Monday Muses {April 27th}

While Gene Kelly was happy to be singing in the rain, I can’t say as though I’m quite as chipper as he was about the moisture that Mother Nature has been throwing our way for the past several days. I don’t hate rain, not at all – in fact, to me falling asleep to sound of raining softly hitting a roof is one of the single most serene and soothing noises on earth – but given the very short springs that tend to come Ontario’s way (blink and you’re apt to miss spring entirely, and instead be left wondering how you went from -30°C to +30°C over night), it would be rather nice if we could have a few weeks that were neither plagued by snow/rain or suffocating humidity.


{A sweetly flirtatious pin-up model has fun in the rain, in this image I discovered through Photobucket.}

Still, as the old expression we all know by heart goes, April showers bring May flowers, and I am gleeful about the thought of seeing new blooms again soon.

All the rain lately though has shifted my colour mood into the arena of greys and blues, some sombre, others blissfully cheery. In the latter category I would most certainly place the incredibly gorgeous, flat-out amazing outfit that the beautiful Super Kawaii Mama recently wore for Easter. Not only is that full skirt and tattoo inspired necklace too cool for words, her fire engine red crinoline quite literally has me going weak in the knees! That, my vintage dears, is one heck of a stellar outfit!

However, if you were venturing out on a blustery day in such pretty attire, you would definitely want to come prepared with an umbrella and perhaps a hat, such as any one of three these wildly fashionable ladies are gracefully wearing (if you look carefully the hat on the right even appears to have some sort of see-through plastic/cellophane – or other material – on it which might have helped to make it more weather resistant).


{Image served up via myvintagevogue's inspirational hotbed of a Flickr stream.}

If however you’re more in the mood to snuggle inside your nest on a drizzly day, why not whip up something crafty, homemade or otherwise yummy in one of esty artisan Boojiboo’s incredibly charming umbrella print, vintage inspired aprons! (They’re also available in a bounty of other vintage themed prints and styles; this particular design sells for $28.75US)



Alternatively I always find it so relaxing to cuddle up with a classic mid-twentieth century read on a stormy day, such as Richard Llewllyn’s How Green Was My Valley (the 1941 movie version of which I also highly recommend) or Christopher Morley’s Kitty Foyle (which also went on to be adapted into a movie; it stared Ginger Rogers and coined a new name for a popular style of dress at the time featuring a dark body and sleeves with white or light coloured cuffs and a collar, the Kitty Foyle dress).


{The always wonderful Ginger Rogers in sporting a Kitty Foyle dress in the movie of the same name. Found amongst the many movie themed pages of a75’s Flickr stream.}

As the week begins anew and seven crisp days of possibility lay ahead of us, I hope that the rain will soon go its separate way and leave me with a touch of balmy weather before my city does its Amazon rain forest impression. In case it doesn’t though, I’ll just have to take my wardrobe cue from the images in this Polyvore set I whipped up, and give singing in the rain the old college try :)


{Rainy Day Blues.}