Photos by Drew
Dress: Secret Squirrel, from Silent Sundays
Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Bag: Ebay
This dress has been hanging in my closet since April. It was the one thing I let myself keep from our summer stock, and I was saving it up for the right occasion. First I was saving it up for our store’s opening, and after that I was waiting for the right weekend, only then I broke my elbow and knew I couldn’t fit my splinted arm in its sleeves if I tried. But now I think my days of splinted outfit posts are over, or at least until next year when I go in for surgery to have the metal plates and screws taken out of my arm. Last Friday I went to the physical therapist for the first time, and even though my arm got bent and straightened like crazy (now I see why the nurse made jokes about physical therapy really standing for pain and torture) I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and don’t feel so helpless anymore. I also traded out my splint for the robo cop brace that is huge and scary looking but is actually weirdly comfortable. Fortunately it’s also easy to take off. Which means I’m already pretending my arm is back to normal, even if it does look funny and weak and crooked still. But mostly I stick to my brace. I wear it when I sleep and also wear it when I exercise. On Monday Drew and I even went to hike up Kennesaw Mountain, and I think it was the most exercise and the most fun I’ve had in ages. Civil War history and hiking and amazing views of Atlanta and its suburbs that look a hundred times prettier when viewed from the top of a mountain . . . . next time we go I’ll remember my camera.
Anyway we took these pictures last Sunday. You might remember this rose garden from another blog post I did last year, but it seemed like the perfect place to photograph this dress, though come to think of it I probably just have all of Secret Squirrel’s botanical influences on the brain.
1. Blue Linnea Chambray Skirt . . . . . . . . . 2. ’90s Striped Olivia Dress . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Ella Denim Smock Dress.
This time around we got Haley to model for our product shots. You may remember her from a shoot Jamie and I worked on last year; we had a blast that time, so on last Thursday’s shoot we knew we were in for a good day. Haley is funny and cheerful and impossibly nice and down-to-earth, and her Florida vacation tan and blonde hair made all the summery clothes look even more summery. We also lucked out when our friend Rodney came to help out and entertain us during the shoot; he is a jazz singer and actor and we swear that one of these days he’ll be famous. He made us Beyonce playlists and even modeled a Silent Sundays outfit for us. We all went to Ria’s Bluebird for lunch (I had a salad and squash soup and an amazing big square biscuit), and once we got all the product shots out of the the way we did a tiny little editorial that we’ll post later. Anyhow here are all the new vintage pieces that are in the store at the moment; we’ll be adding more each week, so stay tuned.
4. Denim Lavinia Mini Skirt . . . . . . . . . . 5. Crochet Juliet Crop Top . . . . . . . .. . . 6. 1990s Nora Sun Dress.
7. 1990s Polka Dot Vera Dress . . . . . . . . . .8. Cotton Floral Sun Dress . . . . . . . . . 9. 1990s Silk Lydia Top.
10. 1990s Eustacia Sun Dress . . . . . . . . . . . 11. 1940s Gloria Bikini Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12. 1990s Floral Claudia Dress.
13. Silk Eudora Midi Skirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14. 1960s Eyelet Brigitte Bikini . . . . . . . . . . . . 15. Floral Astrid Midi Skirt.
Just about everyone around here wants summer to end, but not me. I’ve been inside for most of the season and am still dreaming about trips to the beach, trips to little lakeside cabins, trips in general . . . And of course I’m still drawn to summery clothes. Over the last few months Jamie and I have been picking up little vintage summer dresses and bathing suits and shorts to sell at Silent Sundays, and so when we went to the gulf coast to do some more vintage hunting we knew we had to take advantage of the coastal settings and include our very favorite pieces in a seaside photoshoot. Jamie knew a great model who happened to live in a little beach town in Florida, and when I met Angela it didn’t take long to see she’d be a perfect Silent Sundays girl.
You can see the rest of the shoot on the site. We’ve stocked up the store with lots of new vintage, modeled by one of our favorite Georgia girls, but I’ll include those photos later. For now here are my favorites from the shoot . . .
Photos: Jamie Hopper . . . . . . . . . . Model: Angela Longton at Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . Styling: Rhiannon Leifheit
I’ve been waiting to post this collection for a while, so I’m extra excited to be able to show you some pictures from Secret Squirrel’s spring/summer 2012 collection Botanica. Like my favorite Australian collections it’s a perfect mix of clothes for both northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere seasons. It may technically be a spring collection, but there are so many fall-ish colors and perfect little sik dresses that I just want to wear with tights once the weather here gets cool. We’ll be carrying a few pieces this fall at Silent Sundays, and if the dresses are anything like the ones we got for spring I think I may have to end up keeping one.
Collages by Drew. 1. Sessun Robinson Sandals . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Madewell Puzzle Piece Pendant . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Built by Wendy Marbella Floral Sundress.
Brunswick: I don’t know too much about Brunswick, except for the fact that it’s in Georgia and I’ve never been there, and that when you do a google image search on it lots of spanish moss-shaded streets and lighthouses show up, which all seems like a pretty good reason to go there.
1. Monki Antonia Crop Top . . . . . . . . . . . 2. A.P.C. Flared Skirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Madewell Ropey Soles Espadrilles.
St. Marys: According to Wikipedia St. Marys is the second oldest continuously inhabited town in the country, settled back in the 1500s by the Spanish and then by the British in the 1700s. Grand southern historic cities are great, but sometimes I just feel like going to someplace small and quiet, and St. Marys seems like a fairly peaceful waterfront town. Also it’s pretty close to another place I want to go to on the Georgia coast . . . .
1. Monki Mirjam Singlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Whit Paperbag Shorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Salt-Water Sandals.
Cumberland Island: A friend of ours just got back from a trip to Cumberland Island and showed us all photos of wild horses and ruins, and I wondered why I’d never thought to go there. It’s a long trip there, way towards Florida, but I think it would be worth it to walk around there around marshes and spanish moss, and to see the ruins of the old Carnegie mansion Dungeness.
1. Karen Walker Bunny Sunglasses . . . . . . . . . . 2. Pare Gabia Espadrille Sandals . . . . . . . . 3. Steven Alan Gabby Dress.
Savannah: We’ve been here once before, but it was two years ago, and there’s enough to see in Savannah for multiple trips. The next time we go I want to venture outside the city a little more and see places like Wormsloe Plantation with its ruins and grand entrance. And then maybe go back to the city for a trip to Back in the Day Bakery, because it would be plain silly not to.
