Sunny & Sheer
Just over a week ago, Yen and I spent some time sifting through frocks of tulle, silk, and cotton over at White Elephant. This activity in it self was a dream come true: we were like kids in a candy store. You know what? We don’t even need that metaphor: we were like fashion bloggers in a vintage dress store. That alone should indicate our level of glee.
The lovely ladies of White Elephant are the curators of an amazing collection of vintage from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, and they’re putting it ALL up for sale next weekend. While they put the final touches on their selection, they invited us to take a few of these beauties home and show them a good time.
Narrowing our selection wasn’t easy. It’s like choosing a favourite child! Or cat! But as soon as I stepped into this full skirted lemon yellow number, it was love. Not long after, Yen slipped on a similarly-sheer minty green beauty, and we knew we had our girls.
These dresses look like they belong together. They look like they belong to debutants going to prom; to sisters in a wedding party; to friends meeting up for a night on the town. Simply put, the girls in these dresses look like they are going places.
That idea of a special destination is just what we aimed to capture in the photo shoot that followed. Wearing vintage brings a sense of story and whimsy, and we wanted to play up all of that (we also wanted to make sure we used balloons, because there’s a helium shortage and we’ll need something to show our grand kids when balloons go the way of the 45 record player).
With our dresses in tow, Yen and I let ourselves dream for the next few days. Our vision finally came together when Yen secured the use of her brother Henk’s FABULOUS 1977 Cougar. Look at this car! We weren’t just going places now, we were going places in style. In additional to lending us this sweet ride, Henk also took many of the photos you see here, and didn’t say a word as we primped and preened well into the evening. Thanks Henk!
I won’t say too much more, as I’m hoping the photos will speak for themselves, but I will remind you that these very dresses, and hundreds more, are available at the White Elephant To The Nines dress sale next weekend. This sale has become one of my favourite events in this city. It’s an incredible collection from ladies who love and live vintage, and it doesn’t get much better than that. They are joining forces with Ottawa’s Victoire, so get thee to James Street North on May 10 and 11, and you too can live the dream.
For a closer look at Yen’s dreamy dress, head over My Edit for her side of the story.
