Monday, March 22, 2010

9 to 5


9 to 5, originally uploaded by Cohabitating_Closet.
I feel a bit like Lily Tomlin from 9 to 5. Well actually, all those girls wore similar "secretary" style dresses in great colors.

I picked this up at the local vintage store a while back, but haven't worn it yet. Honestly, I feel a little self conscious in something so bright and so vintage. I threw the swapped cardigan on top and it seemed to tone down a lot of the ruffle and frill. Still a nice dress.
This is something that I struggle with in general though. I like vintage clothes, recycling, and reworking older styles but it's always a challenge to not look too costumey. I am teaching today, and it's the week before spring break, so I don't worry about projecting uber authority or anything like that. I can have fun with my clothes, but I don't want to appear too crazy. I have this concern about the mod dress too.


This is a better view of the colors. More tomato than bright red

What are you tips for wearing vintage while still looking modern?

Edit: Sal from Already Pretty did a great guest post at Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing on tips for wearing vintage. It's true: the internets is better than ice cream.


Dress: Not Just Vintage
Cardigan: swap, J Crew
Tights: Hue (Macy's?)
Shoes: Naturalizer, online
Belt: thrifted

5 comments:

  1. Yay, I'm so glad you found that guest post helpful! And I think you've done a marvelous job of modernizing this retro frock. What fun details it has.

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  2. What Sal said. This dress is great - and the colour is lovely on you. Black cardigans update almost anything, no?

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  3. What a great dress! The belt & cardigan make it look more modern for sure.

    Thanks for linking to Sal's post too! I'm a little nervous about the vintage-style dress I bought this weekend (which should hopefully be coming in the mail soon!) looking too costumey as well, so this should help :)

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  4. I agree re the black cardigan! I think this dress looks vintage-inspired, not vintage.

    I understand what you mean about costumey though - especially with '60s dresses. I have a hard time with that, too. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

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  5. LOOOOOVE the colors, and the dress itself is divine. Doesn't look too vintage to me.

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