miss unkon f/w 2011

Miss Unkon has been one of my favorite Australian designers ever since I caught their dreamy spring lookbook last year. This season, Miss Unkon is back with a more mature approach to design in their fall/winter 2011 collection - less ruffles and bubblegum colors, more streamlined hues and longer hemlines. And just as romantic.

Sticking to their dreamy roots, they've presented a collection in tea rose, camel, and midnight colors with just the right amount of girlishness. Chunky knits mixed with lightweight chiffons, tiered and sheer maxi dresses with safari style pockets, even dresses and tops with signature cutout designs. Felted hats and expedition jackets make an appearance, as well (a la Out of Africa). Simply put - it's all amazing.

If I could afford it, I would live out my entire summer in that sheer black maxi dress with silvery buttons.

Photos courtesy of here.

gypsy

Photos by Neil!

Vintage Crochet Lace Maxi Dress, Leather Belt, 90s bag - Thrifted

Knee Length Slip - Banana Republic

Leather Wedge Sandals - Madewell

This outfit is probably a subconscious shout out to Stevie Nicks in some way, so I'll just give her due credit. It's safe to say that this lace dress is my absolute favorite thrifted find of the week.. I haven't stopped eyeing it since I bought it on Sunday afternoon. Sheer lace maxis are such a great trademark of seventies-inspired fashion from the early nineties, all of a sudden relevant again.. isn't it crazy how fashion is ultimately one giant cycle, repeating itself every twenty or so years?

And man alive, I'm still sewing.. I took this week off of work to dedicate more time to finishing up some pieces I'm sending off to Local Honey on Friday for the showcase on Saturday. Hope you're having a great start to your week!

jaeger boutique spring/summer 2011

One of my favorite Australian designers recently posted photos of their fall 2011 collection (which I'll share next week), and I was about to post it when I got distracted with this one.

I'm heading to a southern themed garden party in just a few hours and still don't know what to wear, so I became really inspired by these adorably simple day dresses by UK's Jaeger Boutique for their spring 2011 lookbook.. sweet polka dots and stripes and organdy fabrics and pleated schoolgirl skirts. Couldn't you live all summer in plain cotton dresses? My favorite piece has to be the light blue dress with scalloped edges. I would wear just about any of these outfits to the party this afternoon, and now I'll be searching the thrift stores for a lookalike.

Aren't those matching polka dot socks great? More photos here.

PS.. I'll be taking a break from my Sewing Saturday posts until I finish my local spring collection, which should be done in the next week. I can't wait to share the finished pieces! Also, the vintage spring lookbook is still hitting the shop.. new pieces daily, and more on the way today.

Happy weekend!

vintage spring lookbook

Here it is.. Blooming Leopold's vintage spring 2011 lookbook! All of my favorite finds of the season, stored away until today. These pieces are all headed to the shop tonight, handpicked vintage from the late 1930s all the way to the early 90s. Eyelet lace, seersucker, madras plaid, chambray, liberty print cotton, creamy silk.

Photos shot by Neil at beautiful Percy Warner Park. This was a fun afternoon to spend outside, the weather was perfect and everywhere we turned was another pastoral setting, right in the middle of Nashville. The little purple weeds dotted an entire hillside, which made me think of visiting the wind-swept moors of Haworth as a kid (although Nashville is not as pretty and quite a bit warmer). All of this scenery makes me miss living in the country.

More photos here. Lookbook items hitting the shop soon!

out of africa

This past weekend, Neil and I watched Out of Africa, a movie chronicling the life and times of Danish author Karen von Blixen. The film is filled with breathtaking cinematography (my mom told me stories of seeing it in the theatre and being overwhelmed by the lush scenery) - that coupled with costumes from the early 1900s and performances by Meryl Streep and a young-ish Robert Redford made this film hard to resist. Safari style menswear, white Edwardian day dresses, striped bow ties with cream colored suits, and the best hat collection in movie history - with plenty of wide brimmed straw hats and felted wool.

More than a love story with pretty landscapes, the film turns poetic when it explores the concept of ownership during African colonial life - the economic hardships of working the land, relationships with local tribes that preceded the British by hundreds of years, the new colonists' vision of Africa as a prehistoric Utopia filled with expanses of land for the taking. The film is not so much about love as it is about loss, the biggest loss in the end being Africa itself and the way of life its inhabitants once had.

More photos here.

Out of Africa is definitely a film to be seen. Right now, I'm watching Sahara on instant queue because I've got a girl crush on Brooke Shields and I love John Rhys-Davies because he narrated one of my favorite computer games (and he's in Indiana Jones).. apparently those aren't good enough reasons to see a movie, because this one is horrible.

Blooming Leopold Vintage Spring Lookbook.. coming soon!