My growing obsession with clothes.

     For the record, I have absolutely no interesting clothes. Well, maybe a couple of pieces that I've picked up here and there, and some of them are too big for me and require boobs and stuff like that. This does not, however, mean that I am not totally and completely in love with the vintage fashion world. I would spend all day (literally twenty-four hours. I am addicted) browsing blissfully through sites like modcloth.com and shopruche.com if it weren't for my mother and her anti-Internet ways. 

     If you haven't already discovered vintage-clothing-inspired sites like those, I suggest you check them out. They're absolutely brilliant and, while many actual vintage stores in my area have hair-raisingly high prices, modcloth and shopruche lead the charge in acceptable prices. My mom bought me a delightfully long, black skirt and a beautiful floral print dress for Christmas. Disappointingly, the skirt made me look shrunken and the neckline on was too wide (yes, wide, not low!) and made my head look tiny. Irritatingly, the dress fit my friend perfectly (I'm ashamed to admit that I'm jealous of that fact.) 

     Here's the problem: my body. I am not about to go on a body-bashing rant, because I've long since discovered that hating my body, or at least actively hating my body, will not change anything--so no worries. But it's true. I'm kind of small, with boyish hips and a pretty flat chest. This is not good if you're into vintage, one-of-a-kind clothes and online stores (whose wares you obviously cannot try on.) It's a big guessing game, for me especially, and it annoys me that my body cannot be the slightest bit more accommodating. 

     I have not yet given up hope, though. While I'm forced to dismiss some pieces of clothing because they just won't suit my body, I've picked out a few dresses and cardigans that can't help but look nice. For example, I'm absolutely pining after modcloth's Bloom Moon Dress (look it up on their site and you'll see what I mean.) And you can't go wrong with gojane.com's Button-Up Denim Top. Instead of picking out clothing for the body that I wish I had, I'm choosing beautiful pieces that'll slide over the parts of myself that I least like and accentuating my best features, like my shoulders and collarbone (I know, weird), and my waist. I've done my best to find items like these. There's modcloth's Jenny Jump-Up Dress, their Instant Wishes Dress (I haven't yet chosen between red and navy) and their Classic Remix and Charter School Cardigans. Gojane.com, while not totally vintage-oriented, produces some pieces worthy of consideration, like the afore-mentioned Button-Up Denim Top. I especially like gojane for its shoes. 

     Speaking of shoes...I recently discovered that the "girl-loves-shoes" stereotype is totally applicable to me. While I may favor more conservative and lower-heeled options instead of sky-high Louboutins, I'm still a shoe girl. Gojane's Lace-Up Bootie in taupe is absolutely adorable, while modcloth's scholastic Soft-Serve Heel is one of the best things I've ever seen, ever. Next summer, I'm planning on purchasing modcloth's Go About Your Afternoon Heel (in chestnut), which is more of a sandal than a heel (it is raised only 1.75 inches off of the ground.) I love love love shoes...thank god there's pretty much no body-type requirement for shoes (except for size, of course.) Beautiful shoes look beautiful on anyone. 

     Same goes for accessories, most of the time. To highlight one of my best and cheapest finds (I actually had no idea what I'd stumbled upon) I bought a vintage Vera scarf for approximately five bucks. It's green, with sharp white zigzags. It's an early Vera, too, according to this article, because it includes the ladybug logo. Apparently, Vera scarves are the best-loved vintage scarves around, excepting, perhaps, Hermes. Modcloth's Bow To Stern scarves are almost my Vera scarf's equal. As soon as I choose one of those gorgeous color combinations, I'm buying it. 

     And then there's the unavoidable question of money. If you're into vintage clothing, it's good to have some source of money. I've long since given up on a monthly, parentally-issued allowance, but I've got a job walking a dog four times a week and I babysit a young boy named Thomas twice a week. They're both steady sources of income, and while I won't go into the details, I've carefully plotted out my next steps and calculated and calculated until my arm felt like it was about to drop off. 

     Long story short, I love vintage clothing and wish I had more of them. If you're also obsessed with vintage clothes, comment, please! We can compare notes and prices and stuff  like that.