The Vintage Closet: Amber's New Old Dress

I rarely visit vintage shops that aren't online, mostly because there is only one in my town, she keeps random hours (and not too many of them for that matter), and most of my time is spent working on my own vintage shop. But, of course, it is always worthwhile to go see what other bits of vintage gorgeousness exist out in the world, and to do so in person. That way I can feel the textures of the materials I am looking at and even use my nose to try and sniff out a bit of the garment's history.

It took me about one second to fall completely in love with this dress. It is so soft and cozy, and the satin lining feels heavenly when it's coming down over my head and onto my body. The smell offered me no information (which can be a good thing), but oh! the visual glory of the piece more than satisfied my sensual craving for beauty.

The owner of the shop informed me that it was, as it appears, a piece from the 1970s. I have an absolute weakness for 70s clothing that, paired with my devastating adoration of combinations of shades of orange and brown, lead me to declare this my favorite dress in the world. Throw in my love of little jumper dresses, and I'm sure I've found a life long lover in this piece.

Plus, how perfectly fall is it? So. So perfectly fall. Thanks for turning round and round earth, thus affording me the opportunity to rock this adorable autumnal attire:

Oh, you're wondering about the shoes, aren't you? As you should. Amazing black oxfords, made mid-century by designer Ferregamo, who supplied many a Holllywood starlet with her footwear back in the day. Sasha adores these, but they are too small for her. I love them as well, but would basically need to buy a new wardrobe to make more than one or two outfits in my closet go with them, so we will be putting them up on our Etsy store soon.

And the hoodie? Made with oodles of love by my husband for our two year old daughter, but fitting perfectly on my head as well. The long scarf pieces keep my neck warm when I go outside, and I swear I have gotten more comments on this than on anything I've ever worn in my life. In fact, so many people have inquired into this little hoodie, both for themselves and their children, that he will probably be opening up his own Etsy shop soon to make them available to the world! Funny how things work like that.

Here are two more pictures that show a different styling option for the dress, taken from me and Sasha's pathetic attempt to take a cute photo for this here blog site (as you can see...). And bonus! these include another closet favorite, this blue cashmere sweater, found at another vintage shop, the fabulous Moon Zooom in downtown Santa Cruz, CA:

The wee one, of course, always wants to be in the picture too :-)