And they say romance is dead?

Valentines day is fast approaching and romance is in the air, so if you are looking for somewhere to take your loved one on that special day, then look no further because there is the most perfect event coming up that will have you dancing all night in the arms of your other half.

It's a Wonderful  Vintage, Love Boat ball has been mentioned by Time out as the top pick for the best alternative valentines events so you know it's going to be good. Following on from the sell out, It's a Wonderful Winter Vintage Ball which was the Christmas party of 2011 that I was lucky to be a part of as one of the judges for the best dressed competition.

There's a snippet of the Winter Vintage ball to give you a taster of what you might be in for if you go to the love boat ball!

With some of the top UK swing bands performing at the Vintage Love Boat ball, remember to bring your dancing shoes because the floor will be filled with Lindy Hoppers from all over London. Bands for the evening are Natty Congeroo and the Flames of Rhythm and singer  Catherine Paver.

But this isn't like your normal swing gig, no sir there is something for everyone to get involved with including Swing dance speed dating, where you might find your true love in the blink of an eye, 2012 love Tarot, dance competitions and Chinese love  lantern flying, to name just a few things to keep you busy that evening.

Remember to dust off your glad rags because if there is one vintage event to get dressed up for, this is the one. After seeing the effort everyone made at the Winter vintage ball, I'm looking forward to seeing the standard at the Love boat ball. 

I'm hoping to get down there because after being a part of the last event, I can say it was like stepping back in time  and everyone looked so sophisticated. This balls theme is nautical so get thinking about your outfit now! 

It's a Wonderful Vintage Love boat ball is on the 17th February at the Battersea Barge, 9 Elms Lane, London, it's a strict ticket affair only, with tickets on sale for a mere £15, that's good value for money considering it's on from 8pm until 2am

Tickets are available from www.wegottickets.com so make sure you buy yours quickly before they sell out! Hopefully I should see you romantics there!
Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx

A step into my past

Being a lover of vintage bits and bobs, I love anything old, when I say old I mean from the 1960s backwards, whatever people say I still cannot class 80s and 90s bits as vintage, even though it is, I just see it as mass produced tat I'm afraid. So as a lover of old things, I was rather excited to hear that my uncle had found some antique suitcases in our old family home oop in Coventry. As the house had to be sold, he had a lot of clearing out to do and he has come across so much family history. That house holds a lot of memories for many members and generations of my family so we were all sad  to see it go but also very excited to see what it unleashed!

Here are the suitcases my uncle gave my mum and I (he knew we liked pointless old rubbish and knew no one else would want them)

 This one is apparently from around the 50s or 60s, I should know this really but if I'm honest, I don't tend to look at luggage from those eras, more like what goes in the luggage! I really liked the unusual way of how it zipped up, I'm so used to seeing the zips going all the way round the case, not on the top! I loved the pastel blue colour of it too, I think this was probably used by my gran and her sisters. I got to keep this one and I'm a bit upset I can't use it! Apparently it's not sturdy enough for all my belongings... well whatever do they mean?!

 This one as you can see dated back a bit further than the 50s, apparently we weren't allowed to lock it because otherwise we couldn't get it back open again, there were some faint markings of a name but we couldn't make it out, I would have loved to know who it belonged to! I love the colouring of the inside, it looks like it was built to last, more than you can say for some of the cases I cart around today!

 

We think this little beauty might have been my great grandads, I think this was probably from around the 1930s maybe? It's more modern than the previous and in a lot better condition, I would quite happily take this on little trips away with me! Don't think mumma would let me though!

 Last but not least the oldest of the bunch, now I'm not sure if it was this one or one of the ones above but apparently one was taken by my Great, great grandmother to Australia which took six weeks to get there! You cannot imagine such a journey! I love this one because it looks like it could tell a few stories, it looks as though it should be a doctors case to carry the medicines around in! Once again in great condition for how old it is, I'm guessing 19th to early 20th century?!

Ohh the stories they could tell, if only they could talk! I am looking forward to seeing what else my uncle finds! He's already found us patterns from the 40s, jewellery, a dressing table set and my favourite, family photographs! Here is some of my family history...

 These are photographs of my grans side of the family, they have been gone over in pencil and paints which was all the rage at the time!

 My great uncle Chris on the left and my great grandmother on the right, apparently I have a strong resemblance of her but I can't see it myself!

These photographs are one we have had in our hallway for as long as I can remember, look it's me again!

There is still a lot I have to learn about my family, mumma's currently trying to piece our family tree together, it's going to be a biggun, considering we had family in Wales, Denmark, Australia, you name it my family has probably been there! I can't wait to hear some of the stories she unfolds so I can carry them on to my child in the future. 

This post is probably a bit more personal than my normal ones but I thought I would share a piece of my history with you all!
Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx

Ain't that a splash on the head

Well would ya look at that August has been and gone so that means summer is well and truly over, not to say we had it in the first place but now we're into September, the leaves will be falling the nights will be drawing in etc etc, so as a way of ending the summer in style, last weekend I headed over to the 10th anniversary of the Glen Miller Festival at Twinwood in Bedford with my fella. I have to say I was a Twinwood virgin, I had never been before and if I'm honest with you I wasn't really interested in going either because it was based on 1940s swing music, which I'm afraid ain't really my thing, but I managed to wangle free tickets for me and my better half because I was helping out hosting the Tin Hat hall and was also in the top 10 of the Vintage Life glamour pageant so really I had no excuse but to go!

I did find out also that there were several rock n roll bands and a 50s dj on over the weekend so it wouldn't be all sanitized swing for me, not that I have anything against it but as some of you might know, I'm more of a rockabilly girl at heart and I find swing and jazz music just that bit too tame for my liking, but life wouldn't be exciting if we all had the same taste right?

 

Me and my fella arrived Friday afternoon to what was sodden grass, puddles and yes that dreaded word, rain and lots of it, had I somehow taken a detour and ended up at Glastonbury? Surely this wasn't it? unfortunately I was reassured I was at the correct camp site so I had no other choice other than to trundle on and get tented up, being the ditzy lady that I am, I decided not to pack any practical attire or footwear and only took dresses,sandals and suntops, a lesson that has well been learnt believe me.

For all you wannabe campers out there, rule 1. Don't wear suede Loafers, they will get ruined,
your feet will become wet and your other half will want to hit you because of moaning that your feet are wet and your shoes are now ruined.

So we managed to get the tent up without too much swearing, this was a first time for both of us, swearing and also putting up a tent, and to be honest I think we did a good job, not that I did a lot, I just sat there trying not to get wet, once that was done we went heading off for a well deserved alcoholic beverage.

Our humble abode for the weekend

There wasn't much really going on Friday night,everyone was arriving and setting up for the weekends events, it's not like your average weekender which starts Friday day time and finishes Sunday, oh no sir, all the weekends events were spread out over the Saturday, Sunday and Monday, which makes sense as it's always on the bank holiday, so people can really make the most of their long weekend off. After having a quick look about we headed back to the tent so I could put my glad rags and attempt to style my hair with a brush and not a lot else. My outfit decision was a black and white fleck wool pencil skirt, blue and white diamond sun top and my collectif cardigan with Rokit Shoes.

Outside the Tin Hat, you wouldn't think I was freezing my backside off!

I headed off to the Tin hat though and started meeting and greeting and handing the flyer's to everyone and anyone I saw, what I noticed straight away here, everyone was so friendly, which lets be honest you don't really get everywhere else so this was a refreshing sight, watching everyone walk past and listening to the music coming out of the Tin hat was really getting me in the mood for a boogie so we soon headed over to the Marquee where Strolling Steve was spinning the wax and what a great night that turned out to be, I didn't stop dancing until we were kicked out of the marquee, during that time we met some great people, who we got to know over the weekend and had a lot of laughs with.

Having a dance Friday night, no shoes, what's new, probably would explain the crippled feet

Saturday morning came around bright and early, that's definitely a downside to camping, sunrise waking you up at 6am and boy did we feel the joys of camping straight away, joints stiffening, legs numb with cold, but that is probably our fault for not thinking ahead, as usual! We had a wander around the camp and saw so many people dressed up to the nines in 40s gear, some women looked so glamorous, taking every little detail into consideration from the hair styles, the accessories and of course the outfit, then obviously there were the uniform posse,men and women wearing American and the British armed forces uniforms from the 40s, this isn't something that appeals to me really because I find a lot of 'part timers' use it as their dress up gear for 40s weekends and not a lot else but some of the men did look rather scrumptious in their uniform, as many women say, I do like a man in uniform, ooo er missus.

I got to catch up with some great friends Saturday and Sunday and also got to see some fab bands such as the one and only Si Cranstoun, who for me never puts a step wrong, I can't really remember a lot of the other bands I saw over those two days but the ones I saw I know were more 50s based so they got my seal of approval.

Myself, Graham and Clare

Si Cranstoun himself, I want him to make a work out video, it would make my life.

 

Then of course came the Vintage Life glamour pageant and I was terrified, in my long twenty one years I've only done one pin up contest before this so you could understand why my nerves were ever so slightly trembling. In the face book (wahey) contest I had managed to get to number three in the top 10 but that meant nothing to what was coming, to be honest, it wasn't all that bad, all I had to do was stand on stage while I was looked up and down like picking cows to go to slaughter.Luckily I had a friendly face keeping me company, Miss Stephanie Jay, a beaut I met at Hemsby in May.

Well whaddya know we're almost matching! Me and the gorgeous Stephanie.

 

 I didn't get anywhere, not that I minded, the ladies that came third,second and first truly deserved it and they all looked stunningly authentic, to which I didn't with my tattoos but hey ho, in the end I was glad I got it over and done with because I could go enjoy the rest of the night without having to make sure everything was looking pristine. For the contest I decided on my red satin outerlimitz sarong dress. 

Vintage Life top 10, see if you can spot me!

 

Saturday evening came around which meant more dancing, how my feet kept up I will never know, like a friend of mine said, we had to make the most of a rock n roll or rockabilly song because we didn't know when we'd hear the next one so we really did make the most of it, my feet had blisters to prove it.

When the nights events finished we trotted off to the tent and went to clean our teeth and get ready to get pneumonia, only to find out there was no water,heaven forbid how would I survive!?

Sunday followed similarly to the day before, I did manage to catch a bit of the West end hit show Million Dollar Quartet, what I saw made me want to see the show in London even more than I did  before, lots of high energy performers playing some classic hits from the magnificent four of Sun Records.

 Other bands I got to see were Lucas and the Dynamo's, a well known rock n roll band which somehow I'd managed to miss seeing all my life, so I made sure I got a glimpse of those, a really lively fun band that had the crowd jiving throughout their set.

The evening included more dancing just for a change, I helped out hosting the Tin hat for a couple of hours and even managed to be filmed for a Show Reel on Twinwood so somewhere there will be me on film, sounding like a man. Fantastic. I decided to wear a vintage 50s yellow embroidered pencil dress and matching cardigan, something a bit warmer than the rest of the weekend.

Having a dance with my fella wearing a vintage circle skirt and 49er jaceket

Unfortunately over the weekend the weather was not what I expected ,I was shivering most of it which for me did put a dampener (no pun intended) on it, not to say I didn't have a good time, if I knew then what I know now, I would have definitely been more prepared and took warmer clothes, food and drink etc because paying £6 for Chinese noodles wasn't really my idea of fine cuisine but it's festival food so I shouldn't have really expected a lot. I decided against looking at clothes stalls because I didn't take any spending money and it would have simply been torture looking at them. I'm glad I went overall but I personally wouldn't pay to go because of how much I have decided I hate camping, if someone was to loan me a caravan then without a doubt I would go again, because having to put my curlers in at 1am in the dark is rather tricky to say the least, so I definitely missed my electrical appliances.

This is what dry curlers do to my hair, this is why I use tongs.

 I know many people that are into the 'fun' of camping and the forties scene and I am not disputing them for it but for me personally it got a bit too much for me, I met some great people, a lot that had already recognised me from my face book page and UK Rock( I really do have a lot to be thankful for that magazine!) and I had a hell of a lot of laughs but gimme the Rockabilly Rave any day.

Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx



The Vanity Box hits Wildest Cats in Town

During the first weekend of July I packed my gear up again for the Teddy Boy weekend of the year, Wildest Cats in Town, luckily it's only five minutes drive up the road from me so I didn't have lots of unfortunate travelling to do unlike some people, but the downer on was getting there stupidly early before anyone else and watching my father try and work the DJ decks because the silly blue coats had mucked around with them before hand! 
I've been going to the Wildest cats (or Pakefield as it's known to some) for a good few years now and for me it had started getting a bit repetitive year upon year until this year that is!
Before I had even gone I found out some great news that the Vanity Box were going to be doing what they do best and that's hair and make up! Which obviously got me excited because it meant I would be looking immaculate the whole weekend (well at least one night before my money ran out!)

When I got there I made sure I had a good ole catch up with the ladies Gemma and Verity while they were setting up, I was happy to hear that some women had already been taking an interest in the stall and they were taking bookings!

(picture stolen from Andy Munday!)

The stall could not look more professional, as well as providing hair and make up stands for the the ladies having theirs done they also had little bits and bobs you could buy such as hair flowers, clips and earrings, perfect to make any outfit complete.

Check out all those goodies! I love the fact that they had antique Esq gold frames showing what they did
I love the fact that they did not just specialise in forties, or just in fifties but they liked to do styles with their own unique twist to styles.

Verity hard at work styling the hair of a lady for the evening, they were set up in the main entrance hall so everyone could see what was going on

Gemma concentrating on make up, I think this is such a great idea especially if you feel like having a lazy weekend, getting someone else to do the hard work and making it look doubly amazing!

Time went on so slowly.. (swoon) on Friday and I thought I'd go get my hair done  by the girls, unfortunately I had already pin curled my hair for the evenings events so Gemma offered to brush it out and style my fringe for me and I'm completely glad she did because I always have an Afro when it comes to pin curls!
(picture stoling from Luke Domingo)

And here was the end result

Unfortunately not the best shot but I think it looks great and I got great feedback (from middle aged men mind) saying how good it looked! I thought my hair had got quite long so this was the perfect length when curled for me!
Gemma did a fab job! And I know from speaking to other ladies that both her and Verity were well received and I saw many ladies having their hair styled over the weekend, one lady I saw she kept her style in the whole weekend, it shows that you are definitely getting good quality styling from these ladies!

My mum even had her hair styled by them, and even though she was nervous she was truly happy with the results she got, she wanted the Rosemary Clooney 50s style Roll and it suited her down to a tee!

You can't see her hair very well but don't her and my dad look fab! Very proud of them both as they were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary that weekend!

I was so glad to see the girls at the weekend, they kept me company definitely! I know I've wrote about them before but I really cannot praise the work they did that weekend high enough, They were so relaxed through out and were welcoming to every lady who booked with them, I have heard that they are wanted again for next year, I hope to see them again there!

The girls finishing the weekend in style

My next Post will be on outfits I wore that weekend, I don't usually do that but without blowing my own trumpet I thought I looked rather dashing haha!

Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx



Can Marc Jacobs do no wrong?

I'm going to stop apologising every blog update I do for being late now because it's getting to be somewhat the routine, I truly wish I had more time to do my blog because I would generally be doing it as often as I could however unfortunately I can't but I will always try when I can.
As I was flicking through the Evening Standard the other day I noticed a full page article on the man himself Marc Jacobs, showing his new Autumn/Winter 2011 collection, and honestly I don't think he can put a foot wrong in the world of fashion, we saw his last Autumn/Winter collection for Louis Vuitton with a tribute to the feminine fifties and this time we've seen his own collection for a space aged twist on the forties, amazing!
Everyone sits up and takes note when he shows for, be it  Louis Vuitton or his own collection and then by luck will have it you see his designs being watered down to the high street for people such as you and I to buy.
Through this collection there seemed to be a number of different influences including of course the forties but outfits to me seemed inspired by matadors and possibly the Amish? However he added a twist to some of the well cut figure hugging suits by making the trousers in latex or throwing in an overload of polka dots to it. Either way I loved it and it makes my love for Marc Jacobs even stronger, when I was just checking out his Marc by Marc Jacobs collection there was another heavily 70s influence to it, so does he love looking back on times forgotten? If he does he does it with standard by bringing alive decades slipped by. Here are some of the outfits from his Autumn/Winter collection!

Fish scale Pencil dress, I think so!

Polka dot galore in a very Dior-Esq pencil suit

The berets seem very Greta Garbo/Marlene Dietrich to me
I would love to wear this outfit in the winter, the jacket is just adorable!

Ohlaee!! I don't think this model would be going to fight any bulls dressed in this
matador inspired outfit! Especially not in those  shoes!

I love love loveee this outfit, the skirt is amazing, definitely something I would wear
it creates the perfect hourglass shape!

I've noticed that when I tend to follow  catwalk shows their the ones that relate to me the most which I generally think is a good thing!
Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx

And the addiction begins

It now seems that the only time I get a chance to do my blog is late at night, as I type this it has just gone past midnight and bizarrely I am not in bed! To be honest though if I didn't write this now I would have probably forgotten by tomorrow (well later on today) and pushed it aside! So while I'm still (half) awake I'm quickly posting before I hit the hay!

Basically I just wanted to show off a little, which if you know me, is something I like to do often enough, however good enough time to brag, while I was trailing the Internet the other day with my house mate I went on a few websites that sold Vivienne Westwood shoes, I've always adored her clothes/bags/shoes you name it, I've drooled over it and I came across the Melissa shoes, I'd seen these in past collections and fell in love immediately however they were always a bit out of my price league, once again for those who know me, over £10 is normally a no go for me! Also I had the chance to try a pair on before Christmas, hoping Father Christmas would treat me to a pair (which he didn't!) and as I tried on the heels, unfortunately I thought they were not for me, basically because my feet felt like they were in some kind of pole dancers shoe so I gave up on this dream.

Until now.. It completely slipped my mind that in these collections they also did flats! Low and behold my saviour, I went shopping with my fella recently and saw a pair for £70 (£85 on the tinterweb) and he said he would treat me to some but I... for once put my foot down and said no...until now when I came across a rather nice sale section on a Vivienne Westwood site where they were selling the Melissa flats for a damn good offer! I saw two pairs I liked, one in a size 7, one in an 8, I'm an awkward size so I didn't know what to get, and I thought well you only live once and bought both for a brilliant price and thought if one pair didn't fit I'd return them, however when I got them, they both strangely seemed to fit so I just had to keep them both! Luckily my fella stuck by his word and bought them for me ( I am at university after all, poor student and all that!) And here are my new  babies themselves:

Aren't they beautiful, I think I'm going to treasure them forever, I can officially say I own designer,

well I do own a vintage Jaegar coat but you know what I mean.

                                                               

I love them and think they go well with the majority of my vintage and repro 40s and 50s clothes because they are quite kitsch don't you think?

Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx