I’ve recently been inspired by fashion bloggers like Agentlover and Strawberry Koi. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a huge fan of fashion, especially that of a vintage nature. It’s come to my attention that I receive better response from an audience when I’m dressed in simpler fare. Unfortunately this means that until I’m famous and no one cares about what I’m wearing (or distracted by it), my super stylin threads will be left in my closet on gig nights. How do I remedy this situation? Blog that shit!
That’s right. My super stylin threads will have to resort to being shown off on the internet under blog posts cleverly titled, “Mary Van DAAAMN!”
Today’s look I like to call, “What my grandma may have looked like when she was my age living in San Francisco, around the time she fell in love.” Certainly not an everyday look, but I wore it one evening going out to the Punch Line. Because why the hell not?
Vintage suit: thrifted (scored it when I was in high school)
Silk 1940s blouse: Ebay
Vintage black veil: thrifted (scored around the same time as the suit)
Shoes: by Kenzie from Bunny’s Shoes in Santa Cruz
Vintage stockings: Ebay
Photos by Brent Weinbach and special thanks to DJ REAL aka Nick Stargu for coming up with the title Mary Van DAAAMN!
Today’s edition of Mary Van DAAAMN!!! brings together some of my favorite details: buttons, bows, pin tucks and wing tips. I’m a sucker for the whole ‘secretary chic’ look. When I’m not donning a dress, I’m in a feminine blouse and a high waist pencil skirt. It’s a classic look and pretty darn sexy in my humble opinion. This is also an outfit I can pull off performing in. It’s simple enough to not be too distracting, although my new heels are an attention grabber. Last night they garnered a lot of, “Nice shoes!” and even a “How do you walk in those?” to my favorite, “Your shoes are A FUCK YOU….They deserve a lot of expletives.” I took them out for the first time last night, and yes, I love them. They’re even remarkably comfortable for 4 1/2″ heels. Thank you, Amazon.com.
Blouse: Vintage from Wasteland
I love this blouse. I couldn’t say no to it. It has everything–puff sleeves, pleats, pin tucks, buttons down the back, a sweet bow in front, and all in a sheer baby blue. Yummy.
Skirt: Second-hand Ralph Lauren
Shoes: Pour La Victoire from Amazon.com
Most of these items were paid for by sadness. Thank you depression! By this I mean, what else do you do alone on a Friday night in front of a computer after 2 beers, or the next morning when you have no plans for the day so you decide to go to Haight and blow hard-earned insurance brokerage company day-job money while trying to soften the pain of dying slowly everyday?
I got this dress in Portland, OR–my vintage clothing mecca. I make a pilgrimage at least once a year and I find such gems in that city. This blue dress was a measly $12, sales tax free. Special thanks to Joanna Newsom for bringing back the prairie chic look in her Milk-Eyed Mender days.
I pair the dress often with my favorite pair of ALDO boots.
Altogether this look has brought me much joy. I’ve performed in it on some good shows (though I don’t think I’ll wear it on stage again). And it became the reason why famous people spoke to me!
Mainly Sarah Silverman who said, “I LOVE your dress!” and to whom I said, “Thank you.”
And Margaret Cho who said, “I LOVE your dress! It’s a Gunne Sax and I totally appreciate that!” and to whom I said, “Thanks.”
I would’ve liked to have told her that it’s actually a handmade dress, inspired by the popular 1970s Gunne Sax dresses by Jessica McClintock and so on and so forth and yeah, I’m a comedienne in San Francisco, yeah I totally know that person, hell yeah I’m into that kinky shit! And then we would’ve been bffs.
Boots: Second-hand Frye boots via GoodByes consignment
Tights: Hand-me-down from my Mom’s friend
Coat: Forever 21
Today’s theme is splurging. The dress was one of those instances when you walk into a vintage store, see something amazing, try it on, it looks as amazing as you had hoped and the price tag won’t stop you. In this case the price tag was $32. Pretty damn steep. Especially by Portland vintage standards. But it’s a real weakness I have. It’s partially why I’m trying to wean myself off of going into vintage stores. If I see something I love and it fits, I can’t not get it. But we’re talking about things priced $25-40. If something is over $40, I may not even try it on, so that helps. There’s this vintage store I walk by almost every weekend and I go inside every time because it’s BEAUTIFUL and I want to live there, but do I try anything on? Hell no. All the garments are priced at $100 or more.
My latest tactic is to do the 24 hour method. If you find something you love but are unsure of the price, wait it out. If you’re still thinking about it 24 hours later, then get your ass back there and buy it. I made the mistake of passing up a vintage Christian Lacroix denim full mini skirt at Wasteland the last time I was there. I was hesitant because it was $40 and it had this one imperfection. When I went back to buy it, it was gone. I keep thinking about that damn skirt! I wish I had told myself, Mary, $40 is nothing compared to the hundreds of dollars that skirt cost new. And you look fucking FUUUINE.
The Frye boots are a similar story. Found them at the consignment store. Price was a bit steep at $60, but new they would’ve been around $300 or something. I’m pretty happy with them because they’re comfortable for high heel boots and well-made boots will last a lifetime. The real question is, what else can I pair these with? We shall see…
Special thanks to Mary at Pretty Good Things for introducing me to hat designer Piers Atkinson. Straight up joy is what these hats are.
Atkinson had me at “The Rorschach.”
It makes me want to do a few things.
1) Make some hats!
2) Wear some hats!
and/or 3) Buy an awesome hat! I’ve got my eye on one of Mary’s designs: DAMMMMNIT! Someone bought it already. I wanted to rock that deer!
1940s sailor dress: vintage from House of Vintage in Portland, OR. I can’t remember the price, but it was a steal.
Gloves: from my step-mom’s aunt.
Purse: found it on the street.
Shoes: ebay
Hat: handmade by yours truly.
Out of all the dresses I bought in Portland on my last trip, this was my favorite, my shining star. It fit me perfectly in the store. But Mary Van Note put her shining star in a washing machine, and gasp, a dryer. What was I thinking!?!?!?! A 1940s vintage sailor dress?!?! IN THE WASHING MACHINE?!?!?!! AND THE DRYER?!?!?! Sadly the dress shrunk. You might be thinking, whatever Mary, it looks super fly on your hot ass. Trust me, it looked better on that hot ass before. Even though it’s snug, I’m still going to rock it because I love it so much. So remember, dry clean that shit.
When I dreamt of taking photos with Ameen, this was the outfit I wanted to capture. But not even in my dreams did the photos come out so amazing. The following two were taken on his 4×5 large format camera. You know, the old-timey camera:
I wore this today to my grandad’s house. Nothing says I’m visiting grandad more than a cotton pastel-striped 80s dress. Plan on seeing a forthcoming comic on the visit.
For some Mary Van Note trivia, this dress was seen on episode 7 of Gavin Really Wants Me.
I’m sick of my long hair. I know I would be breaking one of the rules laid forth by Patti Stanger in Become Your Own Matchmaker to cut the long locks that the men desire, but after reading the book (yeah, I totally did) I realized that I don’t care. I’m not in the dating mood these days anyway.
You might be confused right about now if you saw this recent Mary Van DAAAMN! post. Twas a wig, folks.
I’ve been reading a lot of fashion blogs. And what has struck me the most in some of the photos was the hair. Strawberry Koi has some great hair tutorials on youtube, but I have a hard time trying them because I have too much hair. I just don’t know exactly what I want but I’ve collected hair inspiration pictures.
I just admire the beauty of the top two, though I know that kind of hair wouldn’t look right on me. The bottom three are examples of 1940s styles with bangs.
Claudette Colbert. I just love her look. And I’m tempted to chop off my hair so it could look like hers in It Happened One Night. Although if I really wanted to look like her I’d have to wreck havoc on my eyebrows.
And this modern vintage starlet is one of the fashion bloggers I spoke of. Solanah aka Vixen Vintage always has such beautiful hair to match her exquisite pieces of clothing. Speaking of Vixen Vintage, Solonah is sponsoring a giveaway of a beautiful 1930s-inspired handmade hat.
I also love the short sweetness of hair that is on the head of the girl behind heart city vintage.
Although if I did cut my hair short, I wouldn’t want people to think I’m jocking super-talented comedienneKristen Schaal‘s style. We already share the same love for vintage dresses and quirky comedy stylings, and not to mention two studs by the name of Bret and Jermaine.
But I love this short style:
I’m at a loss. My hair is a natural curly mess. With any of these styles, it would take time and effort. But I’m up for the challenge. What’s your vote?
A lot of the fashion blogs are abuzz with excitement over the season premiere of Mad Men on August 16. If I had AMC I would be stoked. I’m even tempted to dive in to season 1 DVDs just to drool over the costumes and sets, and not to mention the sexbomb that is Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm. I say that Don Draper is the sexbomb because I am so clearly attracted to the way he dresses in 1960s tailored suits, although I am also a sucker for the whole rugged-manly-man-in-his-30s look which would be entering Jon Hamm territory. What I thought I could contribute to the Mad Men buzz in the fashion blogosphere is how connected the drama series is to comedy.
Jon Hamm is a comedy nerd. I say that in the highest regard. And from what I can gather, he’s got quite the comedy palette- from frequenting the hip comedy shows at the Largo theater in Los Angeles to hanging around with comedians like Jimmy Pardo, Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifianakis. Here he is being interviewed by Zach on Between Two Ferns:
I’m tempted to move to Los Angeles only to try and mill around the same social circle as the Mad Men star. I heard from the grapevine that Jon Hamm was seen at a party at Sarah Silverman’s pad with the likes of Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone of The Lonely Island, Norm Macdonald, Human Giant’s Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer and Aziz Ansari, and the writing staff and cast of The Sarah Silverman Program. Even megastars like Jessica Alba and Jon Favreau were in attendance. Apparently Hamm and Favreau were chatting it up most of the evening, so maybe there’ll be a new Favreau-directed/Hamm-lead motion picture in the works.
Dreaming of the potential hook-up between a comedienne like myself and a handsome Mad Men star is not too far off the wagon. Elizabeth Moss, who plays secretary Peggy Olson in Mad Men, is engaged to the hilarious Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live fame. Let’s only hope Hamm is as into funny girls as Moss is to funny boys. Apparently Hamm is taken by actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt. No word on if she’s funny, although she did co-write the romantic-comedy screenplay Kissing Jessica Stein.
What it all comes down to is that I wish I was in Mad Men. Come on… wearing vintage clothing and undergarments to work everyday?
Getting my hair and makeup done in period style?
Hanging around handsome men in tailored suits and donning hair like this?
Umm, yeah! I’d probably pull a diva deal the way Sarah Jessica Parker did with Sex and the City and demand in the contract that I be able to keep all the wardrobe I wear. I’d love to own pieces like this:
Check out the interview here with Janie Bryant, the costume designer of the show.
