Style Icon -- Sophia Petrillo

Picture it. My living room. This morning. An old episode of "The Golden Girls" is on TV. Blanche, that meddling flirt, has just completed a make-over on sassy Sicilian Sophia Petrillo, dolling her up in a tight red dress and making her take her glasses off. And a light bulb goes on over my head. Just what was so wrong with her style before the makeover, I wondered? The vintage wicker purse, the big glasses, the stylish cardigans and blouses and dresses, oh my! She may have been the oldest of the ladies living in that house, but her get-ups were generally much better than some of the crazy things Blanche and Dorothy came up with! (I recall a lot of shapeless blouses, often in metallic fabrics....)

So I decided to see how easily I could reconstruct the iconic Mrs. Petrillo using finds from Etsy! The wicker and bead purse being the most recognizable item, I started with that first. Sadly, I didn't find anything that was a near-exact replica, though I did find multiple wicker purses that were cute cute cute! Probably the closest I got was this beaded wicker purse from VivDelight:



I then went looking for a pair of those big framed glasses she wears so proudly. Those were a bit easier, with multiple options. Probably closest would be this pair from maijutzeler:



Shoes were next. I don't recall Sophia's shoes as well, so I opted for these gold snakeskin shoes by VintageEyeFashion...low heels with some cool detailing to them, but nothing crazy!



Then came the really fun part! The outfit itself! I paired a sweet pink-and-brown plaid skirt from Thrush with a pale pink tie-necked blouse from allencompanyinc, and topped it off with a lovely cream cardigan from prettylittleworld!



And there you have it! Sophia Petrillo, reconstructed! With the possible exception of the crazy-big glasses, all of the pieces would slot nicely into the average gal's modern wardrobe, either worn together or separately! And perhaps instead of big retro glasses, you could try big retro sunglasses!

Keep in mind, there were other options for this style icon reconstruction, of course! Multiple tie-necked blouses and dresses, other wicker purses, other cardigans...Etsy is just a treasure-trove of vintage finds!