**Thank you so much to everyone who has voted for me in the upcoming Singapore Blog Awards and to all my lovely readers for getting me this far (if you haven’t voted yet and would like to, you still can! Click here; I’m in the Nanyang Optical Best Lifestyle Blog section).  As a finalist, I have been asked to submit one blog post on the 1960s.  This is it.**

If there was a decade I could go back to, it would be a close-run thing between the 1920s and the 1960s. Is a mini dress and a sharp bob worth more than a flapper dress and a headband? Having sat through the Great Gatsby (oh and cut my hair into an extremely short bob) I think I can say in all honesty that they are.

The sixties may have been a time for counterculture and social change (it was also of course when Singapore declared independence) but to me, I’m afraid it’s all about fashion.

I have a few weird and wonderful things in my wardrobe, most of which were cleared out by the lovely Julia when she came to dejunk my life a week or so ago, but I resolutely hung on to this:

It’s a dress from the sixties (she argues that things should be in the style of the 1960s, not actually from the era) and it’s inspiring not only because I love the print, not only because it’s one-of-a-kind but because someone wore and – I hope – loved it decades ago and after being packed away in trunks, cupboards and who knows where, it’s ended up in my wardrobe.

Paired with lashings of black khol (I hate wearing too much make up in this country as it sort of melts off me, but black eyeliner I can cope with; Mac’s eye khol in ‘Smoulder’ is the best I’ve found) and a slick of my new favourite ‘lazy’ lipstick (lazy in that you can pretty much just shove it on without worrying too much about your lip line) which is light without being too white or too sickly a pink, you’re – hopefully – a glowing example of retro-modern chic vs timewarp hideousness.

The problem about wearing vintage in Singapore is that a lot of people just don’t get it. Or don’t like it.  What earns you ooh’s and ahhh’s in London gets a quizzically raised eyebrow over here. Either way, love it or hate it, there is one thing you can say for my dress: there isn’t another one like it.

Other accessories worn include my grandmother’s beaded necklace (also a relic from the 1960’s) and an ostrich clutch bought from Haji Lane about a year ago.  My dress was bought at a Vintage Fair. 

Main picture courtesy of Bleu Bird Vintage