Pull Your Socks Up!: men's vintage

Showing posts with label men's vintage. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

She Didn't Sweep Under the Chairs

I've become "Her Indoors" in merely a week.
Blame the workmen playing with their diggers and bulldozers in the giant clay pit next door.
Once a verdant, overgrown, secret adventure playground, the wonderland was a place for The Stylist and I to play hooky and shoot some wild outfit posts.
But good secrets don't stay secrets for long though do they?

Day One: If Her Indoors had net curtains, she'd be twitching them while bothering the council about the wretched noise coming from next door and sharing a blow-by-blow account of the conundrum with her chums.

Day Nine: Her Indoors considered asking the polite yet noisy lads to keep it down, but she's realised the social networking opportunities down at the Over-50s centre.

She hasn't had time to put her face on, but Her Indoors would be naked without her lippy.

Speaking of lippy, pink lipstick.

How do we feel about that?

On me.

As opposed to my beloved reds.

Those gorgeous wenches Vix and Krista are just two of countless babes who rock the HELL out of pink and I thought I might give it a go.

The last time I wore pink lipstick was in the mid-80s when Wendy James of Transvision Vamp and Bill Wyman's under-age squeeze, Mandy Smith, were steaming up the tabloids.

They wore white-pink lippy, very pale.

So of course I did too.

Not a good look on me.

This one's brighter - Fluorescent Contessa, by Lime Crime.

I'll give it time.

Or a wide berth.

At least Wendy could sing.

What was Mandy's excuse?
Oh that's right, she was 16, so I can't blame the poor wee deluded pet.
Amazing what a Rolling Stone and a controlling mother can get away with.
Oh god, I swapped fire engine red lipstick, oh so briefly at age 19, because of this?
Madonna, I am so sorry I betrayed you.
Will you ever forgive my indiscretion?

Snap, snap ... back to the now people.
I made this headband, named her Bet Does Barbados, put her in the Sassy Vamps shop yesterday and she sold in five minutes.
That's never happened to me until now ... thank you Phillipa!

When you get down to floor-level everything looks crap.
Except for bright and shiny things.
Her Indoors should know better.

1950s cardigan, Mighty Mouse t-shirt, gold skirt, bilum bag - all secondhand

Earrings - Etsy shop, Bones Couture

PInk sparkle necklace - made by mermaid heroine, Krista

Green skull necklace - craft market

Legging-tights - Black Milk

Shoes - Dolls Kill sale

Men's vintage hat and military blazer, leather shorts - second hand

Amy Winehouse rosary - custom made by Etsy shop, Berndt Offerings

Pics are a bit wobbly as it was nearly dark and we were dashing to get The Stylist to ballet.

The same pink lippy again, see I don't give up easily!

Jeans, t-shirt, kid's headband - second hand

1980s jacket - Vintage Junkyard

Earrings - Etsy shop, Bones Couture

Miss Camel Toe has always been rather opinionated and invariably orders one to just "rock that shit HARD", even a two-dollar pair of jeans I've had in deep storage for two years.

Pink kisses to you darlinks!!
Desiree xxxx

Sunday, July 14, 2013

There's a War in My Mind

There are a number of ways to grow older.
I've chosen an unfamiliar path, an exhilarating one I feel most comfortable travelling along.
Until now.
It's not an unfamiliar feeling.
I vividly recall the unwelcome surprises adolescence visited upon my body ... changes I wasn't ready for and lashed out at without success.
It happened again during pregnancy and post-birth with #1 Son ... stretch marks like welts disappearing into secret places.
More physical and emotional changes went with the second, third and fourth big babies I carried, birthed and fed.
Then a lull, a time when walking, running, yoga and most of all dancing, became my joys.
Then I gave up alcohol and watched my bloated face disappear and cheekbones reappear.
More recently I've liked the creases around my eyes and neck ... now they are deeply etched and I realise yet again, I am unprepared for the next stage of permanent physical changes that come with ageing.
The creases and lines are there on "good" days and "bad", while although menopause hasn't even started knocking at the door, it's something I'll need to start thinking and reading about.
Dear reader, this is not a fishing expedition.
I need no reassurance.
I'm just putting it out there ... I'm talking about ageing, toying once again with the concept, getting accustomed to looking older than I did a few months ago.
And as always I tell myself and anyone who will listen, if we're lucky we'll get to live to a ripe old age.
Life is beautiful.

Yesterday I took my neck crepe to the Salvos where The Stylist snapped off a few pics of her happy but extremely tired Mama.
Fatigue seems to be a permanent state for me these days.
Again ... not complaining, it's just a fact of life.

Black sequin beret, 1950s layered slips, Papua New Guinea bilum bag, necklace and earrings - op shops

Leather jacket - retail sale

Layered tights - Sock Dreams

Miss Camel Toe t-shirt - Ms Mink

Shoes - Dolls Kill sale

Later that day, I took The Stylist to a birthday party where she dressed as Bat Girl.
I guess that makes me Bat Mama here.

Careful of those hooves!

Like Mama's, they've got some real leverage and she seems relieved at being taught to accept growth spurts as a means to becoming stronger.

I hope growing up is easier for my sons and daughter, than it was for me and my peers.

When her cape didn't work out, I chopped the back off one of her brother's t-shirts, leaving the neckband intact so she could pull it over her head.

And I painted a pretty lame upside down bat and told her it was asleep - heehee.

My knitting skills are at the uber-beginner stage, but I made these two pairs of fingerless mittens for our cold mornings.
They're brilliant for using with touch screens.
Here's the super-easy tutorial to make them.