Suspension bridge fun and my very favourite 1950s sundress in Castlegar, BC

Outfit details

C. 1930s/40s burgundy felt hat with netting: Garb-Oh Vintage
Gold tone metal round shaped stud earrings: Claire's
1950s forest foliage and berry print sundress: Garb-Oh Vintage
Green faux leather skinny belt: eBay
Coral hued cardigan: Joe Fresh
Vintage style gold tone metal and clear rhinestone flower brooch: eBay
Oxblood hued vintage style faux leather cross body bag: eBay
"Love" gold tone metal and clear rhinestone charm bracelet: Payless
C. 1950s burgundy gloves with buttons at the wrists: An Etsy shop that is no longer in business
Nude seamed nude stockings: eBay
Brown 1940s style round toe faux leather heels: Walmart
Lip colour: MAC Partyline

Photography by Tony Cangiano  

♥ ♥ ♥

If some of these photos look as though they were shot from a bit of a distance, that's because they were. :)
 
As discussed in this recent Heyday Twizzle Dress outfit post, Tony and I have found ourselves taking snaps on bridges a fair bit lately - the most exciting of which was this lovely suspension bridge located in the beautiful little town of Castlegar, BC.

Castlegar was one of the many places that we were able to spend some time in while on our brief, wonderfully fun weekend getaway to the Kootenays in mid-April and while there, we discovered Zuckerberg Island Park (no relation to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg; instead it's named after a famous Russian humanitarian and pacifist, Alexander Zuckerberg, who immigrated to Canada and went on to teach school to some of the local Doukhobor children there) which included this seriously cool bridge.

We'd never shot on a suspension one before, so when this location presented itself, the camera was promptly called into action!

Given the rather wobbly nature of even the sturdiest suspension bridges, as Tony was handholding his DSLR for this shoot, he had to stand a fair ways back (on solid ground) to get these shots, but I think that they still came out really nicely and I just love having a series of snaps taken on such a unique location overlooking the beautiful confluence of both the Kootenay and the Columbia Rivers.

It was a medium warm day that partially sunny Saturday afternoon, so I couldn't resist the urge to sport my absolute favourite 1950s sundress - and yes, that is saying a lot, as I usually have a very hard time singling out faves in any category of my clothing.

It's easy as pie with this beautiful dress though (that, coincidentally, just like the great burgundy hat that I'm sporting here, came from Garb-Oh Vintage on Etsy), which I purchased in early 2015.

I'd been hunting for a dress with raspberries - my absolute all-time favourite fruit - for longer than I can recall and continually came up empty-handed, at least in terms of ones that would fit both my measurements and wallet.

In general, raspberries are a rather under represented fruit in the fashion world (past or present) and hitting upon a novelty print garment that includes them is almost like striking gold (at least for me it is! :)).

Now, objectively, I can't say with complete certainty that the berries in this print are raspberries, but they very much look the part and I'm more than willing to call them such. They're woodland berries of some sort at the very least and are partnered with other forest foliage here, such as springs of evergreen branches and various green leaves, to up their straight-from-nature factor all the more.

This vintage dress is sleeveless and includes a very pretty ruched neckline with a fun little tie detail in the center of it. It's a light, but sturdy, cotton that suits the warmer months sublimely and when you factor in the colour palette - that stars so many of my most beloved hues - it's easy to see why this dress gets top billing in my books.

There are hints of salmony orange-pink in its palette, so for an added burst of colour, I teamed this fifties frock with a coral cardigan. I pulled from the colours in the print for my hat, glove, bag and shoe choices as well, and then opted for relatively understated gold tone metal jewelry, to keep the emphasis on the garments themselves.

This hat is another truly beloved favourite of mine, which is now making it's fourth, I believe, appearance here in under a year - and I'm sure you'll continue to see it many more times as the months and years roll on. I adore, and wear a lot of, burgundy, so this wonderful c. 1930s/1940s felt hat couldn't be a more ideal fit for my wardrobe.

It's hard to believe that a month and half have already whizzed past since the lovely spring day on which these photos were captured (on what definitely stands as one of the most exciting spots we've ever shoot in before). Summer weather is barreling down on us now and as such this dress will no doubt continue to see much outfit action as the hottest days of the season envelope us.

This is the second and last of the two shoots that we took in the Kootenays, though we did grab some snaps later in the day once we'd returned to Penticton of what I wore on the drive home and those will be appearing here in the near future.

We adored our brief getaway to this rugged, mountain and river bedecked corner of the province, and as touched on in my first post about visiting the Kootenays, definitely hope to get back there together many more times throughout our life.

At the moment though, we're home in the Okanagan and continuing to contemplate where our proposed summertime road trip may lead us to.

No plans are set in stone quite yet, but we're getting closer and I can hardly wait to see where we, and our trusty camera, will land next in this gorgeous province of ours!