Rockabilly Weekend at the Vintage Garage

Chicago actually has a pretty strong rockabilly scene. It's not something that I'm particularly involved with, but my boyfriend has been in the past, and so I tangentially know some folks that are live their day to day lives riding in vintage cars, slicking back their pompadours, and swing dancing, which I think is really cool. While these days most of my wardrobe is vintage, I'm still looking to add other vintage accoutrements to other areas my life.
But that's an issue for another pay day. This weekend I went to the Vintage Garage, a monthly flea market held on the north side of Chicago. There are dozens of vendors with vintage and antique housewares, records, jewelry, and (my personal favorite) clothes. This month they had a Rockabilly and Tiki theme, and even had a costume contest. Yes, I entered, mostly because this lady was walking around and asked me to, but no, I didn't win. I did get photos of all of the other contestants, though, as well as a season pass to the flea market, which is usually $5, so I'd say I came out on top with that one.

The emcee was the lovely Jennifer Greenburg, author and photographer of The Rockabillies. I loved her gingham dress and white heels, she looks like she stepped straight out of the 50s.

One of the contestants, Emmy, was also in a cute gingham. Angelica, with the swimsuit and umbrella, won the "occasion" outfit portion of the competition.

Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this gorgeous lady, but I love her Pinup Girl dress, and her makeup was seriously On Point.

The polka dots and espadrills on the girl on the left are adorable, but I think my favorite outfit of the day has to be this Hawaiian print sarong dress on the pink haired doll on the right. She even had straw shoes and a matching handbag.

This tiki goddess, appropriately, won the Miss Congeniality award.

My other favorite was Abigail, in her 60s Kamea Meha (spelling? I dunno) outfit. Not only did she look utterly fab, she was giving away all of her prizes to other people. I ended up with a gorgeous pair of clip-on earrings, which I will probably wear as dress clips, as well as a pair of Reverend Horton Heat tickets! To be honest, I've never heard them and have to remind myself that it's Horton Heat and not Horton Who, but Brian said that they're a big rockabilly act, and I'm sure the show will be a blast.

I didn't have a lot of money for buying things (mostly because, despite my best intentions, I've bought too many things lately) (#sorrynotsorry, you will be seeing the cute shit I've bought recently in the near future), which was actually kind of great. It meant that when I found this dress, which did not have a price tag, I could go up to the vendor, offer her the $10 bucks I had on me, and have her sigh and hold out her hand.

If I felt guilt, I might feel guilty about getting a dress this cute for that cheap. I love the print, and it fits like a dream, although I will be getting it hemmed sometime in the near future. It's got pockets and a nylon zipper, so I'm guess it's probably from sometime in the past 10 or 15 years. I can't wait to wear it out and about.

I know that I said I'd have a lazy girl's guide to finger waves up this week, but I ended up doing another style that I made a tutorial for. Here's a little preview...

I'm going to upload more photos to my Facebook page, so please feel free to check them out! You can find me at facebook.com/cakesandcakesvintage.