Saturday 27 February 2010

Film Costume Wish List

Over at Wearing History, a fascinating discussion about what outfits from the movies you would like to have has been running for a while, so I'd like to present my own wish list! I've always loved Katharine Hepburn's sheer spot dressing gown from Bringing Up Baby since I was a girl, so that's top of my list.

Next I'd have to go for one of Grace Kelly's outfits from Rear Window - the pale green suit she wears, and when she removes the jacket, the beautiful white silk halterneck blouse she has underneath.

Finally, every single outfit Gene Tierney wears in Leave Her To Heaven is to die for!

This Weekend in Wales: Burlesque and Vintage Events

There are quite a few events happening this weekend to cheer us up here in Wales after our defeat at the hands of the French last night in the Rugby! Today I popped into Buffalo Bar to the Vintage Pretty fair, a new monthly event where a select handful of stallholders offer an assortment of hand-made gifts. On offer were crocheted brooches, pin-up hair flowers, some cute bags (one with a teapot and cup design that nearly tempted me for £10) the odd bric-a-brac item and a fair selection of jewellery, but not much in the way of vintage items. I'll save myself until tomorrow for that fix as I'll be heading to the Vintage Fashion Fair being held in Cardiff City Hall. The last one through Blind Lemon Events I attended was very good, concentrating on items from the 1950s and earlier, so I'm hoping tomorrow's won't have too much of the later stuff. I'm really after a 1940s or 1950s day dress as most of my vintage and vintage-inspired wardrobe is a little dressy for the daytime.

As far as burlesque entertainment goes, tonight is The Mad Hatters Burlesque Tea Party in Carmarthen, and tomorrow evening here in Cardiff the troupe from Burlesque Cardiff will be presenting Cymru Am Byth (Wales Forever). I'm not able to attend either of these events so will just have to settle for staying in and watching a bit of Dita on DVD to make up for it!


Thursday 25 February 2010

We All Love a Raffle

Any excuse to enter a competition for me! Last year I won a teapot, and I'm now hankering after the 'Bits and Pieces' tin and other lovely items that Yesterday Girl is offering in her giveaway. Currently my bits and pieces are shamefully in a plastic carrier bag hanging on the back of my door - I'm just crying out for a tin like this one!

Vintage-inspired Floral Textiles in M&S

I'm so proud of one of my oldest friends, the fabulous textile designer Victoria Purver, who currently has some vintage-inspired floral designs in Marks and Spencer's bedding range! Here are a couple of pictures - the ranges are called 'In Bloom', 'Vintage Hydrangea' and 'Dragonfly', so you can search for these on the M&S website. The 'In Bloom' duvet is already out of stock but fingers-crossed they re-stock quickly!









To see some more of her gorgeous designs visit www.victoriapurver.com

Sunday 21 February 2010

Vintage Inspired Purchases

Being a tall, modern woman with fairly large feet I can never find vintage shoes to fit, but there are some pretty fantastic reproductions and vintage-inspired shoes available on the high street, so I don't feel I'm missing out too much. At the moment I'm hankering after a couple of pairs of shoes in Hobbs: a pair of sandals that make me think of the 40s with their luscious apple-green colour, and some black crossover evening shoes that remind me of a pair Lauren Bacall wears in a photo I've seen. I've resisted so far, but they're both on sale so I'm massively tempted.





What I have bought in the last couple of weeks:
- 20's style grey wool cloche hat from Accessorize (£7.60!)
- a red Edwardian style parasol/umbrella from TK Maxx (£7.99)
- a pair of brogue type shoes, also from TK Maxx (£23)





I'm selling off lots of old clothes and accessories on ebay presently, so if I turn a profit perhaps I'll visit Hobbs online!

Saturday 20 February 2010

A view of the future of fashion from 1930

I thought I'd start my new blog with an amusing video clip I found - a 1930 prediction of how fashion would be in the year 2000!



They didn't get all of the predictions quite right (and others are spookily spot on as my friend Kitty pointed out), but I wonder if they would feel proud if they knew that some of us today still want the look they had back then? On the opposite end of the scale, there are some people today who want the latest, cutting edge looks, not realising that it's all been done before and probably had its origins in their grandmothers' time! I was watching 'On the Avenue' recently, a film from 1937, where in the opening scene an actress is wearing a figure-hugging black wet-look dominatrix type dress (you have to see it to believe it!) that would not look out of place being worn by Cheryl or Danni on The X-Factor! Now, if that's not proof that it's not all been done before then I don't know what is.
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