light and I exhale past bitten berry lips, settling in for an evening romance with a golden silhouette.

Who would be your imaginary music date of the past?

Hi all! Well after a huge HUGE week, I am finally back in Melbourne. I don’t think I have ever walked, talked and danced so much in my life – Wintersun has been such a huge success.  While it was a little tricky to get the blog posting happening, I hope you’ve been able to follow all the pics on Facebook and Twitter to keep you in the loop.

One of the things that made this week so memorable for me was spending a whole week living with some of my best friends and doing what we love best; frocking up in different outfits a couple of times each day!   You’d be surprised just how much I managed to fit in my case. I was very glad that my beautiful Sakura case is strong and lightweight because I couldn’t have afforded to waste any luggage weight on a heavy case. With a 20 kilo limit I was bang on target and still managed to pack 16 outfits, 6 pairs of shoes, a separate hat box and carry all my cameras, laptops and equipment.

Because I wasn’t able to give you any Daily Outfit shots other than on Twitter I’m going to give you a whole bunch today instead. I did have to take them all on the iPhone but they haven’t turned out too badly. Anyway, this is how I do it by the seaside.

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Day One dress 1950’s Ballerina Print.

1950’s original dress – From Clara Fox ( was a house coat but I altered it into a more fitted dress)

1950’s necklace -  Hobart op shop find

Sash – borrowed from my dressing gown because I forgot the matching one!

Earrings – red roses from Diva

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The nails were created for me on special request by the super talented Violet Le Beaux.  I wanted my usual vintage style with a Wintersun twist so we did a little pin striping experiment!  She can make you some too.

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Left – Miss Carly   .     Right – Me

Dress – 1950’s cotton day dress with cut out detail neckline and sequin trim. Gift.

Cardigan – Friends of Couture “Daughters of Pleasure” cardigan.

Red beaded sweater keeper – found at Love Vintage Sydney Show on original card!

Shoes – Rodhe

Stockings – What Katie Did

Sunglasses – Costume store

Earrings – 1950’s beaded vintage, op shop find.

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Casual day outfit getting ready for a Lindy Hop class.

Cardigan – Nana De La Reve

Sweater Keeper – 1950’s beaded original

Green striped shirt 1950’s original  – Clara Fox

Skirt – Hand painted 1950’s original dead stock (!) Episode sale find

Belt – borrowed from a friend

Fishnets – Dance store

Shoes – Rodhe

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This isn’t much of an outfit shot, but it does give you an idea of what I look like when I’m out dancing the night away! Yes, I’d just stepped off the floor when this one was snapped.

Dress – 1950’s original red cotton corduroy

Fan – 1950’s original found at Love Vintage Sydney Fair

Earrings – a brilliant op shop find, 1950’s diamante

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A very windy morning and I had a long walk to get into town for the big Cake Bake Off, so a little preparation was required to make sure I wasn’t completely disheveled on arrival!

Scarf – Silk vintage tourist scarf

Dress & Jacket – late 1950’s deadstock from “Spectator” label

Stockings – What Katie Did

Shoes – Black satin pumps

Gloves – Circa Vintage

Brooch – early 1960’s vintage

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Strolling at sunset in one of my all time favorite dress ensembles.

Dress – 1950’s reproduction film costume from Circa Vintage Clothing

Cardigan – Nana De La Reve

Stockings – Fishnets from dance store

Shoes – Rodhe

Handbag – (deserving of it’s own post as this is one of my Holy Grail finds) found at Wintersun Market Vintage stall ~ love!~

Glasses – vintage 1980’s does 1950’s

Sweater keeper – 1950’s faux pearl

Phew! Well that ought to hold you on the outfit front for a day or two.