Enjoying a rousing game of vintage tag

Back during the sweltering dog days of last summer, the very lovely (and talented – my goodness, can this gal sew!) Stephanie Lynn of The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart posted about a fun game of Youtube/blog tag that's going around, in which participants answer a series of vintage related questions about themselves.

Stephanie shared her answers in the form of a Youtube video, but as I'm more of a (virtual) pen and paper kind of gal, I'm opting to jot down my replies instead (peppering them with photos, of course).

Though I could write whole posts on just about each of these questions unto themselves, I don't want you feel like you're slogging away through an essay here, and so have tried to keep my answers short and sweet.

{21 vintage lifestyle questions and answers}

1. Who are your style icons? Real world vintage women (like the stunning lady pictured below). As much as I adore the styles that the celebrity set of yesteryear sported, I've always found I could relate more - and see elements of myself in - the everyday ladies of the decades I adore most.

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2. What is your favourite way to get inspired? I'm guessing that this question was meant in the context of wardrobe inspiration, in which case that would probably be a toss up between looking at vintage photos (say, on Flickr) or playing around in my closet and dreaming up ideas for future outfits.

3. What's your most-used hair tool? In my real hair days, I would have said my various types of curlers. Now, wig wearer that I am, I'd have to say that I've been focusing more on accessories than tools (with hair flowers seeing the most play as of late).

4. What's your favourite hair tool? Even though they sometimes bother my skin (as you may recall from this post about my hunt for nickel-free bobby pins), I'm going to have to go with the classic workhorse that is the humble bobby pin (which I still use often with my wig).

5. Updo, down, or half-and-half? I tend to enjoy and wear all three, but if I had to pick just one, I'd probably opt for half-and-half (such as style in this photo below, which was taken in East Kelowna last spring).




6. Is vintage something you do every day, on weekends, or for special occasions? All the time, baby!

7. What's your favourite blush and lipstick? My cheeks have a generous natural hit of pink to them already, so I don't wear blush that often. When I do, it's usually one from Clinique. My favourite lipstick is definitely MAC's Russian Red.

8. Dress, skirt, or pants? Heels or flats? A femininely tailored vintage dress and a cute pair of heels, please.

9. Off-the-rack or homemade? I love both, but as I don't sew my own clothing, I usually go for off-the-rack or reproduction.

10. Do you swing dance? I know how to, and certainly did swing dance at one point, however for several years now I've not really been able to due to my health. So these days I usually just tap my fingers to the beat of my favourite big band tunes from the comfort of my living room.

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11. Extreme vintage or subtle touches? If one means head-to-toe vintage/repro/vintage appropriate by "extreme", than, yes, that's me the overwhelming majority of the time.

12. Favourite perfume? It's a tie between the sublimely gorgeous, deep, subtly vanilla tobacco redolent Dior Hypnotic Poison and the feminine, classic elegance of Ralph Lauren Romance.

13. Favourite skincare product? As I chatted about in this post earlier in the year, I tend to stick with classic skincare/beauty products and don't have an arsenal of expensive skincare items cluttering my counters. The more I think about it, the more I do believe that a simple bar of Dove Beauty Bar Sensitive Skin may be my favourite, as I use it both to cleanse my skin everyday and to shave with (most shaving creams irritate my super sensitive skin).

14. What does your family think of your style? I'm consider myself so fortunate that my immediate family members all seem to like, respect, and understand my style (very much including Tony, who flat out loves the fashion sense of his vintage bedecked wife).

15. Favourite accessory? My classic strand of pearls, which was a 27th birthday present from Tony (pictured below in a shot captured last summer).

16. Do you find the vintage community welcoming or snobby? Graciously welcoming through and through.

17. What drew you to vintage style? I can't remember a time when I was in love with vintage style, but if I think back to my earlier childhood influences, I'd say it was things like looking at vintage photographs (and thinking that the women in them looked so exceptionally beautiful, stylish and elegant) and watching movies such as A League of Their Own, White Christmas, and Roman Holiday.

18. Favourite places to shop vintage? Etsy for sure, followed on the heels by eBay. I thrift often and hit as many yard sales as I can in summer, but these days such sources rarely offer up vintage fashion finds, so (factoring the lack of actual vintage stores around these parts) I do the bulk of my vintage wardrobe shopping online.

19. What vintage eras are your favourite? Hand down, bar none, the 1940s and 50s. If we want to get extra specific, the period between 1947 and 1957.

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20. Most glamorous film stars? Glamour, like beauty, is sometimes in the eye of the beholder and can certainly be subjective, but I'd say that timeless talents such as Jane Russell, Ava Gardner, Gene Tierney, Betty Grable, Veronica Lake all exuded their own distinct, unquestionable sense of glamour.

21. Favourite vintage object that you own? Can I just say everything in my closet to make things simpler? No, ok, well then I'd have to go with my vintage hats, a wonderful pearl hued 1950s lucite purse that Tony gave me for my birthday this year, a beautiful white and royal blue polka dot 1950s summer dress, and (my ever-expanding) collection of vintage cookbooks.


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As with most interview-like series of questions, the answers to some of these were easy-as-pie and others took a little more thought or were trickier to concisely sum up. I enjoyed them all though, and am curious now to know who (I it was suspect one of us vintage loving ladies, naturally) started this interesting series of vintage questions.

I know that not everyone is a fan of being tagged with blog questionnaires, so I won't name names here, but if you'd like to have a spin at this interesting series of vintage related questions, by all means consider yourself "tagged".

If you do give it a shot, be sure to let me know in the comment area of this post, as I'd thoroughly love to read your answers, too. Happy tagging, my dears!