My fall/winter florals are from my fabric allotment when I worked at Liberty of London during the late 1980’s. My friend Josephina, who used to baby sit my daughter made me both the red and black floral jumper dress and the blue floral skirt. At the time she also made Emily little matching dresses. My blue skirt actually used to be a jumper but I altered it into a skirt. Both are fine for days that aren’t super cold. They are full enough that I can layer stockings and another thin layer underneath. I have plenty of contemporary shorter skirts, yet the retro ones like this (especially dirndl skirts) I often prefer to leave midcalf length which is the way we wore them then. I admit I still draw inspiration from the German dirndls I wore as a child when I lived there for five years. The Liberty fabrics have continued to look good since I always hand wash them and use a very gentle laundry soap with no dyes or perfumes. I also never put them in the dryer.
Emily Owen’s photograph
My black cardigan is thrifted, the grey one is from Uniqlo and my blue vintage teal blue sweater is from Junk in Willamsburg. They have some nice vintage clothes if you weed through their selection. I wore a tank top underneath the teal sweater that is lacy on top and is from the 1970’s.
I have always enjoyed florals, particularly after working at Liberty of London and then later on April Cornell. I have treasured the few pieces I acquired while working for both of the businesses.
My boots in the post were both gifts. The black lace ups are Timberline’s and the other boots the designer name escapes me. Those short boots aren’t real leather. I had a problem in that the heel started to fall off. I found out the shoe cobbler can sew your heels onto the sole of the boot if that happens!
The plant holder in this post is made from a recycled front loader washer door. I used to work in a laundromat part time and the owner made it into this plant holder. When he sold the laundromat he gave it and the plant to me. Nice way to upcycle!
Fall seems to have made a rather quick escape. Most of the leaves have already fallen and most days it is really cold. There are a few warmer days here, today for instance. Soon it will be time to bundle up in thick winter sweaters!
