Astral Boutique's blog

Astral Boutique Video Lookbook Summer 2013

I have always wanted to make a video lookbook, and I decided that this was the perfect time- the height of summer, with endless sunshine and warm water to play in. I took some of my besties and tried to give the feeling of little poems, dreams of summer come to life.... 

Astral Boutique Lookbook Summer 2013 from Sasha Soukup on Vimeo.

 

********************Some still shots from the shoot**********************

Cynthia at the Yuba River:

Summer, picking sweet peas on the hill behind my house:

Chia (who runs Out of the Mystic Vintage on Etsy!) at the Yuba River in a Gunne Sax:

Lucia on the hill:

Fiona, aka the Young Audrey Hepburn, with Lakshmi:

Beautiful Bluebird with belly dancing arms:

Country roads take me home...

(Bluebird runs The Emerald Muse on Etsy)

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I hope you enjoy!

Dress Up: Under The Greenwood Tree

This outfit post is a little delayed.. what can I say, it got lost in the holiday space-time warp! But it was one of my fave holiday season ensembles.... forest green cotton Gunne Sax dress, paired with my standby leather jacket. Something about wearing the leather with the Gunne made it feel less overly presh or folksy. Think acoustic guitar plus motorcycle.

I was lucky to be able to score this dress from my good friend- it's so hard to find cute Gunnes in adult sizes. It just barely fits (especially with holiday food marathoning), but while I can wear it, I will. 

Very important question: WHO IS THIS LITTLE GUY? I believe he is from a Japanese children's film. He's looked familiar to a bunch of people, but no one can put their finger on it. 

Do you know?

Dress Up: Russian Countess In A Candy Store

Give me the Candy Rainbow Aristocracy, please.

Sweater: Christian Lacroix, thrifted

Dress (worn under sweater): Modcloth, gifted from a friend

Hat: 1960s, thrifted

Gloves: Estate Sale

Super candy queens forever!

Dress Up: Red Means Go

December means I get to wear red and gold and green and sparkly things dangling everywhere and no one says "look at you expressing yourself" or "I wish I was brave enough to wear that" or "whoa- sorry- I just wasn't expecting so much flair to slap me in the eyeball"- nope!- they just say "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

coat: 1960s, thrifted

top: 1980s, thrifted

jean leggings, boots: new

headband: bow from last year's Christmas present sewed onto a stretchy piece of trim from the craft store

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Dress Up: Weird Greens And Moomin Dreams

This is my number one favorite outfit right now. I am obsessed with strange shades of green, and this dress is the oddest light pea soup color... and made of cozy wool for winter, too! This jacket (also wool!) takes the cake, though. I have never seen this color combo of plaid in my life. I feel like a Moomin character in this outfit, especially thanks to the (wool! I heart wool!) hat, a handmade gift from a friend.

Dress- 60s vintage, Freestyle, Midtown Sacramento

Jacket: 60s vintage, thrifted

Boots: new, Nordstrom 

Hat: gifted, handmade

Dress Up

A huge thanks to my friend Lucia, who gifted me this marvelous dress from Modcloth- I am in love with it and have been wearing it constantly! Thank goodness for Indian Summer in California, with our temps in the 80s (sorry, Midwesterners!). 

Necklace by me

Dress Up

Sometimes I get into a groove with an outfit and I can't resist wearing it every single day. This is my new "uniform":

Dress, vintage 1980s, bought from a friend; belt, thrifted; earrings, from an import shop, gift from Sugatroll; boots, new, gift from Sugatroll

I am digging this yarn-woven-in-braids trick... and it solves the challenge of having hair that is half- blond and half-brunette.

Pink and grey used to be my favorite color combo when I was a 'tween-- I wore a pink and grey hooded cotton Esprit mini dress for two years straight-- but I hadn't found a dress in those colors ever since. It's so comforting to be in pink and grey again! I like how the dress has a peasant look when it's belted, like maybe I am from some tribe that lives by the Caspian sea and has a big carnival with cotton candy every year at this time. I would run the cotton candy booth, of course. 

 

Fancy Fairies

I have been stashing these two 1930s dresses away for a few years now.... I was waiting for the perfect Fairy Tea Party to wear them to! They are just too delicate and special to wear to any other event. Luckily, my friend Leonna Sapphire DID organize just such a tea party, for Midsummer. (More on that soon!) Here they are, hanging in my window, getting ready for their big Debut:

The green one was for my fairy costume in our little Skitual (yes, that's a pair of wings), and the pink one was for the tea party that preceded it.

The detail work really amazes me:

(morning glories!)

This pink one comes with a matching short jacket, also semi-sheer:

Just look at those scallops:

And the ruffles!

Wearing these dresses was such a dream... though I had to be waaaaaaaay more careful in them than usual, so as not to tear the paper thin fabric. (I brought another dress for later in the evening, for frolicking by the fire). I can't believe the work and the love that used to go into Fancy Dresses... wearing these feels a bit like time traveling.

It can't be denied that these antique dresses are so much more beautiful than anything modern... and it really makes a girl want more. That could be an expensive habit, for sure- I was extraordinarily lucky to acquire these for just $20 each. I guess I'd better just keep my eyes wide open and hope I can score some more for a reasonable price!

Le sigh...

 

Dress Up- May Eve

I did the official winter-summer closet switcheroo yesterday, and one of the dresses that was liberated from storage was this lovely 1970s rose print:

I got it off of Etsy last Spring and I LOVE the print and the color.

With my fave silk bloomers and my new-to-me vintage 70s sandals... and my darling embroidered jacket. Colors come forth!

I just crafted these faux flower earrings and I like them so much I am going to put some in the shop this week!

HAPPY SPRING!

Dress Up

I figured this would be the last snow (and in fact it all melted an hour later!) so it was also the last chance to wear my new-to-me "Nordic" winter dress:

What would I ever do without my head kerchief?

Thanks to Lynda for the dress!