Dress Review: Dress of the Rising Sun, Trashy Diva's Cranes

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ― Albert Camus

Trashy Diva's Cranes print is a beautiful Asian inspired collage of cranes in flight against a rising or setting sun in the midst of a wetlands setting. Like the last dress I reviewed, Trashy Diva's Virginia Shirtwaist dress in Red Fans, Trashy Diva's Cranes print works fantastically well as a Fall print even though this collection was actually released in the summer. The multitude of colors in this print include red-orange, citron green, cornflower blue, yellow, black and white. It is the red-orange and citron green in this print that really legitimizes this print as a Fall print to me.

I can see it also working equally well as a summer print though... I can imagine the murky swamps of Louisiana as being an inspiration for the color choices in this print from this New Orleans based company. In fact, when this print was first released Trashy Diva vowed to donate 10% of the profits of this collection from its release date of 7/28 through 8/26 to the Gulf Restoration Network, an organization dedicated to helping protect and restore the natural resources in the Gulf Region. You can read more on this partnership on Trashy Diva's blog here. Perhaps it was this partnership that helped secure this print as being Trashy Diva's fastest selling print in Trashy Diva history (of full run releases that is). But perhaps, also, it's the gorgeousness of this print that caused it.

While the beautiful Cranes print came out in several different styles including five dresses (TD's Sarong, 40's, Sweetie, Connie, and l'amour dresses) as well as several different separates to mix and match (sarong skirt, high waisted shorts, lounge pants, Dottie blouse, Trixie top, and Mai Tai top), I opted to order this print in the l'amour cut. What I loved about the l'amour in this print is that it's a more simpler cut compared to other cuts in this collection, which I felt worked to balance out the busyness of this print. The l'amour dress features an adjustable skinny strapped top which gathers around a drawstring keyhole at the bust (also adjustable to your preference of exposure). It has ruching at the sides to ensure a great fit and has a back zip for easy wear. The skirt is a lovely full circle skirt which has great drape in the rayon fabric. While it took me a while to warm up to the l'amour in general, I have found it to be one of Trashy Diva's easier to throw on and go dresses. It is extremely comfortable and extremely flattering with very little effort.

I got this dress in my usual size 10 and while it fit in that size, I did notice that it seemed the bodice was longer in this print than in my other dresses of the same cut. This was confirmed by other ladies in the TD facebook group I'm in who also noticed the same thing. Good news for longer torsoed ladies, though just a little sad for us shorter torsoed ladies.

Trashy Diva l'amour dress in Cranes- Front View

Trashy Diva l'amour dress in Cranes- Front View

Trashy Diva l'amour dress in Cranes- Side View

Trashy Diva l'amour dress in Cranes- Back View

Trashy Diva Cranes print- Close Up

Hope you enjoyed my review and that you have found it useful!



Check back again next week. Next up for Dress Review: Trashy Diva Does 80's! 

Outfit of the Day: Firsts of Fall

Hello Kittens!

I've been surprising myself lately by having a semblance of an actual blog schedule! And so somewhat as usual these days, here is my most recent offerings for an Outfit of the Day post featuring outfits from this past week/weekend. :)


Outfit of the Day (Wednesday):

This past week my husband and I took my mother-in-law out for a belated birthday dinner. It just so happens it was officially the last day of summer that day and so I got to sneak in just one final summer outfit of the season. For this occasion I decided to wear my Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge which is perhaps my all time favorite Summer to Fall transition dress. It's such a great print that works (in my opinion) equally well as a summer or fall dress because of the fun all over cactus print and the vivid blood red and muted cream colors. I paired this with a red cardigan which I got from Nordstrom Rack a few years ago, and a pair of Easy Spirit nude flats which I also got from Nordstrom Rack last year.

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Side View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Side View

Outfit of the Day (Saturday):

On Saturday my husband and I went out to lunch and then ran errands and looked at Halloween decorations at the shops. I've been dreaming of starting the Fall with this 60's inspired dress, the Doll About You dress by Blessed Buttons Clothing, which I got from Modcloth a few years ago. While this dress could work equally well as a summer dress, because of its solid black color with accents of white, to me it really screams Fall. I wore this with a pair of basic black flats which I believe I got from Nordstrom Rack several years ago. For a finishing touch I paired this with fun 60's inspired earrings which I got from Luxulite on Etsy a few months ago.

Modcloth Doll About You dress- Front View

Modcloth Doll About You dress- Side View

Modcloth Doll About You dress- Close Up

Modcloth Doll About You dress- Close Up

Also, as you can see, this past weekend we got out our Halloween decorations! I'm looking forward to all the fun Fall activities and more Fall outfits!

Do you have a particular thing you like to do or wear for Fall?

Dress Review: I'm a Fan of Trashy Diva's Red Fans

Today marks the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere

While the Trashy Diva Red Fans print came out during the summer, I cannot but feel that with the beginning of Fall, this is the perfect time to review the the Red Fans Virginia Shirtwaist dress. This is the perfect Fall ready dress. Like my previously reviewed Trashy Diva Shirtwaist dress, the Virginia Shirtwaist dress features a classic 1950's shirtwaist silhouette. It has functional front buttons that extend all the way down the length of the dress, a full pleated pocketed skirt, and longer length sleeves that you can wear either cuffed or uncuffed. I wore it here cuffed to the elbows. Uncuffed, it is just about an inch longer, touching my elbows.

What's the difference between this dress and the previously released Shirtwaist dress you may ask? The biggest difference to me is the front. Whereas the Shirtwaist dress features a horizontal break at the top of the buttons creating a space or gap at the top front of the dress, the Virginia Shirtwaist dress has more of a traditional front button style that doesn't have this horizontal break at the buttons. Another design change is that the Virginia Shirtwaist dress has a smooth, fitted, darted back, whereas the Shirtwaist dress has a box pleat at the back which provides a looser fitting style. Which of the two shirtwaist styles do I prefer? I'm just so happy that Trashy Diva has decided to release not only one but two shirtwaist style dresses! It's kind of been a while since we have seen a bust friendly full skirted style from this company.

While not a style change per se, another thing that Trashy Diva has changed with this new Virginia Shirtwaist dress from their previously released Shirtwaist dress is that this dress now has extra snap buttons between the buttons at the bust, something which they previously did with other front button styles they've released and a feature I was sorely missing in the Shirtwaist style. I hope they keep including these snap buttons on front button styles and will extend this to the Shirtwaist dress styles in the future.

Now on to the print. This lightweight stretch cotton dress features an all over print of large fans. The fans themselves are colorfully and vividly illustrated with an intricate scene of geishas crossing a bridge. In the foreground the geishas are surrounded by trees and blue flower bushes while in the background boats at sea meander by. Way off in the distance a mountain peak, perhaps part of an island, can be seen. It is a really gorgeous print in which one can stare and make up stores about. While the dominate color of this dress is a vivid red, there are a multitude of other colors which subtly grace this print: blue, green, yellow, white, black and gray. Which means this dress will be fun to mix and match coordinating colors with!

One sad issue I had with this dress is that it didn't come with a matching belt. Ordinarily, that would have made me sad to see but it really made me said that when I originally pre-ordered this dress, the description said it was supposed to come with a matching skinny belt. Right before it got shipped out to me, after weeks of waiting, I was notified by email that due to miscommunication or some other kinds of problems from the factory, this dress was in fact not going to be coming with a belt. This was not an isolated incident. A very similar thing happened with Trashy Diva's Irish Polka Streetcar dresses when they were released last Fall. For this Red Fans dress I was given the option to take the dress as it was or to cancel my order. I cannot get over the idea that since I preordered and paid for this dress which was supposed to come with a belt, the company should have offered to include a different belt, perhaps a solid black or solid red one, or offered to refund me the price of what a belt should cost, maybe $10-$12 to make up for the missing self matching belt. Instead, they did neither and just offered that I could take it or leave it. An option that kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. I wish I would have fought harder and asked for a different belt or a refund for what the cost of a belt should be. In any case, it is a wonderfully gorgeous dress so I try not to let my feelings one this incident cloud my feelings about the dress itself.

I ordered this dress in my usual size and it fit to a T though if I wanted it to be more roomy I could have sized up one. It is a bit tight at the bust.

Trashy Diva Virginia Shirtwaist dress in Red Fans- Front View

Trashy Diva Virginia Shirtwaist dress in Red Fans- Front View

Trashy Diva Virginia Shirtwaist dress in Red Fans- Side View

Trashy Diva Virginia Shirtwaist dress in Red Fans- Back View

Trashy Diva Virginia Shirtwaist dress in Red Fans- Close Up

Snap button detail plus hook and eye at waist, Trashy Diva Virginia Shirtwaist dress- Close Up

Trashy Diva Red Fans- Front View

Outfit of the Day: Last Weekend of the Summer

Happy final days of Summer Kittens

With September 22nd officially marking the start of Fall we say good bye to Summer for the rest of year. A tout à l'heure. Until we see you again Summer!

For this final weekend of summer last weekend it really went out with a bang! The sun was shining all weekend and temperatures were up! Some might say it was a little too hot on Sunday but I'll take the heat any day!

On Saturday my husband and I spend a nice day out and about. We started the day making a stop into our local vintage reproduction shop, Vintage Alley. I was really hoping they'd have some Halloween themed stuff on offer as they sometimes do around this time of year but not a Halloween item was in view. Maybe it was just a little too early. Next we went out for lunch at our local brewery, Buffalo Bills, and shared a black pumpkin beer with our lunch. After that, we stopped in at the 80's arcade, High Scores, for a bit to play some games and beat some high scores... and all this was on the same block! I love our town! After all this we went to Joann's to see what they have for offer for Halloween houseware then tried to go to a shop I know of that was selling vintage Halloween themed items last year. We must have gotten there just a little too late though because they were closed :( Looking through the window I could see all the glorious vintage Halloween things were back in stock so I will have to come back again! We ended the day with a stop at the mall.

We usually just go to the mall for a place to hang out and window shop at Hot Topic, Spencer's, and the Lego store and I usually make a stop at Forever 21 just to see what they have for accessories. But while we were at the mall this time around I noticed that with the new season, there's a new (old) style that's back, late 70's early 80's! I rubbed my hands together and looked just a little more closely at what was on offer and even picked up a super cute outfit at Forever 21 for about $35! There was also a corduroy jumper at Nordstrom that I liked but that one got left behind since it was a bit more and there are a ton of stuff currently on my online wishlist that I'd rather get instead. Maybe if it's still around later I will go back for it though.

Anyhow, on to the outfit for this Outfit of the Day! ;)



Outfit of the Day (Saturday):

For this day I picked out an oldie but goodie, my Bettie Page (now Tatyana) Cruiser dress which my husband got for me several years ago at the Bettie Page store in Las Vegas while we were there on vacation one year. I paired this with yellow peep toe flats which I got from Target also several years ago. For fun finishing touches I paired this with a straw banana purse I got from ebay earlier this summer (also worn here), a straw fruit fascinator I made last year (see the tutorial here), and a pair of blue flower earrings I got from Forever 21 several years ago. Just in case it should get cold I grabbed my Collectif Annette knitted cape which I got several years ago but it ended up staying in the car the whole time since it was such a nice warm day that day.

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Front View

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Front View

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Side View

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Front View

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Front View

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Front View

Bettie Page (Tatyana) Cruiser dress- Side View

Straw banana purse- Close Up

Straw fruit fascinator and blue flower earrings- Close Up

On Sunday my friend and I went out to San Francisco to go to the Urban Air Market where some friends had a booth selling their hand crafted goods! I was so impressed by the tables my friend's sister, Alexandra Green makes! She does everything herself including the welding on her tables and chairs! Check out her absolutely gorgeous work here: Scrappy Metal Design.

Innovation and creativity must run strong in this family! I was equally impressed with the 100% natural skin care products my friend and Alexandra's sister, Adriana Green had on offer through her product line Esteli Body. I was addicted to her rose and hibiscus coconut water toner mist which had such a wonderful smell and was so refreshing on a hot day like Sunday. I left the market though with her clay and flowers face mask and rosehips adzuki and rice exfloiating grains excited to try them at home.

Two sisters, Scrappy Metal Design and Esteli Body, Urban Air Market, San Francisco (picture taken by my friend)

Outfit of the day (Sunday):

For this day's activities I decided to wear my Trashy Diva Lucy dress in red gingham. I love red gingham dresses and Trashy Diva does them so well! I got this dress earlier this summer (I had to have it after seeing the lovely Sammi from the Soubrette Brunette looking so spectacular in hers!). Because I knew there was going to be a lot walking this day I paired this dress with red Vans, a gift from my husband from earlier this year. Also, because we were going out to the city where it's usually cold, I also paired this with a red cardigan I got from Nordstrom Rack several years ago. For a finishing touch I wore this with a red strawberry purse which I got from ebay earlier this summer (another inspiration piece first seen on another lovely blogger's blog, CiCi Marie). A red gingham hair tie from Trashy Diva which I wore tied in my ponytail also helped finish off this up. To continue with the fruit theme I also wore red apple earrings which I got from Modcloth a couple years ago.

Trashy Diva Lucy dress in Red Gingham- Front View

Trashy Diva Lucy dress in Red Gingham- Front View

Trashy Diva Lucy dress in Red Gingham- Side View

Trashy Diva Lucy dress in Red Gingham- Front View

Trashy Diva Lucy dress in Red Gingham- Front View

Trashy Diva Lucy dress in Red Gingham- Side View

Strawberry purse- Close Up

Apple earrings- Close Up

Dress Review: Trashy Diva Goes Atomic

Holy Atomic Print, Batman! 

Trashy Diva's been coming out with so many amazing prints and they've been coming out with them so often, I've had a hard time keeping up with posting my dress reviews on the items I've picked up! 

The last dress review I did was the Trashy Diva Shirtwaist dress in Mahjong and so I will start where I left off in order of when I bought them. As promised in one of my past Outfit of the Day posts when I first wore this print, here is my review for Trashy Diva's Lilac Atomic print.

Trashy Diva's new lilac atomic print was one that actually had to grow on me. I wasn't sure how the lilac/lavender color would come out in person and to be honest, while I LOVE purple, I've never been a huge lavender fan. And so I was super happy when I got this print in the mail and saw that it really was a touch more on the periwinkle side of light purples, faintly having a hint of blue within its purpley hue. All color nitpicking aside, the print from the beginning is something in theory I could totally get on board with! Trashy Diva does a midcentury atomic print? Yes please! And yet, I was hesitant about the weird red white and black tiki looking satellite floating around in the otherwise pastel concentrated print. Like my uncertainty in the color choice, my misgivings over the otherwise seemingly misplaced color choice in the tiki looking satellite was also washed away the second I saw this print in person. Rather than taking away from the print, this pop of bold color within the pastel explosion which is the Lilac Atomic print gives this print an edginess and striking visual interest it would have otherwise been lacking. Entirely Midcentury and entirely fun, this print gives me a joy, lightness, and warmth in my heart like no other Trashy Diva print has done this year... and Trashy Diva has come out with plenty of amazing and gorgeous prints this year! And so it is little surprise that I had to grab this print in not just one dress but two-- or to be more accurate a dress and a pair of separates. 

The Dottie Blouse and Circle Skirt

I had the hardest time when this print came out deciding between either getting the Debbie dress or the Dottie blouse and Circle skirt combo. Luckily, it turned out, I didn't have to choose. This print came out just days before my birthday and as luck with have it, I actually got the separates set as a birthday gift this year! :D

The Dottie blouse is new to the Trashy Diva separates scene though not entirely new to their design line up. Years and years ago Trashy Diva had a dottie dress, while it has been MIA for many years I'm glad to at least see it back in a separates version these days. The Dottie blouse is an incredibly flattering and fun top which features a gathered underbust and wide halter straps. It reminds me so much of Marilyn Monroe's iconic white halter dress from her film The Seven Year Itch. This top has a back zip and side elastic ruching to help ensure a great fit. 

I chose to pair this top with the matching Lilac Atomic circle skirt. While I would have preferred a gathered skirt to mirror the gathers in the underbust of the top, the gathered skirt that came out in this print only came as a mini while the circle skirt is a longer length which I preferred. Both skirts have pockets and a hidden side zip. Unfortunately, when I got my order in the mail my particular skirt came with one pocket partially sewn shut! (which is part of the reason why it took me so long to write this review). I contacted Trashy Diva straight away and returning it in exchange for a non defective skirt was as simple as pie. They even provided me with a prepaid shipping label.

For fit, I got the top in my usual size though probably could have sized down because the ruching on the sides if I wanted a more figure hugging look. For the skirt, I got my usual size in skirts which is one size up from my usual dress size. (Rule of thumb: always size up on in Trashy Diva skirts).

Trashy Diva Dottie blouse and Circle skirt in Lilac Atomic- Front View

Trashy Diva Dottie blouse and Circle skirt in Lilac Atomic- Front View

Trashy Diva Dottie blouse and Circle skirt in Lilac Atomic- Side View

Trashy Diva Dottie blouse and Circle skirt in Lilac Atomic- Back View

The Debbie Dress

When it comes to the Debbie dress I threw caution to the wind! Ordinarily I tend to shy away from dresses that show too much cleavage but I love love love the super sweet, super girly ruffle detail on the bust of this dress which is a design the Debbie shares with Trashy Diva's Apple Pie, and Apple Tart dresses (two other dresses I love), and Deb dresses (one dress I love to look at but haven't tried yet), as well as the not released for a while Honey Ruffle dress (another I love). Out of all the ruffle bust dresses Trashy Diva has come out with over the years, the Debbie (an all new cut released by Trashy Diva) most resembles the Deb dress which came out last year in the fancy ribbed rayon collection for winter. While the Deb and Debbie both feature the ruffled bust detail I am in love with on a sweetheart shaped neckline, as well as wide shoulder straps with pleats at the bodice seams, I was sad to see that the Debbie did not have the sweet coordinating ruffles at the skirt the Deb has. Little bother though. The smooth look of the circle skirt on this dress helps to give this cut a quintessential 50's look that perhaps the ruffles would only distract from. For extra convenience, this dress also features a back zip and pockets!

For size reference, I got this dress one size down in from my usual. I probably would have been fine with my usual size but from experience with my seersucker Apple Tart dress in which it was just a touch too big and the straps were just a touch too long, I decided to give the size down in this one a shot.

Trashy Diva Debbie dress in Lilac Atomic- Front View

Trashy Diva Debbie dress in Lilac Atomic- Front View

Trashy Diva Debbie dress in Lilac Atomic- Side View

Trashy Diva Debbie dress in Lilac Atomic- Back View

Trashy Diva Lilac Atomic- Close Up

Outfit of the Day: Vintage Butterflies

Hola Mi Amigas

 

While there's a touch of autumn in the air and my mind wanders to the excitement of pumpkin patches, corn mazes, Halloween, and all things plaid and pumpkin spice excitedly looking forward to the fall and all the fall outfits I have to play with, I've decided for the last two weekends of Summer to live it up with the last of summer outfits for the year!

September 22nd officially marks the start of Fall this year here in the northern hemisphere and so this past weekend was the second to last weekend left remaining in Summer. On Saturday I went out with a friend to the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco. It was my second time going and like the first time, going this year did not disappoint... well not at least too much. I was a little sad to see that rather than having two rooms open this year, only one room was open. Also, while last year we were able to go to an impromptu tea at the Secret Garden Tea House just across the street, the tea room was closed for renovations the day we were there. In any case, it was a good vintage fair. I always love ogling all the beautiful vintage items there (even though most where out of my price range for vintage), and I also love looking at some of the outfits some of the patrons and seller put together. Overall, there was such lovely things to look at the Vintage Fashion Expo and it was a lovely day out spent with a friend. Sorry I am always so bad at remembering to take pictures while I'm out. I will really try to be better at this in the future. In any case, here are pics of my Outfit of the Day.


Outfit of the Day:

Whenever I go to vintage fashion fairs I like to try and dress in true vintage for the event. For this day, I did a mix of vintage and vintage reproduction. I wore a vintage 1950's butterfly skirt which I got about a year ago on a facebook swap and sell group (last worn here), paired with a black Trashy Diva Trixie top and a black Trashy Diva Obi belt both of which I got earlier in the year. Because I knew it was going to be cool in the city, I paired this with a 1960's yellow floral embroidered cardigan I picked up at the last vintage fair I attended in Alameda earlier this year. I also wore a pair of comfy black flats by Blowfish which I got several years ago from Zappos. For a finishing touch, I wore a pair of basket weave white and gold tone oversized 50's style stud earrings which I got from Modcloth a couple years ago, and for just a little extra fluff in my skirt, wore a petticoat under my skirt which I picked up on Amazon last year.

1950's Vintage butterfly skirt and 1960's yellow embroidered cardigan- Front View

1950's Vintage butterfly skirt and 1960's yellow embroidered cardigan- Front View

1950's Vintage butterfly skirt and 1960's yellow embroidered cardigan- Side View

1950's Vintage butterfly skirt and Trashy Diva Trixie top- Front View

1950's Vintage butterfly skirt and Trashy Diva Trixie top- Front View

1950's Vintage butterfly skirt and Trashy Diva Trixie top- Front View

Modcloth basketweave earrings and 1960's yellow embroidered cardigan- Close Up