Outfit: Vintage Western Dress and Red Boots

Posted on 05/07/2011 by Penny Dreadful in Outfits

I wore this a few weekends ago for a day of running around Hampstead doing errands. The dress is a vintage cotton dress in a prairie/Western style dating from the 80s, with a cute little embroidered chambray collar. I loved it at first but now seeing these pictures I think perhaps it makes me look a little stocky. What do you think (honest opinions please!).

I wore it with a vintage tooled leather belt and a pair of 70s cowboy style boots that came from eBay a few months ago. The boots hadn’t been photographed very well in the listing and the description mentioned some staining, but I thought I would take a chance for the low price. Well when they arrived they were totally unwearable, the staining was really bad and one boot had even faded to a different colour than the other one. However they were a perfect fit and very comfortable. I have been wanting a nice pair of red boots for a while, so I thought outside the square and bought some leather dye. Two coats of dye later (which you can just put on using a normal paintbrush), and I have a new pair of red boots. I will certainly be using this method for other shoes in the future, it was really easy and gave the boots a whole new lease of life.

The bag is from The Leather Satchel Co, who I have mentioned before now and who I need to do a post on. They sent me one of their satchels to review, so I have been wearing it out and about for a few weeks to see how it feels, how it functions, and how well it wears. I’ve also been wearing it a lot simply because I absolutely love it; this is probably the smartest bag I have ever owned! The leather is quite stiff so you can’t jam-pack them, but by the time I came home I’d managed to fit in my camera, the box my new phone came in, a book, and three French saucisson from the market, as well as all my usual paraphernalia.

This is the sign of a house we pass very often on Downshire Hill. I have been a bit obsessed with this house since we first moved to Hampstead. It is extremely ramshackle and abandoned, though has recently had scaffolding put up around it.

The old man who used to own it was an academic author and a bit of an eccentric. Several years ago he was murdered in the house, with his body only being found after several weeks and hidden under piles of newspapers. Part of the trial was eventually held in secret for diplomatic or intelligence reasons, as the suspect (who was found guilty) was a Chinese dissident. Even before then the house had been crumbling apart. Here is a quote from one of the articles I found about it:

“He was one of life’s eccentrics. He had lived in the house for 72 years, and I don’t think anything has been done to it since. The gardens were completely overgrown and he would get up on the roof to repair the cracks with Sellotape and put plastic bags on the chimney to stop the rain coming in.

“He would never let anyone into his house; I think he was ashamed of it. He just was a very private man. He kept telling me he was working on a new book which would be remarkable, but no one knows what it was about.”

You can read more about the story here, here, here, and here. Even in its present decrepit state, the house sold for £4.1 million. Now you understand why I’ll never be able to afford my own house in this suburb.