The leaves have fallen

Its a beautiful day in Chicago, its estimated to be a high of 55 and sunny. Walking around this morning, I noticed that all the leaves have pretty much fallen off the trees. So, in honor of the final falling of the leaves, I am going to share some photos of this super cute vintage skirt I found while visiting Milwaukee.

The pattern is abstract so I am pretty sure not all of you will see leaves but this skirt 100% reminds me of falling leaves. The skirts ankle length with a tapered waist with button closure. It has pleating in the front and back near the top to create more of a figure. This skirt is just so super cute and I am so happy to be sharing it with you. 

We paired this skirt with a white tank top and suede vest with wool lining as it was 85 the day we took this photo. You could however pair this with a blouse, turtle neck, t-shirt, boots and lots more. It's super versatile so its all about being creative and playing around to discover new looks. I would also wear this skirt for work, girls night, shopping, date night and pretty much anywhere else.  

I hope you enjoy this skirt as much as I do. What would you pair this skirt or vest with?

 - Renee -

P.S. don't forget, most items in my blog are for sale in my boutique. Email for pricing and sizing 

Vintage Hostess

I often scour the web for vintage and i find it so interesting how some items can go undetected and how other sell for hundreds of dollars or hit their reserve within minutes of going out to bid. As a business owner I often have to take my buying experience and build that into your shopping experience. The one thing that any online company will tell you, is that the product photos need to be clear and cohesive for a shopper to click on it. My best friend when shopping is that disgustingly bad photo that no one wants to click on. I live and breath for those ugly photos. Which is exactly why I choose this Dela-Ann Creations Hostess Dress to feature for this post. 

I will have to admit that at first, I passed this dress by. The photo was so bad and had a yellow tint to it but after a few minutes of searching something told me to go back to the dress. It had zero bids and just over an hr until the bid ended so I clicked and I am so glad I did. Look at how beautiful she is. 

I have lots of favorites when it comes to the Dela-Ann dress but my absolute favorite is the pockets. I am a sucker for a dress or skirt with pockets. I don't often want to switch out purses or even bring one so pockets are ideal. But in my experience pockets only work on heavier fabrics as the contents in your pockets stick out too far if the fabric is too light.

My second favorite part of this dress and yes even i am surprised its not my favorite is, the skirt. The colors are to die for. The colors and the design are bold and scream 60/70's. What may be difficult to see in the photos is that this skirt is quilted. So, its super soft and great for those cooler seasons. God bless Meghan for humoring me and wearing this dress in August. Love ya girl(kisses).

Now another neat detail is the detailing on the zipper pull. Its so retro and I can just imagine wearing this and having a dinner party with hard drinks that require olives or sugar cubes and music playing on the record player and finger foods being passed around. You know...when times were a little more simple and good conversation is all one needed to get dressed up and to have a get together. All without leaving the house. 

Another win, win for this dress is that its a size 16. Vintage is difficult to find in plus size or even a average size and this dress is true to size, even with todays sizing charts. It also has a built in belt that ties so its perfect for adjusting to different body types. 

So, as you can see, I love this dress and I am so happy that the original seller had lower quality photos and that I was able to gobble up this beautiful piece of history and share it with the world.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog. Please leave me a comment below and let me know if there is anything that you would like me to cover as a fashion blog topic.

xoxoxo

Peace, Love & Confidence

Writing this blog post is bitter sweet and making me a little emotional as I begin to type.

The model in this blog has been a life long friend and somewhat of a little sister to me and she has recently moved away to PA. I miss her but am so happy for her to be taking this journey in her life. I am blessed to have had such a great model and supporter and if you want...please leave a comment below with some kind wishes for the beautiful Kim in this next phase of her life! XOXO

Okay now on to the less emotional part of this blog.....the FASHION!

I stumbled upon this vest while in Cleveland OH. I saw a thrift store on the side of the road, pulled a U and before I knew it I was elbow deep in all kinds of funky vintage...so much that I had to ship all of it back home via UPS. I just HAD to.....

I fell in love with this vest because of the amazing colors and design from the various colors used to make the vest. The purple is so neat along side the green....not a color paired up too often which is why it caught my eye. You then have my favorite color....burnt orange...a staple color in home décor in the 70's.  I could go on and on about the color pattern and the overall design, I just find it so funky and unique. If this vest was in my size it would be a keeper for sure but score for the size Small as this ones for you.

We decided to keep it nice and natural and let the vest stand on its own...open or closed. Kim preferred it open as her confidence has been off the hook as of late and as a Boutique that supports strong confident females, I 100% supported her flying that confidence flag and styling herself for her final Mélange Shoot.(awe typing that made me sad)

We also paired this killer vest with a light wash vintage pair of blue jeans with cute seam/stitching detailing on the bum and thighs. I too got this while in Cleveland but it was a different thrift store than where I picked up the vest.  A Mélange tip: always stop in  antique and thrift stores while traveling. Their clients may be different from your or your to go to boutiques, clients and you may stumble on a wonderful hidden treasure and $1000.00 worth of vintage goodies for a faction of the cost.

While I’m writing this blog I keep thinking about how else I could have styled this look and what kind of other items I have in my inventory to pair this beauty with. I'm thinking: 1) black skin tight jumpsuit with some killer black boots and a purple clutch. 2) long white boho skit, floppy brown hat, leather tooled bag, slouch boots with cream tights and finally 3) Cream Blouse with puff sleeve detailing, skinny jeans, open toed wedged shoes and oversized sunglasses...are a few options for styling this vest.

Thank you so much for taking time to check out my blog and this fun and funky vest. Please leave a comment below and let me know you are here and if there is anything specific you would like me to cover..

Also share some love for Kim and her new adventure. She is a free wild spirit and this is her first big leap and I know it won’t be her last. Love you Girl!

Spring is just around the corner

Next week it is going to be in the mid 60's... in Chicago... in February. That's just crazy and to celebrate all this awesomeness, I wanted to put one of my FAVORITE Spring outfits on the blog.

Mix - Blend - Mingle patterns and eras to create your signature Melange Style

As you know I LOVE Goodwill and surprise, surprise, this entire outfit (minus the shoes) is from my local Goodwill.  Really, if you haven't checked out your local thrift store and estate sales, please do. I promise you wont be disappointed.

For this look, I paired a pair of vintage 1980's elastic waist and ankle pants that had a super feminine pink fabric with flowers, with a vintage crochet top with flower detailing on the sleeves, and a faux fur vest which matched perfectly with the flowers on the pants.

To accessorize the look, we paired sea foam green oversized sunglasses and a vintage tooled leather purse from Mexico. The purse had flower detailing, which also played well with the pants and top.

I love playing dress up, especially when the entire outfit was purchased for under $30. Like I said check out your local thrift store and estate sales, you can create beautiful and unique outfits with a little effort and a little budget.

Below I have provided a few more photos of the completed look. Please let me know what you like, what you don't like, what you would pair with the outfit and what you would like to see me blog about in the future.

XOXOXO - Renee

Rock Star

This entire outfit makes my heart melt and leaves me wanting to hug my family. I know you are probably thinking...okay weirdo this outfit makes you feel like that!? So let me just elaborate a little.....

This Rock Star outfit has bits and pieces of wonderful memories from my childhood and honeymoon. AWE LOVE.

This amazing faux leather puff jacket was purchased in London on my honeymoon, 7 years ago. I took one look at the puff on the shoulder and just had to have it. The vintage red gloves and purse were my mothers from the 80's and I remember her wearing them with some killer red boots. The black oversized sunglasses were a super sweet Goodwill find along with that amazingly bold vintage scarf....just imagine the creative ways to wear that scarf...we will save that for another blog post. AND...the black sequin dress was a dress that my older sister Brianna wore to one of our family Christmas vacation dinners when we were young teens. 

I grew up in a small Illinois town, made up of 3500 people and my parents felt that it was important to take trips each winter to the BIG City...aka Chicago, to help make sure that we understood that there was more to our future than a small town. We would get 2 rooms at the Palmer House and live like princesses for a day or two, walking all over Chicago and trying new types of foods and go to the theater dressed up like we were going to prom.  I believe this was the best thing they every could have done for us and it created wonderful memories year after year, after year. And because I love my family so much...watching Meisha model this outfit, just melted my heart.

How amazing are those EXTRA tall heels!? If you were in an environment where heels are not the best option or you are anti heels, I would pair this outfit with black suede wedges, sequin boots, combat boots or a cute pair of black or red flats.  

For Meisha's make up, we decided to keep it fun and bold. We drew attention to her beautiful eyes with gold liquid eye shadow around the outside, which highlighted her amazing bone structure and paired well with her bold purple hair.  

We also went with a smokey eye with black and a bright pink eye shadow and created even more of a rock star look by giving her a little wing with eye liner.

Because her outfit, hair, and eyes were so bold, we decided to keep her lips and cheeks neutral. With a model this beautiful, we could have done just about anything and she would have looked like a Rock Star!

The dress, jacket and scarf are available for purchase through our Etsy shop and Instagram page. Or just shoot me an email and we can chat about what you are looking for.  

XOXOXOX - Renee