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I suppose it's not all that surprising that a woman who voluntarily cut her hair into a mullet in 2022 would be a fan of seventies style. Predictability notwithstanding, I therefore submit without further commentary exhibit A; a very 1970s look with a few pieces from Highland Fashionista Vintage. Enjoy!

Hello again everyone! This is your thrifty fit check for Thursday, October 13th. This look is 100% secondhand, and although the pieces were individually purchased many years apart, put together this look probably cost me under $50! The Components of This Y2K Style Look The top in particular is a favorite. It's a Y2K staple; a 90s era plaid cotton blouse by the juniors brand My Michelle. Yes, you can wear juniors clothing in your 50s. I have now done the experiment and can say with some authority that you will not in fact, burst into flames. I Originally purchased this top for inventory for the Highland Fashionista vintage shop, but when I tried it on to photograph it I realized just how well it fit me, so I kept it. Sorry not sorry. When you try something on and it fits you like it was made for you, that's The Universe speaking to you. Far be it for me to go against the will of the universe. This blouse has many of my favorite late 90s style elements all in one place; a short puffy sleeve, a v neck cutaway collar with a ruffle, and fitted silhouette that requires no tucking in, but still looks streamlined. The skirt is 90s American eagle and is a simple low-waisted mini with the ubiquitous Y2K style patch pockets. The boots are from Dune UK. They were am impulse buy off of Ebay for £20, and have exceeded my expectations. I have never had a pair of white or cream boots before, and I am hooked. The harness style chain and slightly looser fit of the shaft on these boots makes them super easy to pull on and off, and you'll probably be seeing these a lot this season. That's the thrift check for the week - stay fabulous!

Hoooo-boyyy, it has been a stressful time here at Highland Fashionista HQ since Hurricane Ian plowed right over us in Charlotte County. However, I hasten to add that our experience pales in comparison to what many Floridians are going through. The stories being told around the state right now are both terrifying and heartbreaking. This was an absolutely catastrophic storm for many, many people, and despite being directly in the path of the storm, all of the people we know have emerged safe and sound. Our house weathered the storm well, and miraculously we did not experience any flooding. Do we have damage? Yes. Absolutely. You cannot endure 160 MPH winds without getting your hair messed up a bit. Will it be expensive? Undoubtedly. But bent pool cages and loose shingles can be repaired, and we are still standing, bent but not broken. Escaping Hurricane Ian Before it Hit We weren't actually in residence when the storm hit. My husband was back in the UK working, and I had only just left Florida a week prior having cleaned the place in anticipation of some fall rentals. I'd packed up as much of my stored shop inventory as I could carry and departed for the UK, blissfully ignorant of the coming chaos. In one week's time, I would be glued to the tiny screen on my iPhone, mainlining the storm tracking feature on my NOAA app while I watched this behemoth slowly change its predicted course and position itself for a direct hit as a Category 4 hurricane. There's a reason those of us with ties to Florida pay so much attention to exactly how these storms approach and make landfall. You may have heard Floridians refer to the "dirty" and "clean" sides of a hurricane before. Granted, there is no literal "clean" part of any hurricane, but what this does refer is best boiled-down in this handy infographic that was put out by Orlando's WFTV9 in 2020 in the days before hurricane Laura. You can read the full explanation on their page. Basically a hurricane has four distinct anatomical parts that each have slightly different impact on whatever is in its path. Front Left: This is where storm surge can be most significant Front Right: THE WORST. Winds, smaller storm systems within the storm, rain bands, lightning...all of it. The front right side of a hurricane is the everything bagel of storms. Back Left: the weakest point, still not a lot of fun Back Right: the strongest winds of the hurricane When Ian made landfall, our place was pretty much in the front to front left quadrant, and we spent a good chunk of time in the storm's eye wall, the condensed area surrounds the eye and packs the most powerful punch. In the case of Ian, that eye was thirty, yes...thirty miles wide. This clip was recorded by my next door neighbour, who captured the fury of the eye wall as it passed over. Like a lot of Floridians, she and her husband rode out the storm at home. Phew, right? At this point our pontoon boat had blown off the lift and floated away. You can see the empty lift in the background. Since 2002, homes in Florida are built to code that dictates they withstand hurricane force winds, referred to as the FBC (Florida Building Code). This change happened on the back of some of the lessons learned from Hurricane Andrew, which pretty much took out Punta Gorda in 1992. If you look at Punta Gorda (situated directly across the Charlotte Harbor from us), a majority of their homes and buildings are still standing. This is because so much of that city was rebuilt to the new Florida building code. Our home, built in 2016-2017, was built similarly. Our community has a canal system that leads to a lagoon, which then joins into the Charlotte Harbor, which then feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. Normally, when a hurricane approaches it sucks all of the water out of the harbors that flow into the Gulf, only to have it come rushing back with force once the storm passes over. It was this phenomenon that caused so much catastrophic damage throughout Southwest Florida. Unlike with the Florida building code upgrade of 2002, there is no code or amount of sand bags that will keep the raging Gulf in check when it gets tossed ashore by a CAT 4 hurricane. This was a major cause of so much of the destruction and loss of life we are seeing with this storm. We are lucky where we are situated, because the lagoon that connects our community to the Harbor via a series of canals is surrounded by mangroves, and most importantly, has a lock that opens and closes so boats can pass through. The water cannot freely just flow in and out from the lagoon to the harbor, it has to work a little harder if it wants to flood. This is a big reason we didn't get hammered by the surge as badly as they did in other places. This reverse surge phenomenon was observable in the Charlotte Harbor as Ian approached. The Aftermath of the Storm In the immediate aftermath of the storm, with literally no communications working, it felt like a loooong wait until we could get some news on our friends, neighbours and property. My husband's BFF is a concractor stateside, and he offered to go down to our house, take stock of the damage, and secure the roof to repair any shingles and make sure it was watertight. We were so relieved and grateful to him for this offer that when we finally did get a text from our neighbour shortly thereafter, it took me a full minute to process it. After reassuring us that all was well and the property came through like a champ, things took a turn for the weird. At the end of her text was the following note. "you have a couple from the UK staying in your house. Very nice. Didn't ask how long they were renting. No power or water still." Wait....what!? Our October rental showed up. From the UK. The day after the storm. They had booked through the home management company for the month, and apparently not wanting to miss their holiday and not having gotten any correspondence from the management company, flew from the UK to go to a rental house in a town where literally 24 hours prior, a CAT 4 hurricane had made landfall and left destruction and chaos in its wake. We were stunned. We had not even been able to get in touch with our home management company ourselves at this point. No comms were working anywhere near us. We had no idea if the people who manage our home were even accounted for at this point. We figured the British holidaymakers must gotten a welcome email from the rental company with all the codes to get in, and I guess just figured they'd just pitch up and hope for the best. But I'm not gonna lie, Im having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Laying aside the appropriateness of the whole thing, Just to arrive there, they had to have driven through a lot of heartbreaking devastation. At that point there was still a lot of flooding and debris on the roadways. It is actually kind of a miracle they arrived without being stopped, or worse yet without having gotten themselves in serious trouble or killed by a downed power line or some such. Like everyone at that point, we had no power in the house. No water. No AC. No sewer. At the time of this posting, we still don't have power, a week later. We did for about a day, then a damaged transformer blew. So power may be a bit of a wait. In addition, most of the screens were blown out of the lanai, and parts of the cage were twisted and loose, making opening any doors to the house an invitation to every bug in Charlotte County. But by golly these people wanted to stay. There was no way to cook or bathe. They had apparently picked up enough info to know to flush the toilets with a bucket of water, but what they couldn't know is that the houses in our area have mini sewers, a septic-type system that fills to a certain point, then a pump kicks in to suck the waste out to the main sewer. If you have no electricity, you have no pump. Eventually if you keep flushing toilets with no power, that sewage is gonna back right up into your drains and come shooting out at you through your shower drain while you're in your bathroom, unsuspectingly plucking your eyebrows. This was not the post hurricane problem set I was anticipating, and my husband and I were quite literally stunned into silence. With no comms working and our management company AWOL, how can we even begin to approach this? Renters in the house with no power! When there's no light people burn candles! My imagination was running through house burning down scenarios on a loop. My husband did finally get to speak to the people in our house, thanks to our neighbour. I have to say, it took my husband considerable time and energy to convince them that they needed to pack up and vacate our home until we could secure it and services were restored. That not so fun job fell to him because of the two of us, he is the diplomat. If you need conflict resolution, he's your man. If you need someone to reach into the chest of your enemy and pull out his beating heart while looking him in the eye à la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, that's my department. In the end, common sense prevailed, and the couple, who were reportedly very nice, moved to another property, or maybe got refunded...I actually don't know, and I don't care. The point is they vacated and allowed us to get on with the task of damage assessment and repair. But that whole completely unanticipated and utterly weird experience did provide me with a rather stark reminder that in life, not everything is always as clear and obvious to others as it may be to us. So that's it. That's our brush with Ian. It is absolutely small potatoes compared to what many people in our area are going to have to endure for a very long time. If you wish to contribute to the ongoing relief efforts, I'm leaving some links below. If you wish to support us directly, the best way to do so is to make a purchase from the Highland Fashionista Etsy shop, or contribute to the blog. Stay safe everyone, and check the weather before you go on that vacation! Feeding Florida: coordinating all of the food banks in the state to help provide food for displaced people in the state of FL World Central Kitchen: providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises Direct Relief: works to equip health professionals in resource-poor and hard hit communities. American Red Cross: the Red Cross is focusing on providing safe shelter, meals and comfort to victims of Hurricane Ian.

I've been meaning to follow up on my post from last May when I wrote about my rather unfortunate encounter with trimming my own bangs ("fringe" for you Brits) and the subsequent walk in haircut that I had gotten in an attempt to correct that little lapse in judgement. Ladies and gentlemen, meet my femullet - the 70s-inspired haircut that's been in every curly and wavy-haired woman's "should I or shouldn't I" iPhone Pinterest gallery for the last few years. A Wavy Mullet Hairstyle is Perfectly Undone In my case, I really loved a shag haircut I got a little over a year ago, but felt like it got too heavy too fast, so I wanted something that resembled that haircut but maybe a bit edgier and cooler. I also wanted something I could let grow with the occasional bang trim and it would still look intentional. I've been known to go six months without a haircut, so something like a mullet hairstyle that could work with my rather unruly waves and managed to make them into an intentional style was a very appealing concept indeed. I should add here that for me, when I say I wanted to look "intentional" or "styled", what I really mean is "feral." After fifty one years on the planet, I've found that super-prim looks just don't work for me, lifestyle wise or otherwise. I prefer to look like I just rode in off the range on a barely-gentled mustang, kicked in the door to the saloon, grabbed a giant chicken leg off of someone's plate and took a bite, ordered a beer with my mouth full of chicken, then took to the stage to play the guitar solo from Freebird. Even though my hair was shorter than I normally would have wanted it to be to get it cut again, I desperately needed to get some of the weight off my head. I have fine hair, but it is very dense, and even with long layers, it gets really heavy really quick. And let me tell you, there was a lot of hair on the ground when we were done. It looked like a family of skunks exploded under my chair. So that's it. I am now fully entrenched in the Mullet Lifestyle. I'm not sure what that is, but I'll let you know as soon as I have some solid intel. For now, I plan on letting this new cut grow a bit more yet, but now I feel like I can do so without having the weight of a wet Pendleton blanket sitting on top of my head. If any of you are wavy-haired like me, I've linked a few affordable products down below that are quickly becoming my go-to styling products. Maybe some of them will work for you too.

If you've been hanging about the blog for a while, you have undoubtedly noticed some changes over the last decade or so. I started this blog round about 2012 on the very basic Blogger platform. Like so many people back in the "golden age of blogging", I did not have a plan or even really any other reason for doing so other than a love of fashion and appreciation for unique self expression in all of its forms. I've done some partnerships and sponsored content over the years, but I've always felt really strongly about selecting opportunities that I feel might be of interest to those of you who read the blog. I didn't want to hit you over the head with a lot of in your face marketing, or fall into the trap of re-creating content that a lot of people are already doing, and doing really well - better that me. It took some grappling with my inner self to arrive at the conclusion that I did not want to dilute my unique, often loud, frequently antagonistic voice for the sake of a few more followers. Sure, my saltiness has probably cost me some followers or partnerships over the years, but I'm okay with that. And the older I get, the more okay with it I am. Finding Support as an Independent Content Creator So here's the deal. As the online milieu continues to evolve, I find myself spreading myself between different platforms in a way that just feels...inefficient. My aim here is to try and evolve this blog into a place where I can plonk all of my different online interests, all in one easy to access place. So I am embarking on some long game stuff here. I am slowly making moves to evolve Highland Fashionista into a blended e commerce site that will house my vintage shop (yes I will still maintain a presence on Etsy), the blog, and eventually create a space to host other writers, artists, and various independent creators as well. To do so is going to take time, energy, and yes, money. To that end, you'll notice I've added a donation tip jar to the blog. It's a trend I'v noticed on many platforms that are being managed by san independent content creator, so I am adopting this too. Does it change anything for you, the reader? Not really. It's simply a measure I decided to adopt in the hopes of expediting my plans while keeping the platform unique, independent, and populated by only the partnerships that I choose. So that's what this thing is - right here to your right; you can find it on the about page. Obviously, there is no obligation for you to donate, and this site will always be free to browse and shop, no matter how it evolves. But I am an independent, one woman operation these days, so if you are feeling the love and want to donate, I appreciate you. Even if you don't, I appreciate you. Again, this is long game stuff, and I am just starting to earmark a few platforms and themes that I think will be able to deliver the look and feel of the site I eventually hope to build. If you have been around a while and have a specific type of content that you particularly enjoy and would like to see more of, I'm all ears. Hop on to the about page and send me a message! Yours in Sustainable Style and Snark,

On this, the occasion of my 51st birthday, I suppose I've arrived at an age where I've finally been granted a therapeutic level of insight by The Universe. Do not confuse that with the stoic maturity so often associated with women of a certain age. I still do not have much (okay, any) of that, nor do I particularly want it. But be that as it may, due to my increasing obligations as a member of the wise and increasingly wrinkled (I like the sun, sue me), I feel the need to address some of life's more complex issues. Guys, we need to talk about jumpsuits. There is perhaps no sartorial moment you could conjure that would make you reflect on your life choices more than the moment you are in an aggressively air-conditioned public restroom stall, completely stripped bare from the knees up because you decided to wear your cute jumpsuit to the bar. It is in these moments that we think to ourselves, "why do I do this?" There's no denying that jumpsuits are hard. They are difficult to fit (nearly impossible if you're long-waisted), they confuse men (my husband is not a fan), and they completely negate your ability to perform the simple act of shedding a layer of clothing with minimal exposure. But we are drawn to them anyway. WHY!? Why We Can't Stay Away From a One Piece Jumpsuit For me, the allure of the jumpsuit lies in its promise of a louche silhouette coupled with easy, "one and done" dressing. Never mind that they rarely end up looking that way when we wear them - that was simply the campaign promise made by jumpsuits, and despite all evidence to the contrary, we still believe their big lie. That said, the one piece jumpsuit I'm wearing today is actually one that I have come to appreciate over time. I believe it's originally from Target. Pardon me... Targeé (/Tar-jay). I thrifted it because I was in need of something I could put on that covered a bit more of my skin for riding my scooter in the Florida heat; something that didn't add a lot of bulk under my motorcycle jacket. This was really an experiment, and over time, this jumpsuit and I have come to an understanding. No, I won't be reaching for this if I'm looking to look streamlined or professional, but this jumpsuit actually does deliver on one and done dressing. Heck, in these photos I literally took off my bathing suit, popped in some earrings, grabbed some accessories, and headed out. I'm not even wearing makeup (okay lip balm). My hair smells of pool and sweat and just a tinge of the nutritional spray I just got done putting on the palm trees in the back yard. The glamour. The bag is a 70s vintage straw bag that I purchased intending to add it to the shop, but quickly realized that I was actually carrying it on a lot of errands, so I kept it. The shoes are from my closet, and the earrings are Native crafted, purchased from an artisan market (I didn't realise they were swinging in the first photo and didn't photograph, so I added a separate photo.) So what's the message here? Honestly, I'm not sure, other than jumpsuits are hard, they are more often than not a poor fit, but every once in a while once surprises you. So if like me you cannot resist the lure of the jumpsuit, know that you actually don't have to resist the allure. Just know it may just take a while to find one that really works for you in the way that you need it to. In other words, we have to do our own research. I cannot believe I just used that phrase.

I haven't really been buying many clothes these last few years that aren't vintage items for the shop, but this week I happened upon this dress from SheIn at a local charity shop - £3 with the tags still attached. I figured that at three British Pounds, it was a pretty safe bet to fill the sundress gap in my UK wardrobe. I have moved most of my hot weather fun and colourful clothes to Florida these last few years - I rarely need them here in Scotland and keep only enough to go on the odd holiday, but I was craving something just for knocking about the place, and the weather is nice today. The Origin of the Bargain Sun Dress I am well aware that from a sustainability standpoint SheIn is...let's go with problematic. They are a pretty massive offender when it comes to creating fast fashion textile waste, and it is not exactly where one goes to purchase a well-constructed investment piece. I figured this item was already in the circular economy since it was in a charity shop, and not unexpectedly, still had the tags on having been discarded by someone without ever having been worn. Also unsurprisingly, this little bargain sun dress is exactly what one would expect for the three pounds that I spent on it (which is probably about five pounds less than what it retails for online.) The dress is a thin, rather insipid rayon, and likely will only last a season or two. The seamwork is pretty basic, the fit isn't the best.... But you know what else? It's cute. And I actually enjoy wearing it! And that's why I pulled the trigger at the charity shop. Yes, the neckline is laughably low for something I'll probably be pairing with boots and denim, but that's what the wide variety of bralette underthings were invented for. Besides, it's comfy! I paired it with turquoise jewellery because I like the blueish green against the yellow, and it keeps everything looking fairly low key. What is decidedly not low key is my growing-out frizz ball haircut, the likes of which is currently systematically defeating every single silicone-free frizz control regimen I employ. There will be a post about that forthcoming. All things told, this little dress is certainly not something I normally gravitate to, but I went for it, and it worked for what I wanted it for; it can take a beating when I'm travelling and I don't have to feel all sad if it dies on me. I'm just hopeful that it doesn't choose to do so while I'm wearing it in public. But if that does happen, it wouldn't be the first time, and you guys will certainly be the first to know. thrifted yellow sun dress: SheIn • boots (old): Dan Post • bracelets: Etsy • ring (old): American West • necklace (old): American West • concho earrings (old): Etsy

All you have to do is quickly browse my vintage shop to know that I have a soft spot for 90s style. The square toed, blocky heel shoes, the slip dresses, the sleeveless mock necks, crushed velvet and bootcut jeans, slides...I love it all! So you can imagine my excitement as I was browsing the ol' internets this evening looking for a couple of everyday-type sun dresses, when I started to spot familiar 90s midi dress styles, like this adorable dress and shoes (pictured above) from H&M. I mean, all of this is so 90s! A slip dress, block heel slide sandals, and a crescent shoulder bag! The Simplicity of 1990s Summer Style The thing I really like about 1990s summer style is how simple it can be. Clean lines, simple cuts...but this time around there's a pop of colour and pattern that for me, really raises the bar. And what's really lovely about a lot of these styles is now they're so timeless and seasonless (is that even a word?) You can easily layer these pieces up when the weather turns. And if like me, you live somewhere where you feel like you are always on tenterhooks with the weather, the weather will turn. Probably later today. Or maybe in five minutes. Either way, we'll be ready. Check out these affordable options (you can click on the photos for details and to shop these items).

Welp. I may have made a bad decision. I may have decided to try and cut a few face framing layers into a haircut that was already too short and too heavy (yes, I did it myself, don't you dare judge), and now I've ended up with a heavy, wavy mullet mop that I can't do much with, because it has ideas of its own. My hair has done it's own research, and wants me to understand that chin length face framing layers are basically tyranny, and then it screams "freedom" and puffs-up defiantly. Yeah, I may have done that, in my rush to rid myself of a blocky haircut that I felt kinda meh about. So now it's grow time. I will say though that the look on Prince Valiant's face perfectly matched my feelings when I realized I was looking at a summer of inconvenience while I grow my hair out over the next several months. But I need to back up a bit here. I was looking at my Pinterest last week, and realized that the posts I have done about my transition to my natural hair are to date some of the most popular content I have done. Apparently there are a lot of you out there who are interested in taking the plunge, so I guess it's time for an update. It's actually beyond time for an update; it has officially been a decade, yes you heard right, a decade since I made the decision to stop coloring my hair and see what my real hair looked like underneath. I'll spare you the recap of the entire process, but you can find links to that in the related posts links at the bottom of this post. The Natural Gray Hair Journey, A Decade Later Fast forward to a year ago, I stopped using silicone products and stopped straightening my wavy hair (which never really worked all that well anyway if I'm honest), and started following the Curly Girl Method. I sort of felt like I was starting from scratch, finding products that work to fight frizz and create definition on very thick, fine, low porosity salt and pepper hair. I've gone from having two or three hair products in my bathroom to about 600, but now, not quite a year later I'm starting to get a handle on what to use when and why. Here's what I looked like when I was ironing-out my hair. This was done in a salon, I could never get it this smooth myself. While there is definitely something to be said for grey hair looking its best when sleek and shiny (and I agree, it does), I realize now that I have to make what I am now referring to as hair lifestyle choices. If any hair or beauty regimen takes longer than five or ten minutes, I'm not gonna do it. I'm just not. If it requires that I can't get wet, or put on a helmet, or go out in the wind, or anything other than just exist in the world, I'm just not gonna do it. And don't even get me started on working out. All these curly girls on the internet saying "to preserve your hair just put it in a loose ponytail or bun on top of your head while you work out." WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!? What kind of workouts are they doing that a "loose bun" is gonna keep things in check!? If I bend over to lace my shoes with my hair like that it's over. One burpee and a clip goes flying and someone loses an eye. Seriously, who can do that!? But I digress. So last year this was my first "curly haircut" on my natural gray hair. This was by far the best haircut I'd had in a long time, and still one of my favorite looks. I hadn't had bangs (fringe if you're British) in decades, and I love the bangs. As much as I loved this haircut, and I do believe I will be going back to a version of this cut, the big downside was maintenance. My hair grows like an absolute weed, and within two weeks these bangs were driving me nuts, getting in my face, and already too long. And again, I'm not going to a salon every few weeks (or even every few months) to get a trim. So sadly as much as I love this, I realize I still need to achieve lifestyle hair. When this cut got unmanageably long and I was sick of cutting my own bangs badly, I decided to go a bit shorter, just to hit the reset button a bit. I couldn't get in with the curly guy, so I just went to a walk-in place, armed with photos of basically this haircut but shorter. I've been going to walk in places forever, since my hair is such a fast grower I'm sort of nonplussed if it doesn't turn out as expected. And true to form, it did not turn out as expected. What I walked out of the salon with was an angled long wavy bob with bangs. Not the worst...I've had this ubiquitous haircut many times in my life, and always end up growing it out instantly because it's too heavy and mushroomy for my texture. Plus, if you google "haircuts for women over 50", you will be met with basically pages and pages of versions of this cut. Go ahead, try it...you'll see. Quite frankly, by the time I walked out of the salon, I was already sick of looking at myself. By week two it was too heavy around my face and mushroomy, but I let it do its thing, trimming my own bangs (again, badly) for about two and a half months. At that point, it was just grazing my shoulders and I figured I could safely have a few face framing layers cut, to try and coax it back into a shag. So I tried it. YES, I did it myself. I know, stop it. I did an okaaaaay job. Okay, no I didn't. I did a pretty terrible job, so I went to a walk in place to have someone even it out a touch. I warned the stylist that my hair is 2B-C wavy, so there is shrinkage to take into consideration. But I think the flattening effects of my motorcycle helmet on my locks gave her a false impression of what my natural texture really was (especially in the Florida humidity), and I walked out a voluminously mullety Prince Valiant, with some very short layers that are difficult to wrangle. So. Here we are, and ladies and gentlemen, it's grow time! In all honesty, the warmer months of summertime are perfect for growing out your hair. I think perhaps a version of that lovely shag cut with some longer face framing bangs will be a bit more lifestyle friendly, and lucky for me, with my weedlike hair it's probably only four to six months away! But in the meantime. I'll be employing every method I can find to try and make Prince Valiant's hair work for me. Sadly, there's no Great Cosmic Message here other you can't really go too far wrong staying true to what you know works for you. It's fun to experiment, but for me, every time that I do I'm always reminded why I tend to gravitate towards what I know works; It's a lifestyle choice. Incidentally, if like me, any of you have thick, fine wavy 2b-C hair, I'm putting some product links below of products that I have found work pretty well for me. Products are a very personal thing and much experimentation is required, but you never know, maybe one or more of these might work for you too!

80s era garments often present a unique styling challenge; they're often a wild print, an exaggerated fit, or in the case of this houndstooth double-breasted day dress, they have a strong "office power suit" look that at first glance, doesn't seem to translate well into how we might dress today. Western Style Elements Can Transform a Look Personally, I like to tackle the challenge of styling a strong 80s "workwear" piece by roughing it up a bit. It seems counterintuitive to do this; pieces that are inherently strong silhouettes are pieces we are always told to "soften" with more feminine touches. However, with this particular dress, it just doesn't work. To my mind, the houndstooth print is really the main character here, and I didn't want to convolute that with a bunch of fussy romantic accessories and shoes. I went with equally strong accessory pieces and shoes that lend more of a boho Western style meets street vibe, neutralizing its 80s secretary feel and giving it a more universal, go anywhere appeal. And an added bonus? Blousy 80s dresses are comfy! And.....the holy grail of dress attributes, this one also has pockets! But I digress - really, the most important accessory to consider pairing with a dress like this is your shoes. These open toe slouchy Donald J. Pliner booties (Y2K era - bought secondhand in the mid 2000s) provide just the right amount of toughness without being overly studded or embellished. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that swapping-out an expected pump or heel with a vintage dress really is the key to bringing the look into the current decade. In this case, it's a nod to the era, but not walking around looking like an extra from Working Girl with Melanie Griffith. Am I showing my age? Meh, whatever. So give it a try. The next time you're vintage shopping or thrifting and see an 80s dress that speaks to you but can't see how the strong shoulder and/or oversized styling is going to translate, grab something unexpected to pair with it. It will probably surprise you!

Hey fashionistas. I'm happy to report that after many of us who sell on the Etsy platform enquired about ways we could support Ukrainian artists on the platform, Etsy has come up with a stratgegy to help try and give these sellers a boost in trying times. There is some really lovely stuff that comes out of Ukraine, and a ton of sellers who up until recent events were earning their keep on the platform. You can read about Etsy's strategy here and lend your support!

To donate to humanitarian relief for the people of Ukraine: British Red Cross (UK) Global Giving (USA) Unicef Direct Relief (USA) Oxfam (UK) Medecines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) Humane Society Ukraine Animal Rescue Fund International Fund for Animal Welfare (iFAW) World Central Kitchen