The Vintage Inn – PPMeow!

SWING OUT TO VICTORY! is an annual dinner-dance held at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. You don’t need to be a dancer! There are tons who come out just go to absorb the experience in a great museum setting with people dressed in their vintage finery.

The superb Toronto All-Star Big Band performed nostalgic tunes from the 1930s and 40s all night underneath the famous Avro Lancaster (last in Canada) – the main focus of the event.

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This was going to be my first ‘away’ dance … and I was excited to get all decked out in ALL of my 1940s gear!

Finding vintage plus-sized pieces hasn’t been too easy. But I did have some luck at this Spring’s Toronto Vintage Clothing Show, where I picked up this floral belted day-dress, along with these new-vintage (i.e. never been worn) Celebrity bow-tie heels. The white gloves are from 69Vintage, and the purse was a vintage gift (thanks JJ!). The only non-vintage piece was my fascinator, which I picked up from the Your Big Sisters Closet.

In an effort to make this dress more ‘1940s evening appropriate’ … I was on the hunt for a fur stole. Lucky for me, my vintage loving friends (thanks Erin & Joy) discovered that The Public Butter (a vintage shop on WQW) had a ton of them for sale!

I picked up this beautiful mink fur with a patterned, in perfect condition, lining for only $40!

The beautiful vintage mink fur stole I picked up – in mint condition from The Public Butter, $40!

The hair is always my biggest challenge. Liz, of The Vintage Inn, gave me a great easy tip and I was able to create this vintage back-roll…which held up pretty well all night!

A gaggle of us carpooled our way just outside of Hamilton, in our 40s finest …. stopping to have dinner at Swiss Chalet, we be Klassly like dat….yup – classy with a ‘k’. And then we were off to dance among the planes with uniformed men 🙂

1940s Toronto Vintage Society — Lovely 1940s fashions, airplanes and furs with some fabulous ladies! Special thanks to Erin for bringing along her camera to capture some of these fab snaps!

swing out to victory — A little sweaty faced after all the dancing

At some point in the middle of the fantastic night, a delightful lady handed me a card and said I was her choice for “Best Dressed” of the evening…and would be called up on stage for the competition! Woot! Woot!

1796607_1488965378053201_740452698296659200_n — Geez…check out my Best Dress competition – 7 ft tall goddess with perfect pin-up hair…

swing out to victory 2014 — 2nd prize winner of a giant basket of goodies for the Best Dressed Contest!

1398234_10152509871819072_1406134961610959340_o — Moi – a la 1940s. Photo credit: Shermette … click the link to see her blogpost recap on this event.

10347632_1488965988053140_8986121371758388269_n — Is there a panda behind my head? “I always feel like somebody’s watching me”….

TVS swing out to victory — Toronto Vintage Society ladies totally ambushed this uniformed crewmen into this shot. He doesn’t seem to mind too much though 🙂

Dancing to the always magically big band music of Toronto All Star Big Band, surrounded by the planes at The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, among veterans and friends dressed in vintage finery and WINNING 2nd place in the best dressed contest ….. what a fantastic night!!! Can’t wait for next year! 🙂

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“Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.”

Miranda Priestley’s famed catty retort from The Devil Wears Prada may live on in infamy, but truth be told I’m not the biggest fan of floral prints. And I’m seemingly late to the party with this trend this year….with summer in full bloom and all (see what I did there 😉 …)

These pink hibiscus earrings I picked up at last year’s Toronto Vintage Society‘s Tiki Party — were the inspiration for my outfit of the day.

I have a hard time finding a good lipstick/gloss that actually appears PINK once applied to my lips. This RIMMEL LONDON Stay Glossy Lip Gloss – Jewel In The Crown is actually perfect…and has become by go-to summer colour.

This outfit of the day had to do double-duty as a office appropriate work-outfit AND comfortable enough to Lindy Hop in immediately after work with SWING TORONTO in front of the Gazebo of St. James Park (King/Jarvis Sts)!

For dancing in the park….the heels had to go. Sooooo these navy flat peep-toes (Payless) worked out perfectly….

As you can see, dancing in St. James Park isn’t the easiest thing to do…..the grounds are pretty beat up and kinda tricky for dancing on. Not like that stopped us or anything. Check me out friends!!! 🙂

Special thanks to Liz for taking this perfect shot 🙂

Turns out Old Town Toronto took a bunch of pictures too. Check out a few during the swing lesson by Swing Toronto before the band went on…..click here for their full photo album of this event.

Swing Toronto’s lesson before the Band went on….Photo courtesy of Old Town Toronto

Love that this city has soooooo many outdoor music & dancing opportunities….

Here’s a few snaps from at Harbourfront Centre’s Dancing on the Pier event earlier this month. I love this city!!!

Dancing on the Pier a few weeks ago….with fellow Toronto Vintage Society sistas: Liz (The Vintage Inn) and Erin (Delovely Delightful)

Yet another Swing Dancing in the Streets pic…from 2014 The Beaches Jazz Festival (this past weekend) with Toronto Lindy Hop Can you find me? Click here for outfit details on this Seafoam Swirl dress

How I Got The Look:

Floral pencil skirt from H&M; Navy top from Reitmans; Navy flat peep-toes from Payless; Pink heels from MTNY; Purse from Your Big Sister’s Closet

Have you made it out to any outdoor music and dancing events in Toronto this summer? Which ones? Tell me all about the in the comments section friends!

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