Showing posts with label 1950s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1950s. Show all posts

Monday, 7 May 2012

What's in my bag?....

People say what's in your handbag says something about you so here's what's in mine this rainy bank holiday Monday and we'll see just what it says about me!
Cath Kidston Zip Up Hand Bag in Summer Blossom Putty
My handbag is a fab sized zip up handbag from Cath Kidston. Designer yes but last years print purchased from the Outlet, so draw your own conclusions....
On to the contents.
I do like to be organised ("really?!" I hear you cry!), so my bag contains a variety of other bags. Zip up wallets, purses and make up bags so I can find things easily without losing them in the bottom of my cavernous handbag. As a bust Mother of 3 I carry an awful lot of their (and my) tat, so at least I can locate it all easily.
CK clasp purse, Vintage fabric zip coin purse
CK giant zip up wallet
The Purse Collection: Keeping track of my finances is really important to me and so the easiest way I know to do this is the whole separate-purse thing. One is my personal money, the cute vintage fabric purse I bought on my fab birthday trip to Vintage Norwich from Poppy Valentine.

The large Cath Kidston one is the household stash and is large enough for cash, cards, receipts and my Costa card (again, draw your own conclusions!) It was a Christmas gift a few years ago and is a great size. The other CK clasp fastener is my Business wallet so I don't have to spend my life borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. When I was a student (in the dark ages) I used a book to list my outgoings. Tracking your spending is crucial to good stewardship and money management.
vintage 1950s sunnies and cheap-chic case
Next is my cheap-as-chips Sunnies case from Primarni and my rather more expensive Vintage 50s Sunnies.
I also have my reading glasses (yet to buy vintage frames) in another Cath Kidston Christmas present case.
Real glasses in CK case
With 3 daughters (all with long hair) I also have a make-up bag for our combined Girly-Tat. I try to only carry the bare essentials around on a permanent basis and am a big fan of duplicate lipsticks- one at home, one in the handbag. At present the Tat-Kit consists of emery boards, red nail polish (Rimmel 'Double Decker Red'), red lipstick (Boots No7 'Glam') and liner (Max Factor 'Red Rush'), hair clips, 'Dirty Works' under eye cream (like that works!) and a mini mirror. I probably should add tweezers and plasters but I'll get around to it! I also carry an emergency pink lippy for those rare occasions when Red is just too hot!
Make-Up essentials bag
I also have my business cards in a CK wallet and use another one as a pencil case.
Business Cards

Pencil Case
At the moment I also have a Boots magazine, hairbrush and of course a cute cherry print umbrella!
And yes, my arms ache!!!!
I'm thinking there are definitely two immediate thoughts from the contents of my bag- the first being that I do love a bit of Cath Kidston, or a lot in fact but am not bothered by whether its the latest fabrics. I think that's because I just love a timeless classic with a huge nod to vintage chic.
The second is that my bag is pretty full and therefore pretty heavy! I like to have everything I could think of with me though, both for my needs and those of my girls. I like to think of myself as prepared for most occasions.

Although we started with my handbag, this philosophy carries on through the rest of my life. If you are prepared for a situation then it doesn't intimidate, threaten or shake you. The key is to never take anything for granted and to really appreciate every day (even the wet ones). Life is full of surprises so tackle them with a clear sense of your identity as a woman, a self-control that produces balance and, as I have found, a good red lipstick can also help!

What does your hand bag say about you?
                          x

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Vintage Mirror Makeover!

After the success of the Cath Kidston covered jam jars I'm feeling the PVA love so have set to on another decoupage project. This time an old, unloved Ikea mirror that's been moving around house to house with us for the last 10 years!

It needed a face-lift and I didn't want to buy a new mirror so the Vintage Mirror Makeover began last Saturday on a wet afternoon. One quick trip to Hobbycraft, a pair of uber sharp scissors, a stack of old Cath Kidston and Vintage Life Magazines and hey presto....
Mirror Mirror on the wall....
Magazine cut outs
We started with our collection of magazines.... cut out some images and attacked that glue pot!
More cutting out required
We began sticking down large images in all four corners and then worked our way in. A mixture of black & white photographs and images along with retro adverts, WW11 posters, favourite Cath Kidston goodies and plenty of Audrey Hepburn.
It begins to take shape
We then enjoyed filling the gaps and layering up the images until we had completely filled the frame.
We were pretty pleased with the final result!
......who's the most Retro of them all?
Not bad for a rainy afternoon's work.

What did you get up to in the rain?
                            x


Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Vintage 1950s Agatha Christie Style! A visit to Greenway.

While on our hols in glorious Devon we visited 'Greenway', the summer holiday home of Agatha Christie and her family from 1930. The house was then given to the National Trust on the death of her daughter and was opened in 2009.
View from the gardens of the river Dart

The property is built on a steep hillside and the gardens have been tiered with amazing flora & fauna (I've always wanted to write that!!), including lots of varieties of Magnolia tree, Camellia, Rhododendron and even a few Eucalyptus. My 10 year old was our family photographer and did an amazing job of it!

NT Welcome sign!

The house itself was bought in the 30s by Agatha and her second husband Max Mallowan. The National Trust have set it up more or less as it would have been in the 1950s with lots of family photos, souvenirs from the couples many travels and family paraphernalia. Agatha's bedroom has an amazing chest of drawers originally from Damascus! (complete with woodworm apparently until it was removed after Agatha could hear scratchings coming from it at night!!)
Greenway House

We took a family picnic (although it does boast not one but 2 tea shops!), and enjoyed an unusually warm afternoon moseying around the grounds. I wore my Heyday 1940s swing trousers as they are so my go-to outfit for dodgy weather this Spring! (Think I need a suitably vintage alternative to the Ikea bag though?!)
Picnic time

The Girls!
As a family we do love the National Trust; how amazing to have so much of our history made available to us and future generations to enjoy; and how wonderful of these great houses original owners to bequeath their own heritage for the benefit of others- I can see so many principles of generational transfer in that; passing on ideals, standards and values to future generations and the recognition that however beautiful, amazing and enormous houses are, at the end of the day they're just 'stuff'! People should never be remembered for where they lived or even what they did, but rather who they were and what motivated them.
What would you be remembered for?!

Here's a few more photos......
The house from the upper terraces

Views across the river
And even a retro 1950s style Agatha Christie tour bus to take you from the nearby village!

If you get the chance to join the NT or visit one of their historic house, parks or gardens, just think again... what will you be remembered for?!
                       x



Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Outfit Post: Collectif dress.

I just love the halterneck dress collection from Collectif! Actually, I now have 3 of their stunning dresses. This one I wore to a friends 30th birthday recently and the other two I'm saving for summer along with my new Vivien of Holloway purchase.
Birdcage Sindy Doll Dress by Collectif

Cute birdcage print
 I wore this one with my Miss L Fire black Dollie shoes but sadly I have lost one of the delightful shoe flowers... I think I may be able to replace them with hair flowers or even clip on earrings?!
Miss L Fire Dollie Shoes
 My intention is to get around to styling my hair in 50s waves to complete the look but for now here you go.
I love a good halter neck!
 I do hope you're rocking a dress this Wednesday!
                         x

Friday, 6 April 2012

Vintage Vacations

Easter hols- yay! Where are you off to? Anywhere nice? We're tripping down to East Devon for a wonderful relax; a spot of antique and charity shop browsing and some beach BBQs- well, a calor gas ring on the beach! (remember the pancakes on Tenby beach last Easter?!) I'm really quite excited about being away en famille; it's been a while since it was just the 5 of us.
Travelpostersonline.com
It's so important to build in time to spend with family; whether it's immediate family or extended family and where better to be than a pretty coastal part of the good ole British Isles?!
Travelpostersonline.com
postcardsdelcampe.net

 I love Devon; there's so much to do and see and as we live in Coventry (about as landlocked as you can get!) It will be just wonderful to see the sea!
travelpostersonline.com
oldstratforduponavon.com
travelpostersonline.com
billyspostcards.com
Judging by these vintage vacation posters, postcards and old 1950s photographs, previous generations have also loved visiting Devon! I hope the beaches of Seaton, Beer and Sidmouth are this gorgeous still!
oldukphotos.com

oldstratforduponavon.com
Whatever you are doing- hope it's a great week full of vintage glamour and style!
                                    x

Monday, 20 February 2012

Sixty Years of the Mousetrap! Outfit Post and Review

Half term is just wonderful for mini-breaks and as we have a relly on the outskirts of London, what better than a trip 'up tahn' to see a very vintage play?!

Agatha Christie's the Mousetrap was written in the late 1940s and first performed as a play in 1952 and has been continuously performed ever since! As a belated 40th birthday pressie I went off to see it at St. Martin's Theatre in London's West End.
The Mousetrap current cast
I must confess, I didn't know much about it before seeing the play, apart from the fact it was by Christie and had been running for years. I hadn't appreciated it was set in 1952 and that we'd be treated to such great costumes from one of my favourite periods of fashion history!

I wore my new fav dress, it's called Aimee and is from Heartbreaker Fashion (although I found it at a very reasonable price at Cherry Retro!) What do you think?
Aimee Dress by Heartbreaker from Cherry Retro
The play is part murder mystery and part farce really- it's a very clever tale of suspicion, intrigue and great timing! I was mildly distracted however by the gorgeous New Look style dress Georgina Sutcliffe wears in her part of Mollie Halston. It's an amazing blue full skirted dress with nipped in waist and shawl collar and cuffs in a contrasting blue and white polka dot. Unfortunately we didn't buy a programme so I have no idea who the costume designer is, but boy would I love to get my hands on that dress!
Stunning 'New Look' inspired dress worn by Georgina Sutcliffe
The theatre is absolutely gorgeous, it's a grade 2 listed building, a twin to The Ambassadors theatre and built in 1916. It was the perfect surroundings to watch a 1950s scene unfolding from a 1940s script.
The Mousetrap in its 60th year

The cute (but rather small!) bar upstairs in St Martins Theatre
All in all, it was a fantastic day out. being situated so close to Trafalgar square I just had to snap the Mall, the National Gallery and of course, Nelson's Column. Well, who wouldn't? And my 1950s inspired Aimee dress was right at home!
View to the Mall
National  Gallery
Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square
 Being sworn to the Mousetrap secrecy code I couldn't possibly tell you Whodunit, but if you'd like to find out for yourself, the 60th anniversary tour begins towards the end of this year with an all star cast (apparently!) and should be fab!

What have you guys been up to over half term?
                            x

Monday, 6 February 2012

Snowy Monday!

Well, if you were wishing for snow- you got some!
Fortunately most of it is slushing now, easier to get around but not quite so pretty as a blanket of new snowfall.
 I've been busy restocking Redressing for this months Pop-In-And-Shops (which I hope won't be affected by the snow!) as well as updating the website so have been pretty busy, but I couldn't resist stopping to show you these fab images of known and unknown Vintage Divas in their winter wonderlands!
1940s

1950s

Love the pearls!
Anne Sheridan

Rita Heyworth
Enjoy the snow wherever you are and whatever you're doing!
                               X

Images sources, with thanks!
projects.umwhistory.org
mothgirlwings.tumblr.com
beyondthebackgate.wordpress.com
vintagejacksonville.net
oldfashionedpretty.com