Member's Only

I've always liked clubs - I had a pretty awesome one from 4th-6th grade, and it even had 3 other members, t shirts, monthly meetings, and everything. We were called the PIGs (Pretty Intelligent Girls) and we were obviously very modest. So you can imagine how excited I was to find Olivia Mew's Stay Home Club  - a club for girls who love cats, stay home, and take naps. If you're (a)a girl (b)on the internet, you can probably relate. On the site you can buy cute pillowcases and tea towels from your favorite artists for the ultimate stay-at-home experience....and feel like kind of a badass while doing it. Can't wait to wear my colors.

Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin!!

Golden Collective

Bay Area Ladies!! A Dirty Shame is SO EXCITED to be participating in this event for the second time! The Golden Collective brings together the Bay Area's best vintage vendors such as The Hummingbird Girls, Mousevox Vintage, A Find Day For Sailing, yours truly & More!! There was so much AMAZING vintage last time - and these events just keep getting better! And this time we are being sponsored by Threadflip - the most exciting new place to shop for vintage & recycled fashion on the web!! See you there! 

Voguing

I'm currently in Orange County, soaking up sun rays (from under a large umbrella), swimming several times a day, thrifting up a storm, and eating home-made meals (thanks mom!). In celebration of finally experiencing a *real summer*, i am posting some favorite summertime photos of mine - a collection of swimwear photos from 50's and 60's Vogue. The colors, the composition, the headwear, oh my! Tomorrow it's back to the Bay Area for me, fog and 65 degree summer days. At least I know it's alway summer somewhere.

MORE after the jump!

Wowzer Trousers

Skirts & dresses are fabulously feminine, but sometimes a good pair of trousers can be just as foxy. These trousers are 50% off at American Apparel at the moment and I want them in every color of the rainbow. 

floral top: thrifted
mint trousers: American Apparel
blue suede pumps: Chelsea Crew Pauline
nail polish: Glowstar by Floss Gloss
lipstick: Mac Vegas Volt

A Girl & Her Cat

Me & my best friend babycat Boo. This polaroid was taken recently, and immediately became one of my all-time favorite photos.  I'm driving down to Orange County (my hometown) tomorrow and i'll be be without the fluff for 5 whole days, i'll miss him every second but this photo will help tide me over. 

Fashion Icon: Sparkle Moore

I draw a lot of inspiration from specific books, music, movie, characters, and people. I'll be making plenty of fashion inspiration posts here - I often find something to obsess over and it consumes me, seeps into my daily clothing hair and make up choices, until i have exorcised it from my system. 

I can't think of a more badass, more ferociously inspiring woman to start with than Sparkle Moore. She was one of the first female Rockabilly singers and she was FIERCE as all get-out. She only recorded a couple songs but they are serious movers-and-shakers. And she pioneered female rockabilly - both musically AND as a fashion icon. She dressed mostly in menswear, suits, and leather, and rocked an OUT OF THIS WORLD platinum pompadour. Keep in mind this was all during the mid 1950's, when most women were wearing pearls and full skirts and generally being prim and proper. Move over Elvis, there's a new heartthrob in town.

Leisure Suit

Every Wednesday I have a ritual of visiting one of my favorite SF vintage shops, NO. They are group-curated and i can always find at least one or two perfect, wearable pieces to leave with. Key word being WEARABLE - it's easy here in San Francisco to find expensive statement pieces, semi-formal 50's and 60's dresses that leave you speechless but end up hanging in your closet waiting for the day when you have a semi-formal kind of life (baby, baby)...but finding great vintage pieces that are casual and EASY to wear on a daily basis, that isn't so easy, and it's why i love NO. this is every-day vintage at its best.

This past week i found one of my favorite NO finds ever. An amazing floral pantsuit romper, with ruffles and drawstring waist and harem pant legs in the softest cotton....so comfy it feels (and kind of looks) like pajamas...in the best way possible. So perfect for our sunny-but-breezy SF summer days. I may never take it off!

yeah, you like those fancy photobooth pics, don't you! (notice aforementioned "semi-formal" vintage dresses being put to good use....hanging on my bedroom wall)

also sporting my new FAVORITE nail polish color, an almost-white-yellow-green-cream called Glow Star by Floss Gloss...a post about this amazing new polish brand is in the works!

✿ ✿SO, WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE EASY-BREEZY LEISURE OUTFIT? ✿ ✿

PS - go "like" A DIRTY SHAME ON FACEBOOK and get updates on cool stuff, Etsy coupon codes, new blog developments, events, etc!

Cry, Cry Baby

 

There's nothing quite like a frilly dress and a leather jacket to make a girl feel invincible.
Just ask Wanda Woodward.

Dress: vintage
Jacket: Nastygal
Shoes: Modcloth
Sunglasses: Karen Walker "Anytime"

Water Babies

I've mentioned before that I am a true California girl. Give me palm trees, give me late night drive-thrus, give me sunshine and swimming pools and hollywood glamour!! Due to my ghostly pallor and literal sun allergies, I don't spend as much time soaking up rays as I would like - I suffered one too many brutal sunburns as a child on Orange County's beaches to make that mistake again. Not to mention the bay area's beaches aren't exactly that kind of beach. And forget about finding a pool! So these days I find myself living out my aquatic fantasies by indulging in an excessive amount of impractical vintage swimwear. In vintage shops I always find myself drawn to the itty bitty bikinis and elegant maillots, pieces i purchase and end up hanging in my closet never to see the light of day. Well that, my dears, is why photo-shoot adventures exist! Show me a reason to dress up, and I'll show you a handful of my most beloved vintage bathing suits!

So my trusty/favorite photographer and I ventured down to Aquatic Park and took a few glamour shots of just a couple of my favorite suits - it was actually quite foggy, cold and sticky but these photos make it look like a dream! I should probably mention that these photos were shot on REAL FILM and unedited - same will go for most of my photos unless they are obviously from an iPhone!

look #1: vintage 1930's pajama tie-top worn with non-vintage hat and shorts

look #2: 1960's Cole of California pastel chevron-striped bikini, worn with vintage cardigan

look #3: 1960's union-made Mondrian inspired maillot

* all worn with Aldo shoes & Karen Walker sunglasses

& remember to head on over to THE SHOP and get **free shipping** with the coupon code CRYBABY!!

Treasure Me

A couple pieces that are up and available NOW at A Dirty Shame Vintage!!

1. 1960's "Lilly Pulitzer for I Magnin" Wrap skirt

2. 1960's Made In Hawaii Shift Dress With Open Back

3. 1960's Mod Yellow Daisy Romper

 ✿SHOP NOW AND RECEIVE FREE SHIPPING WITH THE CODE 
"CRYBABY"!!  ✿ 

My friend Boo

If you're going to really get settled in here, you should probably meet my child/muse/surrogate lover/little gentleman Boo. i know, real original - a blogger who's obsessed with her cat. WHATEVER. i'm a cliché, so sue me.

Hey Boo, what's new?

It Suits You

Today a customer came into the shop where i work (more on that later) and she was wearing the most gorgeous floral jacquard-brocade shift dress in a beautiful color palette of pink, peach and green. When i asked her where in the world she got it, she told me she worked for a small start-up clothing label in Belgium called "Mooiloop". After doing some research, I found out the following: 

The brand was started in 2010 by Elise Thomas, who had worked previously for Dries Van Noten and Scapa, among others. She started Mooiloop with her daughter Alison Von Autreve and "two friends" (one of which was my lovely customer today). "Mooi Loop" is a South African term meaning "It suits you well" or "Be Well" and the beautiful, simple silhouettes paired with lush printed silks certainly evoke this sentiment. Unfortunately this website seems to be the only place you can purchase their covetable creations other than trunk shows in Belgium. Hopefully this changes soon, because I am itching to get my hands on that perfect shift, or perhaps a silk pantsuit or two...

 the above 3 photos are from their archive, the following are from their Autum/Winter 2012 collection:

Burger Heaven

I am a California girl through & through - born & raised in Orange County, I moved to San Francisco 6 years ago for school and I've been here ever since. There are certain things i just don't know if i could ever live without. Sunshine, for one. The beach. The way the sun bleaches things out and gives everything a special pastel overtone. Wide freeways. The lack of snow. And of course, In N Out.

What's more quintessentially Californian than an In N Out double-double with animal style fries and a neopolitan milkshake?

PS - note the leather jacket - i'll probably never take it off.

Burger massacre.

Grand Opening

Hello lovely readers! I am SO EXCITED to announce the GRAND OPENING of my Etsy vintage shop: A Dirty Shame Vintage! I am not a newcomer to the vintage game, however it's been a few years since I've been on Etsy and this shop in its newest reincarnation is my own little corner of vintage heaven! Specializing in 1960's, but including vintage from every era, you'll see my hand-picked and curated pieces reflect the same style you'll find on this blog. More pieces will be added on a weekly basis! Here's a couple items you can go pick up in the shop RIGHT NOW: 

1960s psychedelic dreamscape blouse

1960's mod pink pleated skirt

1960's mod kelly green shift dress

1960's cream & rust cocktail mini dress

Vintage pink floral garden party summer dress

HAPPY SHOPPING!