Eyes of the future

Fake eyelash ad from Rave May 1969. 

The text on these old ads never fail to amuse me - "Whose eyes speak silent words of love?" hehe. Plus wouldn't you love to have a go on the futuristic auto selector!? 

What a gorgeous gal tho, I wish I could find some lower lid lashes...

100th Post!

What better way to celebrate 2 years of this blog and 100 posts than with a dash of Dave and it has been a few weeks since I've featured any Bowie on this blog, now we can't have that now can we! So you'll have to excuse me whilst I get rather cheesy for a moment and post the lyrics to one of my favourite songs - Letter to Hermione from Space Oddity 1969.
Hermione was a very lucky girlfriend for a year or so after they met performing in Lindsay Kemp's dance troupe. This is his love letter to her after they split, I think it's just beautiful. 

The hand that wrote this letter
Sweeps the pillow clean

So rest your head and

read a treasured dream

I care for no one else but you

I tear my soul to cease the pain

I think maybe you feel the same

What can we do?

I'm not quite sure what we're supposed to do

So I've been writing just for you

They say your life is going very well

They say you sparkle like a different girl

But something tells me that you hide

When all the world is warm and tired

You cry a little in the dark

Well so do I

I'm not quite sure

what you're supposed to say

But I can see it's not okay

He makes you laugh

He brings you out in style

He treats you well

And makes you up real fine

And when he's strong

He's strong for you

And when you kiss

It's something new

But did you ever call my name

Just by mistake?

I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do

So I'll just write some love to you

Image of David & Hermione via this fab flickr stream

I like this.

A little taster...

Recently I promised the gorgeous Miss Peelpants I would post some pics of my Old England Watches and well I haven't quite got around to it yet! So in the meantime here is a little taster featuring the pride of my collection, yes, the Old England Watch Belt! It was such a gorgeous day today and I was on my way out to spend the afternoon with a dear friend whom I am ashamed to say I haven't seen in something like 7 years or so, time certainly flies... We had a lovely long stroll along the beach and what with all that fresh air and my attempts at culinary greatness I had to have a nap earlier this evening and so haven't been able to catch up on any blog reading. Tomorrow I am up early for a church jumble and then off for another seaside jaunt in the afternoon, looks like another busy one!

A slightly squinty Smashingbird sporting Old England Watch Belt, 70s blouse (both ebay), 

vintage pendant (charity shop) and h&m skinny flare trews.

The Handwriting Challenge

Two of my most favouritest bloggers Christina and Helga posted this little challenge the other day. It is as you have probably guessed by now a handwriting challenge. I have had this as a draft since tuesday but I've had the most rotten head cold for the last few days I have been far too lazy to finish it! I've always had terribly untidy handwriting, I should have been a doctor!


The rules are as follows: 
1. Write your name

2. Write your blog url

3. Write "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" 

4. Favourite quote

5. Favourite song (of course I don't have just one so this is the first I though of!)

6. Anything else you'd like to write

So I have had a look at a couple of handwriting analysis sites and garnered the following info:

Slant: Mine slants to the left which shows emotion and reserve.

Size: I think my writing is medium sized - I can only find info on very large or very small so I'll give that one a miss then...

Baseline: Wavy, which can mean a person is impetuous, instinctive, spontaneous, temperamental and unpredictable.

Word Spacing: Fairly narrow I'd say which apparently means I wish to be with others but can be intrusive.

Lower Zone Loops (eg y & g): The options here are cradled and open. Mine I'd say is a mixture which denotes the writer is unsettled emotionally.

The conclusion: I think a lot of this is actually pretty accurate for me... Neurotic & over emotional - Oh dear!

I'm not going to tag any specifically, so just do it if you fancy it!

Modern Man Part Two - The Psychedelic Hippie

Following on from yesterdays post, here is the second catalogue. Now this has got to be from the second half of 1967, the summer of love had a huge impact on mens and women's fashion and judging from the content here - the mail order fashion world was no exception! Hope you enjoy these too!

Some good collars here, and a rather nice ruffle too.

The Kaftan - the most exciting newcomer on the fashion scene!

Great Nehru style jacket, don't forget your hippie bells too.

More exotic eastern influenced fashion, plus a jolly sensible sweater.

Unused envelope - check my flickr for the order forms too!

Find the rest of the pages HERE on my Flickr Stream.

Modern Man Part One - The Dandy

You know those ads for Mail Order catalogues you see in the back of old vintage magazines and you always think "I wish I could get one and order the clothes from it now!" well, you still can't order any of the clothes but I do have in my collection a couple of very cool items which I thought I would love to share on here. Below are a selection of pages I have scanned from the Modern Man Catalogues who (probably jumping on the bandwagon) had their offices based in that most swingingest of London places, Carnaby Street. I have two copies, the first I would date to either very late 1966 or early 1967 due to the Kinks-like regency dandy style of some of the items and by the trouser cuts. I hope you enjoy! Stayed tuned for Part 2 - The Psychedelic Hippie, coming tomorrow. Also if you go to the bottom of this post you'll find a link to my Flickr where you will find the rest of the pages.

Yes, those are ivory fur swimming trunks. Hot! In more ways than one I suspect!

Love the spoon collars here.

Awesome Huntsman style jacket - these type of things never come up for sale nowadays.

More lovely tailoring, a fabulous cape and note that the Du Barry frock coat is available in green, scarlet, purple or navy - yum!

You know the man in your life needs a tiger print beach skirt.

To see more from this set check out my Flickr Set HERE!

Smokey Pokey World

These anti smoking adverts have always brought a little smile to my face, I would seriously love one of the groovy tees too.  This selection dates from 1966 - 1968 and features the same group of slightly smug teens in almost all the ads (except my favourite - the boutique one of course!) all showing what a super fab time you can have if you don't smoke. Let us see....

Oh yes a nice party, looks like fun, they really seem to be enjoying themselves... (I am still very jealous of the t-shirt tho)

Of course, start a band, people in bands never smoke! Also I just don't get the tagline "More money to call the tune" - am I missing something?



This is a classic ad, all jokes aside, some very cool & covetable items in there.  If cigarettes were that cheap, I'd still smoke!



Yes, More Money For Clothes, the only sensible option.



Now they have given up on the band, it's much easier to go and watch one instead. I wish the blonde would share the joke though.

Post title taken from this fab song.

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Rave March 1966

I've been scanning in a fair bit of my Rave collection over the last few days and thought I'd share this cover, it's one of my favourites.  I love the font and fish eye pic of a very young Eric Burdon.  It's mad to think this magazine is now 45 years old! Many more to come...

The Low Spark of High Heeled Girls

Feeling rather inspired by the general glitziness of the shoes in my last post. I decided to do a little fantasy shoe shopping for some glam rock inspired shiny footwear.

The criteria: must have serious sparkle with at least one of the following -  super high heel, ankle strap, platform or wedge.

First up these super sandals with the most fab star pattern on patent silver with a nice chunky wooden heel by the ever desirable Chie Mihara, available at the Chie Store from €156.52

Brocade, purple, big bow? Oh yes its Irregular Choice. I love this brand they are soo much fun, the insoles are a gorgeous deep jade satin. The soles always feature a cool pattern too, these Metallic Bow heels have an Alice in Wonderland print box and sole. Get them from Amazon for £65.

Here's is another pair from Irregular Choice I just couldn't resist. They look like Elton John could have designed them in 1974. The wonderfully named Devil's Desire can be found on the Irregular Choice shop for £79.99.

I'm a sucker for a wedge and a big bow, soo kitsch. These champagne satin wedges have a giant bejewelled bow at the toe, also available in black. Gabrielle by Carvella at Kurt Geiger, £100.

And finally, how could I not have feature a little something by the Shoe God himself, Terry De Havilland. I have just found out about this new range he has designed especially for John Lewis to celebrate the relaunch of their fashion floor at the Oxford Street flagship store. I'm very happy to see some platforms in the range not just wedges. Have a butchers!

Nadine Platform Sandals in Black Suede with Gold detail, £265

Lydia Wedges in Silver Leather & Snakeskin, £250

Wishful Thinking

As the sun has been shining just a little down here in the Garden of England. I thought I'd share this rather summery little scan I took from a 1973 issue of Petticoat Magazine (cannot remember the exact month, sorry!). Just a little dash of sparkle oh yes and some seriously hot Terry De Havilland wedges. Enjoy!

Update: Forgot to add that the first pair in the top pic are by Biba - looovvely : )

Fill Your Head With Rock

I love old sampler albums, I think it stems from my brit pop days when I used to get all my new music from the tapes & cds stuck to the cover of Select & Q magazine...... Anyhoo this one, Fill Your Head With Rock (1970) Double LP, is a cracker with a diverse selection of artists from the CBS label 

Standout tracks for me are - Tired of Waiting by Flock (ace Kinks cover), Dance in the Smoke by Argent (ex Zombie serious organ driven fabness), The Inbetween Man by Amory Kane (dreamy, psychedelic folk). 

There are a few copies on ebay here, here and here all going for less than a tenner, come on rock fans treat yourselves!

Record 1
1. Listen - Chicago 
2. Savour (Savor) - Santana 
3. Give A Life, Take A Life - Spirit 
4. Passing Through - Steamhammer 
5. Smiling Phases - Blood, Sweat And Tears 
6. Tired Of Waiting - Flock 
7. Come To The Sabbat - Black Widow 
8. Dance In The Smoke - Argent 
9. Gunga Din - Byrds 
10. Living In Sin - Skin Alley 

Record 2
1. Gibsom Street - Laura Nyro 
2. You Know Who I - Leonard Cohen 
3. Stomping Ground - Moondog 
4. The Inbetween Man - Amory Kane 
5. The Garden Of Jane Delawney - Trees 
6. A Small Fruit Song - Al Stewart 
7. Driving Wheel - Tom Rush 
8. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) - Janis Joplin 
9. One Room Country Shack - Al Kooper 
10. Six Days On The Road - Taj Mahal 
11. Don't Think About It Baby - Mike Bloomfield 
12. Bluesbuster - Pacific Gas & Electric 
13. I Love Everybody - Johnny Winter 

Psychedelic Poetry

It's World That Makes The Love Go Round - Poems from Breakthru, published by Corgi Books 1968.

I scanned this book cover ages ago, and annoyingly I don't have it in my possession anymore so I can't post any of the slightly dodgy poetry compiled from Breakthru International Poetry Magazine, but I think the artwork is too cool not to share! This was actually featured in the Miller's Antiques Collecting the 1960s book, in this book it is valued at £120 I think, but I picked this up for £3 and the values in that book are rather out of date now and were a bit random at the time also. The Miller's book also stated that the artwork was by renowned 60s counter culture artists Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, although I can't say I'm too convinced, it is quite fab none the less!

So begins the task

My dear readers please excuse me whilst I get a little personal for a moment... 

Recent events have meant I have had to make a major change to my life, and although it has made me really terribly sad, I do realise that I have to use it as a positive experience. So I am making a new start, I'm not quite sure what the future has in store for me and I won't lie I'm scared, but I also feel somewhat excited at the prospect that I have the opportunity to now immerse myself into creating a brand new life and career for myself.

This is why I have been rather negligent on both my blog reading and posting over the last few weeks, I actually haven't checked my blog reader for almost 3 weeks, so I have some serious catching up to do. I've really missed reading what everyone has been up to and looking at the beautiful and inspirational images posted by my favourite bloggers. 

In the meantime I hope you enjoy this rather gorgeous picture of my dream boudoir, a room set up from the amazing Big Biba department store. Who ever said you could have too much leopard print?

Pic scanned from Welcome to Big Biba: Inside the Most Beautiful Store in the World by Alwyn Turner & Stephen Thomas