Of FAQs and lovely thrifted 1950s hats

As many of you may have noticed (and/or read about in this post from last month), Chronically Vintage recently had a good old-fashioned spruce up, with several elements of the site's design and layout getting remodelled, scrapped, or relocated.

One of the new sections of the site that I'm most excited about (I'd wanted this for ages!) is the quick navigation bar just below the header and tag line at the top of the page. There new visitors and old friends alike can quickly read more about me, check out some of my favourite links, connect with me elsewhere online, get in contact, and read the FAQ page.

Over the past three years of this site's life, I received numerous questions (via blog comments and emails) on all manner of topics. Some have been commonplace, others completely off-the-wall. A few have been inappropriate, but most have been wonderful and I've thoroughly enjoyed answering them whenever I could. Culling through these many queries during the last few days of April, I put together a list of some of the most frequently asked questions I've received over the years.

As time goes on (and especially as I continue to post vintage outfit photos on a frequent basis), I suspect that other questions will make their way onto the FAQ page, but for the time being, I'm quite happy with how it's looking and hope that you'll enjoy getting to know a bit more about both me and this site itself.

On a different note, one of the best things about returning to a smaller town (and getting a car!) has been the accessibility (mere minutes to reach a destination instead of an hour or longer on public transit) of visiting local thrift, second hand, and consignments shops once again. Every few weeks (health and budget permitting), I love to get together with my mom and do the rounds of these kinds of local stores.

 

{A quick indoor snapshot of what I wore the last time my mom and I went thrifting together. Perhaps it was the fact that I was sporting one of my favourite vintage chapeaus that helped me unearth two more that day!}

 

So far exceedingly few actual vintage pieces have been spotted in our hunts, but this scarcely strikes me as surprising, as it's the same trend I've been noticing for the past several years in other parts of the country, too. While I'm sure there are absolute vintage gems to be unearthed at various second hand shops across Canada, by and large, it's trickier to find these kinds of treasures up here on this side of the 49th nowadays than it is for vintage lovers in the States.

Of course however, no matter how long the dry spell, I try never to let myself feel discouraged, because there's always the tantalizing possibility of a fabulous find just waiting around the corner. Case in point, recently while at one of Penticton's two Salvation Army locations (which, as a bit of an interesting side note, is actually housed in the old Honda dealership building when my step-father used to work) I came across not one, but two completely charming 1950s hats.

I spotted these hats from across the whole room, my vintage radar kicking into high gear as I made a beeline for them at the speed of light. Much to my delight, both were in good condition and were (in my opinion) very reasonably priced (the white floral number was $3.00, the black velvet pancake hat a bit higher at $6.00). It's been years since I found a 1950s hat a thrift store, so you can imagine my wide-eyed delight as I nabbed them both up right away.

The black velvet hat had the tattered remains of a very damaged little piece of netting on the front, which pretty much came off in my hands. I could replace it, but my mom and I both tend to think it looks better without it. I love the chic, glistening little diamond hued rhinestones on the front, as well as the versatility of this classic topper (similar styles of which I've seen going from $25.00 and up online many times). I just know this is a vintage hat that I'm going to get a ton of use out of all year round (it's like the LBD of 1950s hats!).

The white floral number is in fairly good shape. It has a tiny bit of yellow aging in a couple of spots, and I think a flower petal or two might have fallen off over the years, but it's still completely wearable and will look beautiful for all kinds of spring and summer occasions (from Easter Sundays to garden parties in June).

To say I was floating on cloud nine that day would be an understatement! I'm pleased as punch about finding these two vintage hats and hope that the second hand store gods will cast their favour on me again many times now that I've returned to my home town (vintage glove covered fingers firmly crossed!).