The clothes show

Last weekend, Dove Cottage's bedroom and spare room, the rather grandly named Blue Room, looked very much like the store rooms of a clothes shop.

It all started on Saturday, when I made a start on packing for our holiday. Since our destination will once again be the UK, a suitcase full of flimsy Summer frocks might be a bit too optimistic, although I will obviously be taking some of those.

But, as regardless of the weather we will be out and about a lot, I will also be taking several pairs of trousers. After investing in some nice pairs of red and green trousers last year, I now went a step further by acquiring two pairs sporting very Polyester Princess-worthy flower prints, so that in the not unlikely event that the weather gods are once again up to no good, I will at least be able to look the part.

I tried out a mountain of blouses and short-sleeved jumpers to wear with them and managed to whittle them down to a manageable shortlist. Even so, travelling light will not be on the cards, but why should I, since we are travelling by car?

Have no fear, I won't be taking that much! No, these bags contain part of my vintage stock, which I'm keeping for selling at our local flea market in July.

There's a total of five boxes and four large bags, so the day won't be very far off when we, like Vix, will need to have a shed built in our garden!

Don't you love Angelica's stylish Summer outfit, by the way?

There's a reason why my vintage stock had to come out of our bedroom's built-in closet: I had invited a friend for a private shopping session on Sunday. I'm glad to report that she went home with no less than six dresses and a blouse!

Now look what happened: the dress I'm wearing here was unearthed from one of the bags. Why on earth I was thinking of selling it, I do not know, but I presume it was its beige-ness that put me off. But isn't that print gorgeous? 

I wore it on Saturday, playing an on/off game with an ancient lilac short-sleeved cardigan from New Look. I do wish I'd picked it up in more colourways back then!

I chose sky blue for my belt and necklace and added a translucent brown, vintage butterfly brooch.

My sandals are my turquoise Miz Mooz misfits: I bought them several years ago at a ridiculously reduced price at the tail end of the sales, as the colour of one of them was rather faded. The difference in colour was soon rectified by putting the other one out in the sun for a while, so that it is now hardly noticeable.

The mountains of clothes were doing my head in by then, so we left the house to go and water the plants at Jos's son and daughter in law, who are currently travelling in Canada.

We stopped briefly at our most local charity shop, and wouldn't you know it: I found more stuff.

These two new-to-me stretchy frocks came home with me.

As I was once more making use of Angelica's services as a model, I took the opportunity to dress her in this funky vintage frock, in a lined cotton fabric, which I found at Think Twice the other day.

I came across this playful play-suit on the same day. I've always had a penchant for play-suits - 1960s Barbie has quite a few of them in her wardrobe - but I haven't had one myself since the late 1990s.

At under € 5, it was futile to resist this one, which will be perfect to wear around the house on hot, sticky days.

Meanwhile, the Sempervivum, or houseleek, on our kitchen windowsill is flowering for the very first time, and at the back of the garden the frothy lime green flowers of Lady's Mantle have joined the plant's soft, downy leaves.

A glut of gooseberries awaits us, but how strange that only one of them has turned red already. Jos reckons there is something wrong with it. 

Nothing wrong with our white currents, apart from the fact that most of them have ended up being eaten by a cunning pair of local wood pigeons!

Jos has cut back some of our garden's jungly growth, so that we can see all the way to the back wall, where a sweetly scented honeysuckle is growing among the profusion of greenery provided by a rampant Virginia creeper.

Here is what I was wearing on Sunday. 

I love this sturdy cotton skirt, with its ruffly hem trimmed by orange rick rack. This, and the orange flowers, prompted my choice of top, a cap sleeved blouse sprinkled with black and white dots. 

My footwear were as a pair of ancient orange ballerinas.

The vintage necklace consisting of intertwined black and white plastic beads were the obvious accompaniment, while I brought out the green of the leaves on my skirt by pinning a green-based micromosaic brooch to my blouse.

I wore the skirt again on Monday, but with a different top: a green, lacy, short-sleeved knit jumper. 

I'd overlooked this one when I was packing, but I think it would be perfect with the first pair of floral trousers, so it went straight into the wash, after which it has joined the others tops in my suitcase.

And so, we have come at the end of my post.

I'm officially on vacation now and, after we have finished packing tomorrow, we will be up bright and early on Saturday, when we're off to the UK.

So, no posting from me for a while, as I will be mostly off-line for two weeks, although I will be reading your blogs when time and WiFi allows.

See you in July with lots of adventures to share!

Packing up my troubles

Yesterday was my last day at work, which I managed to wrap up nicely, in spite of the hurdles thrown up in the last couple of weeks.

With our packing done and dusted this morning, we are now free to enjoy the rest of the day in peace and mentally prepare ourselves for our journey tomorrow.

While Jos has been known to throw a couple of thing into his suitcase at the very last moment (and would forget some crucial item if I weren't there to offer some guidance), I usually plan my holiday wardrobe well in advance.

In fact, the suitcase containing my clothes was packed almost two weeks ago, although I must admit I've taken out and added the odd item (or two) in the meantime.

Obviously, I am taking a couple of dresses. These two stretchy King Louie frocks, which I've had for many years, are super comfortable and I even rode a bike wearing one of them while on holiday in Belgium's west country last September. Their other advantage is that they can be stuffed in a suitcase without any fear of crumpling.

Our cottage does have an iron and ironing board, but I've never used them in all the years we've been going there.

The rest of my wardrobe will be dark denim jeans and a pair of red trousers to offer some variety, there's a selection of differently coloured lightweight cardigans and, apart from the peignoir (see previous post) to waft around in, I'll also be taking my Phoebe PJ bottoms.

I'm also taking a small case with accessories: scarves, necklaces and hair flowers to be used as brooches.

The vintage factor will be provided by a - large! - selection of tops, mainly vintage ones picked up at Think Twice, as well as a couple of new-to-me tops from flea markets and charity shops.

As we travel by car, and have oodles of space, there is no need to travel light, which is an absolute relief. How else would I be able to whittle down my wardrobe to just a few items for a holiday in Wales ... ?

The weather got progressively warmer and sunnier this week, and these are some of the outfits I wore to work.

New-to-me navy skirt combined with a cotton polka dot top from Think Twice. And the red shoes, which won't be going to Wales with me after all.

1950s style green printed rayon frock (Think Twice), combined with pink belt and beads and my most comfortable pair of Clark's wedge sandals.

Same sandals again, but this time I'm wearing a sailing boat printed Seasalt frock bought in Cardigan a couple of years ago. The orange piping called for orange accessories: belt, beads and bangle.

As we didn't have electricity at work for most of the day on Tuesday, I even had the time to squeeze in some last minute shopping and a short visit to MoMu, Antwerp's fashion museum.

In the gallery, and free of charge, there was a small exhibition of dresses by legendary Belgian fashion designer Ann Salens (1940-1994), who won acclaim for her colourful knitted and crocheted "bird of paradise" dresses, made from silk and artificial silk, which she sold at her shop in Antwerp's Wolstraat opened in the late 1960s.

Part of the Antwerp avant-garde scene in the 1960s, she was a natural talent, who refused to become commercial.

The dresses' former owner, who gifted them to the museum, was the female half of iconic Belgian showbizz duo, Nicole & Hugo, who started out in 1970. While not a fan of their music, their - often matching - stage outfits were something else altogether, and their 1973 passage at the Eurovision Song Contest did not go unnoticed, if only for their flamboyant purple Las Vegas style outfits.

The dresses on display all date from the 1970s and although there were only a few, they were presented as if in a red velvet lined black box, on black faceless models, which really made them stand out.

Afterwards, I sauntered back to the office, and passed the magnificent baroque St-Carolus Borromeus church, built between 1615 and 1621.

The square in front of it (which used to be the haunt of Antwerp's punks in the 1980s) was virtually empty for once, so I couldn't resist taking some photos with my smartphone's camera.

After having played the tourist in my own town, I am now ready to be a tourist in Wales. Although, after that many visits, I might be considered as a bit of a semi-local?

So, goodbye for now. Or as they say in Welsh: Hwyl!

See you in two weeks' time!