For the Love of Accessories (Rediscovering and Outfitting the Rockabilly Gal!)

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I realized that it has been 8 years since I have been wearing vintage and/or a rockabilly style every day.  In 2005, I lost 33 pounds and as a result, I had a 'clean slate' to revamp my wardrobe and update my look.  After a nearly year of wavering between Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Gap, and Banana Republic, I decided to return to my 'vintage roots.'  In junior high school, I fell in love with vintage clothes and 50s rock and roll.  By my 11th grade year, I began incorporating 1950s cardigans, pencil skirts, and seamed stockings into my daily look.  I got odd looks from my mall-clad classmates but I didn't care.  I felt and looked amazing.

As college came and went, I wore vintage less and less.  My beloved vintage treasures were put in a donation box and replaced by Gap denim overalls and striped turtlenecks (sorry, it was the early/mid 90s).  By the time I was 30, I was carrying a Louis Vuitton "Alma" monogram bag, donning Prada sunglasses, and 'strutting my stuff' in my Citizens of Humanity jeans.  What happened to the vintage girl?  She was lost in a sea of Neiman Marcus receipts and Burberry scarves.  The girl who once pined for saddle shoes, platform heels, chiffon scarves, and boiled wool cardigans traded her style in for couture accessories, Chanel lipstick, and Gucci G's.

When I lost my weight, I discovered my vintage soul and I "cleaned house."  I sold most of my designer wares on eBay and made a nice 'chunk of change.'  My ski trip in 2007 was partially funded thanks to the sales.  My fancy clothes were donated and I was left with an empty closet and a wish list that contained beaded cardigans, bakelite, Re-Mix wedges, Polly heels, snoods, vintage denim, wool pencil skirts, lucite bags, Hawaiian dresses, house coats, and girdles.

Over these eight years, I have started collecting various "must-have" clothing and accessories that can truly give a vintage look to even the simplest, modern made pieces.  For example, a simple black tee from Target and a pair of  Levis 501s (cuffed) will come to life with a Pendleton 49er jacket, black engineer boots, and a studded belt.  You can also get a cropped, black leather (or pleather) motorcycle jacket, throw on the same black tee and complete the look with a leopard hair scarf and skinny jeans or pencil skirt.

Here are a few of my favorite, must-have rockabilly gal essentials:
1. Warpath Leather Goods! Matt Strickland's belts just incredible and he is super nice! I have this one in tan and another in black.

2. A good-fitting motorcycle jacket that sits above or just at the waist line. This one is by Michael Kors:

3. Trophy Queen Bags! I just got my first Trophy Queen and I LOVE it! I carry all of my daily and work essentials in this bag and not only it is cute, it is well made and sturdy!

4. 49er jackets. They are warm and made any jean outfit look instantly vintage!

5. Engineer boots! (See photo above). These are by Frye and I bought them last September. They took a while to break in but they feel like butter (sorry, "buttah") now! I wear mine with skinny jeans, cuffed jeans, and some skirts in the dead of winter.

So, what are your vintage style accessory musts?