Wearing, Watching, Spying & Dyeing

Hooray! Thursday saw some freakishly warm temperatures for March so I was able to wear the vintage Indian dress I'd found in the £2.99 charity shop last week. I also gave this Mexican cowboy hat its first outing, another recent chazza find.

 For our Friday morning swim, I wore this Free People linen jacket snaffled from a charity shop in town last year for a mere £3. I'm not sure who in Walsall can afford to donate such costly garments to charity shops but I'm glad they do!

 

Beneath it I wore a 1960s Ayesha Davar cheesecloth maxi bought from a charity shop aeons ago. As you can see from the photo (below), there was a patch of sun damage to the front of the skirt which has worsened with age. I was going to dye it black but we only had a pot of denim blue dye in the cupboard so I (or rather, Jon, the chief dyer of the household) used that instead.

 
I'm really pleased with the result, the faded patch has vanished and the embroidery has turned a subtle shade of purple.

 

I finally got round to unpacking the badly turned up hem, too. It hangs much better now.

 

I wore these pewter trainers for the first time with my revitalised dress. I spotted them in the charity shop last week with the original £25 Marks and Spencer labels attached for a very reasonable £5. 

  

This Naked Generation blouse was one of this week's Vinted finds and at £10 a fraction of the original retail price! This is the third Naked Generation garment I own, all bought second hand.

I wore it today to drop off this morning's Vinted sales at the lockers....

And to pick up my second Vinted purchase...

This All About Audrey crushed velvet maxi dress which I'd been lusting over on their website for months. Like I always say, if you wait long enough the item you desire always turns up second hand and by being patient I saved £65 from the original retail price!

Rarely a week passes without buying more books. 

I loved My Father's House by the late Sinead's brother, Joseph O'Connor, a gripping fictionalised account of the Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty who ran an escape line, smuggling allied troops and Jews out of Vatican City during the Nazi Occupation of WW2. 

And my current read, American Spy, is equally exciting. Barack Obama's got excellent taste (as if we'd ever doubted it!)

I do love a good spy thriller. This week's cinema outing was to see Black Bag. Its not going to win any Oscars but it's slick, glossy and fast-paced. 

You'd have to have been living under a rock not to have heard about Adolescence, the Netflix series dealing with knife crime and toxic masculinity. Trust me, it lives up to (and surpasses) all the hype. If you don't already think that Stephen Graham is Britain greatest living actor, this will convince you. And please don't tell me that you don't enjoy watching violence - there is no blood or knives - just stupendously good acting.

If you haven't got Netflix, Spy/Master - currently on the BBC I-Player - is another great watch. Loosely based on a true story and set in 1978, at the height of the Cold War, Victor Godeanu is Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s right hand man but Victor has a problem. He is also a spy for the KGB, and in danger of being exposed. The fashion, cars and interiors are fabulous!

Last night it was time to bring on the bling. In addition to the 1920s Egyptian faience beaded collar Jon gave me for my birthday, the bronze & enamel Evil Eye earrings I'd bought in Athens and my vintage Indian brass cuffs, I added something new-to me...a ring I'd spotted in a charity shop on the way back from the swimming baths earlier in the day.

At £1.50 I'd assumed it was just a bit of cheap tat but looking at it I noticed that there was a maker's mark etched on to the band and that it was quartz as opposed to plastic and, most importantly, it fitted my massive labourer's hands...always a bonus!  

We were out on the town celebrating Slash, Liz & Adrian's birthdays which fall on 28th & 29th March. Real ale, Indian food and great company, what could be better? 

A good time was had by all - especially by Jon if this photo is anything to go by. 

Enjoy your weekend and see you on the other side!