Lounge like a retro goddess!

This is Jean Harlow and she lounges like a goddess.

After spending a week's vacation at home I am ready to better my loungewear game. I spent the last week in nightgowns, leggings, pajama pants, boyfriend sweaters, and Snuggies. I let my skin breathe, I cleaned house in a pony tail, and I watched more Netflix than I ever thought possible. It was great for me but not so great for Mr. Anachronistic Style who is used to a lot more primping on my part. Mid-century women excelled at the art of lounging, wouldn't I feel so much better sitting around the house in a beautiful nightgown and bed jacket with pin curls and lipstick? I spend hundreds of dollars on clothes a month yet I can't bring myself to drop a hundred dollars on a nightgown or two! I will arguably wear these lovely frocks more than anything else in my closet so maybe these lovelies would be a better investment?

How lovely is this Soma lavender nightgown ($89) with embroidery and cascading ruffles? I adore the modern cotton fabric with the retro details.

I ask for this Secrets in Lace ostrich-trim chiffon robe ($139) every birthday and Christmas but have yet to receive it. I think hubby is scared of the feathers and sees Big Bird instead of Jean Harlow!

I recently fell in love with the satin pajamas from Victoria's Secret ($69.50.) They are perfect for lounging in warm and comfortable style and come in all kinds of prints and three different lengths to fit a variety of sizes! These pajamas toe the line between sexy and demure with a strong menswear twist, what's not to love?

How frilly and fabulous and yowza is this bed jacket!? This babydoll top from Secrets in Lace ($49) is perfect for covering up from the waist up. A bed jacket is a cropped robe so that the bottom does not get ruffled while you sit in bed, or in my case on the couch with a soft blanket.

What is your favorite retro loungwear?

Juicy Couture Spring 2013

Every season I like to pick a style direction---usually a fashion collection, promo pics or a movie that toes the line between current trends and retro styles. Anachronistic style is all about mixing the current with classic retro which is why I find this promo video from Juicy Couture so inspiring. This spring I will be all about 60s glamour with some Hollywood edge, one part spoiled rich girl and one part beach-y car-show greaser. Since I'll be heading to L.A on a business trip next month I can't imagine anything more appropriate! I will be pulling out my pastel colors, hotel-wallpaper-inspired prints, polka dots, and cropped everything for a Mod yet nautical capsule collection to get me through my business trip in style!

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Style Icon: Bree Van De Kamp

Let's continue with style icon week! A style icon is a personal saint of your style world and serves many purposes--such as a starting line for a killer outfit or a persona to channel when things get tough at work. These women kick butt, take names, and look good while doing it. Their style is to be admired, dissected, and emulated but never copied--each should make you try to be a better version of yourself! 

I love shows about middle-aged women. Television shows with young characters tend to target young people so if I want intelligent, self-possessed and feisty women I look to shows like Desperate Housewives. There's no surprise that my favorite housewife is Bree Van De Kamp. Her life is far from perfect but she insists on keeping up pretenses. She's a perfectionist. If I stayed home all day I would run a home as tight and neat as Bree who's spent years polishing the routine of her life. A lot of the comedy in the show surrounds how Bree keeps it together despite all the drama in her life while maintaining her perfect middle-class facade. In season four she tells her son "This family's reputation is already hanging by a thread. I mean first people thought that your step-father was a wife killer then your sister takes up with her history teacher and now we're supposed to parade a little bastard up and down the street? We might as well sit on the porch and play banjos!" And her style! Bree looks like she stepped out of a Ralph Lauren Polo ad. She taught me all the colors I could wear as a pale-skinned red-head to look stunning. Like a Stepford wife she has a strong twist of the 60s in her wardrobe--classic cuts, pearls, jewel tones and pastels, and that lovely flippy bubble-inspired hairdo!

Fabulous!

Style It: Bree had one of the best pregnancy wardrobes ever, as if every piece was bought from Modcloth and let-out just for her. To get an everyday Bree Van De Kamp look the classic cuts and candy colors of Old Navy or J.Crew will fit the bill, just be sure to mix your high and low with some fabulous faux-estate jewelry like this and lady-like shoes from here.

Style Icon: Joan Holloway

Continuing with style icon week! A style icon is a personal saint of your style world and serves many purposes--such as a starting line for a killer outfit or a persona to channel when things get tough at work. These women reveal a part of yourself and encourage you to foster other virtues. Their style is to be admired, dissected, and emulated but never copied--each should make you try to be a better version of yourself.

Joan Holloway is a natural choice for a style icon. Mad Men has been inspiring the fashion world since it started airing in 2007. Joan won me over instantly with her easy grace, classy business clothes, and complete self-possession. She's polite yet blunt, elegant and put together. Most of all she's good at her job, makes it her art and excels at everything she does. She uses her femininity like battle armor, she is very calculated in how she dresses and what she reveals to those in the office. She uses her love life to blow off steam but keeps her personal life perfectly separated from her professional career. She maintains her facade at all times and keeps other people's secrets as well as her own. She has more integrity and honesty than anyone in the office. She clothes herself in shift dresses and high-waisted pencil skirts and never shows cleavage, as a curvy girl this realization completely changed my work wardrobe. Joan taught me how to show off my curves without exposing my body--a lesson every woman should learn.

Youch!

Style it: Look for jewel tones, little sleeves, scarf-like details around the high-neck, and a pencil silhouette. I've always had good luck at Banana Republic ($150) and J.Crew ($198) for shift dresses, keep in mind that spindly models do not show off the Joan-like possibilities of such dresses!

Beauty on a Budget with Revlon

If you're a make-up aficionado like myself the drug store may be the last place you'd find yourself trolling for make-up. Stores like Sephora, Ulta, and the MAC counter are bright and vibrant and fun (with great sales people for all that fabulous free advice!) but Mid-century American women had no choice but to buy their cosmetics at drug stores or the occasional department store. Revlon has been around since make-up was first packaged and sold and believe it or not the same colors mid-century women chose are still available today! As soon as I saw this diagram I picked up a tube of Fire and Ice on my last grocery trip. I love knowing that I am wearing an authentic 1950s lip color with my anachronistic ensembles. So far I am very happy with the color, a pretty pinkish-red that glows on my lips. The color is moist and subtly wearable. The packaging leaves something to be desired, and I had to spend several minutes peeling off the unattractive price label. Also the lipstick has wear issues, I'm used to expensive lipsticks with high pigment content that last until lunch and leave a stain all day. I found that layering is key with the Revlon lipstick: use a liner to fill in lips, apply lipstick, press powder onto lipstick, re-apply lipstick. Repeat after lunch.

Overall I am happy with my purchase and plan on collecting all the colors in the chart above to achieve a retro lipstick collection. At $5 a tube I really can't pass these up even if they do need a little more work to last. After this little experiment I am more interested in trying Besame cosmetics...if I can get the same authentic retro colors with a higher pigment content, more durability and that gorgeous golden lipstick bullet? I'd happily pay the $22. In the meantime enjoy some matching nails and tips ads from Revlon featuring some of the colors above for inspiration.

Etsy Find: Rococo Vintage

My current favorite Etsy shop is Rococo Vintage. All the dresses are beautifully photographed and carefully curated, I love zooming in on the details on some of the best 1950s dresses I've ever seen. Every piece listed is worth scrutinizing and I like to check back often for new listings. Below is a few delicacies in the current selection but I definitely recommend favorite-ing this delicious little shop.

Check out more Rococo Vintage here!

Retro Education: How to put on fully fashioned stockings

Thanks to the people at Secrets in Lace here's a great tutorial on how to wear a garter belt and stockings.

Valley of the Dolls or Betty Draper?

I decided to post this feature in celebration of the season premier of Mad Men this past Sunday. Betty was conspiciously absent from the first episode as Don settles down with his new wife. What's in store for the former Mrs. Draper this season? I think this editorial shows a Betty a few years later, twice divorced and downing dolls and alcohol while the kids are at school and greeting the mailman in a Miu Miu coat. The character reference is obvious and the use of shadows are a reflection of Betty's eventual decline from the fresh pastel-loving girl from season one. Brilliant. This "Valley of the Dolls" editorial was shot by Rosie Huntington for Harpers Bazaar UK.

Weekly Expense Report: Stretching Your Fashion Dollar

When I got the flyer for Old Navy's dress sale I decided to drop my fashion dollars on quantity over quality. Isn't that what summer is all about, cheap disposable fashion? Now I just have to cross my fingers that they will withstand a wash.


The lime striped tie-front jersey dress ($15) is a perfect throw it on and go staple. I will anchor the neon color with a pewter studded belt and shiny purple heels.


I saw this highlighter yellow crepe tie-belt dress ($25) featured in Lucky magazine last month. I was thrilled that it flattered and I received so many compliments at work. Fashion advice--- Always pair a real belt with dresses instead of those little self-tie belts. Use the self-tie belt for your hair or as a scarf with a different outfit, but a cheap dress always looks more expensive with a real belt. I chose red.


This drawstring raglan-sleeve jersey top ($25) is retro perfection. It will look great with red trousers at work or magenta shorts and wedges on my day off. Maybe even those yellow jeans I plan on buying. I'm resisting going back to buy it in red.


The florals at Old Navy right now remind me of pin-up Hawaiian prints and this floral-print racerback tank ($18) is no exception. I will be pairing it with my high-waisted pencil skirts, wide-legged trousers, and maybe even my beloved magenta shorts.


Pin-up perfect denim capris? Check! These dark denim patch-pocket capris ($30) are super flattering. I feel ready for summer now.

Thursday's Movie Review: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1965) is one of those cult classics that no one has seen, which is a shame since the film is as poignant today as it was in 1965 (if you disregard that horrible cameo by Mickey Rooney!) Holly Golightly is a New York City party girl that makes her living by charming men into giving her $50 for the powder room. She is a woman of few possessions yet limitless style, the girl knows how to go from flat to fabulous in three minutes! What money she doesn't spend on rent she spends on clothes, her apartment is comprised of found objects and her one companion, Cat. The story is based on the novella by Truman Capote (and if you don't know who that is, please rectify that egregious sin immediately!) and has as many layers as an onion. The characters are so multi-dimensional for the time the story is secondary to their individual complexities. Yet the movie maintains an air of frivolity, Holly's life is like a perpetual party. Putting aside the gigolo writer love-interest, the fabulously scarce apartment, and Holly's no-one-can-own-me attitude you still have Holly's fabulous wardrobe. The outfit she wears to Sing Sing, that orange coat she wears for the day of I-never's, and the pink dress and tiara she wears when she has her breakdown are all style moments worth stealing.



Any Holly Golightly arsenal is incomplete without a Bumpit. You can further copy Holly Golightly's style with the fantastic eye mask and ear plug duo ($50). All you need is a men's tuxedo shirt for a very glamorous morning!

Like Sweets from Heaven

Marie Claire South Africa had this jaunty little spread for January 2012. Prada Resort 2012 invites the 60s-inspired patterns, sorbet colors and bold makeup to come out and play. The silhouettes are very 40s while the Pop Art patterns make the clothes modern again. Notice how the same hat worn multiple ways ties all the images together.

Diana Agron does the 60s

Yet another celebrity I'm not really sure why they are famous yet looks killer in mod style. I'm really loving the Miu Miu coat and Tarina Tarantino earrings. These lady-like structured styles and pale pink lips are thanks to Nylon magazine.

A Love Affair with Ana Antunes

I'm such a sucker for whitewashed interiors with a touch of color. I love the full-on glamour of this personal space designed by Ana Antunes. The soothing palette of lavender and aqua is enlivened with dashes of lime green. Modern furniture mixed with romantic flourishes (that chandelier! that aqua rococo chair!) create a feminine yet relaxed setting. Check out Ana's blog and start your own love affair with this woman!