Affordable Vintage Jewelry

If you like cute vintage clothes, you probably also like cute vintage jewelry.

There are thousands of excellent, beautiful pieces available on Etsy’s online marketplace from sellers all over the world.  One of my favorite Etsy shops is Pretty Vintage Jewelry.  I’m partial to vintage bracelets, and Hollee has some lovely finds, like this caramel Bakelite one. 

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And this funky, colorful charm chain. 

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Check out the rest of Hollee’s selection here

NEXT, you might like these vintage jewelry pieces from my shop:   

Picnik collage jewelry

The most expensive piece is the Native American silver ring ($40), and most of the others are under $10.  Clicking on the photo will take you to my vintage jewelry selection in my shop, where you can also find lots of cute vintage clothes (if I do say so myself). 

Enjoy. 

sallymandy

How to Wear a Modern Vintage Dress

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What can you do with a modern vintage dress? 

Easily as basic as a little black dress, this little brown number from the 1970s is cute all by itself.  But here I’ve mixed it up with other pieces to show how versatile a vintage dress can be.   

There are a few things to keep in mind when wearing vintage to avoid looking costume-y.  First, look for pieces that have at least a few classic elements and look timeless.  The brown dress is a classic color as well as design. 

Second, pair the vintage garment with other classic-looking vintage, or new items. 

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Above:  with a vintage pink scarf.  Where would you wear this?  On a date?  To a party? 

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With a 1980s-does-1940s yellow jacket and my personal favorite vintage flower brooch.  Good work outfit. 

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With a not-vintage leather jacket.  

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With a not-vintage cotton cardigan and vintage leather belt. 

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With a big square vintage silk scarf. 

If my dress form had feet, we could look at how SHOES work with a vintage dress.  Keeping your footwear modern is probably the easiest way of all to avoid looking like you’re actually living in the past.  But that’s for another time.   ♥

For more cute vintage clothes and ideas for wearing them, visit my online shop here.

love, sallymandy

Cute Vintage Shoes from Chronologie Fine Vintage

At my vintage clothes shop, Chronologie Fine Vintage, my mission is to bring you a collection of cute vintage clothes, shoes, and accessories at great prices. 

I have one cardinal rule:  I sell only things I like.  They have to have something unusual or special about them, while also being classic enough to mix with things you already have.

Here’s a selection of vintage shoes that are currently for sale. 

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80s Vintage Pixie Ankle Boots, Size 9 or 40.  $32.

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60s Vintage Chunky Heel Green Sandals, size 9.5 or 41. $22

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60s Vintage Mary Janes, size 6 or 36.  $24. 

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70s Peeptoe Slingbacks in Dusty Pink, size 6 or 36.  $22

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Handmade Vintage 70s Granny Shoes, size 7 or 38, $22. 

See more affordable vintage shoes and lots of cute vintage clothes at Chronologie Fine Vintage, right here.

sallymandy

The Betty Draper Vintage 50s Dress

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♥  ♥  ♥  I love this vintage silk dress  ♥  ♥  ♥ 

I think Betty could have worn it when she entertained Don’s co-workers (with the Heineken) in the first (or was it second?) season of Mad Men.  That was in 1960, and women were still wearing post-war “New Look” designs like this in the real world. 

The New Look, developed by Christian Dior, was a reaction to the World War II rationing and frugality mentality.  Whereas wartime dresses for women were narrow and conservative to save fabric (and reflect the somber mood of the times), the New Look flourished in the 1950s, when affluence and easy living made a comeback. 

This dress is 100% silk and made in Stockholm in the 1950s.  It’s a bonus that the color is mustard, one of Pantone’s hot hues for Fall 2011.  Beautifully constructed, and shown with a crinoline underneath.  It’s sold with a vintage silk scarf in black, white and purple as an accent. 

For sale here.  $110.  Size small.  Click here for more vintage dresses from Chronologie Fine Vintage

sallymandy

 

The Golden Ratio and Proportion in Design

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The “golden ratio” has been a subject of fascination for artists and mathematicians for millenia.  The golden ratio occurs in nature, and is a mathematical formula used by artists, designers, architects, and even musicians in creating beauty. 

What is this magic ratio?  Technically it’s 1.1688.  But for artistic  uses it’s often simplified to this:  1:1.5, or a 2:3 ratio.

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier, who applied the golden ratio (as well as the related Fibonacci sequence) in his work, believed the golden ratio naturally appeals to the human eye, and that people throughout time and space are drawn to it whether they know it as mathematical formula or not.    

Corbusier’s idea is an intriguing one, and there’s ample evidence to support it.  Art and science both recognize that faces and figures considered “beautiful” throughout history have features that relate to each other in the golden ratio.  Leonardo da Vinci was intrigued by the golden ratio and depicted it in his famous Vitruvius Man (above).

Architecture, art, and design of all media also use a 2:3 ratio in many applications for good aesthetics.  These two diagrams show “good” and “bad” proportion in art compositions—the “good” rectangle approximating the golden ratio. 

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In addition, well-proportioned clothing has historically been based on the golden ratio.  Here’s a picture from a 1926 high school home economics textbook, in a chapter about proportion in clothing construction.  The figure on the right captures it; the one on the left is off.  The two sections of the dress at right are generally in golden-ratio proportion, and the sleeve divides the girl’s arm into golden ratio sections. 

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Isn’t this fascinating? 

For more about the golden ratio, here’s a site you might like, and here’s one more.

Please come check out my collection of well-proportioned vintage dresses, vintage shoes, and other vintage clothes at Chronologie Fine Vintage!    Love,

sallymandy

Evelyn Cameron, Prairie Photographer

Evelyn Jephson Cameron was a Montana artist and photographer with a remarkable life.  Her story exemplifies what women throughout history have always done—created lives for themselves out of sometimes not very great raw material. 

Cameron was born to a wealthy British family.  She came to rural, remote eastern Montana in the late 19th century after her marriage to naturalist Ewen Cameron.  Evelyn initially found life there rewarding and stimulating, for all its challenges and hardships. 

Evelyn, ever cheerful, smiling on top of her horse

According to author Kristi Hager, Evelyn’s early life was one of wealth and luxury.  In Montana, everything was different.  She and her husband barely scraped by on the meager earnings from their ranch.  In fact, while Ewen was way studying wildlife, Evelyn took care of nearly all the ranch work alone.

Some of her chores included: raising a huge garden, chopping wood, digging coal, tending chickens, milking, breaking colts, skinning and butchering animals, branding, dehorning, and castrating cattle, baking, cooking, and keeping house with no hired help and next to no assistance from her husband (source:  Kristi Hager, Evelyn Cameron: Montana’s Frontier Photographer).

Somewhere along the way, Evelyn discovered her own passion through photography.  Over some thirty-plus years, she shot thousands of images of the landscape, people, and natural world around near the town of Terry, Montana.  Her work supported Evelyn and Ewen financially, and left posterity with a stunning record of this remote ranching culture and landscape. 

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Self portrait with camera.

In addition to her photos, Evelyn recorded details of her life and world in thirty-five diaries.  Together, the diaries and photographic record are some of the best resources we have regarding life on the American Great Plains in the late 19th century. 

Milwaukee Railroad Workers, 1910.

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Marsh School House, 1914. 

About forty years ago, a former editor for Time-Life books, Donna Lucey, found Evelyn’s entire collection of work in the basement of Evelyn’s friend Janet Williams of Terry.  Lucey later wrote the best  biography introducing Cameron’s work to the public:  Photographing Montana:  the Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron.   

 

For more of Evelyn’s fascinating story, visit this blog entry at Shades of the Departed. 

Sources for photographs, in order:  

Self Portrait Kneading Bread, Montana Historical Society; Portrait on horse:  this one is available several places online and I don’t know the original source; Self portrait with camera, University of Montana Museum; Milwaukee Railroad Workers, 1910, Montana Historical Society; Marsh School House, 1910, original source unknown; Book cover:  Mountain Press. 

sallymandy

posted by Barbara (aka Sallymandy) at Chronologie Fine Vintage

Who Loves Jane Birkin?

Now, I’m not too familiar with Jane Birkin’s music or acting careers.  And I know that in her younger years she was often photographed without any clothes at all. 

But I love her fashion sense of today. 

Here are some photos of her middle-age wardrobe – photos that have lessons for all of us about “appropriate,” yet youthful, clothing.           

Neutrals in quality fabrics…

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Monochromatic classics with a subtle menswear vibe.

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Comfort and playfulness…

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And, finally, the best accessories:  A wide smile and a feeling that she doesn’t take herself too seriously. 

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Have a great Tuesday! 

sallymandy

doing business as Chronologie Fine Vintage

Stanley Kubrick’s Fashion Photography

Lingerie fashion shoot, LOOK Magazine, 1949 (click photo for credits)

Before he became a producer of such iconic films as Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick was a freelance photographer.  His early work included fashion photography. 

Kubrick was still in high school in Manhattan when he sold his first series of fashion photographs to LOOK magazine.  He continued to work for LOOK during his twenties and up until the time he made the switch into film. 

Woman Seated in Chair While Another Woman Models a Dress, LOOK Magazine, 1949 (click photo for credits)

On a photo shoot for LOOK, caught in the mirror of showgirl Rosemary Williams, 1949 (New York Times, click photo for credits)

Working for LOOK, 1949. 

Enjoy! 

Sallymandy