Monthly Archives: August 2011

A very special dress

Posted in 40s, advantage in vintage, cameo, Hope and Harlequin, novelty by

My blog post today is all about one little dress. This absolute STUNNER of a dress was one of my 21st birthday presents (i had chosen it before mind you). I am normally a huge 50s fan, but this dress creeps into the earlier decade.

My main reason for loving this dress is the print. I have a real thing for novelty prints, and I adore the quirky cameos in bold colours that hark to a previous era. They sort of remind me of Wedgwood porcelain. This dress screams “conversational print”.

Another reason for loving this dress is the zipped sleeves. The dress has incredibly narrow sleeves, the look created with zips on each sleeve. I have another beautiful silk 40’s dress with sleeves like these. They just scream elegance to me.

I also love the typical 40s combination of the peplum and shoulder pads. Its so nice to feel the quality of the older shoulder pads such as these which are softer and less spongy than their eighties counterparts. You can see in the pic too how the shoulder pad has been finished by hand. This dress being made before overlockers really came to popularity.

What i wonder most about this dress though is where is it from??? I am guessing it is American (i’ve had a few very similar crepe de chine dresses from across the pond before). But, there is the remnants of a shop label. I wonder where it might have been from originally?

I bought the dress from Hope and Harlequin in Brighton, probably my favourite vintage shop EVER (It’s the main reason why i went from a casual vintage buyer to a complete vintage obsessive). I really do recommend visiting the shop, I don’t think i have ever been there and not bought something!

I will be sure to update soon when i find an occasion to wear the little beauty too!

More 21st celebrations

Posted in 21, blanes, The Dorchester, Vintage by
Yesterday was my 21st birthday and was possibly one of the most wonderfully perfect days of my life.
I started off the day at my Mum’s house in Romsey. This lovely selection of presents was awaiting me when I awoke in the morning!

Then we went off up to good old London town for a delectable Afternoon tea at the Dorchester (pretty appropriate as this week is national afternoon tea week!) I can’t recommend the Dorchester highly enough. The food was sublime and the service was wonderful. I was expecting it to be stuffy and pretentious but our waiters were so friendly in a completely genuine way. I think my favourite thing was the little square chocolate cake you can see on my plate in the picture. Incredibly rich but delicious.
bubbly on the train

My cousin and I

With the G.P.s

It was a great excuse for me to wear one of my lovely vintage dresses. This one is my Blanes one that I bought at Vintage @ Southbank. It’s a pretty perfect fit I have to say! I decided to wear it without the Bolero as I find it restricts my arm movement a bit. 

Then I made a quick pit stop at home before I was off again to my friend Stef’s house. We share our Birthday. Again here I am in yet another piece of vintage Blanes (oh how I love blanes). I reckon this dress is early sixties. It’s a quite heavy cotton pique and again fits like a glove. I am actually going to dedicate a whole blog post to this dress soon, entitled “vintage snap” as i actually have two of these dresses! This lovely blue one and another in white and black too!
As you can see from my pictures I was a tad worse for wear (oopsie diaisy) and therefore probably the picture that shows my dress best is of my dear friend Stef drying my dress with a hairdryer after I spilt drink all over it. I may be 21 but I don’t think I will ever learn.

21st Birthday loveliness

Posted in advantage in vintage, mela mela vintage, The vintage hair lounge by

My Post today is a little off topic. I normally try and keep my posts to just talking about vintage, but this time i want to speak about vintage and my love for my friends.

Last night i had my 21st birthday party. I was wearing a dress i had chosen specially for the occasion. It was an amazing 50’s ballgown, which i bought from one of my favourite vintage shops Mela Mela Vintage in Teddington. Do visit their website, melamela.co.uk they have some absolutely wonderful stuff. The ladies in the shop too aren’t pushy they really helped me to choose a dress for my party that suited me, yet was totally show stopping! I’m guessing the dress is probably an American prom dress. I reckon its probably a mid fifties piece (typical mid fifties centre back zip and the strapless style just screams this to me!) Here are a few pics of the dress from the very beginning of the night.


You may also notice i have pretty spectacular hair and make up (The lipstick is still on now!!!) i had this done at the Vintage Hair Lounge in Southampton (where i currently have some of my vintage clothing for sale) http://www.vintagehairlounge.com. Sharon and Gloria really did a wonderful job and made me feel incredibly glamorous. The look i went for was heavily inspired by the wonderful Elizabeth Taylor.

And now onto the party itself. I had an amazing cocktail party which was topped off by my beautiful vintage cocktail cabinet from Flo and Stan in Southsea, it just fits so fabulously! We drank  Mojitos, Woo Woos and Pina Coladas, they were delish and suitably alcoholic.

I have to say a HUGE thank you for my friends who travelled the 160 miles (or maybe more) to come down to Romsey for my party. A special thank you to my dear friend Caroline too, We’ve known each other 17 years and  I can’t believe she is still putting up with me! (she is the girl in the red top and black pencil skirt) All of my friends looked wonderful, and really made me feel special, and also a massive thank you to my Mum and Aunt for being Barmaids extraordinaire and making sure my party went off without a hitch!