I got some Vintage-a-Peel on Frock Friday

Hello my lovely blogger friends, I am back after a little break away. I have been bunnysitting with a pal of mine. We were looking after a giant house rabbit. Freaky isn't even the word for it! Apart from bunny fun I got my first paycheck from my new job last week and immediately ordered a new dress from the divine Miss Liz @ Vintage-a-Peel. This Vivien Smith 70's number has been top of my wishlist for a while and I was worried that it would be too small, but thankfully it fits like a glove and is soooo gorgeous. Luckily it turned up friday afternoon along with a very cool & sweet card, just in time for me to wear out friday night!

Dress Viven Smith (Vintage-a-Peel), Shoes (New Look), Bag (Bootfair, Cheap Jewels (bootfair, ebay, charity shops)

It may take me a while to get round to visiting everyone and I still have to post my September Rave issue, so bear with me chickens!!!!

Frock on Friday & a Swinging Swap!

Aaaah hello Friday my only day off this week. Not much excitement for me over the last few days, but I'm making the most of today. Long overdue haircut this morning, followed by my afternoon bootfair (not a sausage) and a lovely stroll along the windy beach this afternoon with Barney dog. This evening I may be partaking in a few glasses of vino with some lovely ladies.....

70's maxi from ebay about 5 years ago & I'm rather ashamed to say it's the first time I've worn it! My old faithful gold jewelled vintage sandals, purple checkerboard bag from last week's bootfair (50p!).

Oh yes and do you spy the most awesome of pendants? You may have seen this on the divine Vix's blog last friday... Vix had commented on a post of mine admiring some vintage curlers I'd picked up & when I saw this owl magnifying glass pendant on hers I cheekily suggested a swap which to my delight she agreed to! I mean have you seen how short my hair is? Rollers, really? I was thrilled to find a parcel waiting for me the other day along with a super cool & sweet card. Love you Vix!

Of course Barney couldn't resist sneaky into a pic too!

I Need My Dolls!

As I mentioned Friday, that evening I had been invited by my new pal Sausages for a Valley of the Dolls / Beyond the Valley of the Dolls screening fest, and of course I was determined to dress appropriately. After a Deathly Dry Gin Martini, delicious din dins and some more liquid refreshment, we have decided that Valley of the Dolls is actually pretty boring apart from Sharon Tate's jumpsuit and the legendary Helen Lawson. Y'all know how I feel about the second film. The best part of the whole night is that I didn't have a hangover today - wooop!

(Helga my dearest - how can I possibly choose a favourite line? 

Ok I guess it would have to be "A bathing pool full of mayonnaise!")

So what did I wear? My 60's psychedelic print dress is an old bargain from Ebay US some years ago the label is Candi Jones California.

60's Necklace £2 charity shop

 60's Bag 50p bootfair

My bestest 60's purple suede & leather shoes are also from Ebay (UK), they are just perfect I love them!

Oh yes my hair - it's all natural! It's actually an original 60's real hairpiece that a friend of mine kindly donated to me some years ago, I dyed it to match my natural colour. I love wearing it although I don't get it out that often cos it's a lot of hassle and wigs are hot! (In both senses ; p)

Frock on Friday!

super bad windswept iphone pic - in all the others I had my eyes closed!

So here we are friday again, today I have been to my local afternoon bootfair where I must say I had the best haul in ages! I'm wearing a Clothes by Samuel Sherman frock (last seen here) from ebay, vintage belt - which I don't think goes really!, vintage whipstitch detail bag, my ever faithful jewelled 60's sandals and my lovely Sarah Cov necklace from my dearest Annimal.

Find of the day 60's record player musical jewellery box, I know the bootfair queen Vix has one too! 

Mine plays Chim Chim Cherry. I am freaking out over this - £1

60's necklaces & ring - £2

(I also got a white 60's beaded belt but I forgot to take a pic!)

60's Heated Rollers in a fabbb case - £1

Selection of kitsch mirrors - £2

Hope you all have a super weekend, I'm off for a Valley of the Dolls/Beyond the Valley of the Dolls film sesh with a pal tonight, am planning my outfit... I might just have to wear my vintage hairpiece in honour of Mr Meyers big haired beauties. I'll be sure to take some outfit pics!

Weather, Weddings & Waiting

On Saturday I attended a lovely little wedding in Canterbury. Bizarrely I do not know either the bride or groom but there was a spare invite & well any excuse to dress up is alright with me! I bought this 70's maxi in a charity shop last week for £8. I've been looking for a maxi for ages but haven't found one I liked. This is soo pretty - it's made of navy cotton wit a floral print in pale blue, tan & brown. Fits like a dream, although I had to chop a good few inches off the hem....

Worn with a vintage pendant found in another charity shop for £1.50. The shoes are my Miss L Fire Platforms, I had been planning to wear some rather delicious new tan suede heels I got from New Look the other day, but alas it absolutely poured down and I rather sensibly decided against them - no doubt they'll get an outing very soon! 

I felt terrible for the bride as the weather was soo grotty - but she looked absolutely adorable in a cream chiffon mini shift, which I think was a particularly lucky choice. Imagine if it had been long - the poor gal would have had a soggy hem just like me!

Unfortunately we couldn't attend the evening do as I had to work, since leaving my last job I have done a few bits here and there and most recently have been working at a bar. I pull a smashing pint ; ). But Sat was my last night there as this week I start work at a well known supermarket, a job which I applied for 4 months ago. I just received the uniform today, and oh my goodness tis not nice. They have sent me size large. Does. Not. Fit. The upside is that I get a name badge (haha). Oh well means more money to spend on lovely vintage...

Frock on Friday!

It's friday which means it's officially frock o'clock! I first spotted the Frock on Friday feature over at Vix's blog and the rule is that wherever you are & whatever you are doing each friday you should don a fabulous frock! So here is what I'm wearing today.....

Vintage 60's Dollyrockers floral mini, 70's Biba mini vest/waistcoat thingy (both from Ebay years ago), 70's tan leather wooden wedge sandals (£1 from Demelza Charity shop last week)

And how could I resist not popping on this most amazing necklace which I was lucky enough to win from the super chick Ann @ Annimal House,  I totally loves it! It's a Sarah Coventry piece called Wisteria. I hope I have done it justice.

Slightly squinting as the sun is just about popping out finally!

Hope you all have a fab weekend! I'm very much looking forward to dinner at a dear friends house tomorrow night with all the girlies and am trying to decide what to wear.... it might just have to be another Biba frock! 

She's back! (for a little bit anyhoo)

As I mentioned in my post on saturday this weekend I spent with my favourite sister (ok, she's my only sibling, but she's still my fave!), who has just returned from the not so snow covered mountains of Val D'Isere. We met up at 2pm with a big group of her nearest & dearest girlies and had a lovely lunch at Prezzo's (Gorgonzola Pizza = yum!) where I probably should have taken food pics, but as you all know I'm crap at photos!

Next we moved onto a rather trendy bar/restaurant/club place where copious amounts of wine was consumed and Em being the caring big sister was craftily only giving me small glasses (did I mention I'm  a complete lightweight?). Here I am in outfit post mode, doing my best until someone who shall remain nameless hollered "POSER!" at me, so what's a gal to do? That's right, give 'em my best Blue Steel!

What I wore: vintage 70's purple floral chiffon sundress (£6 from Scope), Purple suede & patent Terry De Havilland Wedges, Red leather and gold studded vintage bag (50p bootfair), 70's gold small chain belt and my usual charity shop jewels.

I'm pleased to say Em & I are the only ones that lasted the night right through until 3am! Even though a very very generous chap bought us a bottle of champagne, which at 1am was received with mixed reviews! Plus there wasn't a kebab insight. (the queue was too long ; p )

Thank goodness for small measures and Party Feet.

How not to take Outfit Post Pictures.

 I always have really good intentions to do outfit posts mainly because it's an aspect of other peoples blogs that I love, it's my nosey nature I guess and I am really trying to get into a regular posting routine at the moment and hope to do a lot more outfit posts myself. It was only once I was almost out of the door last night I remembered to take a pic so apologies for my last minute very dark and very crappy iPhone pics from last night. It was my first single girl night out so I just had to get an outfit shot!

This pic was the best of the bunch but sadly doesn't show my lovely L'Autre Chose boots which I got on ebay (worn once!) for only £20. The top is next but everything else is vintage. Bag, Belt & Pendant -Charity Shops. Old England Watch - eBay, Mini Skirt - Camden Market about 10yrs ago.

I had to include this pic as my new little pal thought he was coming out with me too!

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.

Vintage Jewellery

I have been collecting vintage clothing since I was in my teens. Unfortunately nowadays my job means I can't wear my favourite clothes that much during my working day (mainly because I'm dead clumsy and don't want to ruin anything!). So the one way I can always guarantee having a bit of vintage style is in my jewellery. All my pieces have come from charity shops, no exceptions! 

Costume jewellery is the one thing you can still find in charity shops amongst the rails of primark nastiness. Although I did find a beautiful 70s David Silverman chiffon gown the other week, this sadly doesn't fit me though, but I couldn't leave it there could I! Anyhoo, back to the pics, here is a selection of some of my favourite pieces, all date from the 60s and 70s and I don't think I paid over £3 for any of it. I also collect Old England watches form the 60s, but I'll save those for another post!

This space age piece is huge, it measures over 3" long.

 Some of my animal pieces, the owl is huge too, I cannot wear it now as a copy turned up on the high street a couple of years ago and they are everywhere. I love the fish too.

 The white one is Trifari.

Gemmy delights, space age and boho styles. The crystal one has a matching ring.

Always easy to find diamante necklaces, the gold triple chain is a recent find - it's really chunky and glam.

These 60s pendants come in many different colours and turn up on ebay all the time.

The bird is the word

I have quite an unreasonable fear of birds, when my fella and I lived in London a few years ago I was about to go out to work and opened my front door and in there in the hallway was like a hundred pigeons (ok ok it was more like 3) but needless to say I freaked out.

Now I really had to go out and I'm rather ashamed to say after hysterically phoning my fella and unsuccessfully attempting to convince him to come home from work and rescue me, I ended up having to throw my keys two stories down in to the street to my landlord (a rather elderly gentleman) who came and shooed the little buggers away. If a pigeon is hopping along minding his own business and happens to cross my path, I am the mad girl who stops dead or if it flies by me I will flinch and squeal, it's quite ridiculous. I think it's the flappy wings ugh *shudders*.

Besides the dreaded pidge I do find birds really rather beautiful. My favourite is the peacock, the males proud display of his stunning plumage in iridescent blues and greens, and the virginal white female are just stunning. The peacock feather has been used throughout the ages in fart and fashion, most successfully in my opinion in the edwardian and art nouveau periods. I hope you enjoy this little selection of vintage peacock themed items.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Grey Gardens

After a long and lovely christmas day with the family I settled down in the evening to watch Grey Gardens (2009) the adaptation of the 1976 Maysles brother documentary of the infamous two Edie Bouvier Beales. I had wanted to see this for ages and hadn't seen the original film, but had seen some galleries and read a few articles on the internets about them. When I watched it I was blown away.

Brief Synopsis: It is the story of a mother and daughter both raised as wealthy debutantes and are aunt and cousin to Jackie Onassis. Big Edie is a talented singer and married to Phelan Beale, she spends her days at their Hamptons estate Grey Gardens, Little Edie dreams of being a famous dancer and in her twenties is living in Manhattan, although she had many suitors and some very high profile proposals she falls in love with a married man. Big Edie and Phelan divorce and becoming increasingly paranoid about being left alone, Big Edie convinces Little Edie to return to Grey Gardens making her miss a big audition which she will forever be convinced would have seen her break into the big time. Living on a small allowance compared to what they are used to, Grey Gardens slowly falls into disrepair and with no staff the two gradually begin living in squalor with their many cats. In the early 70's the authorities are called in and with the threat of eviction Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill pay to have the house put back into a liveable state. Unfortunately the estate soon falls back into a sorry state and the two Edie's are once again alone, with Little Edie particularly feeling the strain of confinement looking after her demanding mother for the foreseeable future.

Whilst looking through the TV listings a couple of days later I noticed the original film was on a few days later, so I managed to catch that too. I'm actually quite glad that I saw the HBO film first as I found the documentary pretty hard to watch and follow. But comparing the two it showed that Drew & Jessica gave such amazing performances as Little and Big Edie respectively, particularly Drew she was fantastic at capturing Little Edie's quirky glamour and exuberant playful nature.

If you haven't seen either film, really try and catch them soon. You will fall in love with Little Edie, I felt so inspired by her style watching these, from the stunning 30's and 40's satin gowns to the chic 50's numbers, and of course the look she was more famous for later in the 70's taking items from the loft and creating the most fabulous and creative outfits, the numerous head scarves fashioned from jumpers, skirts and many more all finished with the famous brooch.

Below are some famous and fabulous quotes from Little Edie taken from Grey Gardens Online & IMDB

"This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today."

"My costumes? That's a protest against having worked as a model for the Establishment, believe it or not. A lot of models feel that way. Sometimes their lives are protests against having worked as models. Besides, I didn't have time taking care of mother to get out and buy any clothes. So I used what was left of mine and mother's in the attic."

"Course, I'm mad about animals, but raccoons and cats become a little bit boring. I mean, for too long a time."

"The family never cared for me and they hated my mother. She was a dancer and a singer with a terrific voice she'd inherited from her mother, and the relatives hated her because she was magnificent."

What is your favorite department store? "May's, although I haven't been there yet."

For more info check out the official site for the 1976 documentary here and the 2009 film here.

Do take a few minutes to look through this Life gallery too.

All Pics from Grey Gardens Online & HBO Official Site