Toronto Vintage Society – Page 2

Tiki Lani Lanai with TVS and Ginger

Bands. Vinal. Videos. Burlesque. Hula Dancers. Signature Cocktails. Door Prizes. The Limbo. Swimsuit Contest. What more could you ask for at Toronto Vintage Society‘s 2nd annual sensational-end-of-summer tiki party.

I got there early to help my TVS Sistas set up the Cadillac Lounge into a Heavenly Tiki Patio…then I ran home to change before the could fun begin…

Me along side a few of the lovelies of the TVS Events Team

Me in my tiki-taskti dress, my wicker aqua clutch (Aldo), simple brown ankle-strap sandals (Payless), aqua drop earrings (Reitmans) and my too-tiny-to-notice hair flower (Forever21)…..

Y’all know I’m not a big make-up wearer …. but I tried my hand at bright eyes and loud lips with Almay’s intense-i-colour trio for greens and Rimmel’s In Vouge lipstick

Clearly a dress like this needed a much more substantial hair flower! Lucky for me the lovely and talented Shermy of Shermette was on hand selling her Fruits of Bali.

14958_10154459929635184_8451421278491510801_n — You can follow Shermy and her lovely hair flowers on Instagram: @miss_shermette

She’s got an etsy shop: Frutis of Bali by Shermette … just sayin’ 😉

Want more pictures of the TVS Tiki Party … click here

Now….let’s talk about MY DRESS!!!! 🙂

I was introduced to world of Cherry Velvet last year via Damzels store on Roncy in Toronto…and since have picked up two lovely dresses that fit my measurements (size 0X) like a glove flattering my curves with different, unique necklines. And best of all: your bra straps will always be covered and your hands, phone and lipgloss will always have a home in the convenient pockets in ALL of their dresses!

Click here and here for details on the above Cherry Velvet Dresses.

I’ve been coveting this tropical number for months….drooling over their Instagram post this amazing Tropical Taupe number that would be PERFECT Tiki Party attire for Toronto Vintage Society’s TIKI LANI LANANI.

Sadly I never found this in store…so it seemed this frock was only going to become a apart of my life and wardrobe if I bought it online. Now, I’m not 100% comfortable buying something I’ve not tried on before, especially when it comes to spending at these particular price points ($100+ per dress). Sigh…

But, since I own two already I felt fairly confident that my measurements and their sizing chart would make any online purchases a ‘success story’ 🙂

Truth be told that, outside of a German Beer Girl halloween costume (stay tuned for a reappearance of this getup as I just bought tickets to Toronto’s Oktoberfest – woot! woot!) I have never purchased clothing online before. My biggest concern or deterrent from online shopping: Returns and Exchanges if something doesn’t fit right —- aka “The Shipping-Back Hassle”.

I tried to push Ginger (the name of the dress) outta my mind and continue living my life…to find an alternative Tiki outfit for this event. But I just couldn’t. I was in love! Upon revisiting their site last week, turns out Ginger was on sale, a clear signs from the shopping-gods…and the ADD TO CART button was clicked and she was on her way to me 🙂

I ordered via http://www.cherryvelvet.com on August 1st and by August 8th a Canada Post deliver arrived with my name on it!!!!! Clearly I was excited as you can see from my Facebook post below…

Seemingly in my zeal to bring Ginger home to me, I ordered a size 1X, instead of the needed 0X…and instantly my “Shipping-Back-Hassle” fears were realized. Lesson Learned folks: double check, and triple check sizes you selcted and return/exchange policies before clicking ‘checkout’ … le sigh.

Lucky for me, minor alterations were needed to make this dress wearable for the big event were made, without having to send this beauty back to Vancouver (that’s where Cherry Velvet is based), allowing Ginger & I to have a fabulous time at TVS’s TIKI LANI LANANI Party!

Are you thinking to yourself…. “But Irene, there are TWO lovely new dresses that hang in your closet… tell me more about the other cutie-pie frock?”

Stay tuned for that friends, in an upcoming blogpost 😉 xoxo

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Pre-Opening Sneak Peek at Tatyana’s new Boutique in Toronto!!!

As much as I love vintage/retro styles ….. sifting through smelly racks of ‘truly vintage’ clothing in hopes that a gem-of-a-find will fit my petite-plus sized bod in a flattering way is difficult and often an uneventful task. This is why I’m a huge fan of the world of vintage reproduction. 🙂

Toronto has been buzzing for months around rumours of getting the golden-era inspired dress company behind the Bettie Page brand – Tatyana!

Vintage and retro style lovers – from swing dancers to rockabilly fans – have been dying to get their hands on the full range of clothing since they were dreamed up in 2006. With sizes in both circle dresses and wiggle dresses going right up to size 4x! The Tatyana company has chosen Toronto to be it’s 20^th location AND it’s first international store….and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

About the Company – Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tatyana Designs, Inc. is a growing retailer specializing in contemporary designs inspired by the 50’s. The merchandise offered through boutiques and active e-commerce and wholesale divisions is a diverse mix of high-quality and attractively priced apparel, jewelry, accessories and gifts. Tatyana collections target the 18-35 year-old, fashion conscious, female customer, but women of all ages are attracted to the unique retro look.

“Our newest Tatyana boutique is situated in the heart of Toronto,” notes Tatyana Designs co-CEO Jan Glaser. “We continue to be gratified by the enthusiastic acceptance of Tatyana’s designs by women from all walks of life. This is especially true as we have an enormous Canadian following with thousands wearing our dresses representing a disproportionate percentage of our customers. Now we have the opportunity to honor their patronage with our first Canadian outlet in an amazing location.”

The Toronto Vintage Society are huge supporters of any new company that wants to join our ranks in bringing the retro inspired lifestyle to this city…and there is room for everyone!!! To find out more we reached out to the company. The lovely Hayley from the NYC Boutique and new Toronto Store Manager Martha made time to let the Toronto Vintage Society have a sneak peek at what’s in store. Click here for the complete blogpost and interview.

The Tatyana Boutique Soft Opening Event this Saturday (Location: 322 Queen West, near Spadina Ave) with goody bags for the first 10 people through the door; bubbly drinks and tasty treats; PLUS an exclusive discount just for US! Mention “Toronto Vintage Loves Tatyana” and receive 20% off your purchase!!! You’re welcome friends!!! 🙂

Happy Shopping! If you do pick up something fabulous this weekend…be sure to post a picture of yourself on Petite Plus, Meow’s Facebook page so I can oooo-and-ahhhh your purchases with you! xoxo

Vintage Gypsy Cabaret?

I was at it again, representing with the Toronto Vintage Society at last weekend’s Electro Swing night-o-fun … looking for Best Dressed guy and gal. This time the theme was: Vintage Gypsy Cabaret. My immediate reaction was…..Whaaat!?! This made me dig deep when coming up with an appropriate look to match my TVS Sistas.

Outfit planning has been tricky to say the least….what the heck is Vintage-Gypsy-Cabaret anyway?! Google’s answer was the following…

….and from which inspired my overall outfit of excessive accessories (Thank You Jacquie, Founder of TVS) and giant hair inspiration of Kate Moss Biba.

I’ve been dying to somehow create a look with these fabulous silky Ali-Baba/Harem Pants I picked up on my trip to the Motherland a few years ago … just never really found an occasion where they would really fit. But they totally worked to help create that Gypsy feeling for this fantastic themed event!!!!

The evening began with pre-drinking at Erin’s … followed by excessive photo-taking of our outfits:

The Event & Best Dressed Winners:

Me and my TVS Sistas on stage….asking the audience to determine who BEST DRESSED was for the night.

10421503_809591515718406_4837104656577647159_n — Final Three for “Dapper Dude”: Alex, Patrick and Daniel

10430492_809591785718379_9162443959395387830_n — Final Three for “Darling Dame”: Sam, Foxy and Clair

10410576_809591332385091_8536558676859040825_n — Moi …. introducing TVS and the Best Dressed Contest. Clearly I enjoy having the mic in my hand

10443456_809591629051728_5430756783390965308_n — TVS selected these three for Best Dressed ‘Dapper Dude’

The ladies really stepped it up tonight….It was uber difficult to pick ‘Darling Dame’ based on these three finalists. Check out their costumes up close – all three were fantastic!

Best dressed guy and gal went to: Daniel and Sam – winners of gift certificates from Gaddabout Vintage Clothing – congratulations you two!!!

10456821_809591899051701_4628860598226836655_n — TVS with the Winners of the Best Dressed Contest!

With Taste of Little Italy happening that night just outside of Revival’s Electro Swing — the TVS Sistas took to the street to dance along side this One-Man-Band!

Other shenanigans of the evening included….

Photo Credit: David Tom — for the full album of photos taken from Electro Swing’s Vintage-Gypsy-Cabaret night click here

How I got the Look:

Black crochet tank from Forever21+; Black lace bra from Lane Bryant; Golden-green Harem/Ali-Baba pants from my travels in Jaipur, India; excessive accessories, plus turban and feathers courtesy of Jacquie of TVS; sandals from Payless

Stay tuned to the Toronto Vintage Society and Electro Swing Facebook pages for the next speakeasy event!

The TVS Pin Up Picnic

The Toronto Vintage Society hosted a lovely Pin Up Picnic at Trinity Bellwoods Park a few weekends ago…. A simple social gathering to celebrate the amazing whether, show off our summer vintage gear and meet new people in our vintage community. Celebrating Sun, Fun and Vintage!

The Admin & Events Teams met up earlier in the afternoon for photo ops, to set up and to pow-wow about the various other exciting events TVS is planning for the upcoming months (stay tuned to the TVS FB Page and new blog site so you don’t miss a thing friends!)

Outfit planning was done with careful colour consideration, with special instructions and effort to keeping the ‘patterns’ to a minimum of 10-25% of the look. Our team photo was going for a more monochromatic look. I was to wear RED! I used the following image as my inspiration…..

Here’s what I wore:

Click here to see this dress in a ‘wintery’ look 🙂

I studied the following Hair Tutorial to get my hair into Pin Up perfection:

…But ended up cheating by creating a faux bang with half a foam hair donut instead 🙂

The TVS Admin & Events Team took some long awaited shots for the website – along with some fun candid ones too. Take a look at all the shenanigans that took place that afternoon amongst Vintage Pin Ups, Greasers, Teddy Boys, Retro Divas and Rockers:

10301053_576860285762585_1121986207842699136_n — TVS Admin & Events Team! Photo taken by Shermette

TVS Admin Team – photo taken by Shermette

A few snaps taken by Bianca Baumann Photography ‘behind the scenes’ as we got ourselves organized for the group pic:

Photo Credits: Shermy Freeman of Shermette and Bianca Baumann of Bianca Baumann Photography

How I got the Look:

Red Swing Dress from Collectif + white short-crinoline from Rosie The Rebel; White crop sweater from Old Navy (was wayyyy too hot to actually wear during the day tho); Vintage wicker purse earrings and bangles; Zebra stripped head tie & wedges from Payless

The Toronto Vintage Society did a great blogpost of their own….check it out for more Pin Up Picnic pics and fun, complete with other picnic-ers and favourite pin-up poses 🙂

#TVS: Mad Men Season Premier Party

Let me start by saying thank you Netflix for introducing me to the oh-so handsome Donald Draper, and his world of Mad Men. And a thank you to RogersOnDemand, for letting me get all caught-up with all of the 6th season’s episodes so that I’d be ready to attend alongside fellow TVS-ers and Mad Men fanatics at the Cadillac Lounge for a fab night of 1960s fun!

When it comes to vintage style, are you a Joan? A Peggy? A Betty? Or a Meghan?

My Outfit:

I decided to go with my PEGGY DRESS complete with white gloves and all — couldn’t find a pill hat this she’s wearing below sadly.

My entire outfit was picked up a few weeks at the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show (minus the white gloves, they were bought recently from 69Vintage and the shoes are oldies from beige closed-toed T-straped heels from Le Chateau)

Found this easy-peasy hair tutorial … that doesn’t look too “done”.

Unfortunately, I was recovering from my first migraine ever, and was struggling to make it out to this event at all — frankly getting dolled up with hair did, just wasn’t happening. So my apologies if I’m not my usual smiley self in photos friends 🙂

The Event:

I missed last year’s Mad Men shindig thrown by the Toronto Vintage Society (at the same locale)…and now that I’m apart of the admin team, I had been looking forward to this for a month! It was all-hands-on-deck with only 1-hour to set up our section complete with Mad Men inspired vintage cocktail menus, fancy up the prizes from Exile Vintage and Ethel’s, setting up a vintage backdrop photo booth complete with authentic vintage props, getting our signage up and our vintage commercials up and running. We really did transform the space – it all looked fantastic.

The party started at 8pm where we had a sassy 60s music dance party with DJ NICO (With It! and CIUT) plus GAMES like: “Name the Slogan” and “Pitch us your Best Ad” that kept us busy before the Cadi transformed their stage by dropping down a large screen for us all to watch the Season Premiere of Mad Men (7th and final season….*sniff sniff*) 😦

It was a fantastically fun night (as soon as I downed some extra strength Tylenol – thank you Monika!) Sunday night on West Queen West with Mad Men vintage loving folks was a HUGE success!

If you were there – be sure to check out Toronto Vintage Society’s Facebook page to tag yourself in the photos we took.

In the meantime….have you Mad Men’d Yourself yet? You should! It’s a hoot!

Swing Fever!

Thursday is the NEW Friday after all….sooooo when this invite popped up on #TVS calendar and then again on Facebook, it was clear that I needed to be in attendance.

Swing Fever! is an authentic 1940’s themed dance party that will transport you back in time to a defining decade in history. This epic evening of entertainment featured a stellar live band, dance performances, classic cocktails, delicious war-time grub and more. It is a non-profit event, where all of the proceeds raised from Swing Fever! went directly to the Royal Canadian Legion and the Humber Business School.

The Great Hall apparently is where many of the scenes from the earlier season’s of Bomb Girls was filmed. It really is a beautiful venue!

Now, I’m still a total novice/beginner and don’t really know HOW to swing dance (only been to TWO officially lessons so far). Lucky for me there were complimentary lessons from the Toronto Swing Dance Society. Plus, a ton of strong Leads on the floor who patiently taught you steps and made you look good on the dance floor (special thanks to David and Joy for twirling and dipping me!) 🙂

The Pickup Swing Ensemble, featuring Toronto’s most talented musicians, performed classic tunes of Glenn Miller, Count Basie and more!

There was a specific Dress Code for the evening: Vintage! 1940’s glam, tea dresses, stockings, victory curls, allied uniforms and utility clothing.

I had my heart set on wearing my recently purchased hi-waisted polka-dot pin-up skirt (that I was yet to remove tags from) and since I finally got a pedicure to show-off my pink toes, my navy & white peep toed heels. This was sort of pushing the specific time period a bit, so I was determined to study YouTube and get my hair into proper Victory Rolls if it killed me!

These were taken AFTER I got home from the event… I was dead tired and sore from all the dancing. Notice, my faux bangs stayed intact! What a fab night!

For 1940s Hair & Makeup …. I checked out this YouTube vid to help me create a more authentic look for the night.

Then I realized, I should probably look for some makeup tutorials for BROWN SKINNED faces 🙂

Buuuuut since this was a Thursday night… it meant that I was rushing after work to get to LHRevolution Swing Lesson, then walked home to shower and change for this party. I ended up having limited time to really apply the teachings in these vids. (I sadly, also forgot to put a flower in my hair for the evening and pearls around my neck too…sigh) 😦

I did however, use Pin-Up Look #4 from this Beginner’s Quick & Easy Vintage vid instead!

The hair results below – Faux Vintage Bangs:

Overall, it was a fantastic night of dancing and fun! My feet, legs and hips are all so sore this morning, but I’m still smiling – totally worth it! 🙂

Here’s a few shots with some TVS-ers and fun-new people I met last night:

How I Got The Look:

High-waisted polka-dot pin-up skirt from Your Big Sister’s Closet

Navy & white peep-toed heels, from Naturalizer

Giant pearl earrings, vintage (gifted to me); Extra long pearl necklace from Toronto Vintage Clothing Show (forget which booth)

Yellow cotton tee from Reitmans

#TVS: Toronto Vintage Clothing Show

The Toronto Vintage Society got a booth at last Sunday’s Toronto Vintage Clothing Show – a ONE day only event at the Metro Convention Center – North Building. The show is a fantastic opportunity to discover hand-picked vintage and retro clothing, accessories and jewellery from top independent vintage fashion vendors. Vendors from Owen Sound, Montreal, East Garafraxa, Collingwood, Freelton, Kakabeka Falls, Ottawa, Hamilton, Straffordville and many others – all under one roof!

The #TVS booth was our way to reach vintage lovers in the GTA. We were selling our “Make do and Mend” sewing kits (THE cutest things ever!), buttons and other fun like an iPad showcasing a photo side-show of all the fun-filled events TVS attended the previous year. All TVS booth visitors were informed and encouraged to sign-up for our new website/blog, pay their TVS Meetup fees, to oooh-and-ahhhh at each other’s purchases from other vendor booths…and of course singing the praises of all things Vintage!

These cutie-pie kits were handmade by the fabulous TVS members who braved the sudden non-stop snow of yet another blizzard, the day after Toronto got a teaser +10 degree weather day. With scissors, glue sticks, mason jars and other crafty necessities were toted and assembled, over gossiping, storytelling and beer.

The TVS booth also had a raffle giving away this fab prize: an amazing train case of vintage goodies in TVS approved colour scheme …even a lil’ something for those dapper dudes: suspenders+cufflinks+tie combo!

Since I live closest to MTCC and have an elevator, I was tasked with carting all our supplies for our booth home and would be there bright and early, with Liz + her hubs + her car to set up. Then we – TVS admin team – would simply rotate on manning our booth whist the others could peruse all the goodies up for sale at the show and Facebook our finds through the Toronto Vintage Society page!

A few snaps of the TVS booth all set up and read to go:

Truth be told, I don’t actually own too many genuine vintage outfits (or pieces of my own for that matter). However, since hanging with the chicks of TVS I have been exposed to the world of “vintage inspired reproduction” dresses. So my Outfit of the Day to represent and man the TVS booth was this dress from Doll Factory by Damzels, a rock ‘n’ roll retail shop on Roncesvalles. (It may look familiar to you as I’ve previously posted about this dress.) This easy-peasy-curvy-body-flattering dress has pockets which makes it that much easier to cart around an iPhone, money and other necessities like that without needing a purse. Knowing the day was going to be busy with setting-up and running around, I went with flats instead heels for footwear. Plus, I wanted to be able to quickly try on any fabulous-finds from booth to booth … heels do not help in making one nimble.

I’m not as dedicated to vintage hair as some of my TVS sistas are, those who patiently created pin-curls and wrapped their hair overnight to create the glamorous hairstyles of the beloved eras. My baby fine hair just never wants to cooperate. But I did manage to get a lil’ vintage-flare in my do for the clothing show. Check out how HIGH I got the bump in my hair! And it lasted all day….Hooray!

Since there was a solid possy of four of us to man the TVS booth (me, Lisa, Larissa and Liz….ooooh L to the power of 3), there was lots of opportunities to check out some of the other vendor booths and do a little shopping myself.

One of my immediate purchases was from Treasure Chicks Vintage from Pickering – these amazing ‘new vintage’ shoes. This shop got 500 pairs of never-before-worn Celebrity shoes for sale friends, complete with their vintage shoeboxes – FYI. I fell in love with these two-toned leather taupe nail-hammered heels the moment I set eyes on them (they fit small, I’m usually an 8.5 buuuut had to buy these in a size 10 for a comfortable fit) and this spectacular red scarf….which I immediately had them tie into my hair to add some MEOW to my #ootd!

Now, this may come as a surprise to some of you reading….but I’m a bit of a diva! I like NEW – so the idea of buying and wearing clothes someone else has worn half a CENTURY ago really needs to be special before I’m willing to spend my cold hard cash on it. This being my first real vintage shopping experience, and being the nerd that I am, I did a bit of research before hand. I found WikiHow’s tips helpful in this Top 10 list for How To Shop For Vintage.

Shopping for vintage plus size clothing is a challenge and a half – no doubt! With all the many vendor booths to peruse, it was an overwhelming task – also, I learnt that I’m easily distracted by shiny/sparkly things – talk about sensory overload all day! Some things I personally kept in mind when looking for clothing/items to buy were:

Odors and Stains … these are very iffy because they’ll probably have been on there for ages. Scarves seemed to have this issue the most from what I saw. I had to ask myself: Would it matter if you scrubbed at it but it didn’t come off? Is it so glaring as to render the piece unwearable?
Try on EVERYTHING! I was surprised at the number of pieces I passed over because it “looked” too small, but upon trying on fit quite well. If it doesn’t feel right or look good when you tried it on, then it probably isn’t the piece for you is the basic rule of thumb when shopping vintage clothing. Sadly, the change room situation at MTCC wasn’t all that private – so I ended up trying on dresses OVERTOP of my dress. Figured if it fit and looked good on me like that, it was def gonna look great when I wore it properly! Silly? Maybe. But that was my try-on technique for the day…and it worked out well. (Ps: the pics of all the below were taken during a post-vintage-clothing-show Irene-fashion-shows as soon as I got home with all my haul).

Check out this long pink & brown floral 1940s day dress I scooped up from www.retrouver.biz Notice the silver rhinestone ornament on the collar! I really loved all the buttons down the front too, plus the thin shiny belt can totally be worn with other things in my closet. It’s a bit long…so it will need a hem…so I managed to talk the price down to $25!

Upon round two of vendor shopping, I found Barbra – an independent vintage dealer who doesn’t have a storefront proper, but has created a name for herself among many of the TVS members. (Her Facebook page is Booth 311 Roadshow Antiques Pickering.) She put me into this lovely light green number. Brand new! The fabric still felt stiff and unworn. The only real giveaway to this dress being pre-loved was the belt holes – one was used more than all the others. Although this dress is pretty simple, I really loved the pleated neckline with the large buttons down the front – and the length was perfect!

The rest of my shopping consisted of accessories. I picked up a delightful wicker purse (also from www.retrouver.biz) and this fantastic black petit point 1960s purse and a giant cream brimmed hat (both from The Vintage Domain).

Check out how I combined a few of my pieces together with each dress.

Here are a few shots of the rest of my purchases from Primetime Antiques & Collectables:

When I finally returned to the TVS booth – I found a swing dance party had broken out! Oooooo! I can’t wait ’til it’s MY skirt that be a-twril with mad Lindy Hop skillz! Yup! With a Z!

The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting up visitors who stopped by our booth and meeting some of the newer TVS members:

Vintage clothing shopping is exciting and enjoyable so long as you come with a good attitude and patience. Finding items that nobody else has is the biggest appeal for me, plus you’re being eco-friendly with the added thrill of bargaining for a deal.

Here’s a summary shot of just the accessories that came home with me from the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show. Can’t wait to do it all again this Fall! Weeeeeeeeeeee!

#TVS: Rock-A-Billy Shake-Up!

Last year upon finally jumping on the Mad Men bandwagon, discovering and falling in love with the Rockabilly/Vintage scene Toronto has to offer, the Toronto Vintage Society organized a meetup event last night’s one-night-only live music: “Sweet 16th” installment of the Rock-A-Billy Shake-Up, at the Junction’s – 3030 (3030 Dundas St. West).

My friend Liz, a fellow TVS member and blogger of The Vintage Inn, has done a fabulous post about the bands of this event, click here to read all about it 🙂

Some of you may remember this cherry-bomb pin-up dress from a previous post. I love this dress! It was meant for an event like this! I wore it with my rocker-chick buckle & zip booties (as winter does not want to leave Toronto yet), in hopes it would yield better results with the men-folk than it did the last time. Uggh!

The plan was to meet grab dinner at 3030 with a few TVS members prior to the show. The menu looked fantastic….plus it would give us a chance to giggle & catchup, whilst securing us a solid spot to enjoy the music for the rest of the night, winter coats and all. 😉

Although the food items were all pretty delicious, the ordering system is very interesting. Patrons must first acquire a seat, then go up to the crowded bar to try and nab a bartender’s attention, only then is a menu of food offerings shared with you (no menus at the table). If you’re successful at this point you are given an order number on a stand, to put on your table and someone will search the venue for your little number and bring you your food. Popcorn chicken, Blue cheese MacN’Cheese, Tostada of sorts and a plate of Bacon, were just a few of the items various people from our little possy ordered.

Also interesting is that their offerings of beers is different at both of the bars in this venue. Soooo say you’re a fan of Mill St. Organic — and you happen to be sitting in the backroom where all the performances are, what you must do is order your appies at bar one, pay, and then walk yourself over to bar two through crowds of people to order your pint of choice. Annoying? Yes..buuuuut it does allow a girl to strut all over the venue at least once to check out the crowd and for the crowd to admire your outfit 😉

First up was a London, ON band called The Hi-Tones (above) – I totally fell in love with the lead singer’s sailor inspired dress! I’m totally crushing on the nautical look these days – anchors away crazy!

Since this was a #TVS event, I got to catchup with a bunch of members I haven’t seen since the Vintage Holiday Party, and even got to meet a few new members who recently joined this fabulous group. I also got to meet a fan of Petite Plus, Meow! She came up and introduced herself and sang prasies of my wee blog! In fact, my post about shoes inspired her to run out and buy the exact same ones 🙂 My heart smiled all night with her compliments – thank you, thank you, thank you, lovely girl!

There were a ton of folks from Toronto Lindy Hop in attendance, many of whom tore up the dance floor with fancy swing-spin and twirls and whirls. Very impressive! Think I’ve found my next ‘fun’ to fill the void that the lack of BollyFuze classes have left in my heart……stay tuned for more on that. 🙂

I’ve been bombarded with work commitments this week and haven’t been able to blog as regularly as I like. I’ve been so busy that I was considering working late instead of going out Friday night. I’m soooo glad I attended – what a fantastic way to end the work week! A big Thank You to Toronto Vintage Society to introducing me to such a fun scene…can’t wait for the next event! xo

Toronto Vintage Society: “Looks” from 2013 Events

Early last year I finally climbed onto the MAD MEN band wagon, bulk watching season after season via Netflix and totally fell in love with it ALL! The beautiful vintage furniture, fab accessories plus the amazing dresses and hairstyles. A tasty eyeful of Don Draper didn’t hurt either…*hubba hubba* Having ample amounts of both, any era where hips & tits were celebrated and embraced is where I need to be! So I began Googling and Pintrest-ing to see how I could incorporate vintage inspired looks into my wardrobe… affordably.

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a fantastic little MeetUp group called Toronto Vintage Society (TVS) – whose members host events, post photos and news on shops and shows to inspire people to get out and make vintage/retro more than a hobby…make it a lifestyle! Now…I’m a total novice when it comes to the love of all things vintage. It takes me a minute to get that the talk of ‘surf’ is not taking place in the water, and getting involved with an Easter Parade does not involve floats. I’ve taken the business approach of “fake it, til’ you make it” when it comes to vintage inspired looks.

By hanging out with the awesome peeps from this fab group #TVS I’ve gotten a chance to discover Toronto’s rockabilly world of brunch and burlesque, attend a 1920s Gatsby Garden Party, a Tiki-Tacky Surfs-up shindig, and capped off the year with a fabulous Vintage Holiday get-together complete with karaoke x-mas carols. Each of these events needed a very specific outfit of course. Take a look at what the past year has yielded in terms of Rockabilly/Vintage/Retro “looks” from my closet.

Gatsby Garden Party – Spadina House Museum, Toronto
How I got the Look:
Dress with pearl collar from DressBarn
Cream floral fascinator from Your Big Sister’s Closet, Dundas W. Toronto
Cat-eye sunglasses from Spring

Tiki Tacky Party – Cadillac Lounge, Toronto
How I got the Look:
Hair Flowers from The Bay
Floral Dress from AdditonElle

Vintage Holiday Party – Toronto
How I got The Look:
Dress swing dress from Collectif, Rosie the Rebel Dovercourt/Bloor Sts
Grey leopard cardi from Reitmans
Black n’ white t-strap shoes from Naturalizer
Black feather & net facinator from Aldo