Autumn, 1931

I need a bit of a reprieve from the election, and I'm sure a lot of you do too. Maybe by the time this goes up tomorrow morning, the results will be in and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. For now, though, I'm going to think about fashion, and how to put together a cute 20s/30s inspired outfit from thrift store finds. I hope you enjoy! And I hope America is still here to read this tomorrow morning.

I love shopping at thrift stores - I'm a sucker for a bargain, and it's amazing sometimes what you can find for really rock bottom prices. Sometimes, though, I'm so smitten with a cute piece at a great price that I don't realize (or care) that it doesn't go with anything else in my wardrobe.

This skirt was one of those pieces. I'd originally pictured it as part of a kind of sporty, vintage tennis outfit, with a white polo shirt or something. Not that I have a polo shirt, but it was cute enough in theory that I figured I could buy one. Unfortunately, in reality the skirt is a rather heavy, rough polyester, and not remotely comfortable for summer wear. It clearly called for cooler temps, but I was finding it tough to pair such a blindingly white skirt with the rest of my fall wardrobe. 

I'd seen similar pleated skirts (they're pretty trendy right now) paired with chunky sweaters in a couple of stores, which made me wonder how the sweaters that I had at home would work with the look. I have a couple of men's pullovers that are about hip length on me, and when I tried them on over the skirt I thought that the combo had a bit of a 20s look.

I would have liked to have added a peter pan collar blouse to really give it that 20s feel, but I didn't have one that worked. A draped scarf was a nice stand-in for the neckline details I've seen on a lot of 20s and 30s garments, though, and a beret and great pair of burgundy oxfords made me feel like a graduate of the class of '29 or '31, or some other year in the middle of the interwar period.

I would still love for this skirt to be, say, dove gray, and if I did it again I might try and add a belt at the hip to really define the low waist, or maybe find a sweater or blouse with a great sleeve detail to take it in a more definitely 30s direction. All in all, though, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - the deco inspiration is pretty evident, even if it's not period perfect.

Skirt, sweater: Thrifted
Shoes, scarf: Gifted
Hat: Ebay