Tagged you're it!

If you haven't read Vintage Vixen's blog yet, then get thee there pronto and feast upon her daily vintage clothing finds and more.
You'll never look back.
Meanwhile the gorgeous woman herself has tagged me and I have ten questions to answer.
What's your favourite fashion accessory?
It would be a toss-up between jewellery and hats but I guess jewellery would come out on top.
I feel naked if I'm not wearing some kind of bauble that clatters or jingles and I'm known to go thrifting and acquire bits and pieces along the way which I end up wearing while I'm out.  Most days I come home in a slightly different outfit that I set out in.

Hat or jewellery?  I'll take both thanks.


Who's your fashion role model?
I don't have any role models as that's not what I'm about.  I'm actually inspired by the clothes hanging in my closet or that I see/buy in flea markets, charity stores or on eBay.  I see something, it flicks a switch in me, I fall in love and we go home together.  From then on, the piece is ready to wear there and then, it may get a bit of refashioning work, or it waits patiently until I'm in the right frame of mind to style it.  Sometimes the last option takes a few years.  I guess my earliest role model was my older sister M who taught me about fabrics, quality of cut and not giving a damn about what others think.  She also taught me to dance unashamedly while sober, something I've found most women of all ages have difficulty in achieving concurrently.  During my teens I had a girl-crush on Madonna who was a major influence on my style and I loved Prince's fashion sense too.  I love fashion mags but they do wear a bit thin with me as I have a very short attention span and get bored with the same-old-same-old.  

Time-warping in this post.

What do you always carry with you?
Red lipstick, iPod with lots of techno/dance, notebook and pen (you never know if a good story is around the corner), silver Glomesh wallet, spare rings, phone and sunnies.


How would you describe your style?
Completely normal.  Doesn't everyone wear Edwardian petticoats with 1950s head pieces, a leotard and platform wedges?  Because I'm guided primarily by the tactile nature of fabric,  I basically "feel" my way through my wardrobe.  I think that's why my outfits are never matchy-matchy.  Colour is important too of course, but proportion even more so.  I guess I would describe my style as Dress-Up Box Style.

Spanning the 20th century in this post.


What's your favourite?  Jeans, sunglasses or heels?
Well, I cannot live without sunglasses because it's very sunny here in Brisbane, so they're not really optional.  I have a basketful picked up at various op-shops and flea markets.  My favourite would be a white pair with black, glass lenses that I bought at an Auckland (NZ) flea market about three years ago and wore them to my Nana's funeral.  She loved bold colours and prints so I really went for it at her funeral.  She would have approved.  The sunnies belonged to a woman who had bought them in the late 1940s.
After the funeral with two of my sister's and me old mam:

Between jeans and heels, it would have to be heels.

What inspired you to blog about fashion?
I think women started coming over to my house to look inside my closets instead of visiting me - I'm kidding.  But friends, acquaintances, women I worked with or bumped into everyday seemed fascinated with what I wore and wanted to know more about each piece.  They'd become speechless or gob-smacked and I didn't know whether it was because they liked an outfit, hated it or were in a state of disbelief.  I suspect it was a bit of everything with a bit of horror in there too.  I had a huge upheaval in my life recently and really wanted to keep writing to stay sharp so decided to write about what I love the most.  Clothes.

Mum's 1940s suit is still wearable - more here.


What is your favourite fashion store?
My closet.  I love thrifting and I do a bit of online shopping using eBay mostly, a bit of Etsy and the odd emerging designer type stuff - usually because they're cheap.  I do have a Black Milk Clothing addiction which I keep in check through lack of funds - otherwise I would be in big trouble.


What is your favourite fabric in clothing?
What just one?  Not fair.  It would have to be silk.  But leather, cotton and fur are close favourites.  I have a now-dwindling collection of 60s and 70s clothing in man-made fibres as they are utterly impossible to wear here because of the humidity.  I've had to let go of some pieces that I loved but just couldn't wear anymore.

Some of my favourite fabrics here.


Who are your favourite designers?
Whoever is versatile enough out there for me to style my own way.  Give me a chance, I would stock up on Romance Was Born and Jean Paul Gaultier because I think they're versatile enough for me to put my own stamp on their pieces and use them to create something that's "me".  I don't like being told how I should wear something.


Who or what inspires your style?
I am utterly hooked on old movies.  I'm watching Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box and I've been YouTube-ing Clara Bow and Jean Harlow because I love their humour and sassy style. The older the movie, the better.  I think parents and grandparents have completely bullshitted us on the morals and habits of people who lived during the first half of the 20th century.  Just look at the talkies that were made before Hollywood studios were forced to take up the Breen Code by 1934.  Pretty raunchy stuff.  European film was not affected in the same way thank goodness, while pre-WW2 1930s Berlin was a cabaret hotbed.  I don't believe our generation is quite as "immoral" as many would like us to believe.
So I guess I'm inspired by subversion.
Style Like You is a great place to see others talk about their clothes, memories and evolving styles.

Another mash-up of eras here.


Would you choose to buy something high quality or make it yourself if you could?
It depends on whether the high-quality item is something that is versatile enough for me to style my own way.  I appreciate good workmanship, but I won't wear something I don't like just because it's well made or a certain label.  Then forget it.  I'll make it myself.

I wanted a tartan skirt, so I made one.

I'm tagging the following inspirational blogs:

• Idee Fixe
• Mademoiselle Robot
• The Style Rail
• Mispapelicos
• Seamstress Stories
• Sewing Pixie
• Skipping in Heels
• Candycane is Married
• The Well-Appointed Catwalk
• Oranges and Apples