The main shop is taking a breather for right now. I'm having a difficult time with getting the new site exactly as I want it to look, so instead of hoarding all the vintage goodies I've been saving for a big update, I decided I'll update the Adorevintage etsy shop as things move forward. As my dear friend Esther Jean says "It'll all flow darling."

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Lots more coming soon! Most of the vintage I'll be listing in the shop are 1950s and earlier. I really want to curate only the best of the best for vintage, just really beautiful special things you will keep and treasure and pass on to your children sort of vintage. ^_^

This morning we ventured bright and early to the Long Beach Flea Market and unfortunately got rained heavily on. But, we did see a few of our booth regulars and was happy to run into the ever so sweet, Rose from The Tarnished Crown. She makes these lovely pillows with scented sachets of lavender. Mmmm.

So, since it poured down rain, we headed over to our favorite antique malls instead and met up with a friend traveling from Australia. The rain stopped for a bit and I got these little snaps of the garden area at Country Roads in Orange. It's such an inspiring antique mall and pretty close to a darling vintage shop, Elsewhere Vintage, where I've picked up a few vintage treasures. So, here we go, to the outfit snaps...


What I Wore:
Top: American Apparel over a vintage 1940s slip
Skirt: Vintage from Wasteland
Bag: Vintage
Trench Coat: Vintage
Straw Hat: Vintage, I love this hat. I lost it for awhile and it reappeared back in my life (it somehow ended up in the back of my storage closet!) and now we're best friends again!

I really love Sundays. (Saturday I'm almost always working on things for Adorevintage, then Monday it's back to the grind.) So, in Southern California, there is a flea market going on EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY of the month whether it be the Pasadena Rose Bowl (wayyy too expensive), Long Beach, Irvine, Fairfax Trading Post, or the Santa Monica Airport...so needless to say, I'm at a flea market every Sunday. I can drop money on antiques like that, but today I was good. Well, mostly because rainy days don't really make me feel like carrying around a bunch of stuff, AND I'm determined to stick to a budget. *grumble grumble*

So if I'm not at a flea market on a Sunday I'm perusing some random Antique Mall... well lately I've been going to them a lot to get decorating inspirations... a couple quick pictures from Wertz Brothers Antiques on my visit on Saturday. I'll have to share more pictures of this amazing antique mall in a separate post, it's my second favorite place to shop for industrial, shabby chic, and French inspired finds.



Photographs by moi. Feel free to share, but I would appreciate a link back ^_^.

Vintage 1920s Straw Cloche Hat
I adore this vintage 1920s straw cloche hat so much, but sadly it's a bit too big for my head. Well, actually I'm not sure if it's too big, I know cloche hats were somewhat suppose to obstruct your view, weren't they? I love this particular one so much because it's just so sweet and innocent looking. You could wear it with a little vintage lace ecru dress and pretty Victorian inspired brown boots and be on your merry way to brunch at a cute cafe. - This vintage hat will be available soon in the "new" vintage shop.


Vintage Edwardian Velvet Hat with Feather Detail
When I first spotted this antique Edwardian hat I immediately thought of the BBC show Downton Abbey. It's just so precious and the deep indigo purple color is so rich and highlighted with the peachy orange decor and the little feathers. I adore it! The back of it has a pinched detail, but sorry, I didn't photograph that yet. This vintage hat will be available soon!


Vintage 1940s Straw Cone Hat with Silken Flowers
I was so excited when I chanced upon this adorable vintage 1940s cone hat. It reminds me so much of hat designs by the fabulous milliner Sally Victor. The millinery flowers on this straw cone shaped hat are just so lovely and I love how muted the colors have become. A perfect little Autumn topper, don't you think?


Vintage 1940s Red Straw Floral Tilt Hat
Red is one of my favorite colors, but then again I like so very many colors. (Although grey, cream, and pale pink are probably my absolute favorites always). This vintage 1940s tilt hat would be so fabulous paired with "kiss-me-now" red lipstick. BTW, if you want to please read my article on how to choose the right red lipstick. I love the little red flowers circling the top. Wouldn't this look smashing atop glossy curls or 1940s victory rolls?


Vintage 1930s Spring Floppy Sheer Straw Hat
Oh goodness me, this vintage 1930s straw hat is probably one of my most favorite I've ever come across. It is so incredibly feminine and so glamorous all at the same time! The pale blue velvet ribbon is just that perfect shade of blue and don't even get my started on the clusters of white flowers and greenery! The best thing about this vintage hat is that the natural sun fading on it has made the color the most lovely pale pink, there's something so French country side about it, wouldn't you agree? I just have visions of this hat being worn with a Spring floral printed 1930s bias cut dress and driving through the countryside and having a picnic. I'll have to post this gorgeous fashion editorial I saw once (I think it was in Italian Vogue) and the clothes and hats were so beautiful!

All these vintage hats will soon be available in my vintage shop, but if you'd like to see other vintage hats I have for sale, please do visit them here.

I love weddings, especially weddings that evoke that rustic vintage wedding feel. When I saw these gorgeous wedding photos of Lauren Bush and David Lauren posted on facebook since I started following Vogue, my heart did a little dance. The photo of Lauren Bush in the horse drawn carriage, oh goodness, how romantic! And the scenery... so beautiful! I wish there were more pictures from their wedding, maybe they'll turn up later on... but for now, here are a few wedding photos shot by Norma Jean Roy the couple shot with VOGUE aptly titled "Western Union".



Lauren Bush described her wedding as "rustic elegance" which is so fitting! The couple were married at David Lauren's 17,000-acre Double RL ranch in Ridgway, Colorado. (Oh, in case you haven't figured it out by now, David Lauren is Ralph Lauren's son...)

Here are some snippets from Vogue.com about Lauren Bush's experience with her wedding dress custom made for her by Ralph Lauren.

Lauren's Wedding Dress: "It was like a dream come true. We sat together and arrived at this silhouette. It isn’t Victorian exactly. I wanted something modern as well, so there is the high-necked collar and puffed shoulders with the large open back.” Made of richly embellished fabrics, the dress’s top layer is featherweight tulle in antique ivory. Some 100 craftspeople spent more than 3,000 hours hand-embroidering the tulle with delicate motifs of small flowers and Renaissance-era scroll designs in ivory silk and metallic thread, Swarovski Elements crystals, and off-white pearl beads."

The Wedding Flowers: "Wild roses, lily of the valley, Queen Anne’s lace, and delicate gardenias."

Image Sources: Vogue

I have to admit, I don't really follow current fashion trends and I'm sure you other ladies that are into vintage probably don't give a lot of figs about what's hot right now either... so anyhow, where I'm going with this, is that I was over at the Fashionspot and came upon a thread in the "trendspotting" forum entitled Is Downton Abbey Sparking a Trend for Early 20th Century Fashions... and was introduced to the Italian fashion designer Antonio Marras and instantly I was in love love love. I'm highlighting some of my absolute favorite vintage fairy tale inspired clothes from his Spring 2010 Ready To Wear collection... j'adore!



Don't you just adore everything?! The soft romantic colors, the pretty floral prints, the subdued pastels, those little stockings with ruffles?! If Marie Antoinette was a modern day fashion blogger she'd totally rock these looks. ^_^

Image credits: NY Mag

A friend of mine introduced me to Instagram a few months ago and I honestly didn't understand that it was a social sharing photo medium. I'm still trying to get the hang of it, but honesty there are so many social media outlets out there I can't keep up with all of them. But, I do love Instagram so much! Love that my photos instantly get that dreamy vintage touch with a touch of a button. So... without further ado... Adorevintage on Instagram.

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1.] My "new" vintage industrial work bench used as a desk + "new" industrial stool.
2.] A growing collection of vintage brooches that will be available at my vintage clothing store soon!
3.] My favorite breakfast of rosemary bread, chocolate spread, French berry jam...and a vintage book from the library
4.] A Coca-Cola break during the afternoon when I moved *almost* all my vintage goodies into my new work studio
5.] My roommate's little vintage bride and groom wedding cake toppers. I adore these little people!
6.] A vintage Acme dress form I purchased at the Long Beach flea market
7.] Sometimes I like to get crafty. Made this twig ball with flowers, silk ribbons, birds, butterflies, and bows... it now hangs from my ceiling
8.] A pretty mess of beautiful antique treasures picked and found...
9.] I so adore snacking on macarons! These are from Lette Macarons on Larchmont Boulevard... the pink striped one was "rose petal" and it was delicious!

Do you have Insta.gram? Let's follow each other. Find me under "adorevintage" ^_^ Happy snapping!

My heart did go all a flutter upon seeing these most exquisite antique blouses in this vintage catalog scans from Eaton's 1920-1921. Don't you wish you could just wave a magic wand over these pages and the actual garments would show up in front of you. (Obviously you wish this too, LOL, who wouldn't?!)

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Image credits: Charmrmaine Zoe - Vintage Eaton Catalog Scans

In the world of vintage I think it is always important to learn as much as possible about it. And today I wanted to spend some time talking about what exactly vintage millinery is as in the past I always confused it with hat making. What brought about these ponderings was a meet-n-greet with this lovely 1940s cage hat adorned with cherries and berries and little Autumn flowers and I thought how lovely would that be for the holidays... but unfortunately the vintage hat was not for sale. Oh the sadness! So then I proceeded to thinking perhaps I can just recreate something similar and did a little bit of research for millinery supplies, but I have yet to come across those adorable little cherries and berries.


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Anyhow, without further ado...

What is Millinery? In the most simplest of definitions, millinery refers to hat dressing or designing hats. Sometimes it can mean the manufacturing of hats, but for the most part millinery refers to designing hats.

One of the most famous American milliners is Sally Victor whose vintage hats are showcased at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. These two vintage Sally Victor hats from the 1930s are my favorites! J'adore!!!




Sally Victor was born in Scranton, PA on Feb 23, 1905. She studied art in Paris for a couple of years and sewed and designed her own clothes from the age of 14. What started her millinery career was being a hat buyer for Macy's in New York City. When she got a job at L. Bamberger & Co., she met her future husband, Sergiu Victor, a hat manufacturer. Eventually she became so successful as hat designer that Sergiu closed down his hat manufacturing company to join her in her millinery adventures. And what a wonderfully beautiful journey it was!


A photo of milliner, Sally Victor, inspecting a straw hat surrounded by vintage millinery supplies.


A vintage advertisement for Whitman's Chocolate featuring a rose adorned vintage hat by Sally Victor.


There is a fantastic little read and preview photos of the hat exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum Sally Victor: Mad Hatter. I'm hoping to dwelve a little bit into hat designing, small steps, baby steps. I can't even find the proper millinery supplies!

There are so many lovely vintage dresses, vintage handbags, and pretty little vintage hats I would love to add to my vintage closet from Purple Deer Vintage. There's this one super rare 1950s horse head novelty wicker vintage bag that I just squeal with delight over. Purple Deer Vintage is based out of Sacramento, California and curates a collection of pretty floral frocks, tapestry and needlepoint bags, and has vintage spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s with a few pieces from the 1930s and 1940s. Below are just a few of my favorites!


Vintage Young Edwardian Jumper Dress // $78
Vintage Silk 1930s Blouse with Birds // $70
Vintage 1970s Autumn Feather Hat // $38

To find out more about Purple Deer Vintage, check out their blog or visit their Etsy shop Purple Deer Vintage!

I had a lovely talk with my new roomie today about life, love, and business. We chatted casually about the ins and outs of our life among bolts of ecru lace, vintage inspired fabrics, pink maribou feathers, and other sorts of fancies. Amongst other topics we also talked about what we're going to do with our new space. Shall we divide up the studio or mix everything in together. Luckily my roomie, Esther Jean and I have very similar aesthetics. Esther Jean designs the most beautiful vintage inspired dresses and accessories so naturally we share a love for vintage inspired interiors. A little shabby chic, a little industrial, a bit of French, and definitely a whole lot of pretty.


I just purchased an industrial work bench just like the one pictured here but in an eggshell cream color with a little drawer on one side. For the shelves I got these large wooden bins that came from an old barn in Pennsylvania.


I will definitely have large blooms around the studio. I love fresh flowers.


So excited to get a mood board going! My roomie and I are planning on doing a large scale mood board for all of our different ideas. The first time I met Miss Esther in her apartment I was so amazed by her mood board in her apartment as it took up nearly an entire wall and had been a 2 year project.


Can I confess that I am so excited to color code the vintage dresses on garment racks!


So this weekend is my official move-in weekend. Technically suppose to move in during the week, but the walls need to be repainted. There's so much to be done... but if I can set up an apartment and get it all pretty for Apartment Therapy in less than 2 weeks... I can set up a work studio in less time. Very excited.

P.S. - I sincerely appreciate the comments left on my blog post below. I don't want to sound sappy... but I teared up reading your comments. Thank you so much, really, for the love and support. I feel like the internet is a place where we get to know people and follow their lives but never really get to know them, so when I receive such personal comments I'm so touched.