Tag Archives: vintage

The tale of a showstopping wedding dress

Posted in 40s, lotus, rationing by
Today I wanted to share with you one of my latest additions to my collection and a piece that I know will never leave me.

The dress in question is this stunning wedding dress. The dress date to 1948 and demonstrates the vogue in the UK for 30s styled bridal gowns in the late 1940s when the “new look” was still in its infancy. The dress features typical characteristics that replicate Hollywood style 30s glamour with its gently padded shoulder fishtail hem and slim sleeves.  The dress- to my mind- also has elements of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress,  with the shaping at the neckline and slim sleeves (I am sure she had a huge influence on wedding fashions seeing as she married just a year before this wedding dress was produced!)

                                                                    (apologies for the wonky pic, i was trying to show off the hem to its best advantage!)

This dress though is not just any old (beautiful) wedding dress. I recently acquired two pairs of beautiful platform 1940s shoes and this is actually the wedding dress of the same lady. You can read all about them here. This means that I now have her wedding ensemble dress, shoes and veil. I feel a certain sense of pride and happiness that i can keep the legacy of this evidently very stylish woman going by keeping the three elements of her wedding ensemble together. What I found amazing is that such glorious items could have been purchased on post war ration coupons. I imagine that she must have been a relatively wealthy lady to have afforded such beautiful shoes and dress, although she must have had to scrimp on other items of clothing to have enough coupons to buy the dress and shoes.
The original owner of the dress and shoes died in April and I hope that I can keep a little bit of her legacy going by keeping the items together. Whilst I don’t intend to wear the dress (despite it being a perfect fit) it really does demonstrate a certain vogue in wedding dress styles at the end of the 1940s and will still  be put into good use, as I will be taking it to talks with me in the near future.

Swishing about in a Horrockses

Posted in 50s, Horrockses by

I am currently VERY briefly back in Hampshire (I was doing a tres exciting photoshoot for which i will reveal details about soon).

Anyway…this afternoon, considering I had an ENITRE CASE of Horrockses with me i thought, what better opportunity is there to take lots of pics of me swishing about in one of my all time favourite dresses?

You can read more about this c.1958 Horrockses dress here

And the bike is my Mums latest acquisition(which i am currently trying to persuade her to “donate” to me) it is a 1950s Raleigh.

Book review: Fashion sourcebook-The 1920s

Posted in Uncategorized by




I love a good book. Whether it be fiction or non fiction there is nothing better than an afternoon snuggled on the sofa reading.
One of my recent purchases was Fashion sourcebook: 1920s by Emmanuelle Dirix and Charlotte Fiell.
WOW what a book! I’ve had this book for about three months but finishing my degree has finally given me the opportunity to browse it properly and it really is showstopping. Not only is this book beautiful throughout but it also contains interesting and insightful information in it.
I’ve just highlighted a few of my favourite images here.


(apologies for the rubbish quality of the images, the book was too big to go my scanner and scan properly!)

The great thing about this book is that it doesn’t just use the standard 20s stock images you see from Vogue. Almost all of the images come from the Fiell archive and I doubt in the whole (over 500 page) book there are more than 20 images I have seen before. Every time you turn the page it is a visual feast of Deco glamour with both original illustrations and photographs from the period. Included in the book is daywear, eveningwear, lingerie, shoes, hats and lesiurewear.
This book also has wide ranging appeal. Great for fashion history enthusiasts but also an excellent t resource for those interested in fashion illustration and fashion students too.
So yes, go out and buy this!!!
A 1930s sourcebook will also be available in June.