A Fabulous Friday.

Some of the things we're currently loving…..

{apphia's picks}

1. the perfect white dress

2. a night-time party

3. a piece of the past (WW2)

4. mercury glass

{abigail's picks}

1. my voile skirt

2. Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven

3. a sweet, vintage dress

4. voile with an old fashioned feel

{achaia's picks}

1. sparkles

2. a vibrant shade of blue

3. my new camisole

4. Greek wool tapestry blanket

{abiah's picks}

1. riding a vespa in Italy

2. Pearl Harbor goodbye

3. cute, oversized clutch

4. Roman Holiday

{kristie's picks}

1. rhinestone jewelry

2. Mountain Dew

3. Errol Flynn

4. pearl buttons

Going Through the Era’s: the Gina dress

If it hasn't been said already (and I think it has), I have a great love for all things vintage. And, clothes are no exception. When I slide into them, they just feel right. I just think there's something fabulous about taking an idea from the past and updating it for today.

I love to gather ideas from practically anywhere I can lay my hands on. My inspiration for this dress came from this fantastic photo of Gina Lollobrigida (who happens to play in one of my favorite movies). It was so cute to me… I just couldn't get it out of my head.

This week's Going Through the Era's Fashionable Friday just happened to be 1950s, so it was the perfect excuse to finish this dress up! I am over-the-moon happy with the results, and am just itching to "officially" get to wear it!! I also have a pair of bright satin blue flats that match perfectly with the bright blue in the peacock feathers so I'm excited to match those up with this dress. (Of course, I used this fabric!)

hugs~ xox Achaia Victoria

prepping for Market!

These little pretties are destined to end up even prettier….

xox!

Kristie~Apphia~Achaia~Abigail~Abiah

A Fabulous Friday.

Happy Friday to you! xoxx

PS… We plan on going on Spring Break next week, so we won't be blogging much. Hopefully though, we'll drop in late next week. See you soon! xo

{abiah's picks}

1. tropical colors are so happy

2. a true, beautiful quote

3. blazers

4. Audrey Hepburn's hair is too cute!

{kristie's picks}

1. happy, red house

2. jean jacket

3. Cath Kidston wallpaper

4. Rancho Viejo Mexican food

{abigail's picks}

1. long hair

2. poplin shirt

3. dancing

4. my new Toms

{apphia's picks}

1. soft floral prints

2. someday I want to see Italy

3. blue ikat from Dear Stella

4. one of my all-time favorite books

{achaia's picks}

1. split stripes maxi dress

2. Three Violent People

3. Gina Lollobrigida's outfits

4. throwback Dr. Pepper

Going Through the Era’s Fashionable Friday: Casablanca Inspired

Details~ Lauren's jeans ruffle blouse {Macy's} – red ruffle skirt {Made by Abigail for me!} – navy cumberbund {Made by me} – Anne Klein flats {Macy's}

Well, today is Fashionable Friday, 1940s inspired, so I chose to gather up inspiration from one of the most famous movies of all time: Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. This seemed to be pretty fitting, as this year marks the 70th anniversary of the movie's release. Plus, my sweet family has decided that out of almost any actress I can look most like Ingrid Bergman.

Casablanca came out in 1942, and is still widely considered one of the best movies ever made. My outfit was inspired by the ruffle blouse, maxi skirt, and cumberbund that Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) wears when she goes to Rick's Cafe (you can see the real outfit here, here, and here). I've always loved Ilsa's clothes, and hope to make an almost perfect replica of this outfit again one day!

Okay. Time to go watch Casablanca! (Is there anyone out there who hasn't seen it??)

"Here's looking at you, kid"~ xo Achaia

PS I found out some interesting information about the movie…. To prepare for her role opposite Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman watched The Maltese Falcon over and over again.

Expensive Inspiration:: Uneven hem skirt

Ours.

Theirs.

You know, sometimes you see a piece of clothing that makes you almost giddy inside. As if it's just too good to be true. Sometimes you jump at it, other times you just, well, can't afford to exactly jump. (Unless it ends up on sale. Then you jump extra high.) In other cases, it's just fun to look at the things you can't afford, become inspired, and gather up supplies to make your own.

That's what we did here.

As soon as we saw this gauzy mint maxi at Anthropologie our hearts skipped a beat. It's just too lovely — flowy, long, and a perfect uneven hem. Which inspired us to completely take this idea to new heights with some voile. We'd seen another skirt floating around where there was not only the suppley goodness of one layer of voile, but two. With an exposed zipper to boot. This was where jumping came in handy!

The skirts were a cinch to whip up and, what's even better is that they were made with no pattern (yay!) and just over 2 yards of voile. You read that right… each layer was only 1 yard. Double yay!

Abs and I did ours each a bit different, however. Abigail's bottom layer is the same length all the way around, with the upper layer "dipped" in the back a bit. Mine is longer, and both layers have the "dipped" effect. Of course, the difference in the front and back length isn't quite as dramatic as the inspirational Anthro one, but that isn't too big of a problem. (Especially since we were able to save fabric.) Though, we are definitely thinking it would be wonderful to make up another one with more dramatic proportions!!

What's your favorite place(s) to gather inspiration????

Hugs! xo Achaia & Abigail

Going Through the Era’s Historical Sunday: WW2 Hero

A portrait of Audie Murphy in his Class A uniform as an army captain.

Well, Ashley is again putting on a fabulous event, and I have to join in as often as possible! Today is 1940s Historical Sunday, so I chose to share my favorite World War 2 hero, Audie Murphy. I'm terribly notorious for making my writing waaaayyy too long (when in high school my papers were always about 2000 more words than they were supposed to be!), so I'll skim over things and make this as brief as possible.

Audie L. Murphy was the most decorated soldier of World War 2 — in fact, to this day he is the most decorated US soldier ever. Joining the army at the age of 17, Audie fought in 7 major campaigns of World War 2, was given a "battle field" commission as 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded three times, and survived. Audie personally killed 240 Germans, and was one of the only two soldiers left in the orginal company at the end of the war. He received every decoration his country could give (some of them more than once), including some from the French and Belgium governments — 33 decorations and awards in total. Audie was awarded the highest award that a soldier can receive, the Congressional Medal of Honor, on August 9th, 1945, just after his 19th birthday.

In 1955 Audie's amazing story was made into a movie that was based on his autobiography. The movie, To Hell and Back, featuring Audie playing as himself, was a box office hit and the highest grossing picture for Universal Studios until 1975. Audie L. Murphy was without a doubt a true hero.

xox Achaia