There’s something about bow ties that is particularly charming, especially if they have a whimsical print or theme. My grandfather had a bow tie that he would wear every Christmas that was green with a sprig of holly on the knot. Eventually, there were enough protests from the other relatives that he stopped wearing it, but I always rooted for the Christmas bow tie.
I found a couple of eBay listings with some whimsical (seasonless), some normal, bow ties. A few of them have never been worn…so here they are, two lots of bow ties at an insanely low starting price ($4.99 and $9.99, respectively):
From Lot 1From Lot 1From Lot 1From Lot 1From Lot 1From Lot 1From Lot 2From Lot 2From Lot 2
I’ve been on the hunt for a flapper headpiece this week and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of artisans creating such things on Etsy. Some are better than others and Rose of the Mire stuck out as one of those with particular attention to detail. There was a lovely air of romanticism in these pieces that drew me in to the “shop.”
I’ve been pining over this Beaded Flapper Headband, even though I don’t have anything to wear with it. It’s just the right amount of Art Deco, looks comfortable, not too much feather….just right.
Here are some other lovelies from the store:
Silver Fringe Beaded HeadbandHeadband with Swarovski CrystalFeather headband - I'd wear this in the winter with a white muff 🙂This also looks wintery and lovelyImpressive ostrich feather headband
By way of Lindy Dandy, today’s featured retailer is the J. Peterman Company. Although I can’t help thinking of Seinfeld when I see this name, the J. Peterman Company is anything but a parody, offering “high-quality men’s, women’s, home and one-of-a-kind merchandise,” “traveling the world to find uncommonly good stuff.” Sounds like a fantastic job, right? Where does Lindy Shopper sign up?
There are definitely a lot of items with a nod to vintage in the catalog, made to look even more so with the help of the catalog’s hand-drawn illustrations of the clothing (which, themselves, look like a nod to vintage pattern drawings in the way that they are shaded). I’m trying to decide if the hand-drawn illustrations of the clothes are helpful or not. Generally, clothes are modeled by someone who is tall and rail thin, so it’s hard to tell how it will fit in that instance as well. In any case, the clothes are beautifully sketched and it is a novel way to present them.
I am particularly in love with the 1947 plaid dress and the seersucker sailor pants for women and their men’s pants and striped shirts.
Today’s Groupon for the Washington, D.C.-Montgomery County area is for Shabby Apple, which I blogged about earlier this month – how serendipitous! $40 gets you $100 worth of Shabby Apple’s lovely, vintage-inspired clothing. You don’t have to live in the D.C. area to partake, as the discount is for shopping at the Shabby Apple website. Thanks to Allyson for posting the Groupon to Lindy Shopper and for sharing this amazing discount!
One of the things I always worry about when I travel for swing dancing is hydration. Carrying a case of bottled water on an airplane is out of the question and buying bottled water every time you need it is not always convenient to your location or eco-friendly. Carrying my Pur water pitcher with me seems silly and would take up way too much space in my luggage. I could drink the tap water, but I really don’t want to. Wouldn’t it be great if someone made a water filter that fit in your water bottle? Then you’d only have to carry one small bottle with your luggage and simply find a tap at your destination.
I love when I can think of a simple solution to a problem and someone else has already created this solution. Pure Water 2Go offers three different sizes of their filtered water bottles and, of course replacement filters. My only disappointment is that you are not able to purchase the water bottles directly from the company. They provide a list of retailers in each state (none of which are near me!). Some of the bottles and filters are available for purchase online from various web retailers, such as Healing Water Filters. The scarcity of retail locations may have something to do with the company’s struggle to defend its patent.
I’m liking the company’s “Eco” model, which comes in a lot of different colors, and will probably pick up one of these very soon in green. 🙂
As I’d mentioned before, tie clips are great way to show off your interests.
You may not be able to get too many conversations started mid-dance, but these will hold your tie in place and provide excellent fodder for conversation in between dances.
Horse racing addiction? Show it off with your tie clip!Because "sewing" is just an extra "E" from "swing."A more subtle way to show off your "guns."Like to play with your dinghy? Show it off to the ladies!Because you never know when you'll need a fly fishing lure...
We are certainly in the throes of summer heat. Attending a dance, even in an air conditioned facility, can sometimes be oppressive if the AC can’t keep up with the heat coming from bodies inside and the temperature outside. It’s always handy to have a fan in your dance bag or shoe bag for just such an occasion.
The best fans I’ve seen are carried by Richard and Katherine Springs, who have gorgeous Spanish wooden fans that are glossy, beautiful, and seem to project the maximum amount of air with each wave. I had the pleasure of using one of these fans on a particularly unbearable day in June at an outdoor wedding and I’m definitely sold on this particular model of fan. Richard and Katherine picked up their fans in Spain, but eBay may come to the rescue! I found a few fans that look like the Spanish fans and are labeled as such. I’m hoping that when my fan arrives from eBay it has the same desired effect…I’ve posted the two offerings the eBay seller I found, AsiaEmporium, which also lists other Spanish fans, but these were the closest to Richard and Katherine’s:
There aren’t too many accessories quite as dapper and dandy as a flower in your lapel buttonhole (a.k.a. boutonnières).  Most guys will never wear them more than a couple times in their lives.
Granted, most guys are not into flowers and probably would not bother buying/wearing something that won’t last more than 24 hours (though you should try). Â If you’d like a pop of color that will last, try a knit lapel flower.
There are several places to find them, but today I’ll direct you to JandHP, a second-hand clothing procurer.  (I’m not a huge fan of the jacket they’re using as a backdrop, but it shows off the flowers well enough).
Green & yellow Lapel Flower $8.95
Pink Seersucker $8.95
Green & Pink Lapel Flower $8.95
Several of their lapel flowers are sold out at the moment, but they’re sure to have more in stock in the future.
The “trick” to wearing boutonnières is to wear them with confidence.  In casual venues, it might also help to hold back on other accessories, lest you look too busy with a tie, pocket square and flower.
Special thanks to Julie and Elizabeth for directing me to Shabby Apple, whose dresses are in several categories in my book – vintage-inspired, dance-worthy, clean lines, and work-appropriate. That last category is critical – if I can wear it to work and to dances, I can probably justify paying a bit more for the garment because I’ll get more miles out of it. I can see me getting a lot of miles out of some of these lovely dresses!
Tuileries Dress
That these dresses are work-appropriate is entirely based on the owners’ desire to have stylish dresses that cover enough skin to make them feel comfortable. In their search for these dresses, they discovered that the problem was not that stores were not buying these clothes, but that the designers were not designing these clothes. Necessity is the mother of invention, so Shabby Apple decided to make these dresses that did not seem to exist!
The web site also makes a good point about these dresses – it’s an all in one outfit. You don’t have to buy any camisoles to go underneath or cardigans to go on top, you just have to buy the dress. In these tough economic times, it seems that the dress is the wardrobe saver in more ways than one.
I should also note that I keep running across companies who have great products and a social conscience, and Shabby Apple is no exception. Shabby Apple partners with Unitus, a non-profit organization that “accelerates access to life-changing financial services for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Shabby Apple donates 5% of its net dress sales to support work in India (where Shabby Apple Dresses has sourced many of its dresses and the textiles used to manufacture its dresses). In addition, each Shabby Apple Dresses customer has the opportunity to donate an extra five dollars to Unitus every time she buys a dress. Shabby Apple Dresses and Unitus are involved with 10 of India’s most promising microfinance organizations that provide financial services to more than 1.6 million hard-working women and their families. Every $100 donation from Shabby Apple Dresses provides at least 20 women with access to financial services – and the chance to live a life without poverty.”
There are a bevy of dresses to love, so let’s get started:
Sheep Meadow DressBette D. DressIngrid DressLindy Hop DressJitterbug DressFrida K. DressCirco DressLiz and Darcy Dress (in 9 colors!)Bonheur DressLa Tour Eiffel DressSutherland Point Bathing Suit
Based out of Denver, Colorado, A.J. Machete & Sons offers bespoke, tailored menswear items of bygone eras through its Etsy store. While the suits are in the bespoke price range, their Etsy site does offer some more affordable garments and accessories that you may want to add to your existing swing dance wardrobe, such as custom vests, spats, cravats, and a 1930’s sports jacket.
They get a custom fit by using a muslin mock-up – if you’ve ever watched Project Runway or had something custom made before, you may be familiar with this process. Here’s their process for getting the right fit:
“First we get a rough idea of your measurements. You can measure yourself or a suit that you have. We would be glad to help you through this process and to mail you a cloth measuring tape, or, if you are in the Denver area, to measure you in person.
But even the most perfect measurements do not guarantee a good fit. All of our bodies are different shapes and sizes, moreover, we have different postures. A suit made from measurements is no better than a ready-to-wear suit…. it is unlikely to fit every aspect of your body smoothly. To remedy this, we first make the suit from a rough cotton muslin fabric and send it to you for feedback and (digital) pics.
Through examining the way that the muslin wrinkles and pulls, we can get an excellent idea of your figure and posture. At this point, we adjust the pattern based on your feedback and our knowledge and begin to create a suit that fits perfectly.”
Check out A.J. Machete & Sons’ blog, Denver Bespoke, for more examples of their handiwork.
Silk cravat/ascot, shown here in cranberry dupioni silkCustom spats - not my first choice of fabrics, but if it's custom, I suppose the sky is the limit on fabric choicesChoose a 4 or 6 button vestFour pocket high collared vestPeak lapel vest1930's style sports jacket
My apologies for the hiatus (though you might not have realized I was gone since LS does such a great job. Â Steady bandwidth is hard to come by on deployment!) Â Ok, on to something really exciting (to me, at least).
As has been discussed before, the trick to dressing seasonally is all about wearing seasonally appropriate appropriate fabrics. Â Is the thought of wearing a seersucker or madras jacket too intimidating? If so, you can always start with something small, like a bow tie. Â Check these out!
All of this lovely neckwear comes from Lumina Clothing, based in Raleigh, N.C. Â According to their twitter: “Lumina Clothing is a custom tie and bow tie company out of Raleigh, NC. Our products mesh the classic style of the south with the Ivy League style of the 1960s.” Â Style of the south plus Ivy League style? I like!
And even cooler: “Our name, Lumina, comes from an old dance pavilion once located on Wrightsville Beach, NC. Opening in 1905, at the time it was the premier social venue in the South, hosting many of the biggest names in entertainment.”
I’ve only posted a couple of their ties and neckties, but they have a very cool collection of fabrics from which to choose. Â A huge bonus is that you can get the ties and bow ties at different widths. Â Skinny neckties are “in” at the moment, but general idea is to match the width of your jacket’s lapels. (So skinny lapels means skinny ties, etc.) It’s all about balance and proportion (and personal taste). Â Prices are reasonable with bow ties for $39 and ties for $59.
I plan to pick up a couple bow ties and ties here, but am pretty sad that I won’t be able to wear them this season. Â I’ll be interested to see what they produce for Fall/Winter.
Glasses: something a lot of us need, regardless of dancing. But dancers need stylish eye-wear and that can be hard to come by when glasses cost…well, I don’t remember how much my glasses cost because I bought them several years ago and nearly choked at the price tag. Shelling out for that fun pair of green frames or the vintage cat-eye frames doesn’t work for some professions, so I usually end up with a practical pair of glasses. If only I could have the work pair and the play pair and not break the bank!
Enter Warby Parker. The price for all of their glasses is $95 and this includes the frames, the lenses, shipping, and returns. They allow you to select up to five pairs of glasses to try on in the convenience of your own home, with free shipping to and from your house. The website also has a feature where you can upload a photo of yourself and virtually try on each pair (which helps in narrowing down which 5 you want them to send to you in person!).
How do they do it? Why are these glasses not $300 a pop? Here’s what the owners have to say about their business model:
“A collaboration between four close friends, Warby Parker was conceived as an alternative to the overpriced and bland eyewear available today. Prescription eyewear simply should not cost $300+. The industry is controlled by a few large companies that have kept prices artificially high, reaping huge profits from consumers who have no other options. By circumventing traditional channels and engaging with our customers directly through our website, Warby Parker is able to provide higher-quality, better looking prescription eyewear for under $100.
We meticulously crafted our first collection of 27 limited run styles, plus one monocle, using only the finest custom acetates and materials. The Warby Parker aesthetic is vintage-inspired, with a fashion forward twist – and every pair is custom fit with anti-reflective, polycarbonate prescription lenses.
Most high-end fashion house brands don’t design or produce their own eyewear. They sell those rights to massive companies that do it all for them. These large companies design, manufacture and sell branded glasses for astronomical prices directly to optical shops and then pay fees to the fashion brands for using their name and logo. Then, optical shops mark up frames and lenses an additional 2-3 times before selling them to you.
This system doesn’t make any sense to us and it hurts you. We are very different in two ways:
We Create our Own Designs:
We’re independent. We don’t partner with licensing companies who control the market and keep prices high. We take great pride in designing our own eyewear and refuse to charge outrageous prices for our frames.
We Sell Directly to You:
Our web-based sales approach allows you to bypass the optical shops and the high prices they charge.”
I was sold at $95 and “vintage inspired” – unfortunately, when I went to order my five try-on pairs, all the glasses I selected were unavailable because of high demand; however, they did have a sign-up option to be notified when the glasses were available.
As if they didn’t have enough gold dust on their halo, “Warby Parker works with non-profit organizations, such as RestoringVision.org, to identify those in need and distribute eyeglasses responsibly. For every pair of glasses that we sell, we donate a pair through RestoringVision to someone in need.” This is a company with a conscience, on many levels.
Now, for the glasses! A lot of the styles are unisex and come in multiple colors. Here are my favorites from the website:
It is unclear to me whether or not the real Bettie Page endorses this website or does anything other than inspire the fashion, but, intellectual property issues aside, the Bettie Page Clothing website is full of vintage inspired clothing of the Bettie era. The site offers two lines of clothing – the original Bettie Page line, with 1950’s reproductions and inspired fashions, or the Violated line, which offers “edgier, more contemporary dresses.” Either way, the results are adorable and a little spunky, kind of like Miss Page herself.
Here are some of my picks from the site:
Embroidery, buttons, cinched waist, and pockets! 50's dress with skulls - this makes me smileAdorable sailor playsuitBlouse with bow printYou know I love ginghamRed jumper
This dress is super foxyAhoy! This dress comes in pencil and full skirt
When the Atomic Rhythm All-Stars went on their first mini-tour this past weekend to Greenville, SC and Charlotte, NC, I knew we’d have a few hours to kill in Charlotte before the Saturday night dance, but wasn’t sure what exactly that would entail when traveling with five guys. Fortunately, our esteemed band leader, George Knott, is a vintage hunter and gatherer of things, including old musical instruments, which leads him to some interesting destinations like the Sleepy Poet Antique Mall in Charlotte, NC. He’s driving the bus, so who’s to argue?
A wide view of the shop
I’ll admit, I had low expectations of finding any worthwhile clothing at Kitsch-y-Cool Vintage, as antique mall clothing tends to lean more toward undesirable leftovers from someone’s closet thrown in with their antique furniture and knick-knacks. To my surprise, in the center of this antique mall, an entire store was set up, with racks upon racks of real vintage shoes, clothing, jewelry, and accessories. The area was even decorated well! There was definitely a lot of 60’s and 70’s clothing, but there was enough 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s clothing that I would recommend stopping by if you are in the area. That said, the 60’s clothing was really good and I was tempted to leave with a pair of mod silver heels.
The prices are fantastic, between $30 and $70 for dresses in excellent condition ($70 for the “designer” 1940’s dress I saw), but the real steal were the men’s accessories – $2 for really awesome tie clips, loads of cufflinks, belt buckles, and our saxophone player, Peter Lamb, left with a really shiny pair of sunglasses and a pipe. I was in heaven because the clothing was organized by size and each item had a tag describing the item and the decade. I do love an organized vintage store!
I picked up two adorable 1940’s dresses, one of them dead stock with the original tags still on. The label says “Lindner-Davis.” A quick Google search shows that this was a department store in Cleveland – funny that I’m picking up Cleveland vintage in my home state when I was just there last week…anyway, the price tag says $12.85, marked down from $22.95. How much would this dress cost today? Lindner & Davis merged with another store in 1950, so calculating from 1949, according to an inflation calculator, this dress would be like buying a $210 dress on sale for $118, only I really paid around $30 in today’s dollars for the dress. How’s that for bargain hunting? 😉
Here are pictures of the space and some vintage finds:
The entranceOh, the sport coats!1940's dead stock dress1930's/40's flowered dress with belt - better in person!Navy blue 1940's designer dressDetail on the neckline of a lovely navy dress
I really am speechless as to how to describe the suiting on the Indochino web site. It manages to be all things at once: cool, classic, vintage, modern, tailored, and edgy, with a slight sense of humor, a dash of executive, and a pinch of street cred. I’d like to think there’s a little something for everyone here and, with suiting tailored to your measurements, perhaps there’s a perfect fit for everyone as well.
I started out looking for three piece suits and quickly noticed the attention to detail on these garments. There were varying lapel widths, peaked lapels, excellent fabrics, and options like choosing your pant leg width, pick stitching, and a functional buttoniere. The term bespoke is tossed around a lot – items custom-made to the buyer’s specification – and I like it! The best part is that these custom suits cost much less than even your local tailor would probably charge you – I do try to keep the things I post on this blog under $200, but considering comparable expense for such suits as these, the Indochino price is a discount.
Never fear! There are things other than suits on this website, and well under $200. Shirts with custom cuffs and collars, vests in three different cuts, ties, cufflinks, pocket squares, and even a tie clip! *nods to Lindy Dandy* There are also gorgeous blazers, overcoats, and pants that are in that upper range, but…well, you should see for yourself.
I am, perhaps, most impressed with the construction of suit jackets, which have a canvas interlining to provide structure and drape. That extra layer is just another barrier between the lead’s sweat and the follower – just think followers, if the guy is wearing an undershirt, a dress shirt, and one of these jackets, that’s 5 layers of fabric the sweat has to wick through until it reaches you! Every little bit helps.
Here’s what I’m loving:
The Havana Suit - a lovely linen suit for summer The Montecristo - the brown linen adds a nice twist on summer suitingThe Black Pinstripe Suit - classic, and check out those peaked lapels!Blue Pin Stripe Double Breasted SuitNavy Blue Pin Stripe SuitThe Nouveaux Socialite Tuxedo - LOVE thisThe Performer Full Dress Tuxedo - it's killer diller!The Weekend JacketThe Nouveaux Socialite VestLight Gray VestMetallic Trifecta CufflinkGood Groove Tie Clip
Lindy Shopper 