Saturday, September 25, 2010

A Very Vintage Day

Today was a wonderful day spent out and about in the Niagara wine region as part of the autumn Wine Festival.  You see, the "Vintage" in my title not only refers to my love of old clothing but also alludes to the fact I do sometimes enjoy the pleasures of a nice wine (red, if you please).  After a fun series of food and wine tastings, we ended up visiting the historical district of Niagara-on-the-Lake (home of the Shaw Festival, which, incidentally, currently has a production of The Women going....must try to see it, along with Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband and the Linda Griffiths play, The Age of Arousal, which is actually a play adaptation of late Victorian author George Gissing's suffragette novel, The Odd Women).  After glimpsing several fantastic vintage cars along the way (which, we found out afterwards, you can be driven around in as part of a wine tour), we stopped at the gorgeous 19th century Prince of Wales hotel for a rest and a cuppa.  All in all, a splendid day filled with every variety of vintage was had.

Grapes destined to be part of the 2010 vintage

1930s vintage wine colored knit dress
Vintage wine colored car that just by sheer accident matched above noted dress


"Vintage" 19th-century Upper Canadian architecture








16 comments:

Sarsaparilla said...

What a beautiful post with all those rich colors. Love your wine colored knit dress! It's Saturday night - and I hope that you are now enjoying a matching glass of red wine. :-)

Celestial Charms said...

Wow, this looks like a great place to visit. Love your outfit...which attractively matches that sweet vintage car!
Maureen

garofit said...

gosh, i'm drooling over your dress, looked at all of the details on a zoom, still can't get enough, it's sooo pretty!
i'm a knit person, i've said it before. i have had lots of knitted things since i was a child - my mother made them for me out of necessity as we were poor. not like today when knitting has become an expensive hobby for those who afford the luxury of a nice yarn and the time to do it!
anyway, thanks to my mum, knits always convey to me warmth, love and protection (the return to womb reaction :))but there you have it, i get lots of happiness out of knits :)

Jemima said...

Fab dress, just the colour for autumn. Niagra, as in, the Marylin Monroe film? If yes how did you not resist pretending to run away from your 'murderous husband'?! Love the hotel. x

Carys said...

I love your dress, it's the most amazing colour!! Lovely pictures!
From Carys of La Ville Inconnue

BaronessVonVintage said...

Yummy wine was indeed enjoyed, Sarsaparilla!

Celestial Charms: it is truly a gorgeous region!

garofit: yep, knitwear is really special, isn't? Now that I've started knitting and crocheting, I have a renewed appreciation for the amount of time and care goes into making a whole outfit!
As for the expense of knitting, I would say that it is not necessarily true that it (or sewing) needs to be an expensive hobby if you shop around for the right yarn (example: I got some really amazing ROWAN yarn at a MAJOR discount on eBay. This stuff is merino and feels gorgeous and it was not at all expensive {I think I got each skein for about $2.50...you would never get a sweater of the quality that a handknit would yield using this yarn for such a low price). You are right, though, that you need to either have the luxury of lots of time or you need to just regularly set aside little blocks of your off time to doing a little bit at a time. If you think about the Depression-era women who were making the suits and such that we now love, many of them were likely similar to my grandmother--they ran the house hold, cared for children, and often worked part time to help support their families, all while still carrying out the effort of knitting and crocheting all sorts of household and clothing goods as part of domestic economizing. That thought has got me encouraged that if they could do it, so can I!

BaronessVonVintage said...

Lady Cherry: yes, I live near THAT Niagara (although we didn't go to the falls this time). Way back last year, I did a post photo showing me sitting near the place where Marilyn Monroe was photographed for a famous "Niagara" photo.

Carys: thanks ever so much!

Francy said...

I love wine tastings, and you wore the perfect dress. I love how it matches the car!

Anonymous said...

Niagra on the lake is such a beautiful place! It's one of my MUST GO places!
I think the coincidence of the car matching your dress means you should have it!

Lauren said...

What a perfect day!

Penny Dreadful Vintage said...

Oh fantastic, I do enjoy wine - used to hate it but since I learned to enjoy the taste a few years ago I have a huge appreciation for how different each variety can be. Love that you wore a burgundy coloured frock, hehe.

Stefanie Valentine said...

Your dress is divine, such a wonderful colour!

Mary said...

How do you get your hair to go like that? Very pretty. I love the scenery you have shown, and your outfit, which goes with it!

JGO said...

What a beautiful post. Love the warm colors of Autumn...
xo,
jacqueline

BaronessVonVintage said...

I can't wait to go back and explore more of Niagara-on-the-Lake. When I do, I will share more pics!

Thanks again for your kind words, everyone!

SpinnakerSu: I like how you think! hehe

Mary R.: Oh, thank you. I wish I could say I actually spend time carefully setting my hair, but the truth is that I just spritz my naturally wavy hair with hairspray, scrunch it a bit, and that's it. Someday, I hope to actually learn how to do proper fingerwaves and end rolls, but I've never been very good at doing my own hair, so I just try to work with my hair's natural tendencies.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures and your dress is so lovely.