My friend Shannon is a talented seamstress and tailor who owns Krampus Cuties hair ties. (Cats Like Us sells a lot of them and you can see exclusive designs here). She chooses really fun prints for her hair adornments, including cats and horror!

When Shannon started making The Shining carpet design hair ties (bottom most pictured above) I knew I needed a dress in that print, and it really lends itself to a 1960s dress design! I just so happen to have a collection of vintage sewing patterns. I always thought I would learn to sew.

But even though my mom tried to teach me and I took sewing classes, I have zero percent sewing skills. I asked Shannon — if I gave her the pattern — if she could make me a dress out of The Shining print? She said, „Yes!“. (I made the buttons. At least I’m good for something. (Source: catslikeus.com)

So now I have this amazing reproduction 1960s dress and matching hair tie made of The Shining print rug. What’s the best way to show it off? A photo shoot of course! I asked Destiny, my friend and neighbor from Sweet Heart Pin Up, if she could help me. If you ever want a full pinup experience she is the person to see! She made me feel like a queen on a throne while she applied my makeup. It was so relaxing. I just told her I wanted it to be heavy 1960s makeup and boy did she deliver! Eyelashes here, eyelashes there, eyelashes everywhere!

In Cry-Baby’s world, it’s all about Squares vs. Drapes and my favorite Drape is the blonde haired bad girl named Wanda. Her ruby lip pout, tight wiggle dresses, and sassy attitude gets my vote for the perfect portrayal of a 1950s female outcast. We always root for the under dog, or in this case, a gal who is a Cry-Baby girl that lives by, „our bazooms are our weapons!“.

We have to give some fashion credit to a few of Allison’s looks when transforms from a Square to a Drape or as Cry-Baby names her a „Scrape“: half Square half Drape. Though her poodle skirts and ponytails are cute, she rocks those red lips just as good as Wanda. Allison you know you’re just a bad girl under all those Square clothing! *Wink*.

Regardless of whether you’re rooting for the Squares or the Drapes, there is no doubt that Cry-Baby is full of retro fashion eye candy. If you haven’t had a chance to see this cult classic, you should! (Source: catslikeus.com)

What do you get when John Waters makes a musical that is based in 1954? You get an amazing movie that is full of quirky 50s nostalgia, a (very hot!) Jonny Depp aka Cry-Baby Walker and a whole lot of vintage-inspired fashions. Not only is the movie cast amazing, the dialog and the one-liners have me watching this flick again and again. But this blog isn’t a movie review blog–it’s a dedication to my love for Traci Lords character aka Wanda Woodward and the inspiration we find from her retro 1950s wardrobe!

Yesterday, after two very snowy weeks of early March, I felt the first tender rays of springtime warmth dance upon my skin. I took Annie out back and together we played amongst them, both entranced by a sensation that we had very nearly forgotten.

It was a moment of simple, untainted pleasure of that sort we all long for in our lives and it reminded me a great deal of the powerful feelings of warmhearted compassion that myself, Tony and Annie have been incredibly blessed to receive from scores of wonderful people – including many in the vintage community – over the past five months since the fire.

From that horrific day onward, there has been a part of me that had suspected this post would eventually happen. Perhaps many of you saw it coming as well. (Source: chronicallyvintage.com)

What occurred to us on that fateful, (ironically) rainy October night changed us forever. In one fell swoop, it rewrote our lives and tore into the fabric of who we were at our very cores. Though some pieces have been mended, others that remained (now) strengthened, and some are lost forever, we are not the same people we were before the fire. I highly doubt most folks would be, if they went through something similar. Hardship and challenges make you and shape you.