Vintage hats, modern women

My spring style resolution has been to get into the habit of incorporating more hats into my outfits and, consequently, expanding my vintage hat collection. Here are some wonderfully stylish ladies whose ability to pull off every sort of design, from the humble porkpie to floral whimsies.

Be inspired.

Hannah Metz of Hannah and Landon



Hannah Metz has an enviable collection of floral hats and satin bow headbands and is rarely photographed without having something beguiling perched upon her pretty head. I love how she hangs her hats over the back of her mirror and decorates the wall with them, her collection is too pretty to be stored out of sight.





Kennedy Holmes of Let Me Do My Thing



Kennedy Holmes was one of the first bloggers I truly began following with zeal. Her confidence in including a vintage hat - be it a 1960s velvet bow or corduroy pillbox - in almost every outfit at the time felt truly invigorating. (She was also coincidentally the influence behind growing my hair out and I am sure her endless tresses have had this influence on a lot of people.)





Nicole Eymard of Fashion Forestry



Hats (and bags!) are always the finishing touch to Nicole's wonderfully eccentric and colourful outfits. She also happens to be one of the most creative and glamourous vintage bloggers I have encountered on the internet and I look forward to meeting her in person at the end of this month.





Ashley Ording of Fancy Fine







Next time you find yourself in a style rut, spend twenty minutes perusing the absolute joy that is Ashley Ording's gorgeous blog and I guarantee you will come away bursting with ideas for how to combine multiple layers of unexpected colours and with a new obsession for autumnal-hued tights. Ashley also has more whimsical hats than you could shake a hat pin at and her enthusiasm for wearing and treasuring them is infectious.

Who is your hat-wearing heroine?

Forsythia

1990s dress: charity shop
1970s cardigan: charity shop
vintage leather belt: found down back of wardrobe
vintage shoes: eBay















We've had a handful of warm and sunny days in London and luckily I had the weekend off to enjoy them. The sunshine always inspires me no end and I found myself rediscovering things in my wardrobe that have been redundant in the winter months. This nineties dress was bought for a couple of pounds in a charity shop in Melbourne, Derbyshire last summer and the cardigan in Sheffield for 99p. I love the colour and the dress is so easy to wear. I've been wearing the shoes to death since I first bought them on eBay three years ago!

I find winter so completely uninspiring style-wise and so I'm starting to regain an interest in colour, prints and the infinite opportunities for fun and playful dressing that spring and summer allow. I am also considering growing out my fringe - temporarily! - in order to be able to play with a few more vintage hair styles this summer, especially as London dissolves into a sweat bath in the hottest months and a fringe in strands is never a good look. (I will definitely be cutting it back in for Autumn though.)

How does Spring affect the way you dress?

Glad rags

On Monday I headed out into the sunshine for an afternoon of trawling through my local charity shops. And what a full net I returned with! I don't think I've ever had quite so much luck in one day before. Here are just some of my finds...



A real snakeskin bag for £9.99 tucked away in the glass cabinet below the till. My mum doesn't approve of it so I'll have to list it for sale in the shop although surrendering it will be difficult as it's buttery soft and the colours are so subtle and nuanced.



A pretty lacey buttercream sixties' nightie for £2.99.





The leather Gods must have been smiling on me as I found three bags and the perfect belt in a space of minutes.





But the pièce de résistance is doubtless the only 1950s dress I have ever encountered in a charity shop, a 1950s dress that just happens to fit me like it was tailored to my measurements.



I found it hanging up among some traditional Indian clothing in a charity shop I've never had much luck in. As soon as I spotted it I knew I would buy it, regardless of the broken strap, tatty muslin lining hanging out and suspicious looking orange stain. For £12 I didn't have to think twice and after soaking it in a bath of oxyclean and cutting out the tatty muslin lining, I slipped it on and so began a love affair. I have no idea when I am going to have an opportunity to wear such a dress but it is definitely one for keeping.





Now I just need all your help to decide what I should keep! (Although the dress is a no-brainer.)



At the weekend Jian Wei's mum and sister came to stay and we got masses done in the garden including planting some pretties by the front door. Spring is demonstrably here!

Amsterdam

Doing my favourite thing in the world: rummaging through old rags in search of treasure.
















And a touristy one...



Ah Amsterdam. If you can get past the British fixation with the coffee shops and peep shows you will find this city has everything you could possibly want: cats, bicycles, flea markets, gorgeous apartments to peek into it, pancakes, hot chocolate, canals, design, aspirational shopping and, surprisingly, an thriving 'foodie' culture. A big thank you to Amelia Peters for cooking us delicious food in her apartment and for being an excellent tour guide.

I could quite happily live in Amsterdam.

All photos by Jian Wei. My Pentax MZ-M went into meltdown and started eating film. Naturally I'm devastated as it's been my go to camera for the last four years and I have never been disappointment with the pictures it takes. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm thinking of getting a Pentax K100o as a replacement as that is what Jian Wei used for these pictures and they're beautiful. It also has fewer electrical parts to go wrong and can be worked manually!