how to wear vintage - Natalie Wise Blog

Vintage Christmas Eve

Vintage hat, vintage rhinestone bow shoulder brooch, and vintage dress.

I bought this dress a few months ago, but it needed a bit of TLC to be wearable. When it comes to vintage, needing a bit of TLC is no problem for me, so I set to work handsewing and cutting off the awkward mid-calf lower tier that was falling apart anyway. I think it turned out very cute shorter! I wish you could see the back better…such a pretty foldover drape with a big satin button on one side.

Sunshine and a bit of snow on the ground for Christmas.

Hello!

My DAD said this was a cute outfit, and that it was very Jackie Kennedy. A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

😉

I wore it with my red wool coat for a festive touch.

So many pictures.

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Falling

This city has yet to really impress me.

But this weekend…well…I might be falling for it a little bit.

See, I realized something.

This city owes me nothing. In fact, it has no idea who I am. It won’t draw my name out of a hat and invite me to hold the golden key to the city.

I must fall for it.

I must find the moments and the places that make me come alive here. I must find the space I wish to inhabit within this city, and I must inhabit it.

No one else can give that to me.

I have to thrift it along with vintage clothes, write it at coffee shops along with poems, and I must embrace it along with my family.

In time, I will snowshoe along the banks of its frozen lakes, and I will think quietly in my heart:
I have found peace.

And I have found a place here.

Wearing Hats Part 5: Peach Feather Hat

Hat Four: Peach with Pearls, Bow & Feather

Today was fabulous. Fabulous, I tell you.

This morning I jumped out of bed for coffee and a cherry-almond-streusal muffin. Nothing like a good breakfast to get me out of bed! Then I spent the day…being me. Y’know? One of those days where you’re doing your THANG, and no one’s going to stop you? That’s right. Gotta love it!

So many wonderful things today.

My heart is full.

But I’m sad that “Hat Week” is coming to an end. What did you think of the outfits? Were you inspired to rock a vintage hat?

Hat: Vintage

Pearl Earrings: Gift

Blouse: Target

Pencil Capris: Gap, thrifted

Heels: F21, thrifted

Shoe Bows: Vintage

Wearing Hats Part 4: Black Bow Hat

Hat Three: Black with Bow on Back

I was looking through old photographs last night.

Feeling really wonderfully nostalgic. The good kind of nostalgia. The happy-it-happened, weren’t-we-cute, wasn’t-the-world-lighter-then sort of nostalgia. The best kind.

I got excited to make more memories. I felt inspired: THIS is my one life. These days will soon be the memories. So I’d better snatch every beautiful thing I can!

God is still at work in my life, refining me little by little, sloughing off the rough edges and making me more like Him. But in the meantime, isn’t it a good feeling to be mostly content with where you’ve come from, and excited to see what’s around the next corner? I hope you feel that way, too, dears, I really do. I’m excited to see what God has planned.

Hat: Vintage

Sunnies: Local Store

Blouse: Local store

Pedal Pushers: Thrifted

Heels: Thrifted/F.21

Shoe Bows: Vintage

xo!

Wearing Hats Part 3: Peach Petal Hat

Hat Number Two: Vintage Peach Petal Hat

Sometimes I wonder: Is this too much?

I wonder that with a lot of things. Flourishes in my handwriting, exclamation points in my typing, vintage-ness in my outfits?

I think:

Oh, goodness, well, maybe I’m doing things wrong. Maybe it’s all just too much.

Maybe I need to get rid of flourishes, exclamation points, and vintage-ness.

Or, maybe, just maybe,

The real questions are:

Do I have enough love in my heart?

Light in my eyes?

Happiness in the morning?

And when the answer to those questions are YES, the answers to the other questions are NO, because the flourishes/exclamation points/vintage-ness are outpourings of the love/light/happiness.

I think that’s a beautiful thing.

Peach Petal Hat: Vintage

Necklace: H&M

Blouse: Target

Pearl Earrings: Gift

Bangles: J.Crew & Walmart

Skirt: BCBG, thrifted

Heels: F21, thrifted

Shoe Clips (bows): Vintage

Sunnies: Local store

xo!

Palm Springs

Happy Monday!

Mrs. Lilien has had me on a Palm Springs kick. Palm Springs is calling me and my vintage swimsuit to a swanky Palm Springs hotel with a swanky pool. Of course, this vintage late-1960s Barkcloth, with the most amazing design, cupcake buttons, and…yes…sequins, is coming with me. But I might have to check a bag…this thing weighs about ten pounds!

I love all of the visual weight from the pattern and texture, yet it fits beautifully so it doesn’t look overwhelming. Vintage MUST fit well or it’s not worth your time, my friends.

But Palm Springs? Palm Springs is always worth your time.

“Excuse me, which direction is the pool?”

This pattern reminds me so much of the new Kate Spade Florence Brodhurst design:

Doesn’t it have a lot of similar elements? Everything old is new again!

Have a GREAT Monday, my dears! I’m so excited for this week and I hope you are, too. It’s mid-July, high-summer, and I’m ready to make the most of every second of it.