While we’re talking about skirts, I’d like to talk about Mod Cloth’s Bugle Joy Skirt, one of the great basics that ModCloth offers that I picked up for work, but then spotted on dancer friends as we all independently discovered the wonders of this skirt. Chicago dancer Lindsay Longstreth sported a plum Bugle Joy at the Knoxville Lindy Exchange and I spotted its signature shape and spin- she learned about the skirt from St. Louis dance instructor Jenny Shirar, who has one in olive. Within the month I spotted one on Philadelphia dancer Caitlin Farthing in the OcTieBer group. After such compelling evidence, it’s safe to say that the Bugle Joy skirt is a success amongst Lindy Hoppers.
Why is this skirt great? Here’s the rundown:
– A full skirt that is a nod to the New Look without being costumey
– It twirls nicely for a full skirt, without too much bloomer exposure
– The polyester fabric drapes nicely and is super durable
– It doubles for work-wear – in fact, I initially purchased one in red as a work skirt.
One of my favorite outfits from last year’s OcTieBer.
Now in its fifth year, OcTieBer is “a month long sartorial celebration of quality neckwear worn in a traditional style” – in reality, it is much more than the sum of this description: it is the encouragement of people of all walks, creeds, and genders to embrace classic style (or modern twists on classic style); it highlights accessories that we don’t often consider in our modern lives, unless you happen to be a lawyer or just really like wearing neck scarves or ascots; it encourages you to dig deep into your closet and pull out those neglected ties or challenges regular tie wearers to create new ensembles and be inspired by others; it may cause people to notice you in positive ways; it creates a sense of camaraderie within the OcTieBer Facebook group where novice and even professional dressers can share their creativity and efforts for the day or every day of October.
OcTieBer IS inspiring. The challenge is to wear neckwear every day for the month of October, but even if you only join us for a couple of days, I invite you to join us for the fun of dressing, learning from and being inspired by others, and being supported in your endeavors by a wonderful group of people.
1. Wear a collared shirt and tie each day (be it a long tie, bow tie, ascot, cravat, bolo, western double string tie or any other traditional neckwear that expresses your personal style). Preferably your outfit will be paired with a jacket, sweater, vest or other accessories that suggest why you’ve chosen that day’s tie.
2. Upload an image of your fine outfit with an optional description of the designer, type of knot, fabric, etc.
3. Share the love by encouraging your friends to admire your statement of personal style.”
Oklahoma dancers Michelle Stokes and Laurel Ryan have ideas and designs on starting a made-to-measure clothing line called Blushing Violet for swing dancers, vintage styles and cuts in modern fabrics, made for the wearer with our special dancer needs in mind. What’s great is that you will know about this before it even exists and you can influence and share what YOU like to wear dancing that may influence what they offer in their clothing line. Take a minute and fill out this brief survey about the who, what, where, when and why of dance clothing: http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s/fEiCLxdq
It will be so interesting to follow Blushing Violet’s progress, I hope to stay in the loop and share updates on this blog!
More than a nod to Art Deco, the Phineas Cole Spring tie collection is so expressly Art Deco that the word Deco is used in most of the tie names. These ties are gorgeous in their geometric simplicity, just vintage enough to be convincing, yet modern enough that they might even go by unnoticed as a throwback (but certainly noticed for their loveliness!). A sample of the goodies:
Line Deco Silk TieDeco Dot Silk TieDeco Fans Silk TieDeco Swirl Silk TieDeco Triangle Silk Tie
The Berlin dress in mint in the A-line skirt option, with pockets.
A few months ago I wrote about La Vie en Swing and, in particular, their Berlin dress in purple, which resembles a dress worn by Agent Carter in her TV series. The Berlin dress also comes in mint green, which caught my attention even more, because I adore green and this particular shade is not something I have in my closet. Mint can be difficult in solids and, if not carefully styled, can end up looking a bit clinical, like hospital scrubs. This dress is far from scrubs because the details are impeccable:
– The fabric has a fine lustre that gives it depth and movement
– The fabric is lightweight and flowing, making it ideal for dancing – 100% viscose, machine washable if you don’t mind tricky ironing, or dry clean as a lazy option
– A slight puffed sleeve – there are never enough modern dresses with sleeves!
– Inset waistband, which could easily accommodate a belt
– A keyhole neckline with tie, which I adore
– The most divine Art Deco seaming around the neckline on both the front and the back of this dress and on the pockets. Only a solid color could do this justice, so that these details can be seen and not lost in a print.
Love everything about this neckline!
The dress on the website is an A-line skirt with pockets, but La Vie En Swing also offers this dress with a more full skirt, slightly trumpeted, and better suited to my shape for movement and desires for swishy skirt-ness. If you are interested in a fuller skirt, do contact them about this option, they have been most helpful and accommodating!
I decided to give this dress a test run at Stompology X where I was singing with Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five. The dress presented very well on stage and I received loads of compliments on the color and the cut. I wish I had been able to dance more in the dress, but I did have one dance that weekend with Jonathan on a band break and it passed with flying colors – full arm rotation, modest skirt flare, good overall for movement, nothing that moved in a way that was uncomfortable or cause for worry or annoyance. A solid, beautiful choice for a dance dress that I would highly recommend. I don’t have anything else quite like it in my closet, and that’s saying a lot!
Check out the photos on the website and the ones I’ve posted below – still waiting for more people to post photos from Stompology, I know people took photos of me, I saw you! Until then, you’ll have the selfies I snapped at my host’s home before the gig. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
The classic mirror selfie – the fit is so good, I’m a very happy girl. 🙂See this happiness? All the seams…
All Balboa Weekend celebrated its 15th Anniversary this year and I celebrated my 9th anniversary of attending ABW. This Balboa homecoming/family reunion is one that I look forward to every year for the friends, the amazing dancing, and the wonderful vintage shopping that is available in Cleveland. This year, my report will combine shopping inside and outside the hotel, since some brick and mortar stores set up booths at ABW and other remain in their brick edifices. All are worthy of mention and this year’s shops and vendors did not disappoint!
My partner in crime this year was Berkeley, California dancer Alisa Szatrowski – I’ll give an honorable mention to Jack Flaps, a wonderful brunchy place she discovered and where we fortified ourselves before a day of vintage shopping.
1940’s rayon blouse at Sweet Lorain
Our first stop is my always first stop, Sweet Lorain, and the owner Redwin Lewis welcomed us with open arms and escorted us back to the 30’s and 40’s area, where he showed us they had pulled additional racks of 30’s and 40’s clothing out just for ABW. *squee!* Soon, Alisa and I were lost in a jungle of clothing, amongst the close and very full racks, calling out to each other as if we were playing Marco Polo to try to find each other to show off choice garments. Sweet Lorain did not disappoint and Alisa and I soon had a dressing room full of things to try on, with another helpful employee pulling additional garments based on our selections. Seriously, an A+ for customer service. We both left with some wonderful pieces and warm fuzzy feelings about everything at Sweet Lorain.
Next stop was Chelsea’s Vintage Clothing and Costumes, which is an impressive warehouse full of clothing, and particularly has a large selection of menswear, which I wrote about more in-depth last year. We ran into dancer and DJ Bill Speidel and we did a quick run through the menswear, as I’m always shopping for certain dudes and the hubs. I left Chelsea’s empty-handed, but Alisa had great luck with late 30’s/early 40’s dresses in velvet and faille – dreamy!
The vendor market at ABW opens at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday and we were there even a little before that, with anxious vintage lovers already hovering over the booths.
The Gabriele, Re-Mix Vintage Shoes
The first booth you come to is Re-Mix Vintage Shoes and this booth was abuzz all weekend, with ladies buying shoes, trying on many more, and ogling the beautiful wares. The big hit this year was a new style, Gabriele, which is a low heeled 1930’s shoe with a t-strap, an alternative to the Balboa Style, with a slightly different shape and different colors. I would love to hear some reviews from the ladies who bought them and wore them this weekend – I did see Valerie Salstrom try them on the first day and then didn’t take them off as she continued to set up for the event!
A wonderful display of hats from Flower Child
Next in the line of vendors was Flower Child, which is comprised of several individual vendors that make up part of the brick and mortar store, and which takes up most of the hallway. They are always good about bringing in new inventory every day, taking requests, and having a nice selection of clothing, accessories, and some novelty items and knickknacks from the swing era. My favorite ABW find for this year came from Flower Child’s booth, a fully functional scales brooch, perfect for me as both a Libra and a lawyer – for serious, the scales have tiny chains and you could actually put things in the bowls and the scales would tip, SO COOL.
Ready to shake it
New to the vendor list this year was Sugar Shakers, the handiwork of Joanna Kassoulides Thibault, who got her start stitching chorus girl costumes for a troupe of the same name in Toronto and decided, after accumulating a wardrobe of costumes, that she would sell some of these versatile pieces. I love a good trumpet skirt and Joanna had a nice sampler of trumpet skirts, polka dot wrap blouses, bakelite-inspired earrings, as well as sharing a table with her husband Mike Thibault‘s handmade earrings and Vintage Jazz Art prints.
Cherry blossoms abound!
Next in the vendor lineup is ChatterBlossom, aka Jamie Sturdevant, who is local to me, but for ABW everyone can see her amazing handiwork up close, with flowers and headpieces made from vintage millinery flowers and jewelry made from vintage buttons. Seeing in person is even better, as I noted people running to their rooms for garments, trying to match a bloom to a dress, and (I know I’m a broken record on this, but) the colors in the vintage flowers are just so right for vintage clothing, for obvious reasons, and they are so much more exquisitely detailed than most modern artificial flowers I have seen. Jamie does custom pieces, too, so you can find the perfect bloom for that one of a kind vintage dress.
1940’s ties at The Cleveland shop
Holding down the end of the hallway was The Cleveland Shop, which had a nice selection of men’s and women’s clothing, accessories, and jewelry. The owner would also bring in new items daily, and even brought in some divine tropical rayon fabric one day, that was gone before it could hit the market (I can’t wait to see that blouse, Jamie!). Oh, to have a warehouse full of endless vintage things to sell!
Each year the vendors at ABW are one of the things I look forward to most about the event and I truly appreciate the effort the vendors put into setting up, displaying, being there to sell, breaking it all down, and sometimes traveling great distances – I think Philip Heath, the owner of Re-mix Vintage Shoes, wins this year by flying in and shipping shoes from California, though past ABWs venders have flown in from as far away as the UK and Australia. We love that you do it and we’ll keep buying all the beautiful things. 🙂
Here are some more photos of all the lovely things:
Who knew the Cotton Club had a soda? At Jack Flaps.1940’s jumper with fringe and embroidered pockets at Sweet Lorain.1940’s rayon dress at Sweet Lorain.Another 40’s number in cotton from Sweet LorainA cool summer jacket from Chelsea’s CostumesHeadbands in all the colors from ChatterBlossomDivine orchids from ChatterBlossomA selection of goodies from The Cleveland ShopA closeup of the detail on this 1940’s dress from The Cleveland ShopTrumpet skirt, Sugar Shaker styleVintage Jazz Art printsMore options to grace your walls, from Vintage Jazz ArtMore of the man spread from Flower ChildGorgeous 1930’s dress from Flower Child.Gold bathing suit and the biggest sun hat I’ve ever seen, at Flower Child.
Albuquerque swing dancer Alyx Hodges has designed several sets of Jamberry fingernails, featuring artwork from vintage jazz, swing, and jazz dance posters! You can order a set through Alyx’s Jamberry group on Facebook – essentially, you buy gift certificates through Jamberry and, because Alyx created this custom set, you have to order them through her. I’m not one to ever have my fingernails done, but the thought of having Artie Shaw or Duke Ellington on my nails is VERY tempting…
The fairly recently launched Charlie Stone Shoes is already working on their next swing dance shoe, utilizing the first shoe design’s low/hidden wedge, and you get to vote on what shoe they make next!  There are four adorable designs to choose from and all you have to do is go to the Charlie Stone Shoes Facebook page and tell them which shoe is your favorite: A, B, C, or D.  I love it when designers incorporate fan feedback – thanks, Charlie Stone!
In a triple whammy, I see that Re-mix Vintage Shoes has put a number of danceable shoes on sale AND has introduced two new colors for existing styles – Antique Brass Balboa and Gold Metallic Janet – AND has introduced a new style of shoe, the Playtime, a canvas 1940’s wedge in navy/white and red/white. Love love love!
‘Tis the season for horse racing and large hats and the Lindy Hop community will always be tied to “the races” by way of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers’ appearance in the Marx Brothers’ film. What better way to celebrate than by picking up a very limited edition horse race print blouse, courtesy of Jitterbuggin’? The stylized horses and be-hatted spectators on this reproduction blouse are just perfect for a dance or your local Derby festivities. And when I say limited run, I mean she only made three of them and one of them has already sold! (Kim, please make more! <3)
I happened upon Laura Bakker’s Catalogue of Fashion website in one of those lists – THOSE lists, that purport to have links to all the repro goodness, but ultimately and eventually the links stop working as websites go out of business (which is why I won’t maintain one of THOSE lists on this website). HOWEVER, every now and again you find a true gem, still in business, with fantastic garments.
With a degree from the Art School of Maastricht in her pocket and a love of movie costumes from the 1930’s through the early 1950’s, Laura got to work making her line of unique and individualized fashions. From the website: “Everything is made by only me, the patterns, the clothes and all the applications. Every item is made only once, my little personal war against all the big productions 😉 I wish to offer all the ladies & gentlemen something special.”
The menswear offerings include great shirt and trouser basics that look comfortable for dancing. The women’s clothing is all about the details and you can see on each piece how it is unique and how Laura has left her own mark on each piece, with buttons, trim, contrasting fabrics, inset panels, and even hand-painted details.
These 1950’s cut high waisted trousers look great for spring and summer.“In the Navy” playsuit YESSSSSSSSSBlue rayon short sleeved shirt, check out that collar!Margie dress – I love the placement of the trim, to draw the eye up toward the neckline and also emphasizing the waist, moving toward the hips.High waisted pants in gray-green.Green AND a keyhole neckline!My grandmother had a dress with this hip detail in the late 1940’s – love!Hand painted panther blouse, for lovers of cats great and small 😉1940’s sports jacket
I don’t know why it took me so long to write about 20th Century Foxy, because I’ve been eyeballing things on their website for over a year and I’m firmly convinced that I just need to buy a plane ticket and go shopping in the UK with all the great vintage repro I’m seeing. With a pun-tastic name, this line of womenswear takes its inspiration from the early to mid-20th century, citing the years 1925 through 1964 as inspiration. With an obvious passion for vintage style, 20th Century Foxy also has the goal of selling “top quality clothing produced locally and in ethical circumstances and using local or regional businesses where possible.” Further, they also want to appeal to a wide range of shapes and sizes – “there is the perfect outfit for every woman of every shape and that it will make her feel like a goddess.” YES THERE IS.
In addition to solid reproduction and vintage-inspired garments, they offer style guides for the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s, with a bit of history, etiquette, key looks (with photos from the past paired with looks from the website), and a shopping list.
Here’s what I’d love to add to my closet from 20th Century Foxy:
GET IN MY CLOSETRayon blouse in carnelianTo go with everything!These earrings ALL DAYWe’ll file this under wishful thinking for my stature, but what a gorgeous color, shape, and that draped collar!
Let us give thanks for rayon prints, designer Candice Gwinn, and the city of New Orleans
This post was written by Lindy Shopper.
Well, I’ve died and gone to heaven – not only did my favorite dress company, Trashy Diva, just come out with a green “kimono print” made of green and candy and marshmallow fluff and everything I love, they are offering 30% off EVERYTHING on their website (sale, new, jewelry, Re-mix Vintage Shoes *COUGHCOUGH*) with the code BLACKOUT30. Dress and matching head scarf acquired as we head into the Thanksgiving weekend, leaving me with much to be thankful for!
The promotion ends Monday, December 1, so get your orders in for your holiday dresses now before the postal service gets bananas!
Because there will never be enough clever tee shirts in the world and certainly never enough of anything that identifies us as swing dancers, there’s The Lindy Shop, a line of clothing founded by graphic designers who couldn’t stop thinking about swing dancing and wanted to create a brand for dance lovers.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to go to Herrang Dance Camp, but no one’s ever even brought you a tee shirt back from Sweden? Done.
Maybe you’re busking with a local band and you keep getting confused for a spectator and need a “WILL SWING FOR FOOD” shirt? Done.
Take a look around, there maybe be just the tee shirt you need!
Thanks to Megan Bowen of Lindy Hop Problems for posting about these great glitter Keds, a collaboration with Keds and Kate Spade. If you’re worried about dancing in heels for New Year’s Eve, why not grab a pair of these glitter Keds and you’ll still sparkle in flats. Or wear them all the time and make everyone smile. 🙂 Available in navy, gold, black, silver, multi-pink, and rose gold glitter.
Lindy Shopper 
