Mad Men Season 7

Mad Men Season 7 - the beginning of the end starts tonight.

Mad Men season 7 takes off tonight

American Hustle costume design

I am officially obsessed with the 1970s set and costume design in American Hustle after finally seeing the movie last night. Vintage Halston, Vintage Gucci, Vintage Dior.... just to name a few. How could you not love the disco curls, jump suits, plunging necklines, slinky Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and glossy nails that Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence rock in the movie. It is a fun ride.

 

Vintage Gucci .....from the iconic Gucci Bamboo Lady Lock handbag to the horsebit necklace, earrings, bracelet and high-heeled loafers, all signature Gucci pieces that get a lot of screen time worn by Amy Adams. 

My favorite has got to be the Chocolate Leather deep plunge dress loaned to the costume designer by the Halston archives. Wow. Oh and the Vintage Dior sunglasses and Vintage Gucci purse to complete the outfit are just fabulous.

Halston loaned a series of iconic vintage Halston items from its extensive archives, including a camel coat, a beige silk blouse featuring that signature plunging neckline and the sharply tailored brown leather dress.

There is a good interview with the American Hustle costume designer Michael Wilkinson on the website The Credits: Playing Dress Up with American Hustle Costume Designer Michael Wilkinson

For me... I'm out to find the Vintage Dior sunglasses for my personal collection. What is your newest vintage 1970s inspiration courtesy of American Hustle?

Football Season in Vintage Style

Vintage Cowboy Boots

So while out thrift hunting the other morning, I found a pair of Very old Tony Lama boots, mens size 9.5 I have them listed them in my shop. While doing my research on these boots I came across the Tony Lama site and they have old vintage ads listed on their site. How Fun! I have uploaded a couple to go with this post. These boots would be great for that cool guy (or gal size 11) that embraces vintage and the individuality that comes with wearing vintage!

vintage Tony Lama ad

vintage Tony Lama ad, with Buck Owens

vintage Tony Lama ad

Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show

I was lucky enough to get to go to the Spring Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show a couple of years ago and it was fabulous. I scored some really great vintage pieces for my personal collection.

Racked Nation highlights the Six Must See Booths from the Fall Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show.

Read the highlights here

Let's have a Vintage Labor Day BBQ

Chalk Paint, My First Project

Well, I finally jumped on the chalk paint bandwagon. I have a old cedar chest that has been in the garage for years just waiting to be refinished. So that is my test project. After much online research and asking some friends what they have used, I chose CeCe Caldwell Chalk + Clay paint in Santa Fe Turquoise.

I painted this cedar chest white many years ago (the old fashioned way with primer, latex paint and varnish) I got tired of the white so I thought I would strip it and stain it but I never got that far. I started on the lid of the chest and then I quit and it has been in the garage for years. Here is the cedar chest before:

BEFORE

Painting with chalk paint was very easy, no prep work, just start painting. I like that!
Here is the first coat on the lid, you can see where the paint is starting to dry.

I painted one coat all over and let it dry a couple of hours then I painted a second coat. I was having so much fun and it was so quick and easy I decided to paint some old wood candlesticks too. Here is everything after two coats of paint and after it has dried.

Before waxing

Now I am ready to put the wax on. I was a little nervous because I read so many posts on on how hard using soft wax was. Now I realize it is all true! The waxing was the hardest part. I waxed the entire cedar chest but it looked terrible and felt tacky to the touch. So I needed to get the wax off and start over. I used mineral spirits and a lint free rag and went over the entire cedar chest with the mineral spirits to get off the too thick wax job that I did. I sanded it to get all remaining wax off  and smooth it out. I then needed to put on another coat of paint. What a mess. It is very hard to figure out the right amount of wax. So....

After all that and reading much more online about how to wax over chalk paint I geared up and was ready to try it again. I ran out and bought a wax brush. They are pretty expensive so I didn't get one initially thinking I could just use a paint brush. Silly me. I do believe it helped.

I moved my project inside the house because it was really starting to get hot outside. I turned on my record player, put on some old tunes and went to work.

Old vinyl, Some of my recent garage sale finds!

This time I scooped out some wax onto a paper plate, used a wax brush (that I didn't use the first time) and once I got some wax on my brush wiped off excess onto the paper plate then coated the wood with the wax. Another thing I didn't do the first time around was go back over the wax and wipe off any excess with a rag. That made all the difference. This go around I used an old T shirt rag and wiped off the excess wax from the wood. I really rubbed the wax into the wood with the brush and then again when I wiped of the excess. I still feel like I have a lot to learn but the more I worked with the soft waxed the more comfortable I got with it.

Ready to buff

Now onto to the buffing part. I purchased a buffing brush that goes onto the end of a drill. I knew I could buff by hand with a soft rag but using the drill buffing brush just seemed easier.

Drill Buffing Brush

Finished!

AFTER

It's not perfect but I think I learned a lot and I am ready to tackle another chalk painting project! Perhaps something in a really awesome Mid-Century Modern orange color!!

Vintage Upcycled Hair Pins listed

Vintage upcycled hair pins now listed in my shop. I've already sold a couple, keep checking back for new listings.



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Vintage Hair Pins coming soon!

I have started to upcycle some of my vintage jewelry into vintage hair pins and vintage rings. I plan to list some of them in my shop this week. Please keep checking back for more upcycled vintage as I rework some of the vintage pieces I have. Here is a preview of some of the upcycled vintage hair pins I will be listing.