Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Chicago Blogger Meetup organized by the lovely Lisa of Archives Vintage. She spent months planning the meetup and took the time to put together goodie bags stuffed full of swag for each of us and also supplied champagne and cake balls that she'd baked herself. It's been a wonderful summer full of blogger meetups; it's always exciting to see familiar faces again and to meet new ladies at these events.Deliciously Vintage, a cozy shop in the Pilsen neighborhood, was kind enough to host us-- I ended up staying the whole 3 hours and had a ball flipping through the garments for sale and exploring the ivy-covered back patio where these photos were taken.
I'm photographed above and below with Karyn of Dethrose Vintage, I'd been following her blog for a while and we often run into each other at flea markets where she sells her drool inducing vintage dresses, hats and purses. She's lucky enough to be selling vintage as her full-time job and is always outfitted in some of her lovely wares; as far as I know Karyn has never repeated an outfit, what a feat!
Oddly enough Karyn and I have never taken pictures together so we seized the opportunity to twirl in our dresses (felt like I was doing The Twist) while my sweet friend and fellow blogger, Sara, obligingly snapped photos for us.
Karyn actually wore a pair of 1950s pale yellow gloves to the event; I'm too messy/clumsy to wear gloves despite owning nearly a dozen pairs. We share a love for upholstery/carpet bags, her collection definitely rivals mine.
If you're wondering, yes, Karyn is super tall! I'm 5 foot 6 inches tall and was wearing 2 inch wedges. I believe Karyn is 5' 9"? She's wearing a 1940s dress and you can see my outfit information below.OUTFIT DETAILS:
1950s dress: Knee Deep Vintage, Pilsen, Chicago
1980s Leather Belt: N & K Vintage, Wicker Park, Chicago
Deadstock green espadrille wedges: N & K Vintage, Wicker Park, Chicago
1960s resin bangles: Thrifted in Chicago
Vintage bee necklace: Thrift store in Columbus, Ohio
1950s/early 60s jumbo sized upholstery bag: Community Garage Sale, Chicago
Does this dress look familiar to you? It should as I wore it on my birthday brunch outing way back in March. Back then I had to wear a coat and tights with it, August is a much better time to wear it! I didn't style the dress in a radically different way, just different shoes and loaded on the jewelry.
The bodice of the dress is studded with tiny rhinestones and the buttons are larger rhinestones-- lots of bling. While digging around in my room before the meetup I came across this necklace I'd bought on the Indiana/Ohio trip that Albert and I had taken back in March. Sadly I'd forgotten about it but the color and its theme (a bee!) went well with the rose print of the dress. Based on the style how old do you think it is-- originally I thought it was newer (1980s) and made to look old but now I'm not so sure.
It was definitely tempting to go over the top and wear a floral crown or hat to top off the outfit but in the end I kept it simple. I pinned this little cluster of 1960s daisies in my hair, they were purchased at an estate sale in my neighborhood earlier this summer.
Despite having documented my outfits for the blog for quite a while, I still feel awkward in front of the camera. The above shots are 'outtakes', Sara and I were joking around about how models always do the hands on hips/hunched back pose so here is my attempt at said pose! Pretty hilarious.
top row: Randi (Not Just Mom), Emily (Sartoriography), Lisa (Archives Vintage),Me, Sara (It's About The Look), Nikia (ChiTown Fashionista)bottom row: Piper Alexander (Cheap & Chic in Chicago), Tabitha (Defining Tabitha), Sabrina (Defying My Closet)
Unfortunately we weren't able to wrangle all the ladies together to take a group picture until the very end of the meetup so this is only a third of the people who showed up.
Thank you Lisa for organizing the meetup, I hope to attend many more in the future. A thank you also goes to Karyn for twirling with me for these photos (now we need a vintage lovin' red headed friend to complete our trio!) and to Sara for always being a patient photographer and a good friend to me.