Something that you may not know about me is that shopping for vintage homewares and clothing is one of my all time favourite things to do. Take me to an antique market or charity shop and I am in my absolute element! Over the years I have collected quite a few gorgeous, one-off pieces from various places, but I’m not sure any quite compare to my latest find. Enter the summer dress of dreams. Yes, you did hear right! I think summer is finally on the way and I know exactly what I am going to be spending my long summer days wearing. Any guesses?
I discovered this longline, blue and white striped dress in an antique centre, where I like to browse for homewares, in the cutest little town called Bridgnorth. I have had some great homey finds in there over the years, but had never seen clothes there before – so you can imagine my excitement when I saw a small rail of about twenty items. After having a look through and thinking there was nothing, I came to the last item on the rail and there it was, my dream dress. It came home with me and after a few little repairs, it has become my #1 summer piece.
I love being able to go into a shop knowing that all the pieces are pretty much one offs, with all their sisters being scattered across the globe or no longer with us. Every vintage piece that I buy always feels special and every piece we all buy has a story, and that is what I love about shopping for clothes from the past. It isn’t like just popping down the high street for a dress and then seeing 10 other people wearing the same one over the course of a week! I’d love to know who swirled around in this dress before I did, and I’d actually like to thank them for keeping this stunner, with matching belt, in such good knick! So, whoever you are thank you, I love it.
Now we get to the downside of shopping vintage (well for you guys and not for me) and that is that if you fall in love with a vintage piece someone’s wearing the chances of you managing to find yourself one of your own – without a 10 year hunt – are slim to none. So, unfortunately this dress is nowhere to be seen in the shops or on the internet for you guys to go and emulate this style. Dammit! However, I did find a few similar style ones available new, so you can check those out at the bottom of this post.
A few of my favourite online places to shop all things Vintage …
Beyond Retro | Shop Suki | DearMacyVintage | Make Do & Mend Vintage
This dress goes with all manner of shoes and I have been lovin’ wearing it with my adidas Gazelle trainers for a more relaxed look. However, today there are no trainers in sight as I show you my favourite pair of shoes to wear with my striped love, and that is this pair of white boots. Now unfortunately, these boots aren’t vintage – they are actually from Primark, oops – but they are of a vintage style, especially the crescent shape of the heel. To me they give off all the 60s white boot vibes and how could we not adore that! I love how adding a heeled boot to this dress really lifts it away from the ground and allows it to flow in the breeze. Ah.
So there we have it, my current favourite Spring/Summer transition outfit. Who says boots aren’t for Summer? It’s just how you wear them, right? As you can tell, I adore this dress and can’t wait to find so many different ways to wear it this season – have you ever had an amazing vintage find?
Love Holly x
The Art Of Being Holly 