So I like to show off

Yes I do, I love to show off, so I thought I would show you lovely lot my work I've been doing at uni, as final year has taken over and I have lost the will to live but I like to think the work I've done makes up for it. I've decided that for my final year I'm going to play to my strengths and create work that suits my style and my interests because even though I love love LOVEEEE mainstream fashion, it just isn't me, as some of you would probably be able to tell!

So for my first project of final year I had to choose a brand to create an accessories range for, I chose the burlesque and cabaret club, Madame Jojo's, I worked together with my lovely friend Sarah and together we came up with a burlesque inspired bra range!

I  thought by using a club it was something a bit different to the normal handbag accessory range and it gave me something a bit more exciting to explore and I could use the excuse of 'research' to go out and have some fun!

Here are some of the images that I styled for it, I did a still life and model shoot, hope you like them!

 

My two favourite shots and what  a fantastic model, Shell Diablo, photography by 

Eddy Shaw and hair by Verity of the Vanity Box, amazing!

 We were lucky enough to shoot at the Dollhouse in Bishop gate, London, such 

a fabulous little club hidden away in the city, I must go there on a night out because
it's such an intimate venue with some great original features such as Victorian tiling, wowee!

Here are some of my still life shots that was shot at uni:

So these are some of my faves, I could have put loads up but I thought I'd choose my best because you don't want to see it all either,

I think I'm starting to like styling again so I'm not sure if this is the career path I want to go down but I think I'd like to do it on the side because I think I'm better at the more retro, styling than mainstream
I would love to hear any comments and opinions you've got!

I do apologise  for the naffness of this post, I've not got much writing inspiration but don't worry it'll come to me!

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



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

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



Rave today gone tomorrow

I've just returned from the 15th Anniversary Rockabilly Rave, I cannot believe how quick it's been and gone, unfortunately I thought it wasn't one of the best, it had a strange ol' kind of atmosphere going on, not to say that I didn't enjoy it, it was the Rave of course I did! But it was just a bit flat for me I think, but never mind I had a lot to drink, spent far too much money on clothes and burgers and overall had a giggle!  Here's a few pics of the outfits I wore over the few days

Wearing my vintage Hawaiian sarong dress with friends Graham and Julie, this dress
I bought at Hemsby a couple of years ago and was a bit of a tight squeeze, pity it didn't bring the sunshine out! I thought my flask matched quite well though don't you think?

Vintage one shouldered Aqua embroidered dress made from what looks to be Sari fabric with my fella,
we didn't mean to be matching but I think he scrubs up well when he wants to!  When I first bought this dress it was in a sorry state and also nearly was again when the shoulder ripped so I had to change quick!

Sunday night with the ladies wearing my vintage green halterneck

pencil dress and matching jacket, completely a play it safe outfit for me!

Unfortunately I didn't get to see a lot of the bands because I was too busy eating most of the times or shopping, yes I'll say shopping that's what us girls do! But the bands I did see were super, The Rhythm Shakers on Thursday night probably would have to be the top one of the weekend for me, I've loved these guys and girls for a while now and the rave was the first time I had got to see them, the rest of the wild records artists topped the bill on the Sunday night to a great response from the crowd and of course Saturday showed us the Inferno's( my all time favourite band!) and The Bellfuries who I had doubts about because they only played the rave last year but they blew us away again, the singers voice still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end!

I managed to pick up a few bits and bobs over the weekend including another pair of Capri pants in a beautiful aqua colour... I have 9 pairs now!! I will be able to stop wearing my jeans soon! A lovely printed circle skirt from the Car boot... Yes I managed to get up for the car boot, the first weekend in god knows how many years but I did it! Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea so it was heaving but I came away with my skirt so I was content when I went back to bed. I also bought a vintage white jewellery set and black beaded sweater, good weekend buys I'd say!
I generally had a blast this weekend spending time with close friends and making new ones.
I apologise for this post being a bit short and is a general overview, I'm finding it quite difficult to get motivated at the moment so am running low on ideas but as soon as I get one you lot will be in for a treat!
Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx

Kicking the summer off with some snaps

I came back to Lowestoft on Wednesday for three whole months, in this time I'm meant to get a head start on my dissertation, figure out what I want to do for my FMP, work and have a social life? How this is going to happen is beyond me. But I thought I'd start the holiday off with a little photo shoot on Thursday evening, it was at a place called Baconthorpe castle near Cromer, I'd never even heard of this and I've lived in the area all my life, sheltered life maybe? I found out it was going to be a group shoot with six photographers and three models so I was quite excited, but I also found out it was castle ruins not exactly a castle so I was a bit wary of how "Pin up" would work, but I got myself ready and away I went.

Here are some images from the group of photographers I worked with:

This was by Mark Whitmore, I think it looks quite moody and mysterious,

 even if I do look a bit young!

Love this by Andy Robinson!

Doesn't look like the average pin up and in

my comfy clothes too!

Love the vintage feel this one has to it by Andy Robinson!

I seemed to stay in this part of the ruins most of the shoot which I was a tad disappointed about because there were so many other parts to explore!

I adore this shot by Lynton Smith, the cropping of it is just amazing!

A shot by David Abbott, love the composition again, even though I was very uncomfortable
in rather tight Capri pants!!

And last but not least a finishing shot by Dean Mitchell
the angle is just so clever and like Dean said to me "this is my castle and what"

A fantastic shoot with a lovely bunch of photographers where I got some great shots for my portfolio I think!
The majority of the outfits I wore for this shoot are vintage minus the black Capri pants which were from Freddies of Pinewood, a fab repro jeans company, check them out!

I hope to go back to Baconthorpe to do more of a darker gothic shoot because I think the location is more suitable to that rather then Pin up! So keep your eyes peeled

Until Next Time

Toodle Pip

xxx