Falling for Fair Isle

The other day I mentioned I had been searching for the perfect Fair Isle items to add to my holiday wardrobe.  Well, I've actually been thinking about this since October when I saw the Sally Hansen Nail Effects patterns for the 2011 Holiday collection.

I may have found my perfect items in this tunic and sweater coat from Macy's.

I love Fair Isle in red and white, so that was my first criteria.  When paired with black (and on major sale), this sweater tunic will be great with leggings and boots.

And I'm going to wear it with the Plaid About You decals, plus some saucy red gloves.

And while I wasn't looking for a new cozy cardigan, this Tommy Hilfiger piece was so perfect in pattern and shape, that I couldn't resist.   I mean, what is more holiday-ish than these snowflakes?

And yes, the matchy-matcherson in me is probably going to wear the Snow Bunny decals with it.  Or maybe Peppermint Twist (the candy cane stripe design).

While I have a soft spot for these patterns and pieces on their own, even better is that they combine my two themes for the season.  They fit into the "Clean College Prep" style while using the "Chromatic French" color scheme.

Perfect!

Store Focus: Design Archives

The other day I went to a great vintage store here in my area. I hadn't been there before and actually didn't even know it existed. My friend found it and we had a good time going there, sifting through all racks of clothes, trying stuff on and seeing all of the cool possibilities.

Design Archives is located in downtown Greensboro, right near the college campus, so you get a great mix of items and clients. They are a little high in terms of price, especially compared to eBay but they do have a lot of great things. They especially had a great selection of dresses, including some gorgeous 50's prom dresses covered in frothy tulle.

We were there for a while and at one time I had my arms filled with dresses, coats and robes. But I tried to be frugal and pick out only my most favorite of the pieces. I finally ended up with a vintage nightgown, a great red trench and this amazing sheer dress which I have big plans for.

Here is the nightgown. It's a rayon gown that goes to shin length. The lace is in pristine condition. I can't tell that it was ever used. Here's the front view.

And the back:

The bodice is covered with lace and there is lace edging along the arm and back v.

There is even a small lace edge along the bottom. It's so comfy, pretty and delicate.

My second item was this great red trench. It's a great lipstick red, fits perfectly and is in great condition.

What's hard to see here, but that you can see in the enlargements, is the stitching adding definition to the coat and a design element to the belt.

Like the cute pockets and the pretty buttons?



The cuffs are neat too. They kind of have a french cuff look to them which adds a nice finish to the sleeve. This is going to be my new suit topper. A black top and skirt, red heels and red trench.



Here is my favorite item. It needs a little explanation. It's a sheer dress with an elastic waist and a sash belt. I can't imagine how this would have been worn in the past. Maybe over a strapless dress? You have to pull it over your head to get it on as it is right now.



It's very floaty and ethereal. I love the portrait collar and, of course, the light blue-grey color.



A neat detail is that, at the shoulder, they added this poofy cap sleeve elemant to add some extra volume to the sleeves.



The cuffs, with two pearlescent blue button, come in tight to the wrist.



You can sort of see the elastic at the waist and then the big floppy sash bow. My big plan for this dress is to actually cut it down the middle and make it more into a wrap. I hope to have an event to wear this to. I'm thinking some strappy sandals and a silvery or black slip dress, which this tied as a wrap over it.



This is another reason I got this. Look at the tonal embroidery along the bottom quarter of the dress:



It looks very Art Deco-ish to me.



Given all of the sheer elements coming for Spring, I'd love to find more ways to work this into my wardrobe. It may be a bit much for my small office, though.

All in all, a successful vintage trip. I still want to branch out to the stores in other towns as well as some vintage stores. So, more hunting trips soon.

Alice Temperly at Target

A new Go International collection at Target is always cause for excitement, and somehow this one crept up on me. I don't know how because I love the styles and the mainly black and white color scheme of the Alice Temperly line.

And you know this has to be big news because even Selfridges, the big UK high-end department store, was doing a special event around this launch on Tuesday the 18th.



A lot of the dresses and shirts have high collars, which I don't really like (I'm a v-neck gal myself) so I'll probably skip most of those. And the accessories are not thrilling me too much. I think they would go better paired with some of the Gothic Lolita options out there.

I do like this sweater. It's girly but the stripey sleeves have a Beetlejuice-quality about them. I like that its subtle, but there.



This petal dress is pretty and girly. I love the salmon pink color of the shirt and accents. I haven't seen the shirt yet, so I'm not sure how it will fit. But I bet I could find something similar if I needed too.




I really like this sweater coat the best. It sort of smoking jacket/cozy blankie and I think it will help to extend some of my lighter tops into the fall. Plus it will look kewl with my new short skirts and opaque tights.



I'm not sure about the sash/tie belt so I was thinking of getting this (also Beetlejuice-y) striped belt to wear with it. I think a nice patent dark red belt would be good too.



Overall, a very pretty collection. Not overwhelming amount of options that I am going to jump on but I like the details. I can't wait to see them in person to assess the quality.