Boho-sexy dress for a pound

For my first-ever link up, for Visible Monday and Thrifter's Anonymous, I'm wearing a contemporary thrifted dress with all vintage and second-hand thrifted accessories. Not only is this dress visible in that it makes ME pretty visible, but it was also highly visible on the sale rack of a local church charity shop .... for A POUND! (Btw, it seems like an oxymoron to have a sale rack in a charity shop, doesn't it?). Though not vintage, it's a decent knit, I loved the boho print and I thought I could funk it up with some of my thrifty and vintage finds.

I'm wearing it with a vintage statement piece necklace I found for two Canadian dollars in Toronto, a 1970s mosaic cocktail ring ($5.99 CAD at Value Village in Canada), 1970s shades ($15 and never-worn from a Toronto vintage shop), and thrifted brown faux-croc shoes made in Spain (can't remember how much I paid but I'm guessing $5.99 CAD). I added some (new, of course) brown crochet tights to sex up the look (but since the dress is so revealing I could also wear opaque tights, to make the look more casual). I've also accessorized the look with a vintage bag I've had for a while: a handmade Etienne Aigner burgundy leather handbag, which I found in a Toronto Goodwill shop for a few bucks - way! (I've seen them online from $35 USD to $100+).

Aigner was a Hungarian-born designer who started making handbags in the 1950s in Paris for the likes of Dior, them moved to New York - he died in 2000 but his company still exists. His work is known for its craftsmanship and its signature (and also patented) buckle, which you see here. I can't find the source for this at the mo, but when I first found this bag I did some research and discovered that early Aigner bags are in this shade of leather as the designer was cash-strapped, and the burgundy leather was cheaper than the other shades. Not sure if that makes this bag more valuable or less, but I just love that historical tidbit!

Oh: almost forgot to say that I'm wearing the dress back-to-front - I instinctively put it on that way as as I tend not to look good in scooped or v-necks, but better in boat-neck styles. I'm digging being somewhat "covered up" up top - it balances out the dress's clingy-ness and its short length. Then again, if you see the scoop neck from the back, you may think I'm being impossibly tarty!! But I don't think so ....