A special dress for a special day

Yesterday was my birthday. This is what I wore.

Indian necklace purchased from yard sale. Bastar necklace purchased in India. Vintage amber beads I've had for decades. Vintage silver and bead necklace, present from A. 1970s maxi purchased from Rasberry Beret, Cambridge, MA. Fleur boots from Vegetarian Shoes, Brighton, UK.I purchased this dress recently and was looking for a special day on which to wear it, and yesterday was the day. I love this dress so much that I plan to do another post about it later.

A and I had a low-key celebration at one of my favorite restaurants in London. An Italian veggie restaurant, Amico Bio has lots of vegan options, fresh homemade food, a warm ambiance, and friendly staff.

These homemade grissini with roasted courgettes and aubergines made an impressive starter. I LOVE artichokes, here with quinoaMy boyfriend called ahead and asked if they could make a vegan dessert and serve it with a lit candle. They said they could. Well, as much as I love this restaurant, I have to say that the dessert was so bad as to be laughable.

They had simply covered three rice cakes (or pieces of Styrofoam, I'm not sure which) with chocolate and then served them layered with jam and bits of fruit. The chocolate and fruit were fine, but, in my view, rice cakes should not be classified as food. Frankly, I think the restaurant just threw together something from ingredients they had on hand and didn’t put any thought into actually making a dessert. At least A and I enjoyed a nice dinner and had a good laugh. I’ll still go back there; I just won’t be requesting any birthday cakes from them.

A had already given me a fabulous present – he funded my shopping expedition in Birmingham with Vix and Annie (although, I’m a pretty cheap date and spent less on four vintage dresses, two scarves, and a hat than most women spend on a new dress purchased retail).

He surprised me by also giving me the catalogue to the exhibition 'Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde' that we saw at the Tate Britain. Now, I get to paw over all those luscious color plates at my leisure.

I’m bummed that I’ll miss the lectures, ‘The Fabric of Art: Legacy of the Pre-Raphaelites in contemporary fashion’ on December 13 and ‘Why the Pre-Raphaelites are modern’ on January 7 at the Tate Britain.

Speaking of the Pre-Raphaelites, after my visit to the Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum, I had posted that I was obsessed with John William Waterhouse’s painting, The Lady of Shalott when I was in college.

This painting, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem that it is based on, come to life in a newly released short film by WAG Screen. You can watch it here:

Enjoy!

Biba and the Pre-Raphaelites

The title of this post sounds the like name of a band that I’d very much like to see.

As mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve seen two wonderful exhibitions lately and heartily recommend both.

The first was "Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery." While not a huge exhibition, it has enough fashion, drawings and other works to make it quite a tasty little morsel of a show. All the fashions are delightful and enhanced by the personal stories of the original owners.

When I had my hot little hands on all six Biba catalogues recently (here and here), I was amazed that some of the designs looked like they would actually be flattering on a range of figure types (not just the typical narrow-shouldered, flat-chested and slim-hipped 'dolly'). And I still believe so after seeing the clothes.

Classic look that I’d wear in a heartbeat.I want all of these dresses. My photos came out terrible, so I'll only subject you to one more. I recommend visiting Miss Peelpants and Penny Dreadful’s blog posts on the show for great images.

My major discovery at the exhibition is that I already own something illustrated by Barbara Hulanicki. Barbara provided the cover illustrations for these Le-Roy patterns from 1963 and 1964. I own Le-Roy 3156 (the one on the righ), which I purchased from a stall at Camden Lock in London about 15 years ago. I should have noticed the stylistic similarities with the ‘ghoul’ girls in the Biba catalogue.

It makes sense that those of us who love late 1960s and early 70s fashion, graphics and design would love Pre-Raphaelite art. Like hippies of the late 1960s, the Pre-Raphaelites revered nature, longed for simple times long past and rebelled against the constraints of society. Plus their works of art include all that long flowing hair, an abundance of luxurious textiles, and exquisitely rendered non-Western and medieval decoration.

A. and I saw the exhibition "Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde" at the Tate Britain and we were both blown away. I have seen many of the works in the show before, but I never tire of them and each time get completely drawn in. 

Some gems from the show that I don’t recall having seen before:

John Everett Millais, Ferdinand Lured by Ariel, 1859, Private CollectionDante Gabriel Rossetti, Monna Vanna, 1866, Tate Britain. William Holman Hunt, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1869, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne.Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but I'll probably be having Indian food, and giving thanks for that!

Bit of this and that

One of my favorite tumblr blogs is Just Seventeen, which is simply scanned images from vintage Seventeen magazines.

I swear I had never seen this image before.

from Septmenber, 1969, issue of Seventeen magazineWhen I painted these.

B. P. Mary Janes, thrifted from Goodwill, Cambridge, $7.00. Painted by me. I’m very much behind on posting what I’ve been up to. So, here’s a bit of catching up.

Last Saturday, A. and I viewed the Lord Mayor’s Show, a parade that has been taken place annually for the last 800 years. It was pretty much on the doorstep of A.’s new flat.

The giant wicker figures of Gog and Magog, the traditional protectors of the City of London, are pulled through the street. These figures were made in 2006 to replicate the original medieval wicker figures that were part of the procession.

Much of the parade is made up of the livery companies (trade associations), volunteer divisions of the armed service, cultural and charitable organizations with a few businesses.

There were 125 horses in the parade (and participants were marching through lots of manure). Fortunately, many of the horses had handlers walking alongside them, calming (and kissing) them during the inevitable pauses along the route.

Pearly King and Queen.The Pearlies are a charitable organization originating in the working classes of London. Here are photos of Pearlies in their button-adorned finery. No, I do not plan on covering my clothes in buttons. (Maybe a bag, though...)

Today, A. and I went to a vintage fashion show and market at Spitalfields Market. While I enjoyed the fashion show and the swing dancing performances, all of the clothes and accessories for sale were well beyond my budget.

1930s, 1970s and 1960s on stage. Beret, I’ve owned since the 1970s. Antique glass bead/pendant necklace I’ve owned for decades. Thrifted long-sleeved purple t-shirt. 1970s Wallis jacket, market in Spitalfields, London, £20. 1990s Jean-Paul Gaultier trousers purchased new, Filene’s Basement, Boston. B. P. Mary Janes, thrifted from Goodwill, Cambridge, $7.00 and painted by me.

The balcony of A.'s flat is looking a bit desolate as he hasn't had time to do any flower boxes. But at least there's an outdoor space to take photos (unlike at my flat).

A little help from my friends?

After spending countless hours researching how to transfer my blog to Blogger I’ve on the verge of giving up. Those who know me know that I’d rather poke a fork in my eye than do research about technology. I found out that while it is possible (through a convoluted method) to transfer the text of my posts, I will have to upload and insert all the photos manually. I’m not sure I have the stamina for that.

Alternatively, I can try to make this blog more user-friendly. Can you do me a favor and send me an email or leave  a comment letting me know 1) how you prefer to ‘follow’ blogs i.e., Bloglovin, Blogger, Facebook, etc. and 2) what you don’t like about the way my blog works (or doesn’t, as the case may be)?

To catch up on this past weekend -- A. and I went to a vintage market at Spitalfields, where the prices on clothing were too high for my wallet. 

A. did pick up this Hornsea mug designed by John Clappison and now is on a mission to find more from this series.

At the Brick Lane vintage market, I found the seller who I had bought my Biba-esque Wallis jacket from and bought a 1970s dress that I wore to lunch on Sunday.

1970s-does-1940s dress with sweetheart neckline and peplum,
Brick Lane vintage market. 1970s-does-1920s tapestry bag from the
Rock and Roll Yard Sale. Antique glass bead/pendant necklace I’ve
owned for decades. Ceramic and glass bead bracelet, made by me in
the 1990s. Purple tights, Sainsbury’s. Shoes, thrifted and painted by me.

Jewelry up close. Shortly after buying the dress, I found this Style pattern from 1974 that is slightly similar in style but with an empire waist instead of a peplum.

On Sunday, we went to the Sunday Roast at The Smithfield Tavern, a veggie pub nearby. In the States, we don’t do ‘Sunday Roast,’ so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Smithfield does two vegan roasts. 

Stuffed aubergine with puy lentils, roasted tomatoes and herbs with trimmings. Stuffed butternut squash with quinoa, macadamia nuts and red onions with trimmings.It was my first Yorkshire pudding which seemed to be the British equivalent of what we call ‘biscuits’ in the U.S. – basically something to sop up gravy.

We were so stuffed from lunch that A. made a simple tofu scramble for dinner. It tasted as good as it looks.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on how I can make my blog more user-friendly. Thanks in advance!

Happy Birthday, A.

Yesterday was A.’s birthday. I made a cake.

Although it was a recipe I had made several times before (here,  but veganized by using almond milk and vegan margarine), baking with different ingredients and different equipment meant that the birthday cake was more like a large birthday cookie. No matter, it still tasted pretty good.

Instead of adding garam masala with the cocoa, I just used some cinnamon and cayenne pepper. I stayed with the orange vanilla icing with a garnish of toasted coconut.

We went to dinner at Carnavale, a Mediterranean vegetarian restaurant nearby. We shared our starters: ‘Quinoa, Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Chilli Cakes with Apricot and Ginger Chutney’ and ‘Young Artichokes stuffed with Walnuts, Lemon and Parsley on a bed of Caramelised Red Onions’ which were both outstanding but my photos didn’t make them look very good.

Phyllo Purse stuffed with Rosemary and Wild Mushrooms served with Pumpkin, Leek, Cannelini Beans and Basil Casserole topped with Pumpkin Seeds. The entrée was somewhat bland, but looks good in a photo. 

Even though we had just had cake at tea-time, we got dessert – ‘Chocolate Roulade, filled with Raspberries, Earl Grey Truffles and Vanilla Soya Cream.’ It looks rather unappetizing here, but it was delicious. Really.

At Carnevale.

ISDA & Co. gray velour dress, thrifted. 1970s waistcoat (which has a matching
dress to be shown in a later post). Antique Indian and stone pendant strung
on a cord (had as long as I can remember). Bangles from India. Purple tights, |
Sainsbury’s. Shoes thrifted and painted by me.

I know that the blogging platform I use is not the most user-friendly. So, I’m about to embark on the daunting task of transferring my blog to Blogger. This blog was originally on Blogger and, in 2006, I became dissatisfied with its limited customization abilities and abandoned it. Which means, luckily, I still have the Joyatri Blogspot URL. But, I need to figure out how to transfer 7 years of content without losing it all as well as transfer my domain name. After that, there will be a lot of re-configuring, re-doing tags, and fixing links. So, please bear with me, and, hopefully, the result will be a blog that is easier to find, follow, navigate, and comment on.

Silence of the films

The London Film Festival has just been on and A. and I saw two films, Alfred Hitchcock’s last silent film, The Manxmen (1929), and a newly restored version of the 1923 Hollywood silent production, The Spanish Dancer. Both films were accompanied by live music which adds a certain extra thrill to viewing a film.

Ad with still from The ManxmenOf course, without sound, facial expressions are critical for silent film acting so I spent a lot of time studying 1920s make-up and hairstyles during the film. So forgive me if I start painting a cupid’s bow for lips and very long thin lines for eyebrows.

Pola Negri starred in The Spanish Dancer as a feisty and clever gypsy girl who wins the heart and saves the life of an impoverished nobleman. After seeing this wonderful costume drama/comedy, I may also start wearing peasant blouses, head scarves and dangling earrings. (Oh, that's right, I already do).

1970s beret, purchased new in the 1970s. Scarf with traditional Rabari embroidery, purchased in India. Red top, thrifted at Goodwill, $4.99. South American patchwork wrap skirt purchased new from a non-profit organization. Vegetarian Shoes boots, purchased new. Bag, purchased new in the 1990s, recently painted by me and to be featured in a future post.In my movie-going outfit (you can tell by the beret) at the BFI Southbank.

This weekend I’ll be traveling to Wolverhampton to attend the West Midlands Vegan Festival and meet up with the fabulous Vix. I’m so looking forward to meeting her!

Miracle of miracles! The sun is out for the first time since I've been in the U.K. Must get outside now!

The Groupies

I’m in London and have been so busy with all that London has to offer (as well as helping my boyfriend set up his new flat), that I haven’t had time to post.

Last Thursday, I attended the private view of “The Groupies,” an exhibition of photos by Baron Wolman. When photographing rock stars in the late 1960s, Wolman was struck by the effort some of the women who hung around backstage put into their look. So, he photographed these women and they were featured in the February 1969 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. As far as fashion, the photos showed the ‘groupies and other women’ sporting painted-on eyelashes, boas and vintage dresses.

Sally Mann, © Baron Wolman

Lacy, © Baron Wolman 

The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously – a group organized by Frank Zappa), © Baron Wolman

 I was able to meet Baron, he’s a genial guy and he seemed pleased when I mentioned reading every issue of his magazine, Rags.

Mid 1960s mini-dress and 1970s moon face pendant, both owned for decades. Red, yellow and blue bead necklace, Boomerang, $2. Vintage Italian magazine scarf, Goodwill, $2. Late 1960s velvet bag from Pakistan, eBay. Restricted Barricade boot, Berk’s Shoes, discounted. I wore the vintage ‘arts & culture’ dress and got several compliments on it (oddly, all from men). 1970s velvet cape, Goodwill. $10.00.The photograph of Karen wearing a vintage 1930s dress that was used on the February 1969 issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

After the exhibition A. and I went to the London Vegan Drinks event at Tibits, a restaurant with an amazing vegetarian and vegan buffet. It is such a pleasure to be given so many choices, including for dessert (their sticky toffee cake is particularly yummy). And with nearly 100 in attendance, there were lots of great folks to chat with.

Given the number of compliments I received on my dress and cape, I'm linking up to the other visible women on Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday.

Seeing stars (again)

Once again, I painted a pair of thrifted shoes using Jacquard Lumiere and Neopaque paints. They were white.

And now they are gray with a touch of purple added (a color that my friend calls 'mouse scrotum' – I don’t want to know how she came up with this description). Since I can’t leave well enough alone and have an addiction to stars, each got a large purple star on them, bravely painted free-hand.

As with my other shoe-painting projects, I took inspiration from late 1960s-early 1970s shoes (previous projects include clogs, sandals, bowling shoes, and spectator shoes).

Of course the best star shoes, actually boots, are featured in the counter-culture ‘fashion’ magazine, Rags. Started by Baron Wolman, photo editor of Rolling Stone magazine in the late 1960s, it was published from June 1970 to July 1971 in San Francisco. It recognized that the coolest clothes were coming from the street and influencing designers and not the other way around.

Rags was a treasure trove of editorials and information on the latest boutiques (for example, where to get Moroccan caftans, antique military uniforms and the latest hippie fashion from London) as well as popular culture and do-it-yourself clothing and crafts. I was lucky enough to have access to all 13 issues recently and took lots of photos that I’d love to share, but can't without the publisher’s permission. Luckily, many of the articles are published on the Rags Lives! blog. This is the article on shoe-painting that got me started and it features the star-decorated boots. 

In a complete coincidence, I just happened upon an announcement of the opening of "The Groupies," an exhibition of Wolman’s photos, taking place at a gallery in London. My boyfriend A. and I will be at the private view on Thursday where Wolman will be in attendance.

Linking to Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping’s Ta-Dah! Tuesday.

I just got rid of the captcha on the comments. Sorry, I didn't realize it was there.

Read all about it

I have been sorting through several boxes of ephemera (antique and vintage magazines, postcards, scrapbooks, photos) that I got out of storage recently. I’ll be posting some of the more interesting items here.

A magazine called ‘TV Headliner’ from 1958 has this ad for a hideous newsprint shirt.

Teenagers’ Rage! “You’ll be the talk of the teenage set.”  This reminded me of a not-hideous 1960s dress I own but haven’t worn in decades. So, I decided to unearth it and try it on. Here's the print that I was reminded of.

It’s made of cotton printed with ticket stubs, images of famous paintings and sculptures, music programs, playbills--sort of an arts-and-culture newsprint. Isn't it fabulous? The dress doesn't have a label; it appears to have been made by a skilled seamstress.

How apropos that I just happened to have curled my hair today. Mod red boots purchased in early 1990s at Shelly’s in London. 1960s velvet embroidered bag from Pakistan, purchased on eBay. I used to wear this dress to art openings in London in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So I tried it on with the big dangling spiral earrings that I would have worn with it. I purchased them in 1988 at the Pure Fabrications at Hyper Hyper, a retail space populated with stalls run by independent young designers, on Kensington High Street in London. To go with my big ‘80s hair (I had a perm – didn’t we all?), I needed big earrings. In addition to the huge red metal spirals, I had a pair of enormous black plastic spirals, also from Pure Fabrications (“jewel mongers to the fortunate” as it says on the cards).

Red ones were £5.99 and the black were £6.50 in 1988.I still have the backing card that came with them. 

That’s me and my big hair and big shoulder pads in 1988.Across the street from Hyper Hyper was the seedier Kensington Market where I shopped for vintage clothes. I used to go to London a lot for my job in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s when the dollar was strong. So I shopped like mad.

In my studio apartment in 1988. The black spiral earrings are barely visible amidst all that hair. Cotton gauze blouse purchased on King’s Road in London. Lots of black rubber bracelets, probably bought at Kensington Market or some other London street market.I had forgotten about my 'newsprint' dress. It fits exactly as it did 20 years ago and I just love the eccentric print.  I think it's worth taking on my next trip to London.

Linking up to Patti's Visible Monday post.

Sun, moon and stars

Do you find yourself drawn to the same motifs over and over?

I have always had a thing for sun, moon and star motifs (as witnessed here and here).

At a little antique show A. and I stumbled upon in Wanstead a couple weeks ago, I found an enamel moon brooch. When I unpacked it after returning to the States, and put it with the rest of my jewelry, I noticed that I had a number of other pieces of the sun, moon and star variety.

Top row, left to right: silver band with star cut-outs, purchased in the 1970s or 80s; enamel sun face brooch, found on the side walk here in Cambridge; metal moon face pendant, purchased in the 1970s; silver moon face pendant with amethyst and pearl beads, purchased in 1980 in Providence, Rhode Island. Bottom row: my new enamel crescent moon brooch, purchased in the U.K.; cut metal and enamel earrings from Turkey, purchased at a street fair in Washington, D.C. a couple years ago; Victorian crescent moon and star brooch set, have owned forever.

I purchased the cloth with the stars and stripes at a thrift store and use it to cover my turntable. Only later did I realize that it is the state flag of Arizona. I just like the design.

I noticed that I store things in boxes with stars on them, too.

Bottom to top: 1930s fabric covered box purchased at the antique fair at Alexandra Palace, London in the 1990s; a Christmas box pulled out of my neighbor’s trash a few years ago; and a 1950s box that contained a powder compact. I had some moon and star fabric that I used to make a tea cosy.

Nothing special about it, but it works well, and looks good with my recent thrift store find of brightly colored mugs. My favorite color combination is red, gold and purple—so that’s 3 out of the 4 mugs!

Linking to Ta-dah! Tuesday for the moon brooch and mugs finds and the made-by-me tea cosy. I’ll also throw in tonight’s dinner.

Brown rice with caramelized vegetables and ginger. The recipe calls for orzo, but I didn’t have any, so I substituted brown rice. The ginger and garlic give it a real kick. I’ve made this recipe several times and can safely say that you do not need to segregate the vegetables as you cook them; you can allow them to mingle in the pan. More inexpensive varieties of mushrooms work instead of shitake, too.

Exhibitions to see, things to unpack

To follow up on the Biba theme of the last two posts, I found out that the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery in the U.K. will be hosting the exhibition, “Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki” running from 22 September 2012 to 14 April 2013.

I also can’t wait to see the Tate Britain’s exhibition, “Pre-Raphaelites – Victorian Avant-Garde,” opening on 12 September this year and the new, renovated William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, opening in August. 

Until then I have a lot of unpacking to do.

I just moved 54 boxes and assorted small pieces of furniture out of storage and back into my apartment. Packed away for 5 years, it is like thrift-store shopping -- where everything is a treasure -- as I open each box. Most of the boxes contain art and design books, but there is a good amount of other stuff to be re-discovered.

What is in this antique medical-supply trunk?

Fabric! 1950s fabric, Arts & Crafts reproduction fabric purchased at Liberty & Co., and hand-loomed raw silk -- and that's just the top layer. This is going to be fun.

Have you re-discovered anything lately?

Serendipitous Biba

My last weekend in London, my boyfriend A. needed to pop round to a friend’s house. His friend lives with his parents and we had a brief visit with A’s friend’s mum, J. We were talking about hoarding tendencies and I asked her if she had any magazines from the ‘60s or ‘70s. She said ‘no,’ but she had saved all of her Biba catalogues. I could barely contain my excitement!

She pulled them out and I thumbed through them all, and asked A. to snap pic with his camera-phone.

J. said that the Biba shop was unlike any shop at its time. She would meet her friends there, they would try on clothes and then lounge around chatting in the clothes. It was more like a social scene than a proper clothes shop. A dress cost a week’s salary for her.

Can’t not love a fashion photo with a big dog! I love the Juliet sleeves on dress on the right, haven’t seen many that are actually above the elbow like this one.

More favorite elements – contrasting color and cuffs and square buttons on the dress on the right.

Wouldn't it be great if these designs were made today—they would be flattering on any shape. 

Again, the long waistcoat with v-shaped neckline would be flattering on those of us who are not tall and willowy.

Love the harem pants on the left. The gored skirt and loose, bell-sleeved jacket on the right is such a classic design!

I want this jacket. I have a thing for dog-eared collars and lots of buttons.

Obviously I like dark jumpers and spectator shoes! 

We called these “elephant pants.”

A, D, E, F (can’t see the letters, but the 3 on the left in the bottom row), are my favorites and I will one day make them.

I know that the Biba label has been re-launched by House of Fraser. I saw the in-store collection a few weeks ago and have to say that there was nothing I was drooling over, like I do with the original designs.

The owner of the catalogues, J., was a dead-ringer for Julie Driscoll in her youth (her husband even had her sign an autograph as Julie so he could get a discount in a shop). So, for her graciousness at letting me pore over her treasured Biba catalogues, I am including two groovy videos of Julie Driscoll.

Check out the dance moves at 3:20 (when there’s a better glimpse of her clothing).

I LOVE her vaguely medieval ensemble here! It includes some of my favorite fashion details – a lace-up bodice, a big Indian pendant, embroidery, a pouch hanging from a belt (yeah, I do that); and harem pants.

Do you own any original Biba? Which design above is your favorite? I will be posting more Biba catalogue photos tomorrow.

All the trimmings

The last time I was in London, I went to The Button Shop, a button and trim shop at 87 Green St., Forest Gate, where I bought some trim and ornaments that I liked, with no idea as to what I was going to do with them. One sequined trim ended up embellishing this bag and an ornament was used in my flapper headband.  The tiny shop has tons and tons of gorgeous buttons, beads, and all manner of trimmings.

I made another visit recently and again ended up buying snippets of things I liked.

I can't wait find projects to use these on!

Green garb for the London Green Fair

On Saturday, A and I went to the London Green Fair in Regent's Park. I realized as we were headed out that virtually everything I was wearing was 'green' – thrifted, made by me, or upcycled.

Corduroy jacket, Goodwill, Gaithersburg, Maryland, $3.00; 1970s peacock print blouse, Sue Ryder charity shop, $6.00; Gap striped corduroy jeans, Goodwill, Somerville, MA, $4.99; fabric flower brooch made by me; bag made from late 1960s Indian-print jacket; 1990s shoes painted by me.I tend to dress by picking my shoes first, based on how much walking I'll be doing. I picked the 'sensible shoes turned snazzy spectator' shoes I had painted (thank you to those who left such kind comments on my last post!).

Then I loaded up on the prints. I had been looking for a pair of striped jeans for years. A few weeks ago, I got out of a dentist appointment earlier than expected, so I went to a thrift store that I rarely go to, but which was on my way home (uh, sort of). As I was about to leave the store empty handed, I spotted something striped in the bins at the front of the store where people leave donations. You're not supposed to shop in those bins but I was excited by the prospect of finding my long-searched-for striped jeans. And there they were, a pair of Gap corduroys in my size. I didn't even try them on. I was going to will them to fit -- and they did. With stripes in reds and browns, I am getting a lot of wear out of these!

I paired them with a 1970s Art Nouveau/peacock feather print blouse I bought at a charity shop the last time I was in London and a 'raisin'-colored cordurory jacket. On the pocket of my jacket is a fabric flower brooch that I made at the London Green Fair last year. They had a crafts tent with scraps of fabric and supplies for making brooches and such. I have kept this one pinned to my jacket since then. (In this photo I had a purple clover blossom from the garden stuck behind the brooch). Of course, I took the bag I made from a vintage jacket purchased at a thrift store. So – 'green' from head to toe!

Linking to Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday.