Styling My Vintage Wardrobe - Separates

As promised, the other day I decided to have a go at creating a vintage styling post.  I often show things that I buy, but not always how I would wear them, so I thought I'd create a few outfits from the separates in my wardrobe, to give you some idea of the kind of vintage style I like to wear on a daily basis.

By way of a disclaimer, I haven't actually worn all of the following outfits outside of the house. I have worn similar combinations of some and I have actually worn some, but not all. You will, however, get an idea of the way that I like to wear my vintage and non vintage clothes.

So here goes.

The first outfit is one that I have worn before.  In fact, this was the outfit I wore on my very first visit to a Swing Dance event.  I didn't have many vintage clothes at the time, but I liked this outfit and can remember taking great care getting ready that day. I still do like this combination and will probably wear it again sometime. It is super comfortable for dancing and I think the shirt is really pretty.

Using the same skirt, I put together another outfit.  I considered wearing this outfit the last time I went to a dance event, but changed my mind and wore a dress instead.  The top is actually a dress that I bought from H&M a while back and have probably only worn a couple of times.  I think I prefer it as a top though, the sleeves are flouncy and pretty.  I combined it with a lovely vintage floral scarf  and a wide belt for this look.

I'm a bit of a lover of a wrap skirt, so sticking with this theme, here's another look incorporating one. This leopard print wrap skirt was bought new on eBay for £7 or so.  I really like it and it looks cute combined with this blouse I bought from Monki for £8. Although neither item is actually vintage, together they create a vintage style look.

The next look is a little more colourful. I combined a red silk blouse with this striped H&M sweater that I bought in a charity shop in Hastings a month ago. I added the red belt, also from a CS and combined them with my pinstriped button front skirt.

Talking of stripes, I bought this next skirt on eBay a few months ago.  It is from Marks and Spencer's and is a modern skirt, but I thought the bow detail to the front gave it a slightly vintage feel and I like anything that is striped.  It goes great with this lovely grey tie neck jumper from Mango. It's really comfortable to wear and I often combine it with different black tops too.

Whoever said blue and green should never be seen?  I've never held much store by this saying. I think they go together great. In this look, I combined a green pussy bow blouse with a blue and green circle skirt, blue cardigan and a favourite green vintage brooch.  I think it looks pretty cute.

Next, is a brown and green combination.  I bought the skirt from my new favourite Second Hand Shop, as mentioned in a previous post.  It cost £2.50, but was much longer and didn't fit well on the waist, so I basically cut the waist off and created a new elasticated waist, making it shorter as I did so. The photograph isn't too clear, but it is A-line in style and brown with a green check running through it. I paired it with another green pussy bow blouse I bought in a Charity shop in Rye and a cute brown vintage look sweater. I would definitely wear this look for work and I think in total this outfit cost less than £10.

My final look, is the lovely cream blouse I bought recently at Mile End Vintage, combined with a checked skirt I bought for £5 from Primark of all places.  I really like this combination.  I threw in a neck scarf,  also from Mile End Vintage, to add a bit of colour and interest and quite like the effect.

So, that was a look at how I style some separates.  I have, of course, got lots more combinations that I wear, but it is difficult to style trousers on my mannequin, so I couldn't really show you the combinations I wear with the few pairs of trousers I have.

I may do another post of some of my vintage dresses, but they don't really involve a great deal of styling, save for adding a few small accessories. I hope you enjoyed this little look into my wardrobe and how I like to wear things.