Tag Archives: patio dress

3 Kings Day Potluck

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Over the weekend some friends and I had a potluck. We used El Dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day – a day that many within our group actually celebrate) as an excuse for a belated holiday get-together, and opted for a more Latin American vibe, with a Rosca de Reyes and other festive Christmas and Mexican decor and Mexican food.

I hope that 2017 has been treating you all well!

Outfit
Mexican Tourist Jacket: Orange Circle Antique Mall, Orange, California
Patio Dress & Bell Earrings: I don’t remember…
Belt: Pinup Girl Clothing
Black Tooled Leather Purse: Retro Rejuvenation, Coburg, Oregon
Shoes: Miss L Fire
Succulent Hair Flower: Christmas gift from the lovely Christine (who also does beautiful art!)
Bracelet: Canyon House, Yucca Valley, California
Rings: Various

Bob Baker Marionette Theater

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Just a few hours after arriving home from San Diego Comic Con, Patrick and I were off to LA to attend Charles Phoenix‘s show at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, a rare, if not slightly bizarre, gem in Los Angeles. I had heard about this theatre from Charles on a few occasions, but the show he hosted was my first visit to it, and what a treat it was! But more on it in a bit! First let’s take a peek at what I wore…

I wore this cowgirl brooch because her dangly style reminded me a bit of a marionette. She has a boyfriend as well, however, his color scheme didn’t match my outfit as well as she did. So he was left in the jewelry box for the evening.

First off, it should be mentioned that the Bob Baker Marionette Theater runs regularly, Charles Phoenix’s event was a special one (UPDATE: Charles is hosting another event in September at the theater! Learn more here), in which he selected his favorite numbers to showcase, and it was amazing. Seriously, being a puppeteer is an art from, I was blown away by how these performers were able to give life to the marionettes by pulling just a few strings. Plus the marionettes themselves were stunning works of art.

The theater was founded 1963 by Bob Baker, who both made puppets as well as performed with them. Over the decades the Theater was the home of thousands of birthday parties for the children in the Los Angeles area, and a few adults I came to learn. One attendee mentioned he had both his sixth and 40th birthday at the theater. In 2009 the Bob Baker Marionette Theater was designated at Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Landmark. And while Bob Baker passed away in 2014 at the age of 90, his theater and legacy continue to live on. If you’re in the LA area, I highly suggest a visit! They have a Halloween show coming up this fall, which I am looking forward to attending.

Outfit
Patio Dress: Junk 4 Joy, Burbank, California
Pressed Leather Shoes: Olvera Street, Los Angeles, California
Purse & Cowgirl Brooch: Found by my dad
Bangles: Various

Are they Squaw, Patio or Fiesta Dresses?

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In my last post I wore what I described as a “squaw dress” and received a comment regarding the use of that term, and how it can be hurtful and insulting, to the point where there are movements to change the names of cities, parks and natural landmarks that have the term in their name (like Squaw Valley for example). While there is some debate on the term, many consider it offensive, which I can understand. Especially since the understanding is that it has no Native American root. Additionally, “squaw dresses” have also been called “patio dresses” and “fiesta dresses”, or “set” is used in the place of “dress” when the garment is made up of a top and skirt. Taking a page from Emileigh of Flashback Summer and her Controversial Post series, I decided to share why I use the term “squaw” when describing these dresses and open it up for discussion.

Continue reading →

Home on the Range

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On Sunday Patrick and I went to Disneyland to spend an evening with some friends of ours visiting from out of town. Still beat from our trek around LA, I wanted to be a bit comfy, and went one of my many squaw dresses, which can do me no wrong. Like quite a few items I own, I wish I had one in every color.

We shot these over at a rather overlooked area of the park, the Big Thunder Ranch Petting Farm. The area has goats, sheep, donkeys, horses and cows for guests to interact with. In fact Disneyland Resort just welcomed two baby goats to the fold, and those who follow the Disney Parks Blog could vote on their names! All animals at the Resort are named after Disney characters, and over 4,000 people (including yours truly) cast their votes, with the winning names being Bernard and Bianca, after the heroic mice of the two Rescuers films. Which were the names I voted for! The area is also home to one of my favorite Hidden Mickeys, one that can be found in the giant pile of horseshoes! Look for it next time you visit Disneyland!

Outfit
Squaw Dress: Don’t remember…I’ve bought so many!
Belt: Living Threads, Portland, Oregon
Shoes: Miss L Fire
Native American Themed Charm Bracelet: Gift

EDIT: In light of comments on this post, I decided to tackle the term “Squaw” in relation to this style of dress with its very own blog post. Join in the conversation, share your thoughts and opinions!

Squash Blossom

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I’m sure that many of you have noticed the recent uptick in western and Mexican inspired wardrobe choices that I’ve been posting lately. As mentioned in my wardrobe woes post, I have been gravitating towards these looks more and more, which has led me to drooling over the beautiful pieces made of sterling silver and turquoise, among them, the coveted squash blossom necklace and figural clamper bracelets. I was oh’ing and aw’ing over a clamper on Ebay, then fell madly in love with a squash blossom at a local vintage shop not too long ago. Patrick knew how much I loved them both, but they both carried hefty price tags, like Christmas or birthday present kinds of price tags. With my birthday looming Patrick asked me which one I loved more, the clamper or the necklace, and openly admitted to having plans to purchase the clamper for my birthday. While surprises are always nice, I like the fact that Patrick was considerate enough to ask me to make sure which item I’d be the happiest with. I chose the squash blossom.

I couldn’t be more happier with it! It’s absolutely perfect in every way. I’m greatly looking forward to integrating it with my wardrobe.

As for my actual birthday, it was spent driving. Yeah, driving. Why? Because Patrick and I bought a car! As our car has to be delivered from a different dealership, my mother came up to visit me for my birthday and was nice enough to go out with us using her car to practice driving, as Patrick and I haven’t really driven a whole lot in recent years. In high school I lived just four houses and across the street from our school, and Patrick enjoyed riding his bike. Meanwhile in college nearly everywhere we needed to go was twenty minutes or less by bike, and the same on transit, which was free, as we were university students. When we moved to Portland our proximity to a transit center, where once again nearly everything was twenty minutes away, left us not really needing a car. However, more frequent trips to Fabric Depot (quite possibly the one very unpleasant place to get to on transit) as well as some future plans (that will remain under wraps until things get settled) have made us desiring a car more and more. We settled upon a new Ford Fusion, and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

I’ll still have a bit of a party, this weekend, as we plan to take our new car out to the drive-in and see whatever happens to playing, pending weather, with some friends. Otherwise…I guess we’ll just go out to dinner or something!

Outfit
Patio Dress: Retro Rejuvenation, Coburg, Oregon
Belt: Expo
Necklace: Birthday gift from Patrick, but from Magpie, Portland, Oregon
Bracelet: Buffalo Exchange, Portland, Oregon
Earrings: Antique Alley, I think…
Shoes: Re-Mix Pleated Toe Wedges, via a rummage sale!

Arrows & Antlers

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When I met up with some of my friends to see Frozen earlier this month a few of us exchanged Christmas presents. Yes, you read right, Christmas presents.  A series of events between the three of us prevented us from seeing one another during December and January, but my presents were well worth the wait! One gave me hair arrows, and another gave me an antler sweater clip, both were items that I had pinned on Pinterest.

I must say, along with being a great way to keep track of hairstyles and craft ideas, Pinterest is also a pretty dandy wishlist too.  I had also looked to friends’ Pinterest boards seeking items to buy them for the holiday.

I won’t lie, I had a terrible time attempting the classic “chopstick bun”. I’ve just simply never done it before! But I’m learning and I’m sure, like with most hair styles, with time and practice, I’ll get better.

Today I did some running around, mainly packing and shipping Etsy orders, but I also popped into The Nordstorm Rack, as I knew they occasionally have Minnetonkas at pretty low prices, and came home with another pair. However, the remainder of the day is being spent cleaning, as we gear up for our trip to Palm Springs next week. And speaking the trip and Etsy, this is a good time to mention that The Atomic Hideaway will be going into Vacation Mode on Tuesday! All orders need to be placed prior to Tuesday evening.  All orders will be shipped on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I’m going to Expo tomorrow!  I really haven’t been out and about this last week as I’ve been needing to save up!  I hope it’s a good one!

Outfit
Sweater: Thrifted
Squaw Dress: Umm…I don’t remember.
Shoes: Miss L Fire
Tooled Leather Purse: Retro Rejuvenation, Coburg, Oregon
Ring & Arrow Earrings: Living Threads Vintage, Portland, Oregon
Turquoise Bracelet: Some antique show or another…
Renoir Belt: Expo
Hair Arrows: Gift
Antler Sweater Clip: Gift, but I know they came from Dapper and Swag

July Expo Finds

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What a weekend.  I can honestly say that I am beat! This last weekend brought the huge summer antique show at the Expo Center.  While the March and October Expos are great, the July one takes the cake.  An additional 400 dealers join the party, bringing the number up to 1,400 and I went all three days of the show! Friday I went with my good friend Lyndsie, proprietress of Retro Rejuvenation, and she also tagged along on Saturday when my dad and his girlfriend, Ann came.

Picture courtesy of Anne of Shop Vintage Portland

On Sunday I went with Patrick. Yeah, three days of antiques, you’re bound to find something! And I found lots! So gear up for a picture heavy post of my haul!

I scored three Squaw/Fiesta/Patio (call ’em what you will) dresses!  And all three are different than ones I have!

Another wonderful trio were these three hats I picked up! Two are New York Creations, while the cream one with black beads is a Setson!

I can’t get enough of vintage clam digger capris, and I was so excited when I found these green jeans from one of my friends’ spaces!

But I think my favorite clothing find was this 1940s fringe leather jacket.  It has a wonderful pink-ish hue to it, that makes it different than other fringe jackets.

I also bought some accessories… such as this wonderful multi-colored belt (from a favorite vendor of mine, That’s Swank!), and a twin to my copper belt I bought a few weeks ago, but this time in silver!

I also found several fun bracelets, including a handcuff like one, another sweetheart bracelet, and two wonderful plastic bangles!

I also added to my stocking collection, but I think the box is better than the stockings!

I also found several fun western themed bits and bobbles! Barkcloth (which I think will be turned into pillows.  Don’t worry! It’s just scrap, not a full curtain or anything!), a wooden brooch and a fun donkey and covered wagon planter!

But by far the best piece was this wallet I bought.  I found this tooled leather wallet, which on the side I could see read “Ray”, which was my grandfather’s name.  While I never met the man, he means a lot to me, since I hear so many wonderful stories about him.  I figured the wallet would have some sort of horse theme or another western theme to it, as most do, which would be great, as my dad’s family rode horses, but I turned the wallet over to discover it was even better…it had jalopy racing on it. And my grandfather raced jalopies.

I clutched the wallet tight, and told the dealer about my grandfather.  I can’t help but think maybe this was his.  It’s just sad that no one seems to recall for sure if he had something like this.

Well, that wraps it up!  There are a few more antique shows between now and the next Expo, and I can’t wait!