spring hair

If you follow me on Twitter,  you've already might have seen a couple of these photos, but I got a much-needed haircut and a color update last week.  (For anyone in the Grand Rapids area who reads this blog: Didi at Panopoulos is the woman who does my hair, and she is absolutely fantastic!  She is also a great friend and a lot of fun.)  I love it, and I think I'll be wearing lots of gray, blues, and green with this hair color.

Andy and I went on a movie/art opening/dinner date this weekend, and I wore my heaviest coat because it was supposed to be cold.  But the sun was über bright and Colorado intense, so I ended up not so buttoned up.  You've seen all these clothes on my before in this blog.  The coat is my favorite, and that dress and those shoes get a lot of wear.  The needlepoint bag is relatively new, though.

The only vintage garment on Andy is this beautiful Harris tweed jacket.  We are always on the lookout for Harris tweed items, and find it more frequently in menswear than women's clothing, but often the jackets are bad, boxy cuts.  This one is nicely tailored and looks great on Andy.

The movie we saw was Argo and I think I've already grumbled enough about that.  We also checked out an art opening at the UICA, at which one of my favorite local music acts, the Kent County String Band, played.  I really loved the shadows cast by these silvery discs in the room where the band played.

xo

k

merry!

It's Christmas Eve in Michigan.  We don't have much snow, but we're ready for a few days of relaxing: playing backgammon, cooking, watching old movies, experimenting with cocktails, and gathering with friends.  Sounds perfect, doesn't it?

But first, we had the Small Earth Vintage Holiday Party on Saturday evening.  This consists of Andy and me getting dressed up and going out for drinks and a steak dinner.

I'm wearing a 1950s chiffon skirt with flocked feathers and rainbow glitter on it (see detail shot below), which I'm pretty sure has seen time on the blog before.  The bag is 1940s vintage, and my velvet cropped jacket is 1950s; the rest is not vintage.  This is really dressed up for Grand Rapids, by the way.

Andy looking dapper as heck.  I love that jacket--vintage Brooks Brothers herringbone!

The moon over our house.  It was such a pretty evening.

Happy holidays, everyone!

xo

K

an outfit

I have the lovely Teresa of Bess Georgette to thank for this outfit post.  She does a neat segment on her blog every so often about collecting certain colors.  She recently did one on orange, which made me wonder if I had any orange clothing in my closet.  This 1960s dress with its kind of Halloween-y orange and black rose print was the only item I could come up with.  And Teresa's post reminded me I hadn't worn it in awhile, so out it came!

Andy is wearing a 1950s gray cotton/rayon blend shirt with a hidden button placket, and 1950s Florsheim oxfords.

Happy September!

xo

k

artprize 2011

Andy and I went to check out ArtPrize this weekend--or at least, the offerings on show at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts.  Above is Chin Wang's CW, which I was immediately drawn to since I'm so obsessed right now with the Game of Thrones books.  The bears naturally make me think of House Mormont, but I'm afraid the bridge looks like the sigil for nasty House Frey.  Oh man, I have turned into such a Game of Thrones dork.

Sadly, I think ArtPrize has jumped the shark.  The bigger and cheesier an entry is, the more likely it is to win a prize.  In the current top ten finalists?  A bust of Gerald R. Ford and a giant mosaic of crucified Jesus.  I fear that interesting artists may cease to show up for ArtPrize.  However, I'm confident that art will thrive in Grand Rapids as long as we have places like the UICA, where all the works were thought provoking.

Jess Larson's embroidered series, Look and Learn, Little Girl was probably my favorite work.  Designed to look like children's flash cards, it is meant to be "a more humorous and approachable means to discuss how women perceive their place and the conflicting messages that have been internalized via social conditioning."  These looked more amazing in person than my camera captured here.

Michelle Jaffé's Wappen Field is a sound and sculpture installation.  "Wappen" means coat of arms in German, and the artist's statement said the term "suggests brand, a badge identifying groups such as family, team and tribe."  Are all the artists watching and reading Game of Thrones?!?   Each helmet had voices playing through its speakers, and I found it strangely pleasant and soothing.

Dream Home by Ghost of a Dream is a depiction of a room in a "dream home" created from $70,000 worth of discarded lottery tickets.  My photo only shows a small chunk--it's much larger and has the giant phrase "Maybe Next Time" (ha!) wrought in lottery tickets on the wall above it.

It was cold and blustery, so I got to wear tights for the first time this autumn.  This was taken across the street from UICA at the Site: Lab location, which had some very cool large scale installations on display.  My dress is 1950s from an estate sale this summer.  The striped 1940s gabardine swing jacket was from an estate sale last year, and finally got its first wearing.  It has a cool old Jacobson's (Michigan department store) label in it.  The purse came from an antiques mall last summer.  I've had the vintage necklace and shoes (Aerosoles wedges) for several years.

Andy wore a 1950s gray wool flannel shirt that he's had for ages, with a 1960s plaid flannel jacket that he thrifted.  His vintage Levi's and Eddie Bauer buckle loafers were thrifted, too.  I wish I'd taken a picture of his nifty deadstock 1950s argyle socks.

Ooo, look--nature's art!  I wonder if we can cover our house in two-tone ivy?

xo
K

his and hers

A pair of outfits from last week and the weekend, courtesy Andy and me. I thought he looked particularly cute when we went thrifting last Thursday: vintage 1970s black flag Levi's, 1950s black oxford shirt, retro Eddie Bauer sneakers, and a reversible olive drab plaid 1960s windbreaker. And a pint of Founder's Pale Ale.

The colors in my Saturday outfit were loosely inspired by the image below from the Street Style Aesthetic blog. My outfit: 1950s dress, Target cardigan and tights, 1950s woven straw and leather handbag, Old Navy shoes.

I love this woman's look. Well, perhaps the ankle socks are not for me (though cute on her), but I love the skirt with the big bow in front, and especially the cyan blue sweater with the oversize mustard clutch. I went with a turquoise dress and chartreuse shoes, but probably wouldn't have thought of those shoes if I hadn't seen this photo.

xo

K