Tag Archives: advantage in vintage

It’s all a bit NEW

Posted in Uncategorized by

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are still able to find me here on my spangly new website. After four writing over on queen-tree.blogspot.co.uk I decided it was time for an update. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for an absolute age (I’ve owned this new domain name since January) but simply haven’t got around to! So why the change? Mostly I was fed up with the sheer volume of spam I was getting through blogspot, but also I wanted something that looked a little more professional, and also user friendly. I hope everyone finds this is the case when they are reading it!

So, I would much appreciate if anybody who has links to my blog in their blogroll would kindly change it over to this blog address instead! The same goes for following on bloglovin’ and networked blogs. You can even now follow this blog via subscription! 

AND on the subject of newness I not only have a spangly new blog, but I also have now opened an Etsy shop which is filled with lovely vintage goodies. I am still selling over on ebay, but I will be slowly but surely moving the majority of my business over to Etsy. If you are a liker on my facebook page there is a special discount code you can use there too!

 

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And because my posts are never complete without a few pictures here I am in my New Horrockses (yeah…Oranges AND Lemons)

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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!

Vintage obsessions: Alice Edwards

Posted in advantage in vintage, Alice Edwards by

I THINK after Horrockses this may well be my next favourite label. I am yet to find an Alice Edwards dress that I don’t like! It appears that in the 50s there were at least two lines produced. Some of the dresses are labelled “An Alice Edward’s Italian”. This seemed to be the day wear range and often features beautiful floral dresses in glazed cottons. This is one of my own dresses;





The other range in the 50’s was the “Alice Edward’s goes places” label which seemed to be the more formal line with evening dresses and cocktail dresses too. This example comes from the Hampshire museum service collection. It is a red synthetic fabric with lurex threads woven into it. Very stylish! This dress date from between approximately 1955-59.
HMCMS:BWM1967.624


Into the 1960s the Alice Edwards line seemed to produce dresses simply with the Alice Edwards simple label in. This is another example from the Hampshire museum service collection. It dates to c.1965
HMCMS:C1984.122

The earliest advertisements for Alice Edwards that I have found date to 1955. These adverts seem to suggest it to be a “new” line. So potentially this is when it started.

Alice Edwards dresses seem to command some pretty high prices (i’ve seen them at over £300 on a few occasions) although it is a label i can not find ANYTHING about. If anyone has any more info i would love love love to know.