The loveliest coats in the world

I recently purchased two of Trashy Diva's coats. 

These are the most loveliest coats I've ever owned! Though they are different in style, they both have their beautiful retro charm. When I wear these coats I feel like a movie star. These coats could have come straight out of an old Hollywood movie! In fact, one of these coats have been featured in the modern day TV show, True Blood.

The Courtney dress coat by Trashy Diva is a double breasted, luxurious, full skirted dress which features 3/4" sleeves, a wide portrait collar and two covered buttons in the front at the waist. I bought mine in black cotton sateen which has a slight sheen to the fabric and a smooth feel. It is made with wonderful attention to detail and unsurpassed quality I have come to expect from Trashy Diva. It is fully lined in black acetate taffeta which helps adds to the poof of the skirt and features razor sharp piping which farther helps hold the shape and gives the skirt of the dress coat a great flair. It also has a total of six hidden snap closures, three on the inner closure and three on the outer part of the inner closure to ensure the dress coat keeps it tailored look. I may have purchased this coat a size too small because I had a hard time keeping these snap closures snapped but a quick swap for two hook and eyes where the snap closures were and this dress fits like a dream.

I snatched this dress up from Blue Velvet Vintage when I saw they were selling out and when Trashy Diva sold out of my size but never fear, Trashy Diva has since restocked the Courtney dress coat in black ribbed rayon as well as has it in smoked leopard. Blue Velvet Vintage still has one size left in this dress coat as well as this dress coat in white. This dress coat is the same one as was worn by the vampire queen Sophie Anne in True Blood though this one has a black lining instead of her red lining.

This coat is amazing. Because of the luxuriousness of this dress coat with its tailored shape and beautiful style I would not be surprised to have seen Grace Kelly wearing it. It's something I would expect her character the beautiful, wealthy, sophisticated Lisa Fremont from Rear Window to step out in.

I ordered this dress coat in size 12 and other than the problems with the six small snap closures it seems to fit my 38-30-38, 5'3" frame just right.

Trashy Diva Courtney Dress Coat Front View

Trashy Diva Courtney Dress Coat Side View

Trashy Diva Courtney Dress Coat Side View

Trashy Diva Courtney Dress Coat Back View

Detail of Small Snap Closures Inner Closure

Detail of Small Snap Closures Outer Closure

Substituted one snap closure for hook and eye on inner closure

Also substituted one snap closure for hook and eye on outer closure and removed one side of the two remaining small snaps, left the other side of the two snaps because they were unnoticeable when the dress coat is worn.

The Trashy Diva Velvet Ginger jacket is pure 1950's starlet evening glamor! This jacket was modeled from a jacket handmade for Ginger Wallace but has an updated design to give it "more sex appeal" while remaining true to its vintage charm. It features 3/4" dolman sleeves, a cropped length, and a fitted waist giving it an authentic 1950s silhouette. This jacket has one covered button which closes at the cropped waist. Despite it's glamorous look and velvet fabric, the dolman sleeves ensures it is very comfortable to wear.

I absolutely adore this jacket. I was lucky enough to come across it during Trashy Diva's 50% off sale items sale which made it a steal! This jacket was made for ballrooms and black tie dinners. I imagine it being the perfect jacket to take with you to one of the fancy night clubs where Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra played in Esther Williams' movies.

I ordered this jacket in medium which I was really hesitant about but following the size chart proved to be correct and this jacket fit me just right.

Trashy Diva Ginger Jacket Front View

Trashy Diva Ginger Jacket Front View- dolman sleeves

Trashy Diva Ginger Jacket Side View

Trashy Diva Ginger Jacket Back View

With both the Trashy Diva Courtney Dress Coat and the Trashy Diva Ginger Jacket I wore my Lucky 13 City Gal dress, a perfect dress for both jackets, with my Naturalizer Collna heels.

Outfit of the day, kitties galore!

Hello Kittens!

On Sunday I went out to lunch with one of my bff's to celebrate her birthday. Wendy has been a busy bee as of late so we didn't have one of our marathon shopping/hang days as usual but we did have a great time catching up, having lunch in the Hayward home front at Buffalo Bills, then making a fun and much needed trip over to Joanns where I finally picked up my notions for my next dress project (but that will be a different post in the -hopefully- not too distant future), and she picked up tons of cute fabric for making quilts!

For this special bff birthday outing I wore my Peach/pink cat dress which Wendy spotted for me at Target (Modcloth now has this dress in blue), peach cardi also from Target, cat tights I got from ebay (which I've also seen on Modcloth), my Gabrielle Rocha peach flats from Zappos, and I topped it all off with a peach hair flower from my favorite local retro retailer Vintage Alley. It was like Caturday, only it was Sunday. :)

Cat Detail, Piping Detail Front of Dress

Front View

Side View

Front View

Back View. Love the cat tails on the back of these tights!

A bit of personal flair!

"Different," she said, "with a special something and a very very personal flair."

LOL. Okay I get show tunes stuck in my head. Love "At the Ballet" from A Chorus Line. But I digress...

As some of you might have noticed I love my Chinese inspired velvet Mary Janes I got from Urban Outfitters over the Christmas season. They are slowly becoming my new go-to shoe for stepping out. They are flats which is my favorite kind of shoe to wear, plus they are furry on the inside which help keep my feet and toes warm even when it's cold and I'm not wearing tights. But at times, they could seem a little plain. So I got the idea to jazz these up a bit with hair flowers turned shoe clips!

I found these hair clips at Forever 21 and took them home for a whooping $1.50. I love Forever 21! While I like them as hair clips just fine, I figured they would be better served as shoe clips :)

And here you go! Pictures!

Why, Hello There Kitty!

Flower hair clips + velvet Mary Janes with furry lining = Fun new quick project!

Aren't They Lovely?

Side View

Top View

The Curious Case of C.C. Cookie with Wolfgang in the background

I love fun quick projects! Don't you? :)

The Chicago, the Ft. Lauderdale, and the NOLA

I had so much fun making my first cat sweater clip a couple weeks ago that this last week I made a couple more. 

These sweater clips are relatively easy to make and just require a few supplies from Etsy, Joann's, and a hot glue gun and they take only a few minutes to make.

Because each of these sweater clips seem to have their own personalities it got me thinking of what I would name them if I were to name them after a particular city they feel like they should have been born in.


The Chicago is a pink and white cat cameo or cabonchon with pink pearls. I think of Chicago in the 1950s when I see this sweater clip
 

The Ft. Lauderdale is a super colorful green, blue and pink cameo with flamingos and palm trees with shiney pink transparent beads... who wouldn't think of Ft. Lauderdale in the 1950s when they see this fun sweater clip!

The NOLA is a black and ivory cat cameo with a dark silver chain. This sweater clip is much darker than the other two and makes me think of the New Orleans of Anne Rice's books. It is just like my previous sweater clip from Cat Got Your Chain except the cameo is smaller and darker having an ivory colored cat rather than a white cat... even though the chain and style of cameo are exactly the same, this slight color difference in cat makes such a big difference in feel to me... if Cat Got Your Chain had a location name I would name it the San Francisco but this one is definitely the NOLA.

Cupid comes in rayon

What does a loving husband get his vintage-style admiring dress loving wife? Why, a dress of course!

My husband and I usually don't do presents for Valentine's day but this year my husband decided to be extra loving and get me a dress I've been spying on Trashy Diva's website. The Trashy Diva Jenny dress in long sleeves is a 1940s style thick knit dress in a dark military green rayon/nylon/spandex blend. Have I ever mentioned before how much I love Trashy Diva! And I love my caring husband who never stops surprising me! :)

Because the fabric is a stretchy rayon knit blend it has lots of stretch, is super comfortable and has a great drape. Also, because of all the detail in the dress, the front pleats along the shoulder, bodice and waist line as well as all the detail in the shoulders and sleeves this dress keeps a great shape even in its knit material. I love the 1940's look of this dress. I took Trashy Diva's recommendation on their website as well as recommendations based on The Full Figured Chest's review of the Jenny in short sleeves and sized down to a size 8 for my 38-30-38, 5'3" frame which fits great! I just hope it won't shrink when dry cleaned.

Trashy Diva Jenny dress with long sleeves in military green

Trashy Diva Jenny dress side view

Trashy Diva Jenny dress back view

Trashy Diva Jenny dress detail

Here, I paired the Jenny dress with my Trashy Diva velvet Ginger jacket which I think look quite smashing together!

Trashy Diva Jenny dress with Trashy Diva velvet Ginger jacket

Trashy Diva Jenny dress with Trashy Diva velvet Ginger jacket

Be still my heart... a Valentine's tea at Tyme for Tea

Valentine's day is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate than over tea with friends!

Valentine's day is a day to celebrate those you love and care about so I feel it shouldn't be forgotten to celebrate friendships on this holiday! For this tea outing I was fortunate to be out with two old high school friends, one, my bestie from high school I just recently got reunited with and another a friend I've known since middle school whom I haven't seen in almost 10 years, Marisue and Fatima-- it is so nice to be reunited with old friends! As for celebrating this holiday with friends, it looks like I was not the only one who had this sentiment in mind. When we arrived at 11am for our first seating reservations there was a line out the door at the usually busy (but not that busy) tea place, Tyme for Tea.

Tyme for Tea is in the historic district of Fremont called Niles where they used to make Charlie Chaplin movies in the 1920s. This is a cute little area full of antique stores in historic buildings settled next to an old train station overlooking the Fremont hills. This is my most trusted go-to tea house as well as one of my favorites. Luckily, it is also one which is pretty local! It is housed in an old building which also doubles as an antiques, tea wares, and sweet shoppe.

Tyme for Tea, Niles district, Fremont California

Antique shops along Niles Blvd, Fremont California

The special for the day was a Valentine's theme tea, Cupid's Touch. I love themed teas and enjoyed seeing lots of pink in my spread which included raspberry butter and strawberry mimosas.

We started out with peach passion tea, strawberry mimosas, and a blueberry scone festively dressed in pink sugar served with pink raspberry butter. The next course was five tea sandwiches, a cucumber and caramelized onion sandwich, a chicken pesto sandwich on whole wheat, a warm basil, bacon and peach brie pinwheel, a warm tomato and pesto bruschetta, and an egg salad basket. The last course was the sweets course, a Valentine's petite four, a chocolate dripped strawberry, a pink sweetheart sugar cookie, and a chocolate truffle.

A Valentine's tablescape

It's always fun going to Tyme for Tea and seeing all their goodies aside from what's on the table!

Tea ware on display at Tyme for Tea

More tea ware on display at Tyme for Tea

Antiques, vintage clothing, and vintage jewelry at Tyme for Tea

A fine day to share tea with friends, Fatima and Marisue

Pinkies up!

Old friends reunited again! <3

Outfit of the day: I thought today was the perfect occasion to take out my Trashy Diva Sweetie Hearts dress which I wore with my San Diego Hat Company wool bow cap, Mia flats, and black polka dot tights. I got this Trashy Diva Sweetie dress from Cats Like Us, my favorite shop online to buy dresses! I love it that they carry Trashy Diva, Bettie Page AND Collectif!!! So rare to find a place that carries all three of these brands (not to mention the many more brands they carry!). Also, cats like them, and they like cats, how could I not also like them? ;)

o

Trashy Diva Sweetie Hearts dress

Trashy Diva Sweetie Hearts dress side view