Gail Carriger Sage Suit in San Antonio, WorldCon 2013 Outfit Report: Day 4

So, for the first and last time, during the day on Sunday I wore this suit.

Sometimes even chronic shopper like me make mistakes and this Roos Atkins suit was a big one.

Original Roos Atkins store in San Francisco

Don't get me wrong it looked OK at WorldCon. That's not the problem. The problem is that the under dress was slightly too tight and already ripped when I bought it. I had to repair it with fuse, which I hate doing. Since the Rack has grown, again, it was really tight at WorldCon, and then it ripped further. Fortunately, it was so cold in the convention center I kept the jacket on at all times. But sadly it's not worth the time to salvage the dress at this point. It wrinkles really easily, so it's a pain to travel with, and I travel too much to keep something like this for only local events. Finally, the jacket doesn't really work with any of my other dresses on it's own.

 So, when I bought this sage suit it I broke 5 cardinal rules.

Never buy anything vintage that is:

1. Too tight

2. Already ripped

3. Made of a delicate material

4. Easily wrinkled

5. Doesn't parse well

Why did I break all these rules? Because I LOVE the color, I love the cut, the length of the sleeves, the neckline of the under-dress, and I have a weakness for pencil suits. But, I learned my lesson.

Michael Braun was with Gail Carriger via FB

I paired it with my new ridiculous little brown topper, good for both 1950s and steampunk looks, my brown leather vintage gloves (gift), brown Aerosole peep toe shoes, vintage brown bag, cream bow earrings from Ruby Blackbird, and a brown octopus locket pendent a gift from a French friend (hard to see).

This suit is classic 1950s.

With Patrick of the SF Signal podcast.

Although here is a modern magenta one.

Retro Pink

Here's a lilac version from the late 50s.

 1958 Ensemble  Hubert de Givenchy, The Metropolitan Museum of Art suit

And from a little earlier.

1940s Catelogue Green

So anyway, hopefully someday a new sage dress will come into my life. With stretch. That packs well. And I will begin a new romance. For now I must abandon this one, my heart broken. (Yeah yeah, it's just a suit.) And I leave you with this retrospective on the gorgeous color.

For Lord Akeldama

1750s Banyan  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

For Ivy

1880s  Bunka Gakuen Museum

For Prudence

1902-1903  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Luna Moth Fan  1890  The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston copy

And from the 1910s.

1910s  Augusta Auctions

 1910s Evening Dress  Jean-Philippe Worth  Bunka Gakuen Museum

1966 Ensemble Roger Vivier dress

1966 Ensemble  Hubert de Givenchy  Shoes

Retro Rack is also on facebook where I post additional images and fashion thoughts.

quotes Gail likes

Goodreads Quotes