While England's autumnal weather sent you scurrying for your hats and jackets, I was lounging by a pool on the other side of the world, in Far North Queensland, Australia! The sunny climate provided the perfect excuse to parade about in this gorgeous 1940s swimsuit.
Monday 26 October 2009
1940s 'Roxanne' Starlet Swimsuit
While England's autumnal weather sent you scurrying for your hats and jackets, I was lounging by a pool on the other side of the world, in Far North Queensland, Australia! The sunny climate provided the perfect excuse to parade about in this gorgeous 1940s swimsuit.
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Red Hot 1940s Dress
To really do this dress justice, I went for a full vintage look by putting into practice the lessons I learned recently at Lipstick & Curls' hair and makeup class. Remarkably, my bold red lipstick stayed in place all evening (but then, I wasn’t kissing any chaps!).
The dress is a made from a deep red, raised pattern fabric. It has a little collar, sleeves that turn up at the ends, and gold button detailing on the bust. I like to wear it with the stud done up at the throat so that you only catch a glimpse of cleavage – cheeky!
Found at: Crouch End charity shop
Price: £12.00 (plus £10.00 to have some of the seams re-sewn)
Wearability factor: 9/10
Accessorise with: Flat Mary Janes so you can dance all night; a 1940s hairstyle courtesy of hot sticks; the new Maybelline 'Fatal Red' lipstick.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Vintage China Bouquet Brooches/Pins
Feeling guilty about buying fresh flowers (unsustainable growing practices / low wages for workers / use of pesticides)?
Fret no more! Ease your conscience by raiding the dusty shelves of your local charity shop for these bright little bouquets that bloom all year round. Delicately crafted in china, hand-painted and glazed, I've found pieces from Coalport, Crown and Aynsley in abundance, from as little as £1.00.
Try Etsy if you want to pin one to your lapel quick smart, and don't mind paying over-the-odds.
Found at: Save the Children, Shrewsbury & a charity shop in Crouch End.
Price: £1.00 - £5.00 each
Usability Factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: A vintage silk scarf and bright cherry lips from Lauren Luke's 'My Fierce Violets' palette.
Sunday 16 August 2009
1950s Apricot Prom Dress
Nuno is trialling menus for his new Bethnal Green restaurant which is due to open later this year - for now, guests can sample a taster menu of about 15 courses, all of which Nuno prepares in front of you in his open-plan converted warehouse.
This dress is magical. With its contrasting sturdy/floaty fabrics it almost shouldn't work, yet somehow does. I love the thick linen bodice and the dainty hand-stitched beads which adorn it. The peachy, soft silk skirt which swirls out from pleats at the waist almost catches me by surprise every time I move.
It's an incredibly feminine dress; the fragile silk and delicate beading require one to move about with grace and poise, lest any part of it catch on something and crumble!
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Found at: Blackout II, Endell Street Covent Garden, London.
Price: £50.00
Usability Factor: 2/5 (alas, it is now too fragile for frequent wear)
Accessorise with: Seamed 40s stockings and little red pumps.
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Friday 14 August 2009
1940s Velvet Wiggle Skirt
I left feeling light-headed, although that could have been the result of a number of factors: the generously flowing champagne; the tightness of my vintage skirt (motto: life is too short to wear comfortable clothing); the fantasy playing over in my head about how marvellous I would look at my next lindy hop class; or the excessive amounts of hairspray Natasha lavished on our lungs.
Skirt found at: Charity shop in Willesden Green
Usability Factor: 5/5 (if you're prepared to be short of breath all night or lose 2kg)
Accessorise with: Vintage lipstick holder, Art Deco haircomb, and a 'do by the girls at Lipstick and Curls of course (they're available for private appointments).
Quirky fact: Natasha is an amazing dancer - Lindy Hop, Balboa, etc - and runs classes at her Quick! Quick! Club near Leicester Square.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Vintage 1950s prom dress
Thursday 28 May 2009
Hoard of Gold Brooches
Usability Factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: A mannish blazer to take away that girly sheen.
Tuesday 19 May 2009
Vintage Vixen Profile: Chloe Sevigny
*sigh*...I even want her bike
I am in love with Chloe Sevigny. Or maybe it’s lust: lust for those jaunty ‘80s wayfarers she wore well before the stylists caught up; lust for the ‘50s high waisted shorts that, on her long milky legs, proclaim ‘siren’ instead of ‘sucker [for fashion]’; lust for that centre-parted blonde hair that shouldn’t work but seems to go with every outfit…
Chloe is the ultimate Vintage Vixen of our time: she was doing it long before the concept of ‘vintage’ became so diluted by the fashion industry that we accept Primark’s appropriation of the term for a 70s-inspired-£15-polyester-maxi-dress run up last week in a sweatshop in Manchester. Indeed, Chloe was doing it long before the word ‘vintage’ was common parlance at all.
For girls like myself who’ve always worn second hand stuff, it’s always looked, well, second-hand really. It’s Chloe’s insouciance that enables her to rock a tea dress with socks and sandals at Coachella (when the rest of us would just look like middle-aged German tourists on a coach tour of the pyramids). That, and her natural ability to marry quirky pieces to new stuff in one outfit and somehow make it look innocent and sassy all at the same time.
1940s Snakeskin wrist purse
This sweet and sassy little purse was another Vintage Acquistion from France. It's so tiny that it holds only my lipgloss, keys, trusty ventolin inhaler, and oyster card...but that's all a(n asthmatic) girl needs for a night out in London!
In this instance, I collected my French VA in person - bracing myself against the heaving hordes during Lille's annual La Grande Braderie . If you love junk, this 48 hour event in September should be diarised in your blackberry, with your hotel already booked if you want to attend in '09. The French go crazy, taking over kilometres of city streets to lay out granny's old tea set alongside scratched vinyl records. The rest of Europe go even crazier, with 2 million people descending on the tiny city to snap up a bargain and outdo each other in the quest to set a record for moules frites consumption. I eurostared it over with nothing more than a change of underwear and a canvas shopping trolley, and filled it to the brim.
Found at: La Grande Braderie, Lille, France
Usability Factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: A floaty amoosi dress made with reclaimed fabric, a 1940s manicure, and a vintage dance card to keep track of all those boys lining up to twirl you round the dancefloor.
Monday 4 May 2009
19th Century French Iron, Brass & Wood Veneer Bed
My biggest vintage purchase yet, this one is courtesy of ebay and was shipped over from the continent at the weekend! Cast iron French beds have been fashionable for years, so I was originally looking for something a little different - an Art Deco bed that was completely wood veneer to be precise. But with the best examples of these beds well out of my price range, this late 19th Century French bed is a happy compromise, stylishly combining the best of both worlds!
I love the cute little iron castors: luckily they're old and rusty enough to ensure that any lively night-time activity isn't going to propel the bed across the floorboards. It's only a small double, but I'll happily squeeze myself in at night if it means I awake in the morning feeling tres chic.
Found on: ebay (courtesy of Louis XV Antiques)
Usability factor: 5/5
Accessorise with: Anything that brings it into the 21st Century, such as sultry black bed linen (I'll shamelessly admit that mine is by Kylie Minogue), an artfully draped Peter Alexander Vintage Rose Gown, and the soon-to-be-single Brad Pitt perhaps?
Wednesday 1 April 2009
1950s 'Brexton' Picnic Set
Vintage Acquisition of the Day: 1950s picnic set, complete with asbestos lined thermos and original sugar cubes (plus a four-person set of side-plates, coffee cups and saucers, cutlery, tea-towel, food boxes, salt 'n' pepper shaker and glass storage jars).
This one had my name written all over it - I just couldn't resist (and a £30.00 spend on a single item is still not my most expensive outlay in a charity shop!).
It's completely unusable, and not just because of the life-threatening drink canister - no, despite its pristine condition, I just can't imagine myself lugging a suitcase-sized box of china crockery up Ally Pally.