A quick snippet of Spring/Summer 2012 Couture

As a fashion promotion student, I am meant to know what's going on where and when and who's going to it... or so they say! Part of this includes looking at all the catwalks of every fashion week from every country going... BORING! Obviously I'm a great lover of fashion, I wouldn't have spent the last five years studying it if that wasn't the case, but I like to check out what’s happening, who's doing what, in my own time.

Like last week, I decided to have a look on style.com as I hadn't in so long and realised it was Couture week in Paris, woops, totally forgot about that one (bad fashion student!) I love couture collections because I find it's a way for the designers to go all out in individual pieces. So I started looking through and noticed a lot of the collections had a definite vintage feel to them... I always like looking at collections like this because it makes me feel nostalgic and all warm and fuzzy because they're creating pieces that look like they've stepped out of my favourite eras, if a designer can do that than they've got my vote!

I know I tend to write more about vintage and pin up stuff but I see if contemporary designers are creating retro inspired bits then it needs to be celebrated, so here are a few of my favourite outfits from the Spring/summer couture shows.

First we have my favourite designer of all time, Christian Dior, after all the controversy that happened with John Galliano at Dior, Bill Gaytten has currently took the reins for his second couture show at Dior, and this one showed the New Look from a different angle, using extravagant sheer fabrics and heavily constructed garments that gave it a retro, lady like feel but still made it look very edgy.

I love this outfit, it is something that could easily be worn out for dinner, the red and white dog tooth gives it that vintage feel; however the sheer cross over jacket with the bow on the side makes it look distinctive yet chic.

This dress just reminded me of Betty Draper from Mad Men, such a simple pencil dress but the detailing in the fabric is phenomenal, I love the gradient from black to white, so classic, I love that it is kept simple with just a necklace for accessories.

The finale pieces are always amazing, I must admit I did think at first these girls looked a bit like toilet roll holders but I still adore the detailing of the skirts. Bill Gaytten has dramatised the new look and made the focus of the hourglass very powerful but yet it is still elegant.

It makes me wonder how much fabric goes into pieces such as this one because look at all that net!! This piece is kept retro with the polka dot print on the bodice of the dress and the giant bow on the models waist, how cute! Once again I love the different shades in the skirt; it brings the garment to life!

Next designer is Alexis Mabille, now I'm going to be honest I hadn't really heard of this designer before but their collection really stood out to me, I think it was more from a styling point of view rather than the designs themselves. Here's a few that caught my eye.

 The style of this dress was so eye catching to me, I wouldn't completely say it's got that vintage style to it but it's a great pencil dress and they look good on anyone! I love the lace detailing on the sides so it creates an hourglass shape which every lady wants of course!

 This, I thought was just beautiful, the embroidery and the detailing, not forgetting the gorgeous aqua shade of the dress itself, if it was just a tad longer it would be the perfect evening dress to a vintage ball!

Ahh I love this one, so elegant and I love the layering of the skirt, it looks like a lace petticoat, so pretty and the colour is so calm and classic. What I love about this whole collection is the giant flowers on the models head and the matching coloured faces, it made quite a simple and classic collection have that wow factor, and this is why I love styling! 

Finally we have Elie Saab, I just wanted to try on every single dress in this collection, oh it was so glamorous, the colour palette was truly beautiful and every dress looked like it could have been something Grace Kelly would have worn! 

Pastel greens and pinks were the colour palette for this collection, you can see how much thought went into each dress because of all the detailing in the print and the embellishment, The bottom left picture reminds me of something Grace Kelly wore once I think to an award ceremony, the high neckline is so flattering and feminine, it just oozes forties glamour. The one on the right I love it has such a strong hour glass shape to it and I love the round neckline, this style was quite popular in the fifties and sixties and it just suits the style of this dress so much, I want it in my life!! I think I am partial to a bit of pastel colouring at the moment, which is never a bad thing!!

So there we have a snippet of the spring/ summer couture collections I love

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

London calling at Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair

Wow, I cannot believe how behind I have got on my blog, slap on the wrist for me! University has now completely took over my life and it will for the next six months... sad times ahead!

On a more positive note, last month I went to Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair where I got invited to blog about the event(I failed at that clearly ha!) because they were celebrating the four capitals of style with the fact that the fashion weeks were going on at the time, as part of my blogging I had to pick a city of my choice, and being patriotic I chose good ole London town.

Here are a few of the things I found which I thought were suited to London :

Farmer tweed caps, lovely stuff

I adore old suitcases, imagine some of the stories they could tell...

 Handbags like this are my favourite, so pretty and you can fit EVERYTHING in them, what's not to like?

I loved the way the store holders put so much detail into their displays, this reminded me of Miss Marple with the fox fur and the hat!

Winters coming! I did consider buying it but my eyes wandered elsewhere... It reminded  me of the 1940s land girls and is also so on trend with some of the printed jumpers on the high street currently.

 

This was from an alteration stall that was just outside the fair, make do and mend is as strong as ever!

Anita picked this out for me, 1930's nightwear and also very Alexa Chung, don't you think?

I saw these illustrations and fell in love, their from the late 19th century/ early 20th century

and I thought they were so quaint! I do love a good illustration.

Rule Britannia!!  I Wish British companies would make tins for their products like this today,

their so sweet and really collectibles!

Fellow blogger Jen of JJ noir, also a UCA student, great to meet her and we loved sourcing goodies!

These are some flyer's of one of the stalls, Rhapsody Rags, I had to snap them because of the London Mod imagery they had on their cards!

I made a friend don't you know! I wanted this mannequin so much with old newspaper cuttings plastered all over it, and the 90s Moschino jeans!

The fair itself, lots of busy shoppers having a rummage!

I shouldn't have tried this dress on because I fell in love, a reproduction 50s dress.

It fitted like a dream but was a little out of my price league, maybe next time!

The royal jewels, you've got to love a bit of bling.

The lovely DJ spinning the wax with music from the fifties and sixties, I was in my element!

Women even got to have their hair styled, I got asked if I'd had my hair done by them, I wish!!

London Style

These are just a few shoppers I snapped because I loved their style, what London is known for!

Loved this ladies outfit and the mismatch of prints, it worked so well!

This lady was trying this original Victorian dress on, you have to have a lot of confidence

to wear something like this, and she looked great!

anddddd finally these are my two little goodies that I picked up, I apologise for the rubbish quality image  but I purchased a vintage 50s beaded sweater and repro cats eye glasses, both for just over £30! Can't complain with that one even if I do say so!

I adored working at the vintage fair and would love to have the chance to do it again, all being well I'd be a bit more on time with everything by then! If you love a good bargain check Anita's fairs out, you never know what you might find, the garments, jewellery and handbags range from over 80 years, you can't get more vintage than that can you?!
Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx