Truely an amazing Grace

This week I went on a two day trip to London with my parents as a little trip away (I've noticed how different it is in the distance when I live at home to when I live at University, a trip to London from home is a biiiig deal, where as at university it's as easy as popping to the shop for a pint of milk). The main reason was to go shopping of course, however there was the Grace Kelly exhibition too that I've been waiting to see for months now as every time I have gone to visit it, it has been sold out!

Outside the exhibition wearing a vintage
 50s gab shirt and 60s Enid Collins style bag

   So after a dreary early morning start (who would believe how dark it is at 5am on an August morning!) we dropped our bags off at our b&;b and headed to the Victoria and Albert museum where the exhibition was being held. Even after countless times of visiting this museum, I'm still in awe of the building and the permanent exhibitions they have. So once mum and dad had took their jaws off the ground we had a quick wander around the museum with me as their tour guide!

Dresses from High Society

  

    

   We headed to the exhibition at 4pm and it was packed! I had seen a sign previously at the entrance saying all entrances to the exhibition were sold out! So even after at least five months people were still going crazy for this exhibition, Grace darling you certainly caused a stir!

      However it was a little on the smaller side for an exhibition,especially after all the hype there has been over it. Not to say that it wasn't worth it, oh no! The outfits were simply stunning, showing dresses from films such as high society (which of course was her last film) and Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. It was so nice to see these outfits in the flesh after seeing the films so many times over the years and still kept in such an amazing condition, you would have thought they were made yesterday! The famous costume designer Edith Head designed most of her outfits on and off screen. As well as making fantastic films in the 50s she was also known for her marriage to Prince Raineir III of whom she got married to in 1956 and became Princess consort of Monaco, even whilst married she was still a famous fashion icon which was shown well in the exhibition, with her famous kelly bag that ladies still clamber over today.

 The fashions of each decade she lived were clearly portrayed through each outfit displayed, her class and beauty on full display for everyone to see, even initimate items such as sunglasses and sketched designs of outfits. It was lovely to see such a variety of people showing their interest for vintage fashions and of a true icon. From teenagers to ladies who can remember her from first time around.

    It also came to my attention how slim Grace Kelly was, people always look back on the 40s and 50s for ladies with curves but Grace Kelly was different to women of the time, if she was around today and as slim as she was, surely she would have been involved with the size zero debate? She did have curves don't get me wrong but compared to other bombshells of the time such as Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield she was a tad on the skinny side. Looking at her garments ohh how envious I was! Maybe this was just what made Grace stand out that little bit more, she was in a category of her own,they do say it's always better to stand out from the crowd then blend in and she certainly did that, to me she was an actress and starlet that todays Hollywood stars are no comparison to.

   Having waited for a very long time for this exhibition, I remember this being advertised a year or so ago when I went to another exhibition at the museum, and for me it was certainly worth the wait.

   After the exhibition it was time to get serious and get our shopping heads on. With taking a trip to Beyond Retro where I picked up a fabulous western shirt (can I have a YEEEEHAWWW)  and bought a lovely aqua pencil dress from Vivien of Holloway simply on the basis I saw one of the assistants wearing it and it looked so good I had to buy it! Surely that's a good enough reason.... rightt?

    What a wonderful couple of days in London, even if a bit damp but perfect for any fashionista out there! I managed to get some great Vox Pops too but that will just have to wait for another blog at another time.

                    Until next time  Toodle Pip!

Collecting thoughts on the way home wearing a vintage 50s
cashmere sweater and beret from beyond retro

A few shots from the fabulous museum

So here they are people, I've only had a few images back so far but I'm rather pleased with them already! They are exactly what I was looking for and I'm so glad I chose the photographers I did because of the amazing results! I found it so difficult choosing because I had astounding feed back from so many photographers but I am very pleased with the ones I chose.

For these images I wore a pale blue and white vintage 1940s day dress with adorable glass buttons, my bag was a vintage 40s-50s wicker one from a local antique store that I bought many years ago and my shoes were would you believe it a primark bargin! The gorgeous gloves were from my lovely accomplise Dollface Darling!

The images look really authentic don't you think? We used a vintage tram for these set of images and it was so fun to work on!!

I will be putting some more images up soon so keep all your eyes peeled for it!

Location location location!

A few of the glorious buses and trams!

Today I had a fabulous shoot today at East Anglian Transport museum, I'd had it organised for ages, after my dad came up with the super idea of using the museum, why I'd never thought of it was beyond me, some things just skim right over my head!      The day didn't go off to the bestest start due to a migraine and me being very poorly but after an hours kip, I was raring to go! And I'm so glad I was because what a super day it was, I had organised the shoot with two photographers from London and I had my friend Dollface Darling modelling with me.
     While I was there I thought it would be perfect to do some location shots again, so this blog will be showing a few of the shots I took.

The train station with vintage signs and a ticket booth! The man even comes and stamps your ticket on the train for you!

  The photographers I worked with were superb, two of the best I've worked with to date by the looks of the results they were showing me on their camera! So keep your eyes peeled for my new images soon.
    As it is a vintage buses museum the type of shoot to do there of course is a vintage inspired one, a lovely volunteer at the museum was showing me some images from a John Lewis 60s and 70s shoot a photographer did a while back, the images looked really great and perfect in the surroundings. Because of the variety of buses and trams, you can really be quite wide and varied with what decade you want to settle on, anything from the 30s I'd say to the 70s, nothing further because modern clothes just wouldn't fit in.

A little vintage caravan, I would of loved to have shot in here but we couldn'd get in!

I imagined for the caravan, you would be able to do quite a nice cheesecake style shoot with two models having tea or making food for one another, it was so ideal and we would have got some great images but hey ho! We used what was available!

Of course all of the back of old buses looked like this but I think it would be perfect for a vintage image of a girl swingin off the pole and waving her friend goodbye with a beautifully flared skirt, or a girl chasing after the bus whilst its leaving, very cheesecake!

We used this as landgirl image, we were wearing jeans and headscarfs, to make it look like a working girl image, you could even do a male vintage style shoot with men in aprons putting the stock on the carriage!

Finally a little moment for friends and family, we had a dear friend who was a volunteer at the museum and was my dads best friend, he died of cancer recently and it was a great shock and loss, it was a lovely suprise to see they had named the park after him at the museum as a memorial, I spoke to a lot of the volunteers and they spoke very fondly of Paul.

Well a little reflection on the day, I couldn't of asked for a better day, lovely weather, lovely people and lovely images ... I hope!!
http://www.eatm.org.uk/ Heres the website to the museum if you decide you'd like to pay it a visit, I highly recommend!!