I know I’m not the only vintage lover struggling through Winter. It’s a miserable season for vintage clothing and style. During the week I’m commuting in ugly but necessary winter boots. Half the time on the weekends I haven’t been able to avoid them much, either. They aren’t cute. They aren’t stylish. They are winter boots. They keep me warm and dry, that’s about all I can say for them.
I’ve been determined lately to step up my game a notch and break out of my trousers-and-overalls-only wardrobe. Bad time of the year to decide that, huh? I’ve seen a lot of dresses with tights and boots out there in the vintage blogging world, and thought I’d give it a whirl myself. The only thing stopping me was the boots. Or lack thereof. I needed something new, something that could moderately work well with vintage clothes, and something not so expensive that if I stepped into a puddle I wouldn’t want to sit on the curb and cry.
I don’t even want to think about how many hours I spent on sites like Zappos and Endless in the last couple of weeks. I was looking for something with little to no heel, that maybe had a bit of a 30s or early 40s feel. Little black ankle boots. Nothing fancy. Hours and hours I looked through atrociously ugly black ankle boots, getting more and more frustrated and starting to curse why I didn’t live closer to the Equator. And then I found them!
They even had an extra plus that I hadn’t been expecting: a faux fur cuff that folds over. It reminded me a lot of the 1940s fur-lined boots that Fleur of Diary of a Vintage Girl posted back in December. She also showed a few pair of repro styles that were similar, but no way would they work in my climate. This pair is much more sensible. They have a rubber sole and the sides can be worn up, for a little extra warmth. They are synthetic, so I imagine they’ll be fairly easy to clean off. And the inside is lined with a leopard print flannel-like fabric. Cute inside and out.
They were $42 at Endless. They also sell them in olive and brown, though sadly the brown (“Chestnut”) is out of stock in my size 6 otherwise I’d snap them up too (I did look for them on other sites with no luck). I’ll be giving them a test run tonight. We’re meeting friends to play board games at a pub. If they work out I may very well order another black pair to keep stored for when I wear these out, so I don’t have to go through this entire ordeal again anytime soon.
I’m all set in my outfit for tonight. I’m wearing a vintage shirtwaist dress I’ve never worn before, in pale gray, green and pink plaid, with a bit of darker machine embroidery as one of the plaid stripes.
The sweater is one a friend recently knit me. I adore it. It’s a longer length, like some of the cardigans I’ve seen pop up occasionally in my stash of knitting pattern booklets from the 1940s. It was knit from yarn in my stash that I sent her. I initially spent forever trying to decide on a color, and finally just picked this to get it over with. I regretted it for awhile, thinking it wasn’t a color that would fit into my wardrobe well, but when I got the finished sweater I was totally wrong. It goes with so much!
Here’s what my hair looks like from the back. I really need a few more wide barrettes as I’ve been wearing my hair like this a lot. That’s a handmade wooden one I got on Etsy.
It might look a little odd that I’m carrying a yellow purse, but I think it works. Especially because of the ridiculous buttons on the dress.
That’s the only thing about the dress that needs work. I’m not sure if you can tell from the photo but the buttons are just downright bizarre! I’m assume at some point in the history of this pretty little dress, a previous owner lost one or more of the buttons, so they replaced them with these strange yellow, blue, white and red plastic ones that look like they’re supposed to mimic millefiori. I don’t have any buttons the right size right now, and really wanted to wear the dress anyway, so I just ran with it.
You are so good! I already have my flannel pajamas on and am planning on spending my evening and much of the weekend hiding out in the basement (HEATED FLOORS!!). Yup, I am a complete wimp when it comes to the cold.
I did exactly the same thing looking for a cute but Midwest practical pair of boots: I love the ones you found! They really do have great vintage styling.
Do you pin curl your hair? I am so envious of how pretty your hair always looks.
@Moxie Tonic Don’t worry, I spend a LOT of winter just like that (minus the awesome heated floors)!
Aw thanks on my hair! I don’t have enough patience for pin curls. I either use sponge rollers, Hot Sticks or hot rollers, which I did today. The heated sets don’t last well on me but I’ve been too lazy to properly let my hair dry long enough for sponge rollers! Hard to have your hair damp that long in winter. ;P
I LOVE that you collect Primrose! You are the only other person I have ever seen that collects it!
(I think I might have left this exact same comment before…I don’t remember…but still…LOVE!)
Those shoes are a great find! I too have been struggling through the anti-vintage winter, completely over wearing jeans, boots and sweaters all the time. And our silly winter isn’t ANYTHING compared to what you guys are experiencing.
I have been on the hunt for cute vintage-inspired winter boots for over a year now and I have found two reasonably good solutions, but they both have heels, which doesn’t always make them the most practical. AND they a suede. Stupid.I have some actual vintage ankle boots – not unlike the cute ones you found – but since they are truly vintage, I worry about wearing them all the time and ruining them.
I think I may follow suit and order a pair of these you found. Though I think I’ll have to get them in the white fleece version as the black/black ones don’t come in my size. Hell the black/white ones don’t come in my size either, but 5.5 is closer than 6.
You have inspired me to post about my own shoe quandary now! (if I ever have a moment this weekend. Or this month. Uhg. Life overload.)
Lovely outfit and your hair is stunning.
For The Vintage Fashionista
I totally understand this! I hate winter foot wear, I don’t have any cute boots either, although you do now! I do find that when I find vintage boots in my size they have a smooth sole, now I’m a klutz and if there is ice & snow around I need grips! Ah well soon be spring :o)
I love the sweater chain!! Love it to death. And I’m thinking that the wide barrette would be a great thing for me too. You’re slowly converting my to a vintage girl, lol.
@Stella No you hadn’t, I haven’t met anyone else who collected Primrose, either! How awesome!!
@Moe Ooh do definitely post your shoe quandry when life slows down. 🙂 No matter what your climate, winter stinks. These boots worked out well last night!
@Hep~Kitten Aw thank you!
@Straight Talking Mama! I’m klutzy too, hence wearing straight up ugly winter boots most of the time. These soles are rubbed and not much treads, but they were grippy enough for the ice I walked over!
@Cambria It’s a great thing to be converted to… 😉
Those boots are SO cute!! Off to endless I go! 🙂
Are those actually warm? I’ve bought numerous pairs of boots since moving to Portland and I have yet to find boots that are actually warm that look good. Sometimes I feel like I don’t blame the UGG wearers here because those seem like the only things that would we warm enough in rain and snow : (
@Gabriella Yay! Always happy to help tip someone off about shoes. 🙂
@Lauren Well they are certainly not as warm as real winter boots, but I wasn’t expecting them to be. Plus I wasn’t buying them to be daily wear boots, more like boots to wear going out when I don’t want to have to look like a doofus in my real cold-weather boots while simultaneously not wanting to freeze my tootsies off. They worked well. I wore them with tights and thin socks. I did a good bit of walking around outside and it was probably in the 20s out, and I felt they did their job well. If I’d bought a half size up, I would wear them with wool ankle socks and I think that would be ideal. But I’m definitely happy with their performance. 🙂
@Tasha
Wow!! I’ve yet to get a decent set from sponge rollers: I just end up with weird bumps all over where the little bar crimped my hair. And hot sets just fall out the second I take the rollers out! Hence me in a ponytail most of the time 😉
The heated floors were the best decision I’ve ever made! Makes the winter, sort of, somewhat tolerable.
Lucky you! I wear traditional lumber jack’s boots, because there’s room enough for woolen socks. I think coats are also a problem, because coats used to be quite heavy.
@Moxie Tonic Sounds a lot like my hair! One thing I’ve found to help with the denting with sponge rollers is using less hair in each roller, and then just brushing it out really well. Once I do that I don’t notice any denting. Though you could try pillow rollers too! I forgot about those. They’re similar to sponge rollers but don’t have a bar to make dents. I use them when I roll my bangs backwards b/c the dent would be totally visible on the top of my head otherwise. No way to brush those ones out. 🙂
@Gabriela Von Bohlen Coats are a problem you’re right. I once got rid of a gorgeous vintage dress coat because it weighed a million pounds but wasn’t warm, so it was sadly kind of useless.
You look gorgeous!! I love your sweater clips, dress, boots and that cardi…WOW!! 😀
Those boots are so cute! Love the sweater and clip too…so, so vintage looking!