Thursday 18 August 2011

Champagne in a tea cup... Well it can only be the Vintage Patisserie


At the end of last year and beginning of this year I bagged myself a placement at the fabulous Vintage Patisserie: Angel Adoree and her tremendous team turn dreams into realities with their vintage tea parties they put on in and around the London area. During my time there I did a lot of researching and bits and bobs here and there towards the then up and coming Vintage Tea party book and I learnt a lot about myself and about the Vintage Patisserie and all in all had a top notch time!
A lot of time had passed and before I knew it I saw plugs for the book being released on Amazon and I was pleasantly surprised when I got an invite through the door a few weeks back saying that I had been invited to Angel's Vintage Tea party book launch, even though I was stuck in the middle of nowhere in deepest darkest Lowestoft, I made sure that I managed to get my backside down to London for the party of the season!
I wish all invites looked like this!

 I wasn't really sure of what to wear as this was my first launch party (oh I felt all grown up!)  so I decided on something simple yet glam, a vintage black velvet pencil skirt and a peach embroidered blouse with heels, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my outfit because I was in too much of a rush!  (my feet felt like they were likely to drop off after getting back to my friends). But I trundled along to 93 feet east in Brick Lane and was greeted by one of the ladies from the Patisserie straight away.

Lauren and another beaut from the Patisserie

As I wandered around I was glad to see friendly faces who I'd worked with all those months ago and also saw other faces I recognised such as Gizzi Erskine, the TV presenter and chef and the Vintage Socialite Fleur De Guerre. The girls from the Patisserie were gliding round keeping the guests happy and making sure our cups were full of Champagne or Gin, yum yum  I was more than happy sipping taking the enchanting atmosphere in. I got talking to the lovely Gerado of Vintage Victory, what a super Gent! and looking very dapper I must say! By the looks of it everyone was having the time of their lives,women walking around with Victory Rolls in their hair and Angel was kept busy socialising with everyone, which must have took a long while because it was absolutely packed!!



There was a 40s style french swing band on who really got the crowd going and there were some great Lindy hoppers dancing along, this was Lindy hop at it's best, I'm not usually a big fan of it but I was in aw of it! This really livened the party up and everyone was dancing their socks off, it really was the perfect Vintage tea party.

 These two were fantastic, I really enjoyed watching them! I'd love to give it a go but I think I'd end up tripping over my feet, I'll stick to jiving I think!
I didn't stay too long but had a grand time when I was there and it was really great to see Angel and her ladies again, I do miss them all very much, so I'm hoping when I graduate she will have me back!
I even managed to wangle a goodie bag and it sure as hell lived up to it's name!
Look at all the goodies I got!! I was getting a bit low on stocking and nail polish so I was more than happy with these!

A little chocolate, it didn't last long trust me, it looked too good to eat!!
The book and goodie bag!!


Lookie look!! Angel mentioned me in the book for helping out! I feel honoured!
This really made me smile, I have to say!
I managed to have a look at the book when I was on the tube and it is truly an amazing book, there has been so much thought and effort into it, it's beautiful, the design, the recipes, everything about it, I can't wait to read it properly and try out (well attempt) some of the recipes, ha me and cooking, I should be so lucky!!
So if you've not picked a copy up yet, buy one because it is worth every penny!

Angel and the ladies of the Vintage Patisserie

Until Next Time
Toodle Pip
xxx

Sunday 7 August 2011

The hour... well and truly gone by


You might have seen advertised on television recently a programme set in the 1950s named The Hour, a short series based around the BBC. The British equivalent to the world reclaimed Mad Men, well that's what I heard anyway.
I've been trying to watch the Hour on and off when it's been on and I've got to say its a funny one. I know something is never going to be as authentic as the real thing because of course that time has been and gone, but that authenticity for me isn't there.I suppose because I'm such a big fan of Mad Men, the Hour had a lot to live up to. Where Mad Men has everything right down to the tiniest detail by getting truly antique bits and bobs (I've read up on it, that's how much of a dork I am), The Hour just doesn't look like they've made that much effort and it almost looks quite happy shopper I think. But then I do suppose it is down to budget and it seems the Americans had a whole bigger budget than the English.

I know as I said it has a lot to live up to in my eyes from Mad Men, for instance Mad Men is set in 1960s and the Hour is set in 1956 in post war Britain so the glamour isn't necessarily there however Britain and America were very different places during that time.
Saying that though I do think some of the outfits that the actresses wear in it are truly beautiful and have made me crave a vintage knit pencil dress but as I've got literally next to nothing on the expenses side I've got to let that one go... oh a girl can dream. I find that the main character Bel Rowley wears some classic dresses but yet the stylists have rather let her down because her hair has no authenticity to it and frankly I think looks quite scruffy for a main character, which is also similar to the male cast, now I know it may appear biased as I'm some what a 50s enthusiast and I know the quiff wasn't a popular style in all men during the era but I also think that their hair could do with a good brush and need a dollop of black and white grease or bryll cream! I personally don't think that the outfits of this series won't be as influential as what Mad Men was, which is a shame because it is often nice to see some key pieces on the high street.

Bel Rowley played by Romola Garai

Freddie Lyon played by Ben Whishaw

The sets are great and a lot of it is still very art deco which it was at the time, but I think some of them looks too well put together so it doesn't appear natural, it still looks good and would make amazing sets for shoots but once again it isn't as natural as Mad Men which could just about been made during the 60s.
What is similar in the two programmes is that they're both quite long winded which I like because you get to pay attention to some of the smaller details (hence this blog ha!).

I generally like the idea of the programme and I do think the story lines work perfectly, with murder,conspiracy and a bit of naughtiness on the side however I find that they tend to name drop a bit too much for it to be completely authentic, like they are trying to prove that it is set in the 50s, for example 'I've got Bill Haley's records' or 'I've got to go Jive', a bit cheesy don't you think?
I do think for anyone who hasn't seen it, it's definitely worth a look especially for anyone who is interested in vintage drama because like I said, the story lines are great and I do like the programme however I think some of the styling aspects haven't been addressed but who am I to judge, they did a lot better job than I ever could! I think I'm just too much of a geek and think if it isn't the real thing it's just no good, pfft what a load of old rubbish!
Until Next Time
Toodle Pip
xxx